Just five years ago, a Blu-ray Disc player was a £1000 purchase – and the pricing made the technology easy to ignore. But today, new Blu-ray players cost less than £100 and are becoming mainstream. What’s the attraction? Here are some advantages of Blu-ray discs (BDs) over DVDs.
1. Blu-ray brings out the beauty of modern TVs. If you’ve bought an expensive plasma, LCD or widescreen CRT HDTV, you won’t enjoy its full benefits with a DVD player. A Blu-ray Disc or BD provides six times the resolution of a DVD. You’ll enjoy more vibrant colours, a noticeably clearer picture and the illusion of 3D. Even classic black and white movies look sharper with Blu-ray technology.
2. Blu-ray provides incredible audio. You’ll enjoy a better surround sound experience. Blu-ray players support Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital and other high-def sound systems. Some can even handle full 7.1 channel surround sound, which involves eight speakers instead of six.
3. BDs have giant storage capacity. While a standard DVD holds about 4.5 gigabytes of data, a Blu-ray Disc holds about 27G. That’s about 13 hours of material. In other word, you could store a full DVD set on one BD.
4. You can legally copy a Blu-ray Disc. Blu-ray uses “mandatory managed copy,” a system that permits disc owners to copy their media a limited number of times without breaking copyright laws. Some possible uses for this option include creating a backup copy and creating a compressed version to watch on a portable device.
5. You can buy two discs for the price of one. Since Blu-Ray discs cost more than DVDs, some manufacturers now bundle the BDs with free DVD copies of the same movie. That means you can play the movie on your computer, even without a new drive, or in your automobile.
6. You’ll get free content online. New Blu-ray players have wireless Internet connections. When you’re connected to the web, you can watch shows and movies from Amazon, Hulu, Vudu and other sites that stream video. Through special Blu-ray websites, you can also access deleted scenes, play exclusive games, participate in chat rooms and more. Additionally, you can very easily update the player’s firmware through a WiFi connection.
7. Many BDs have backwards compatibility. The Blu-ray Disc Association encourages manufacturers to make BD players compatible with CDs and DVDs. If you play a DVD on a Blu-ray player, the picture quality will approach high-definition. Using an HDMI cable gets the best results.
8. Computers are becoming Blu-ray friendly. Plenty of manufacturers now provide Blu-ray drives for PCs. Computer companies such as Apple Computer, Dell and Hewlett Packard have embraced BD technology too.
9. Some BD players support DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance). This means that they can interface with your home computer. You can easily import your music files, home movies, digital photos and other media to your high-def TV. Many Blu-ray players will also connect to your iPod or other MP3 player.