Should I get a Blu-ray player?

Question

Should I get a Blu-ray player?

Answer 1

Get a PS3.  That way you get a cool game system and a blu-ray player.

Answer 2

Just buy a multi format player and call it a day.

Answer 3

Not yet. Wait til they're cheaper and hopefully multi-region / recordable versions come out.

Answer 4

Sorry, Lola, but agp has you on this one.  While Netflix and Blockbuster may be ADDING Blu-Ray titles they are NOT selling off DVD's because of it.  If they're selling off DVD's then it's just DVD's that aren't watched as much any more because they've been out for a while.  Blu-Ray is considered an alternative to Blu-Rau and NOT a replacement.  Blu-Ray sales are about 1% of DVD sales and it will be a looooong time before DVD's ever go away.  It wouldn't even surprise me if something ELSE comes along before DVD's are gone for good.

And for the record, Blu_ray already has players that upscale DVD's so I don't know what you're talking about in the future.

As far as answering the question, if you have the $$$ and meet the criteria that agp spelled out above then I'd pull the trigger on the Blu-Ray.  The picture and sound are amazing!

weeder

Answer 5

get a ps2   blu-ray won the war

Answer 6

You don't give any details re what you have now or your budget limitations so I'll start from the beginning.

As a starting point I strongly recommend you NOT listen to opinions here on whether you should or shouldn't buy Blu-ray. Read this ... and then decide for yourself.

Basic requirement is an HDTV -- preferably an HDMI equipped 40" or larger 1080p model, although a 720p and/or smaller model will give reduced benefit. You also need a good surround sound system with support for DTS-HD and Dolby TrueHD sound to get full benefit from the audio. Note a Blu-ray player will work on any TV, but you won't see ANY benefit unless it is an HDTV.

You also need to recognize that Blu-ray is a niche premium priced HD alternative to DVD (not a replacement for it ... DVD will be around for a long time to come. Players are still incomplete and expensive (~$350+), and disks are typically $5-$20 more expensive than DVDs.

Blu-ray is advertised as 6X the resolution of DVD. While technically true (there are 6x the pixels) this does not translate to a 6X better picture. Many people find an up-converted DVD image (from players costing $60+) to be only slightly soft relative to Blu-ray ... particularly under less than ideal equipment (see above).

Another consideration is availability of movies. There are currently 507 Blu-ray titles, and 81 more planned for release before June 30, 2008 (vs 83,217 DVD, and 597 planned for June 30 or earlier).

A final consideration is that equipment is still maturing, with so-called BD-Live! (a.k.a. Profile 2.0 ... really the first complete spec) players expected later this year. Prices will come down, possibly into the $200+ range by Xmas. Furthermore there are rumours that later this year Blu-ray disk prices may fall (since studios are beginning to realize they can't sell $35 movies to most consumers ... Duhh!), but then DVD prices would fall also (One unsubstantiated report published in the last few days suggests average prices of $10 for DVD's and $20 for Blu-ray disks).

So .. first there is no urgency to buy now (wait for equipment to mature and prices to come down), and in the meantime see for yourself. You may consider the benefits worth the premium prices, or you may decide up-converted DVDs are just fine.

Assuming you meet the basic requirements to benefit (i.e. have an HDTV) get a demo of the SAME movie (don't let the salesperson use animation or video camera based demo disks ... insist on a movie, it's much more representative) in DVD and Blu-ray (Both play on a Blu-ray player, and it up-converts DVDs just like a stand alone up-converting DVD player) on the same size and resolution HDTV you have, AND watch from the same distance as you use at home.

Now you can decide for yourself, keeping in mind the higher costs.

I hope that helps

EDIT

I just saw the input from the idiot who claims "lots of new movies aren't even on DVD".  NOT TRUE. The opposite is the case. As my numbers quoted above (from Home Media Magazine and High-Def Digest if you want to verify) there are 6 times as many DVDs coming out as Blu-ray disks. It IS TRUE that blockbuster movies are being released on Blu-ray, and slowly, back catalog titles, but many older movies will never be on Blu-ray.