Blu-ray Player Reviews

What is Blu-ray?

Blu-ray Disk is an optical disk storage medium built to replace the DVD format. Boasting five times the resolution of DVD, this is the video format of the future and a Blu-Ray player is an essential accompaniment to any modern HDTV. The picture, sound and interactive enhancements that Blu-Ray brings is impressive. The Blu-ray multi media format allows for the audio and video to be stored with higher definition than on DVD.

The disk is the same size as DVDs and CDs and DVD playback is standard on all Blu-ray players so you do not have to replace your present DVD film collection. Many top end players even provide access to online video services as well as support for the 3D Blu-Ray standard.

The cost of Blu-ray Discs are typically around double that of DVDs and contain 25GB per layer, with twin/dual layer discs ( 50GB ) being the standard for feature-length videos. Triple-layer discs ( 100GB ) and quadruple layer ( 128GB ) is available for BD-XL re-writer drives.

HD Formats

HDTV come in 2 main formats 1080i and 1080p. The four-digit number tells you how many horizontal lines make up the picture, and the letter shows how it’s broadcast. The ‘ i ‘ means the picture is ‘interlaced ‘ and sent in 2 sequences, one after another, and then meshed together. Virtually all HD broadcasts are in 1080i. However, most hi-def DVD players use the 1080p format where the picture is sent in a single sequence making the picture sharper than 1080i (but the difference is hardly noticeable).

You cannot view Blu-ray in high definition glory without an HDTV. Most new HD-ready sets can process a 1080p signal and will work well with Blu-ray players. Televisions with an ‘HD-ready 1080p ‘ brand simply have a higher display resolution which is not a guarantee of a better picture. It’s unfortunate that many older HD-ready sets cannot do justice to the Blu-ray standard of playback and it’s not unusual to see a slight juddering effect on these older televisions.

The HD Upscaling Myth

Some companies claim if you playback a standard (non HD) DVD in your Blu-ray player when connected through HDMI the picture will be ‘up-scaled ‘ or augmented to give a pseudo HD effect. Sadly this is more hype by advertisers than anything else and many experts and purists will tell you that there is actually no visible improvement.

What are the benefits over HD-DVD?

Even though both Blu-ray and HD-DVD are similar in various ways, there are a number of important differences between them. As well as capacity, Blu-ray has a greater data transmission rate for video and audio (54Mbps vs 36.55Mbps). The larger storage capability and data transfers for Blu-ray allows the movie studios to release their movies with higher quality video and sound quality than the HD-DVD format.

As far as content is concerned, Blu-ray has gained extensive support from the foremost movie studios as a successor to DVD format (so you actually won’t be able of get your films in other formats) and selecting the format with the greatest amount of content minimizes risk.

The Blu-ray format has also broad acceptance from the world’s major electronics, computer and media producers, together with Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Pioneer, Sharp, JVC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, TDK, Thomson, LG, Apple, HP and Dell. Blu-ray is also supported in the latest-generation PlayStation 3 (PS3) console. This means that you will have an incredible selection of players and hardware. HD-DVD format has significantly fewer supporters, so the amount of content and hardware will be very limited. Toshiba was the only company providing a stand-alone HD-DVD player and have finally decided to withdraw from the battle and stop manufacturing high-definition units (so Blu-ray has definitely won the day).

Why should I upgrade?

The simple answer is for HDTV. If you’ve ever seen high-definition (HD) video on an HDTV, then you know how incredibly sharp the image is and how bright the colours are. HD offers a greater amount of detail compared to standard-definition (SD). The problem with today’s DVDs, is they don’t have the essential storage capability to satisfy the requirements of HD. That is where Blu-ray comes in, it offers up to 50GB of capacity and permits playback, recording and rewriting in HD resolutions including 1080p. The format also supports high-definition audio codecs and lossless audio.

In addition to the greater video and audio quality, the greater capacity also means there is more room for added content and unique features. This combined with the brand new BD-J interactivity layer adopted as part of Blu-ray can carry the menus, images and unique options to an entire new level. For instance, it is possible for you to bring up the menu system as an overlay without stopping the film, and it’s possible to have the director on the screen explaining the filming of a scene at the same time as the movie in the background. The advanced interactivity with the networking features of Blu-ray will also allow content manufacturers to support new innovative options by downloading extra content via the internet, and watching of live event broadcasts

With the greater HD video and audio quality in addition to the advanced interactivity and networking options, Blu-ray represents a huge jump ahead in viewing experience and can offer a fabulous HD experience.

See: Todays Top 100 Best Selling Blu-ray Players & Recorders.