The Philips BDP 7200 is a Blu-ray player, available in the United Kingdom since October 2008 and currently selling from around 250 GBP online.

• Excellent 24p movie picture.
• The player comes supplied with an HDMI cable.
• Bitstream output of HD audio.
• 7.1 HD-audio decoder and analog 5.1 audio output.

• Weaknesses in DVD playback.
• No picture controls.
• No BD-Live.
• Long loading time for Blu-rays.

On this Philips, playback of Blu-ray movies is impressive - quite in contrast to the weak DVD playback, especially with discs that lack a progressive flag. We were, on the other hand, happy to see analog and digital audio outputs, which make the device attractive to owners of both old and new AV receivers. Buyers of this Philips will, however, have to live without an internet connection.

Connections:

1x

Don't waste your time looking for a network socket for BD-Live: There isn't one! But the Philips does at least score points elsewhere - it'll play back high-definition camcorder videos in AVCHD format and MP3 music files, as well as displaying photos with handy thumbnail previews.

You'll have to burn any multimedia onto a disc first, however, since the BDP 7200 lacks an externally accessible card-reader - there is, in fact, an SD drive inside the casing, but this is only for internal memory.

The remote control: Angular and attractive - but way too hard to read in low light.

No Picture Controls:
You'll also have to make do without picture controls - there are just two MPEG noise filters to choose from, and these only work with DVDs, not Blu-rays. The player doesn't indicate which video format it is currently playing; all you can see is the current resolution, which you access by pressing the "Output" button on the player's front while it is in stop mode - the display, which is dimmable, then shows the desired information. At least this button also allows direct switching between 576p and 1080p.

Loading Time:
At 46 seconds, the loading time for a Blu-ray disc is irritatingly long. Even if the disc was already in the player when the user switched it on from standby, the process takes a seemingly never-ending 20 seconds. Many other players can do this significantly faster.

The BDP 7200's HDMI video frequency-response is exemplary.

Blu-ray:
The most important feature of a Blu-ray player - the quality of Blu-ray playback - is excellent on the BDP 7200. We saw almost no cause for criticism in our laboratory tests - the Philips correctly reproduces the digital black-white level across the entire dynamic range, and the color-decoding in the digital RGB color-space barely deviates from the standard. The player therefore guarantees neutral colors.

The Philips also masters perfect de-interlacing of Blu-ray movies, a talent that has now become standard for Blu-ray players. In fact, it's no longer anything special, but high-definition TV productions - as opposed to movies - and documentaries with 60 frames per second still show slight differences from one player to the next. In this respect, the BDP 7200 provides the display device with beautifully smooth edges and optimal vertical resolution. Our only negative observation came during a test sequence in which cars move quickly across the picture: The license plates showed slightly frayed ghost-images.

Sound Quality

The range of audio outputs makes the Philips a versatile all-rounder - the player will also be of interest to those using older receivers without an HDMI input.

Back on form, the Philips scores plenty of plus points with its excellent sound quality and a multitude of audio connections. The player can, for example, process all 7.1 surround channels and the full dynamics of the new HD audio formats and then output the lossless formats either as an HDMI bitstream or as a decoded Multichannel PCM signal.

But the Dutch company has kept in mind older AV receivers that lack an HDMI input: The BDP 7200 can provide such devices with a dynamic 5.1 downmix of the HD audio formats from its analog multichannel output. The Philips even makes great listening with analog CD audio, which sounds highly accurate and clear.