Wow, for half that, I can build an HTPC that will perform just as well... (or I could use the one I have). How many people will be able to tell the difference with the color upscaling, and will it be a $2000 difference?

once it's sent to a display. not sure if hdmi can't take it, but quite sure that lcd won't. so much for 16bit/color and your 2000$

I havent looked at the product to comment on it and its value.

What I do know is that if you look at Hi Fi mags and the hi fi scene you can get DVD players and even CD players for over 2k, so a blu-ray for that price isnt so expensive for that target market.

With most things, the extra quality and/or value you get for the more money you spend tends to go down. eg a top of the line sports car wont go twice as fast as a sports car of half the price, but it generally does go faster.

eg2 a basketball star in NBA may make many times more dollars than a lesser known player in the same team, but while that star will get better stats in the adverage game, the stats wont be better by the amount that their pay is better.

Great specs, players like these only shines with comparable equipment. I can hardly wait to mate this player with Pana PT-AE3000.