When people ask me what Blu-ray player they should buy, I usually defer, since I don’t own one. But if pressed, I’ll say a PS3. Why not? But now, it’s clear that even real-brand players are both affordable and capable. Sony’s new BDP-N460, announced today at CEDIA, provides what were once luxuries at what is not quite a bargain price, but at least is very reasonable.

Streaming and rentable video from the Bravia Internet Video platform means YouTube, Slacker, and Netflix shortly. It does 7.1 out, upscaling, and “Deep color,” although I don’t see whether it supports the latest HDMI standard. Anyway, at $250 it’s a pretty solid deal, although Sony wants to you pay extra for storage space and a Linksys ethernet bridge that “helps ease the connection between the Ethernet–enabled player and a wireless router.” Good, it was chafing me.

More details here; it should be available in October.