5 stars

This is a really nice Blu-ray DVD player for the money.
Sleek looking with low profile, it is very handsome and compact.
The picture (as should be expected from Blu-ray) is terrific. The only con is that the remote button layout is a little confusing and takes getting used to (the way the "play", "stop", "pause", etc buttons are organized on remote). Not a big deal, just takes getting used to it. We see no reason to spend large amounts of money for a Sony etc. This one works great. NO regrets!

3 stars

UPDATE: I changed my review from 3 to 4 stars as the firmware updates are now available online via their site . Great player for the price.

ORIGINAL POST: I purchased this player as a gift for a family member and overall it's a good player - my only complaint is that there is nowhere to get firmware updates online - even their own website doesn't have any information about this or any bluray players made by their company. I finally had to call the company and leave a voicemail message. Overall a decent entry level player, but without firmware updates to play new movies, it didn't fit our needs (it couldn't play any of the newer movies we purchased). I returned it to my local Target. With firmware updates, it would have been a decent player.

4 stars

PROS: I just got this item today. The picture is superior. I have a Vizio 42" Plasma Tv 1080i. It looks great!! The set up was easy as well as navigating with the remote.

CONS: Some of the dvd's I play have subtitles that I cannot turn off. I read the manual and there is nothing that addresses this problem. The HDMI cable is not included. Without the HDMI cable the volume is not that good. I called target today and at first they said i would have to contact the manufacturer because it was a misprint or a fluke.
After about 15 minutes on the phone and telling them to read the guest reviews since I wasn't the only one with this problem, they decided to send me a gift card for the cost of the HDMI cable. I have to wait 7 days for it to arrive.
I don't feel that I should have to beg or fight with Target to get something that they list as being included to get it.

***I received the gift card today and purchased the HDMI cable. Now the sound is superior as well as the picture. I am very happy with this product.***

4 stars

This is a great player for the money. as for the firmware updates, they are not available on-line as of yet but if you contact their corporate office in Frisco TX they will gladly send you all of the latest updates on a disc then page 33 in the users manual will guide you through the install. the contact info is as follows for the disc.

Debbie Gatten
Curtis Mathes, Inc.

1 stars

I was one of the first to purchase this player so there weren't any reviews to warn me of this horrible player. Out of the box it wouldn't play about 50% of my Blu-Rays. Played regular DVD's ok, but the others wouldn't load, no DVD Menu access, and bad quality playability.

The remote has about a 3 foot distance, so I kept having to aim perfectly and get close to make it work.

One thing that was nice was the customer support. But, even the best customer support isn't going to make a bad player better. They sent me two firmware updates. The first didn't work, the second allowed me to play about 80% of the Blu-Rays. Ugh...

So I hung on to the player to live out the 90-day return policy to wait for Target to have another player around [..].(I payed with Gift Cards). The [..] popped up and I exchanged it immediately. What a difference! I wrote a review for that player if you want to see and I couldn't be happier.

Sure this player is cheap in price, but it shows through its design. Save yourself the hassle and buy another player.

Target: Take this thing off your sell list! Curtis Mathes used to be quality, now its just a pick your part junk yard.

5 stars

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this player. I purchased it Jan 7, 2009. It played all of my blu ray titles including the "Hancock" without downloading the firmware. The picture and sound quality is outstanding. I've also selected several dvds at random and the player upconverted them to very crisp play back images. I can tell you honestly that this is the best deal that I've found on blu ray players. I think you need to do the math. When you consider that only 7 responses have been posted on this site, with some positive, that pretty much tells the story. Some of the negative responses are just not logical. You can send an email to the customer service for the updated firmware as it's needed, they will send you a CD with all the firmware updates on it. This is buy far a great player for a great price. Don't pass this up.

1 stars

I bought this blueray player January 1, 09. As of February 8th, I still cant get firmware updates to work. Curtis Mathes didnt have firmware updates available until February 2. Very difficult to get help over the phone. I highly recommend that you stay away from this product.

3 stars

Image quality in 1080P/24 cinema mode looked awesome on my 65" DLP 1080P Mitsubishi. HDMI cable is not supplied but is not listed as supplied either. I Bought this unit for the 5.1 analog out to take advantage of the lossless audio since I have an older amp. The dynamic range and shear frontal presence (through full range front towers) will make you think you are in a good theater compared to the highly compressed audio coming through the fiber or coaxial digital output.

Boot up time is just over one minute to first disk image. If you were wanting to access your USB drive instead, another cool feature, you still have to wait until it starts the disk. Then you have to wait for the disk to get past the warnings before it will accept a stop or any other command. The unit is a little lethargic but I expected that with an early cheap player. For example, setting the video output to 1080P/24 will revert back to 1080i on next boot, but not always. So I have to drill into that menu every time I start a movie to make sure. Got a couple of disk errors on new regular dvd's but not any more. Unit has locked up twice requiring a hard shutdown, but never during a movie. I called their office and left a message that I had questions about issues and they never called back. I also submitted an online request on their site and have not received a response. I am worried that I won't be able to get firmware updates. But I don't care since I will probably get a better unit in two years when all of the prices have really dropped and the bugs are worked out. My recourse will be that it definitely won't be a Curtis Mathes.

I highly recommend it for its price point. HERE'S A UNLISTED BONUS, It plays PAL(European format)! I only had one disk to test it with, but that shouldn't matter.

2 stars

I bought this item because its the cheapest item out there. I have been trying lg, philips, magnavox, and this one The lg was nice with netflix and ethernet to update firmware over the internet, magnavox was fine but more expensive then the philips, the philips was the cheapest but played all my discs (except american carol). I played 12 movies since buying it. The Curtis mathes arrived, wouldn't play american carol or marley & me, called curtis mathes and Diane was very nice, at was quick to get through on Monday when I was working from home. They said to burn a disc, I did and the files showed up but it didn't seem to upgrade, I burned a couple more (different media and this time on a PC instead of MAC). Still no go, played the happening and I had to turn up the volume via the composite audio up 2x the normal level, sounded like crap. The box is slow to load, good quality construction though. I am going to return it since I only have a few days to return the phillips which is working fine for me. Don't waste your time, seen too many bad reviews on this