Blu-ray players and recorders -
knowing the essentials before you buy

... buying guide for blu-ray players

What is a Blu-ray disk and why would you need it?

The average DVD disk has only 4.7GB storage capacity (single sided), which is not enough to store a full HD movie that requires about 15-30 GB when recorded in 1080p (full HD). This is the main reason why a new storage medium had to be found - and this turned out to be the Blu-ray disk.

Blu-ray disks have the same physical size as DVDs but offer significantly larger data storage capacities of up to 25GB for single layer disks and 50GB for dual layer disks. This is achieved with the use of blue-violet laser, which has a shorter wave length than the red laser used in DVD recording. The shorter wavelength makes it possible to record much finer detail onto the disk (almost ten times more than on DVDs).

Due to these differences it is not possible to play a Blu-ray disk on a normal DVD player - and that's why you need a Blu-ray player if you want to watch full HD disk recordings on your 1080p HDTV. However, if you have only a standard TV without HMDI input, you are probably better served with a cheaper DVD player ( unless you are thinking of upgrading).

What do you need to know about Blu-ray players

The good news is that Blu-ray players let you also play DVDs. As the video information on DVDs is generally stored at 720 x 576 (PAL) resolution, it has to be 'upconverted' to 1920 x 1080 in order to fit a full HD display.

In other words, the upconverting video software of the Blu-ray player has to fill in the missing pixels that are not recorded on the DVD. The quality of this upconverting can be quite different between different players and is therefore one thing you need to watch if you intend to play a lot of DVDs and view them on your new Full HDTV. Good upconverting (with interpolation between pixels) can get impressive results, however, it will never quite reach the quality of a proper Blu-ray movie.

Another advantage of most Blu-ray video recordings is that they provide lossless audio, which offers superior sound quality compared to DVD video. You need, however a suitable sound system to get the full benefit of this.

You should also be aware that Blu-ray players come in different 'profiles' which are standards that tell you something about the capabilities and features that you can expect from a particular player.

The currently available profiles are 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0. Profile 1.0 has now been superseded by 1.1 or Bonus View. Profile 1.1, for instance, lets you display picture in picture, which can be useful for some interactive features in movies.

The highest bluray standard is currently Profile 2.0 or BD-Live. The main difference between Profile 1.1 and Profile 2.0 is that BD-Life players need to provide internet connection capability and have larger local storage capacity (1 GB). The internet connection allows for automatic firmware updates, games, chats, downloads, video streaming etc.

Another thing to watch is connectivity. All players should have HDMI ports to connect to the TV set. Some players may offer an Ethernet port or even integrated Wi-Fi with the BD-Life features. It could be a good idea if you get a Blu-ray player from the same company as your TV set as there may be special communication features available and you might only require one remote control (e.g. BRAVIA Sync, etc.).

As prices of Blu-ray players, even with advanced features, have come down significantly in the meantime, there is probably not much point in buying a DVD player anymore if you have any kind of HD TV with HDMI input (you can play DVDs on Blu-ray anyway).

To complicate matters, you will need special 3d blu-ray players to be able to play 3d content and watch it on a dedicated 3d TV. Read more about 3d TV...

Blu-ray recorders

Blu-ray recorders are usually an advanced feature of some top level PVRs. These PVRs contain their own tuners and a large hard disk drive to record programs, etc. The integrated Blu-ray recorder allows you, for example, to archive recordings (in full HD) to Blu-ray disk (and this at a price). If this is important to you then blu-ray recording may be what you want.

The Panasonic DMR-BS750 is one of the few units that offer a Blu-ray recorder included with twin Freesat Tuners and 250GB hard disk and has top reviews on many internet sites.

Return to previous page