Still haven’t bought a Blu-ray player yet? None of those Black Friday deals were tempting enough for you? Maybe you’re scoping out today’s Cyber Monday deals looking for some budget Blu?

We asked the trusty souls over on the AVS Forum for their Blu-ray player recommendations as part of our “AVS Recommends” series, and the results leave us with one big question for you—do you like video games? Sony’s PlayStation 3 gaming console doubles as far and away the most recommended Blu-ray player by the AVS crowd.

It wasn’t even close if you combine Panasonic’s well-regarded standalone DMP-BD35 and DMP-BD55 models—they each received the same number of recommendations (or “votes” if you will), but put together were still nearly tripled by the PS3 supporters. Overall, recommendations for Sony’s PS3 totaled more than half of the nearly 300 responses. We took the top nine responses and put them into the slideshow for you (with MSRPs included—you’ll have to fend for yourself on pricing since this is the time of year for deals anyway—and please feel free to let us know the best price you’ve found for each product).

Oh have the times changed in just two months since we posted our own list of Blu-ray players that we felt provided the best value—prices have sunk much lower since then. But you won’t see too much crossover here—AVSers didn’t show much love for Sharp, Memorex or Sherwood.

One intriguing Blu-ray player that seems like it will be poised to make “Best of” or “Budget” or “Recommended” Blu-ray player lists next time around? Oppo’s yet-to-be-delivered BD-83 product—count us among those looking forward to this release, but also count four people who chalked it up during our AVS survey already! Yup, we hope it lives up to the quality and affordability of Oppo’s other products too.

For now, though, the PlayStation 3 rules the roost, but if you’re not a gamer there are plenty of options for less expensive standalone players that will keep your eyes glued to the high-def glory.

Click here to view the slideshow.

Other “AVS Recommends” articles:
6 Killer Plasma TVs
9 Great LCD TVs
5 Rockin’ & Affordable 5.1 Speaker Systems
8 Great A/V Receivers for Under $1K
7 Heavenly Flat-Panel Speakers

About the Author:
Arlen Schweiger - Managing editor of Electronic House Magazine

Arlen contributes product news items to electronichouse.com along with his role on the print publication. Got a tip? Send it along!