Blu Ray Player Reviews

Introduction to Blu-Ray Players

Blu-ray, or Blu-ray Disc, is an optical disc technology developed by a group of the leading manufacturers of consumer electronics, personal computers, etc., in the world – known collectively as the Blu-ray Association – as a replacement for existing DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW and DVD-RAM disc technologies. Unlike its predecessors however, Blu-ray relies on a shorter wavelength blue-violet laser rather than a red laser, for reading and writing data. A shorter wavelength means that laser light can be more sharply focused on the surface of the disc, leading to smaller pits – the spiral grooves used to store digitally encoded video and audio – and a huge increase in storage capacity. In fact, a blue-violet laser is capable of reading data from pits just 0.15µm across, half the size of those on a standard DVD, so despite the fact that Blu-ray discs are the same diameter (120mm) and thickness (1.2mm) as a standard DVD they are capable of storing up to five or six times more data. Blu-ray is currently supported by 200 or so major manufacturers worldwide and with Toshiba withdrawing its competing HD DVD format in March 2008, obsolescence is no longer an issue.

Blu-Ray Player Features & Benefits

The principal advantage of Blu-ray over DVD of course, is the sheer amount of information that can be stored on a single disc. A single layer Blu-ray disc for example, can hold up 27GB of data, or enough for over two hours of HD – High Definition – video, while a dual layer disc can hold up to 50GB. In practical terms this is the key to Blu-ray and Blu-ray players because this level of storage capacity allows an entire Hollywood film, at maximum resolution of 1,920 rows by 1,080 columns of pixels, scanned progressively – often written as 1920 x 1080 or simply 1080p – to be contained on single disk.

DVD by contrast, offers resolution limited to 720 x 480 or 480p and the superior resolution of Blu-ray is evident in the clarity, detail and overall quality of the image displayed.

Blu-ray also uses a superior method of video compression, applied during the mastering process to reduce the quantity of data needed to represent video images, resulting in higher contrast and deeper, richer colours. In fact, Blu-ray provides the highest quality of video currently available, but it is worth bearing in mind that unless you have a television set designated Full HD – that is, 1920 x 1080, 1080p – and equipped with at least one HDMI – High Definition Multimedia Interface – input you will not be able to experience its full benefits.

That said, Blu-ray players themselves are typically backwardly compatible with DVD or CD, despite the different types of laser used to read and write the media. An optical pickup unit affords compatibility between the various formats and if you are interested in playing your existing DVD collection on a Blu-ray player you may also be interested in a feature known as upscaling. Essentially, the process of upscaling takes the 480p content of a standard DVD and scales it up to a resolution suitable for display on an HDTV screen. This end result is not Full HD in its strictest sense, but merely an approximation of it; nevertheless, some Blu-ray players also add extra detail to the original content, using a process of educated guesswork known as interpolation, so sharper more detailed images can be created even from standard DVD.

Blu-Ray Player Buying Considerations

The quality of audio afforded by Blu-ray players is also typically improved in comparison with standard DVD players, but this does depend largely on how the audio is reproduced and audio support does vary quite widely from player to player. Blu-ray players transmit digital audio signals to an AV receiver or a TV set via HDMI or optical or coaxial cable. All Blu-ray players support Dolby Digital, DTS and PCM digital surround sound formats and are therefore capable of decoding the soundtracks of commercial Blu-ray discs, but if you want to enjoy additional soundtrack formats, such as Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Master Audio, bear in mind that support for these formats tends to be available only in the more expensive models. You may of course decide that the extra expense is worth it, because these 7.1 or 8-channel surround sound formats provide audio that is identical to the studio master.

One aspect of Blu-ray players that many buyers find confusing is the profile that is used to describe the revision of the Blu-ray specification with which the player complies. We should remember however, that Blu-ray is a relatively new technology – the first Blu-ray players started to appear as recently as 2006 – so evolution of the specification is almost inevitable. Basic early players were designated Profile 1.0, but this was replaced shortly afterwards by Profile 1.1, or Bonus View, which supports picture-in picture functionality and subsequently by Profile 2.0 or BD Live.

BD Live requires that a Blu-ray player has an Internet connection, usually via a Ethernet port, which can be used to access downloadable content associated with a Blu-ray disc (rather than just for firmware upgrades, as is the case with some Profile 1.1 Blu-ray players). Profile 2.0 also increases the requirement for local storage capacity from 246MB to 1GB, to accommodate downloadable content. The specification does not state in what form this storage should be supplied however, so you may find players with integral storage, USB ports or SD memory expansion card slots.

Whichever revision of the specification you choose and especially if you opt for Profile 1.1 or Profile 1.0 player at a discounted price, be prepared for its response to be slow, both in reading and ejecting Blu-ray discs. Thankfully, improvements to file system specifications, etc., mean that response times of 60 seconds or more, to eject a disk are a thing of the past, but Blu-ray players can still be frustratingly slow when compared to their less illustrious cousins, DVD players; this is often especially true if a remote control is involved.

Blu-Ray Player Reviews