Recommend blue-ray player w/ lots of functions?

Without knowing your budget, here are a couple of suggestions:

Marantz UD5005 - $600 (universal disk player)
Marantz SR5006 - $800 (receiver)

If you budget supports more then you can choose which step up the line you want to take.

I'd suggest getting matching components because it'll both work well and look great.

Another brand to look into is Integra.

If you have the budget and plan to get into stereo listening, consider getting a universal player that does SACD as well.

Oppo BDP-93 is $500 and does about everything.

I too like Marantz receivers, to me they are the best sounding of the lot. Oppo is a solid platform that sounds pretty good, you could go for the 95 if you want improved audio and the thing will play everything but HD DVD's.

Aria ... not sure why you say “I liked that it seemed to be saying it will act as a CD player with stereo sound.” It seems that you may have a misconception here. As far as I know, all DVD players also play CDs (although the reverse is not true). So the fact that the DMP-BDT310 plays CDs as well as DVDs is nothing special or unique.

Also not sure why you say “there doesn’t appear to be much out there in cyberspace about it” referring to the DMP-BDT310. I googled “DMP-BDT310” and “review” and that search returns lots of user reviews (overwhelmingly positive) as well as a several professional reviews (overwhelmingly positive).

I have no firsthand experience with the DMP-BDT310, but based on the information on the Internet, my impression is that you’ve purchased an excellent blu-ray disc player for the money. Having said that, I would be stunned if the CD audio quality from the $175 DMP-BDT310 would equal the CD audio quality that a dedicated CD player or a “universal” disc player would provide.

Given the objectives you’ve indicated, I think you have two basic options either of which seems reasonable to me: (1) keep the DMP-BDT310 and supplement it with a dedicated CD player or (2) return the DMP-BDT310 and replace it with a universal disc player.

Assuming you want to buy new, then for option 1 depending on your budget, take a look at the Marantz CD-5004 ($350 list), or the Marantz CD-6004 ($500 list), or the Marantz SACD/CD player ($1000 list). For a new dedicated CD player under $1000, I think Marantz is very hard to beat but there are competing products from a handful of other good brands (such as Cambridge Audio and NAD to name two).

On the other hand, if you explore option 2, again assuming you want to buy new and depending on your budget, take a look at the Marantz UD5005 ($600 list), or the Marantz (UD7006 (list $1000), or the Oppo products (BDP-93 at $500 list or BDP-95 at $1000 list). There is also the Marantz UD8004 which originally listed at $2300 but is now available for $1150 as a closeout from musicdirect.com. For a new universal player under $1200, I think either Marantz or Oppo are very hard to beat, but again, there are competing products from a handful of other good brands (such as Cambridge Audio and NAD).

not exactly sure what other functions you have a interest in but perhaps a PS3 would work for you. No idea how it scopes in the BD.CD/DVD playback quality world but you can do lots of stuff with it like web streaming and SACD. just a thought. ignore if off the mark. p.

Only the old PS3s do SACD and since they have an RF remote it makes a universal remote a lot more expensive if you want one. Other than that, I think they have some benefits.