In contrast, when we moved on to viewing Blu-ray discs, at their native 1080p resolution, the NS-2BRDVD performed superbly. Our judges awarded it grades of Very Good and Superior. One judge complained of images being a tad soft, but she also praised the terrific contrast and skin tone. In the black-and-white opening scene of Good Night and Good Luck, I noted the really good grayscale and the image's nice dimensionality.

This player can decode Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD High Resolution audio (but it lacks multichannel Dolby TrueHD decoding). It ships with support for , too, and it has ethernet and USB ports in the back (a pleasant surprise). Insignia's Web site promises a future firmware upgrade that will add and USB-based multimedia playback. The USB port is in an awkward location at the back, but its presence on such a low-cost machine is a positive.

Another surprise: This model was reasonably responsive, as well. In our tests it loaded a Blu-ray disc in 71 seconds.

If you're looking for a bargain in a Blu-ray player, the Insignia NS-2BRDVD is the best you can buy--but only if you're willing to rely on another source for upscaling your standard-definition DVDs.