After a bad experience with a Magnavox Plasma TV I had some reservations about the brand, but at $98 bucks I just couldn’t resist and picked one of these up a couple of weeks after their release in July. Two months later, I’ve got nothing but good things to say about the Magnavox NB530MGX Blu-ray player. It plays Blu-ray DVD’s like you’d expect, but will also play regular DVD’s and even DVD-R discs burned using a computer. Here’s my full review of the Wal-mart $98 dollar Blu-ray player.

The Magnavox NB530MGX is an entry level Blu-ray player that doesn’t offer the more advanced features such as BD-Live support offered on more expensive Blu-ray players ($150 and up). BD-Live is a standard for Blu-ray players that utilizes your internet connection to download additional content for your Blu-ray movie. IMHO BD-Live is highly overrated. I mean how much 1080p quality content are you going to be getting from your DSL connection? Then again I usually tend to skip the special features and extras on most regular DVD sets in my collection, so maybe I am biased in this regard.

For me, $98 Wal-Mart Blu-ray player does all the things I need it to do quite well:

• Plays older and newer Blu-ray movies (even the scratched ones from Netflix) without problems.
• Supports all screen resolution formats including 1080p over HDMI.
• Supports simultaneous audio output via Optical and HDMI (for those that haven’t upgraded their receiver to support HDMI – like myself)
• Supports advanced Blu-ray features like multiple viewing angles, PIP, commentary, etc.
• Plays regular DVD’s
• Plays DVD-R discs

Additionally the unit is relatively slim, quiet and doesn’t generate any heat problems in my entertainment center. Here are some images of my $98 dollar Blu-ray player in action:

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