The Blu-Ray Truth

Posted in Technology on January 6, 2009 at 4:59 pm

 

Who doesn’t love a good movie? During the cold winter months, in a failing economy most folks are choosing to forego a night out to stay in the warmth with loved ones. With the holidays just past us, there were likely lots of HDTV and surround sound system purchases, which isn’t something new. However anyone who has seen a movie advertisement on TV lately notices the push that the industry is placing on a newer medium. The Blu-Ray disc. Hearing “Now available on DVD and Blu-Ray” is a guarantee during movie commercials between your favorite TV shows. But is it a big deal?…

 

First I’ll cover the tech incidentals for super beginners. A blu-ray disc is simply another storage medium, capable of holding about 10 times more than a single layer DVD, thus allowing for a higher definition of video. The blue laser used to read and write to the disc is where the name comes from, as opposed to the red lasers used for DVD’s. But enough of that.

 

Now I’d like you to flashback briefly to when you first watched a DVD after coming from VHS, do you remember realizing how strikingly crisp it was? How it felt as though you’d never seen anything quite as beautiful on your home TV ever before in your life? If not, haha, maybe that was just me; If so, the transition from DVD to Blu-Ray isn’t anywhere near as intense, mainly because we are used to seeing high quality video in this day and age. Furthermore, we were able to see the drastic changes on DVD with our standard definition televisions. With Blu-Ray, you’d better have an HDTV, optimally a 1080p one, if you really want to experience what they were made for. However, the difference is definitely there. Viewers will notice deeper blacks, richer colors and a contrast that make environments really stand out, all of which truly bring the power of your HDTV to the forefront. Although, some critics say that most of this can be achieved by using a high definition(HDMI) input between your DVD player and HDTV which costs anywhere from $50 – $90.

 

The cost of Blu-Ray players have decreased dramatically, most less than $300 dollars, making them more appealing to buyers with the cost of movies averaging around $30. The other thing they don’t really tell you is that depending on when the movie was released in theaters, you may only get a marginal benefit from seeing it on Blu-Ray if any at all because older movies weren’t shot with today’s grade of cameras. Smart shopper wise — it’d be best to look for a player that provides options other than just playing Blu-Rays like connecting to Netflix to watch movies instantly, and accessing other internet content. BD-LIVE is a special feature built into most blu-ray movies and it allows access to special content, but you have to have a player that can connect to the internet. The fallback option of all this is just getting a PS3 for about $100 more and calling it a day, since it has a Blu-Ray player, as well as Wi-Fi built in.

 

So the verdict is simple.

If you want the most bang for your buck, even if you aren’t a gamer – get a PS3. Which is what I did.

If you want a crisper picture with the DVD player you have, try an HDMI cable connection.

If you just want to buy a Blu-Ray player for the hell of it then do that too, seeing as you probably made your mind up prior to reading this.

Tags: Electronics