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The best Blu-ray players in 2024 make it easy to catch up on your favorite shows
Physical media is far from dead. In fact, it’s a better time than ever to own your favorite TV series and movies, given that they often disappear from streaming services in the blink of an eye. So if you’re someone who collects Blu-ray discs for your home theater setup, you’re going to want to start with a great Blu-ray player first.
A great Blu-ray player can make all the difference when it comes to getting the most out of what you watch. With the advent of 4K and HDR, they’ve evolved to deliver crisp, crystal clear picture and sound quality. So no matter what you buy on Blu-ray, you can enjoy it to the fullest at home with the right player.
But which Blu-ray player should you bring home? Whether you’re a casual viewer or a dedicated film fan, we’ve rounded up some picks.
The best Blu-ray players in 2024
Best Blu-ray player: Panasonic DP-UB820
If you’re looking for the best Blu-ray player for most users, look no further than the Panasonic DMP-UB820. This player has a nice balance of features, performance and value. That makes it the best choice for just about everyone who needs a Blu-ray player.
It has full HDR support for vibrant colors, sharp textures and accurate black tones. Even when you play standard, non-4K Blu-ray or DVD discs, this player’s upscaling ability sharpens and enhances picture quality so it’s almost like seeing your favorites come to life in a new way. It also has Dolby Atmos support so it can fill your room with loud, clear sound.
Aside from connecting it directly to your TV or stereo system, it can use Wi-Fi for video streaming and even has a dedicated HDMI audio output for even higher-quality sound. That means it should mesh well with just about any setup you have going on in your living room with little muss or fuss.
Best premium Blu-ray player: Panasonic DP-UB9000
If you want the absolute best in home entertainment and have an elite home theater setup, the Panasonic DP-UB9000 is the ultimate 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray player. Yes, it’s pricey, and that’s because it’s for the most elite cinephile. That’s why everything about it says “luxury” in many ways.
The heavy metal build and premium design make it clear that this player is in a class of its own. It supports all the key HDR formats, including HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and Dolby Vision. You can also count on it for fantastic audio quality. With high-quality DACs, two-channel and 7.1-channel analogue outputs as well as support for Hi-Res Audio, this player has you covered in terms of audio. To top it all off, the DP-UB9000 comes packed with plenty of smart features.
This level of performance doesn’t come cheap, so you’ll absolutely be paying a pretty penny. But if quality is of the utmost importance to you, this is the Blu-ray player of your dreams.
Best budget Blu-ray player: Sony UBP-X700
Don’t want to spend an entire paycheck on a Blu-ray player? You don’t need to. The Sony UBP-X700 is an affordable player offers an impressive array of features and performance that belies its budget-friendly price point.
Its exceptional picture quality may come as a surprise, given that this player is so afforable. But whether you’re watching the latest Hollywood blockbuster or a classic film, this Blu-ray player can offer a great-looking picture that you can be proud of, even if you’re watching only top-of-the-line 4K releases.
It supports multiple HDR formats, including Dolby Vision and HDR10, ensuring that you can enjoy the widest possible range of 4K content. While it doesn’t support HDR10+, this omission is hardly a dealbreaker considering the player’s affordable price point. Despite not being marketed as a hi-res audio player, the UBP-X700 can even play high-resolution audio files and supports various formats such as WAV and FLAC.
For less than $200, you really can’t do better than this Blu-ray player, so be sure to grab it if you want to have high quality at a low price.
Best Blu-ray player and console combo: PlayStation 5 Slim
If you need to play Blu-ray discs but want a multifunction player to handle it, you can’t go wrong with a PlayStation 5, namely the PS5 Slim, which means you can play movies as well as video games from the same device.
As a 4K Blu-ray player, the PS5 Slim is a great space-saving option for anyone who loves video games, movies and TV. It lets you enjoy your favorite movies and TV shows in high definition, then switch over to the latest and greatest games without having to get up and change the disc out given the PS5 Slim’s spacious hard drive.
You don’t need a remote since you can use the included DualSense controller, and given that there are tons of new games always releasing in tandem with films and TV, you can kill two birds with one stone with this device. Plus, you’ll have more space free, without having to have both gaming console and Blu-ray player.
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U.S. sets Thanksgiving record for whooping cough cases
At least 364 pertussis infections were reported to health authorities last week, according to figures published Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, marking the worst Thanksgiving week for whooping cough in recent decades.
This tops the previous Thanksgiving record of 228 cases of pertussis which were reported for the week ending Nov. 27, 2010. That year there were 27,550 cases reported by the end of 2010, below the 28,167 already tallied so far this year.
Thanksgiving usually sees a slowdown in cases reported across most diseases, because of delays in testing and reporting around the holiday as well as changes in people going to the doctor.
But this year’s whooping cough wave is continuing to accelerate in several states this week, including in Ohio, which reported 84 cases. That is the most of any state, and more than the 67 pertussis cases that Ohio reported in the week before.
“Pertussis can be cyclical. After seeing lower numbers of reported cases in the past few years — during and after the COVID-19 pandemic — nationally, pertussis is now returning to pre-pandemic trends. Ohio is no different,” a spokesperson for Ohio’s health department said in a statement.
The Ohio spokesperson said this year’s increase remained “consistent with some years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,” and has yet to top the total number of cases reported in 2013.
While total cases nationwide remain lower than some previous records, the pace of weekly reported cases reached 577 ahead of Thanksgiving — more than 10 times the same time last year, and the worst in at least a decade.
Health officials have cited a variety of factors for this year’s wave of whooping cough cases, including gaps in immunity from vaccination or prior infection and the switch to safer but less effective vaccines in the 1990s.
“We have to acknowledge that our vaccination rates, in Montgomery County for school-age children, are low. They’ve decreased since the pandemic, and they’re lower than the state of Ohio, and lower than the United States as well,” said Dr. Becky Thomas, medical director of the health department for Ohio’s Montgomery County.
Within Ohio, Montgomery County makes up the largest share of cases reported in recent months, despite not having the most people in the state.
Around 63% of their cases have been in schoolchildren and 12% are in daycares, Thomas said. The department often finds out about outbreaks first from school nurses, warning of large numbers of kids calling out sick with whooping cough.
Thomas said doctors have been seeing high pertussis case counts for months, larger than the wave they saw last year.
“We had an increase in cases last fall, but nothing compared to this fall. And when we first started noticing a really significant increase was about the time that kids went back to school, so about the middle of August,” said Thomas.
Thomas said that the vast majority of reported cases in the county have said they were vaccinated for pertussis, though it is unclear if everyone was up-to-date on the shots. A third of cases have been in teens, who are recommended to have gotten a booster dose by age 12.
“We have specific data on vaccination records for entering seventh graders that shows those vaccination rates for that tetanus, whooping cough vaccine that they should have entering school are decreased,” said Thomas.
This year’s whooping cough surge also comes as health departments are bracing for the return of an expected wave of COVID-19 and flu infections this winter.
“Whooping cough isn’t the only respiratory illness that we’re concerned about. So we’re encouraging people to stay home when they’re sick, practice good hand hygiene, get their health care provider if they need to if they’re symptoms are worsening or severe, and of course get vaccinated,” said Jennifer Wentzel, the county health department’s commissioner.
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USGS scientists discuss 7.0 magnitude California earthquake
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