Costco has the Panasonic DMP-BD35AK Blu-ray player for $199 ($279.99 – $80 instant rebate = $199.99) at their brick and mortar stores. CNET called the DMP-BD35 the “best player for the money” and noted it was the first standalone Blu-ray player to match the essential features of the gold standard Playstation 3. See their video review below.

This is a solid price for a great player, especially with the inclusion of the HDMI cable. Not a bad deal if you missed out on the Sears’ pricing mistake that had it at $149 a couple weeks ago.

Links:

Panasonic DMP-BD35AK at Costco deal discussion at FatWallet.com

CNET’s review of the Panasonic DMP-BD35

The only way to know how good of a television you have is to push it to its limits. Here are four DVDs to add to your library that will challenge your HDTV while also entertaining you:

The Fifth Element

This DVD has become the classic demo disc for home theater. The movie features the whole enchilada when it comes to movie sensory perception. The detailed and saturated visuals run the gamut of colors, and the soundtrack makes brilliant use of 5.1 audio, featuring a dynamic range of both highs and lows along with hundreds of individual sound effects. The disc is also good for experimentation if you want to mess around with your TV’s picture settings. Check out the Ultimate Edition for the best version.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

An early scene in this disc features the ship HMS Surprise sailing through a heavy fog at dawn as it’s being hunted by another ship. This challenging scene, with its range of grays, will test your TV’s  ability to show grayscale, white balance, and subtle shadings. Lesser TV sets may display banding in these scenes. The movie is also a classic, well worth having in your library.

U-571

This disc will push your subwoofer to its limits, particularly in the scenes featuring depth charges. The picture has a pure film look and is filled with low-saturation colors. Plasma owners, in particular, can test their black levels on the dimly-lit scenes on the sub.

Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl

With its gorgeously detailed costume and set design, this DVD is perfect for testing your TV’s ability to show detail. It’s also good for testing the deinterlacing quality of your DVD player vs the one in your HDTV. Compare and contrast tiny details like the hairs in Captain Jack Sparrow’s dreads. If you own a Blu-ray player and you’re feeling especially nerdy, rent both the Blu-ray and DVD versions to see how much more detail you’re getting for your $1,000 Blu-ray player.

The BBC series Planet Earth is one the most-recommended Blu-ray discs out there. For fans of wildlife programming, this series is a must see.

Regular price is $67. You get 20% off with coupon code DDAF, which expires June 22, 2008.

This is the superior British version narrated by David Attenborough. There is an “Americanized” version narrated by Sigourney Weaver that reviewers say isn’t as good.

Deal Link:

DeepDiscount.com

Helpful Links:

Review of Planet Earth.

Calibrating your TV sounds very technical and expensive. It doesn’t have to be. If fact, you may already have free calibration tools in your DVD collection. The THX Optimizer is a set of tests to optimize your television and is found on DVDs which are THX certified.

The THX Optimizer gives step-by-step instructions to test and fine tune your HDTV’s audio and video. The audio testing features a signal sent to each surround sound speaker to confirm proper hook-up. The video testing fine tunes your HDTV’s color, tint, brightness, and contrast settings. CNET Australia has a closer look at using the tools. The color and tint tests require THX Optimizer glasses. They are available from the THX.com store for $1.99 plus shipping ($2.50-$6.00 for the US).

So, how do you find out which DVDs are THX certified? THX.com let’s you search for a particular title or shows you a list of of all the DVDs. Currently, there are 322 THX-certified DVDs listed, but there may be more. For instance, the DVD for Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride (2006) features the tools, but the DVD does not appear on THX.com’s list. Here’s a select few that might be worth picking up from Amazon or eBay:

• The Abyss (2002)
• Castaway (2001)
• Finding Nemo (2003)
• Hidalgo (2004)
• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
• The Incredibles (2005)
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (2003 re-release)
• The Lion King (2003)
• Nightmare Before Christmas (2003)
• Pirates of the Caribbean (2005)
• Sin City (2005)
• Star Wars Trilogies (2004, 2005, 2006)

Digg.com and Revision3 founder Kevin Rose has been putting together a new home theater system and filming live-streaming videos of himself doing it. So is he going plasma or LCD?

Neither, he’s anchoring his system with an HD projector, the Panasonic PT-AE2000U. The projector delivers a 1080p HD picture at 1500 lumens and a 16,000:1 contrast ratio and is currently going for $2700 on Amazon.com (review of projector). To complement it, he’s mounting a large motorized projector screen on the wall. There seems to be a large window right next to the screen–is he concerned about light washing out the picture?

For a receiver, he’s going with a high-end Denon (model unknown). Connected to it are a Series 3 HD TiVO and an Apple TV.

He didn’t stint on the speakers. He’s got a pair of Klipsch XF-48 floor-standing speakers ($1249 each) along with a Klipsch subwoofer and center channel. His rear speakers were not shown, but with his good friend Jack Buser from Dolby there to help him set things up, I’m sure he’s got things covered. Or is that center speaker doubling for the surround sound duties?

Rough estimated cost of Kevin’s current setup?

Projector: $2700.
Projector screen: $700.
Denon receiver: $1200.
Series 3 HD TiVO: $660.
Klipsch right and left floor standing speaker: $2500 ($1249 each).
Klipsch subwoofer: $500.
Klipsch center speaker: $450.
Apple TV: $330.
Professional installation: free

Total: $9040

Kevin’s Qik videos: 1, 2.

*Update from Kevin* Mr. Rose says he does have the surround sound system, the XF-48 Home Theater System. Also, his Denon Receiver is the AVR-4308CI.

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