We dream of a Blu-ray Christmas

Blu-ray is nearing 3 years old, and getting toward a year past the demise of its only competition – HD-DVD. HD-DVD called it quits early 2008 but few homes have made room for the HD Blu-ray format in the living room. While high-quality LCD’s and Plasma’s continue to get snapped up at record pace ahead of the holidays, most homes lack a true HD-quality video source. We take close a look at the Blu-ray landscape and find a lot of things to like as well as some recommended products if you’re looking to get started.

Blu-Ray Format

Blu-Ray has a number of strong capabilities and it has also become quite a bit more affordable.  A few years ago you could expect to pay $600 or up for a player.  Today you can get a good one for just over $200.  (There are options under $200 but come with too many issues for us to recommend at this time.)  Here are some of the top benefits of Blu-Ray:

• Only HD optical format supported industry-wide
• Markedly improved resolution and video quality compared to DVD
• 50 GB per Disc
• Over 9 hours of HD video per disc
• Wide range of popular video and audio formats (Dolby Digital, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, etc.)
• Support for downloading additional dynamic content if internet connection available
• Blu-ray readers and burners can be purchased inexpensively for PC’s and Mac’s  (See popular Blu-ray Drives for PC/Mac)

It once was the case that Blu-ray discs were hard to find, but today popular video services like NetFlix and Blockbuster Online will send a growing number of Blu-ray titles right to your house and of course the local video store is likely to have them as well.

Playing The Blu’s

Blu-ray can make your favorite movies (our current faves on Blu-ray are The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
or The Ultimate Matrix Collection) truly amazing.  Where do you go from here?  Unfortunately this is where a lot of people get stuck and understandably so.

There are two paths – either gets you to the best video and audio playback to take advantage of your LCD or Plasma.

First, you can get a standard player.  Many people prefer this method as it’s traditional, fits well into existing home theater cabinets and is “plug and play” (put the disc in, it plays, done).  Prices have dropped incredibly and now some pro-quality Blu-ray players can be had under $300.  In our research, we have identified two to consider:

Panasonic DMP-BD30K Player – consistently receives top ratings from consumers and professionals alike for its good build quality, sleek appearance, feature set and overall video quality.  It is a very fast-loading player meaning it’s responsive to your requests.

Sony BDP-S350 Blu-ray Player.  Sony invented the format, so it’s no surprise they make an excellent player. While you will pay a premium (as usual) for Sony’s equipment, rest assured the BDP-S350 has a number of great features, including an ethernet cable to download player updates and to download internet-only extras and behind-the-scenes content.  The Panasonic DMP-BD30K lacks internet connectivity.

One additional player option is worth considering, especially those with children in the house (or children-at-heart).  The Playstation 3 Console from who else – Sony. These start at $299 – or only a few dollars more than the recommended dedicated Blu-ray players above) but offer far more for your entertainment dollar. In addition to being a well-regarded and capable Blu-ray playback machine, the PS3 has a full internet browser, can playback all sorts of content you download off the PC (including DivX format video), serve as an “iTunes in your living room”, and did we mention that it plays games in 1080p ?

The major downside of the PS3 comes right from one of its benefits.  For the non-gaming home or the traditionalist set, all those extra features could make simpler activities like watching a Blu-ray movie Friday night an exercise in frustration.  Although the PS3 auto-plays Blu-ray discs on startup, there are a number of menus and a traditional remote control must be purchased extra (you can of course remote-control the PS3 with the included gaming controller).

Summary

The home theater format war over – at least for now.  Tons of Blu-ray titles are available at retail and from rental services.  But perhaps as importantly, Blu-ray players are finally getting to be a sensible choice for those looking to make the most of their home theater investment.  If you have already purchased great speakers and a crystal clear LCD/Plasma, do yourself a favor and spend a few hundred more so you can get the most of it.  Blu-ray is the uncontested king of video formats today.  Many will continue to be satisfied with DVD and it’s not going anywhere of course.  But the home theater enthusiast/fence-sitter should seriously consider if this holiday season there’s going to be a Blu-Christmas.