Are you considering adding a Blu-ray player to your home theater, but are not sure where to begin? What benefits will you see with a Blu-ray player that you don’t have in your existing DVD player?
Blu-ray is quickly becoming the standard for movie fans. Blu-ray offers playback of discs at full HD 1080p and up to 5 times the amount of detail. A Blu-ray will offer an extremely sharp picture and accurate color reproduction. Another important aspect is the next generation audio support with lossless audio such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master Audio that immerses you in the action like never before.
So what are some of the things to look for in your new player?
1. What profile is your player? The first generation Blu-ray players were 1.0 and were quickly updated with profile 1.1 or Bonus View which allows for picture in picture and other interactive features. The current standard is profile 2.0 which allows for internet connectivity for special features that are updated online and other things such as online trailers or things such as merchandise sales.
2. What audio does your player support. This area is a bit confusing, but very important. One of Blu-rays most important benefit is the support of next generation audio such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master audio. There are 2 ways to take advantage of this audio support.
One, your player can stream the audio which means it can pass through the audio codes through HDMI to your receiver and your receiver can then decode it. Of course you need to make sure you have a recent receiver that is able to decode the next generation audio.
The second option is to get a player that can decode the next generation audio internally and then send it out to your receiver. This is the option for those who do not have a receiver that can decode the audio.
3. Can the player effectively upscale dvds? This will allow you to play a dvd movie in the drive and have it upscaled into HD resolutions. Keep in mind that a player can only work with the data on the drive so you can’t expect true HD quality however some Blu-ray upscaling capabilities are much better then others due to internal processing capabilities.
4. Load times. How fast does the player load the disc? Blu-ray is currently slower then traditional dvd so you can expect to wait a bit longer after loading your disc before it starts.
5. Of course the 1080p picture quality is also an extremely important thing to consider as well. Is the picture sharp? Are colors lifelike and vivid?
So what are some popular Blu-ray players to consider? Check out:
1. Sony BDP-S350 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player
2. Sony BDP-S550 1080p Blu-Ray Player
3. Panasonic DMP-BD35K 1080p Blu-Ray Player
4. Panasonic DMP-BD55K 1080p Blu-Ray Player
5. Samsung BD-P1500 1080p Blu-ray Player
6. Pioneer BonusView BDP-51FD Blu-Ray Disc Player
7. PlayStation 3
