Toshiba BDX5200

The 1.5 by 16.9 by 7-inch (HWD), 2.7-pound Blu-ray player is simple and elegant. The front panel is two-toned, with a glossy black upper half and a recessed, brushed gunmetal lower half. Besides the disc tray and the glowing indicator lights, the only thing that mars the glossy black half is an SD card slot for loading photos and videos and four invisible-unless-illuminated control buttons (Eject, Stop, Play, and Power, but Power is the only one that stays lit).

The 7.5-inch remote is plain and unimpressive. Its buttons are all similarly-shaped firm rubber, either circles or ovals, and arranged with the number pad on the top, the playback controls under that, the navigation controls under that, and the color/setting buttons under that.

The back of the player is similarly simple, holding only HDMI and composite video outputs, a USB port, and an Ethernet connection. While most users will connect the player to their HDTVs via HDMI (it's the only way to watch Blu-ray content in its native 1080p anyway; I don't recommend connecting your player to your TV through any other connection), the lack of component video or optical audio outputs limits the player's flexibility.

he gunmetal half holds a Toshiba logo on the left side and a Blu-ray 3D logo on the right side.