The DV-BD 606 is the first Blu-ray player from Japanese manufacturer Onkyo, which released the device in autumn 2008. Online prices currently begin at around 350 GBP.

• Excellent 24p movie picture.
• Bitstream output of HD sound.
• Card reader for photos and MP3s.

• Weaknesses in DVD playback.
• No BD-Live.
• No DTS-HD decoder.

The Onkyo DV-BD 606 performs excellently, particularly in Blu-ray playback, but stumbles with DVDs that have no progressive flag. Multimedia functions add to the fun, but the lack of an internet connection means - irritatingly - that there's no BD-Live.

Connections:

1x

We searched in vain for a network interface on the rear of the unit, meaning modern features such as BD-Live are impossible on the DV-BD 606. On the plus side, the front of the unit offers an SD-card reader, allowing quick and easy playback of multimedia data such as music and photos, directly from the storage medium - there are, however, no preview thumbnails. DivX videos will play back from a CD or DVD (and not from the card reader), but the player lacks any support for high-definition AVCHD videos.

Subtle and basic, but effective: the Onkyo's remote control.

The attractive player comes either in just black or with a black and silver finish, but its remote control - though practical - isn't particularly sleek or stylish: The buttons are sensibly arranged and allow access to all important menus, with extra convenience laid on by buttons such as "Display", which displays the current resolution and frame rate during Blu-ray playback.

There's even a dedicated "Resolution" button for switching resolution - this works only in stop mode and also displays the current value on the player's LCD screen. We were less taken with the almost total lack of picture controls - there are just three noise-reduction settings to play with, and even these are only available for DVDs, not Blu-rays.

Perfect: The HDMI frequency response shows not even the slightest of weaknesses.

HDTV:
In our laboratory testing, audio and video analyzers attested to the Onkyo DV-BD 606's excellent performance: the HDMI frequency response shows no fall-off whatsoever. Even the finest picture details display with absolute sharpness. The digital levels of black-and-white signals match the standard exactly, and only tiny deviations were detected in color-decoding.

In the Blu-ray visual test, the Onkyo delivers flawless progressive pictures from movies - in the Bond adventure "Casino Royale", cars and boats move through the picture with no flicker. Even very fine details - such as the fine patterns in the computer-animated opening titles - appear totally crisp.

Things aren't quite as perfect when it comes to HD documentaries in 1080/60i format. To be more precise: With a Pioneer test-disc, we observed ghosting on the license plates of cars racing through the picture - this problem, however, is present on many Blu-ray players.

DVD:
Playback of DVDs is sadly a little stumbling if the disc has no progressive flag. In certain tricky scenes - such as the camera pan across the beach in "Six Days Seven Nights" - vertical edges lack tidiness. Results varied from the British Superbit-release of "Gladiator": The flight over the Colosseum works well, but we then see flicker in the following chapter as the camera pans sideways past desert tents. Overall, therefore, the Onkyo doesn't come recommended as a DVD player - some DVD players that cost less than half as much as the Onkyo perform much better in this respect.

When used purely as a CD player, the DV-BD 606 provides excellent - and, in particular, noise free - playback, surpassing that of most competing models. Those wanting to decode the CD sound with a receiver instead should use the Onkyo's optical digital output, which exhibits little jitter - not to be taken for granted in this price class.

The rear panel: No internet connection, but there is a second optical digital output.

To deliver perfect HD audio (DTS-HS and Dolby TrueHD), the DV-BD 606 requires a modern AV receiver with an HDMI connection and bitstream-decoding, since the player itself lacks a fully featured HD-audio decoder - the built-in decoder delivers only 5.1-channel PCM audio.