Beginners Introduction to Blu-Ray Technology

Blu-ray is the whole new level of home entertainment. It is a real movie watching experience. It is basically meant for the high definition videos. The high definition video requires a lots more space for its detailed frames to be stored on optical disc which Blu-ray can easily provide, as its storing capacity is more than 25GB.

If you are planning to buy a Blu-ray player, it would be better to choose the right one for you by clearly knowing you requirements. Now question is what are the different options available in the market for buying it? This article will help you in knowing the best one for you.

First of all you need o know that how much you are willing to spend for your new player. In the beginning of the holidays you might have seen some advertisements for the Blu-ray players on sale. The players available on sale are usually the most basic type of players and range between $100 and $200.

But if you expect more than just the basic functions from your player than it is not an option for you. This means you are in to internet streaming videos. Netflix, CinemaNow and YouTube provide the streaming services of the movies in a player. If you want to avail this exciting feature of internet movie watching than it would require $50 to $100 in addition to the price of the basic player. All you need is to plug-in the internet supporting Ethernet cable in to your player. If your internet is good enough for streaming the high definition videos or ideally a broadband connection than it will be a very exciting and whole new video watching experience for you.

Blu-ray player with Ethernet support is good enough and will satisfy most of the people but bringing the Ethernet cable all the way to your Blu-ray player could be a problem for you and secondly if you are willing to spend about the $300 for the player than the fully loaded player is the right option for you. Fully loaded player supports the wireless internet. You can place it anywhere in your home and can still enjoy the streaming videos. There are few models which support wireless network but do not support Netflix, so if you are a Netflix user than you should specifically ask about the Netflix support on the shortlisted player model.

Edward has been writing on the web for over 7 years. His latest writings at http://www.samsungblurayplayer.net covers the samsung blu-ray player range and gives information and advice about the players.

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Choosing a Blu-Ray Player

If you feel you are ready to buy a Blu-ray player then it is well worth spending a little time getting to understand the basic Blu-ray features and terms. There are subtle differences between players and it's best to know what you're looking for.

Blu-ray is the standard high definition (HD) format now adopted by the whole domestic movie market. High definition means that the picture you see is at a far higher resolution than the older DVD standard.

DVD (NTSC) standard resolution is 720 pixels across by 480 pixels down the screen.

DVD (PAL) standard resolution is 720 pixels across by 576 pixels down the screen.

Blu-ray 1080i and 1080p refers to the best vertical resolution that Blu-ray provides which is 1080 pixels down and 1920 pixels across.

Most current LCD and plasma TVs will display the full Blu-ray resolution but it is best the make sure that your TV can achieve this. Firstly your TV must have an HDMI socket on the back and secondly check the user manual for reference to 1080i or 1080p. If either is missing you probably won't be able to achieve full Blu-ray resolution. HDMI is the connection down which the HD video and audio is transmitted.

That's the basics of HD explained, now for the more subtle differences between Blu-ray players.

Upscaling to 1080p via HDMI means that you are playing a lower resolution media like DVD on a Blu-ray player which is then scaled up to the 1080 resolution. The picture is slightly better than the original DVD if it were played through a DVD player but doesn't reach full Blu-ray clarity.

As with DVD players, there are regions that players will cover. DVD uses regions 1 to 8 and 0 is region free.

Blu-ray uses regions A, B and C.

Region A: North and South America, South and South East Asia, including Japan, Korea and Malaysia.

Region B: Europe, Australiia, New Zealand, Africa, Middle East and Greenland.

Region C: Central and South of Asia including China; Russica and Mongolia.

Virtually all Blu-ray players have online functionality. This is provided either through a LAN or Wi-Fi interface to your internet router. Internet connectivity is completely optional as it is not always convenient to connect. If you do decide to get connected then there are several services available to you depending on the make and model of player you decide to purchase.

Sony's BD-Live lets you download additional movie content.

Samsung and LG players provide access to YouTube movies and MKV files.

Panasonic has Viera Cast, it's on demand TV service and, more services are appearing all the time as manufacturers bring constantly evolving services via the internet.

Now for me, online functionality is of very little advantage as I live out in the country and my bandwidth is quite poor but, for those of you who have access to good bandwidth then the online services available to you through your Blu-ray player are well worth it.

The features available are very extensive but I hope the ones I have shown you above are helpful and give you a good starting point from which to choose your Blue-ray player.

Now if you're looking for a player that gives you great value for money then the Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player is a great choice so why not take a look by clicking HERE.

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