What are the most important features to look for when comparing blue ray players?

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plagiarism

New member
In looking at all the black friday ads it really dawned on me that I didn't know much about what features were worth paying for vs pure hype. Couple of key things I saw included Internet connectivity, the whole streaming netflix experience, picture quality, sound out put, etc. So I'm a total newbie here would love to hear suggestions on how to evaluate the various players.
 
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Lolicia

New member
Blu-ray Players: What To Look For
Updated March 2009

High definition extends to audio as well. Though Dolby Digital and DTS formats have been the standards of DVDs and HD television programming, high-resolution audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA are lossless and deliver "studio-master" quality sound. Most Blu-ray players can pass high-resolution audio via bitstream to audio/video receivers, but only some of the latest receivers have the needed decoders. Players with their own decoders can pass high-resolution audio to any A/V receiver that can accept audio via HDMI -- and those are much more common. A few can do the same via multichannel analog outputs as well.

* Consider standard-definition performance. Blu-ray players can also play standard-definition discs, but not all of them play these DVDs equally well. That's something to consider if you own a large collection of regular, standard-definition DVDs.

* A 24 fps frame rate reduces image distortion, but not all televisions are compatible. High-definition discs are encoded at a frame rate of 24 frames per second (fps), but converted to 60 fps by the player because most televisions can't accept a 24 fps input. However, the process of converting one frame rate to another creates a tiny motion artifact known as "judder" -- a combination of the words jerk and shudder. Some players have the ability to also output video at 24 fps. While that would eliminate judder, only some of the newest HDTVs can accept that frame rate. While some viewers complain about judder, most are unaware that the artifact even exists.

* Check for firmware updates. Most Blu-ray players can accept firmware updates, and manufacturers are using that capability to fix performance issues or to add new features to players after they reach consumers. Players with Ethernet or wireless connections are easiest to update, since they can fetch updates directly from the Internet. Otherwise, you need to download the updates to your PC and burn it on a DVD, which you then insert into the player.

* You'll need an HDTV. For the best viewing, you'll need an HDTV with 1080p resolution. Many HDTVs only have 720p resolution, so high-def images will be scaled down to fit that television's available pixels. However, the image is still HD, and picture quality should be terrific.
 
L

Lolicia

New member
Blu-ray Players: What To Look For
Updated March 2009

High definition extends to audio as well. Though Dolby Digital and DTS formats have been the standards of DVDs and HD television programming, high-resolution audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA are lossless and deliver "studio-master" quality sound. Most Blu-ray players can pass high-resolution audio via bitstream to audio/video receivers, but only some of the latest receivers have the needed decoders. Players with their own decoders can pass high-resolution audio to any A/V receiver that can accept audio via HDMI -- and those are much more common. A few can do the same via multichannel analog outputs as well.

* Consider standard-definition performance. Blu-ray players can also play standard-definition discs, but not all of them play these DVDs equally well. That's something to consider if you own a large collection of regular, standard-definition DVDs.

* A 24 fps frame rate reduces image distortion, but not all televisions are compatible. High-definition discs are encoded at a frame rate of 24 frames per second (fps), but converted to 60 fps by the player because most televisions can't accept a 24 fps input. However, the process of converting one frame rate to another creates a tiny motion artifact known as "judder" -- a combination of the words jerk and shudder. Some players have the ability to also output video at 24 fps. While that would eliminate judder, only some of the newest HDTVs can accept that frame rate. While some viewers complain about judder, most are unaware that the artifact even exists.

* Check for firmware updates. Most Blu-ray players can accept firmware updates, and manufacturers are using that capability to fix performance issues or to add new features to players after they reach consumers. Players with Ethernet or wireless connections are easiest to update, since they can fetch updates directly from the Internet. Otherwise, you need to download the updates to your PC and burn it on a DVD, which you then insert into the player.

* You'll need an HDTV. For the best viewing, you'll need an HDTV with 1080p resolution. Many HDTVs only have 720p resolution, so high-def images will be scaled down to fit that television's available pixels. However, the image is still HD, and picture quality should be terrific.
 
L

Lolicia

New member
Blu-ray Players: What To Look For
Updated March 2009

High definition extends to audio as well. Though Dolby Digital and DTS formats have been the standards of DVDs and HD television programming, high-resolution audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA are lossless and deliver "studio-master" quality sound. Most Blu-ray players can pass high-resolution audio via bitstream to audio/video receivers, but only some of the latest receivers have the needed decoders. Players with their own decoders can pass high-resolution audio to any A/V receiver that can accept audio via HDMI -- and those are much more common. A few can do the same via multichannel analog outputs as well.

* Consider standard-definition performance. Blu-ray players can also play standard-definition discs, but not all of them play these DVDs equally well. That's something to consider if you own a large collection of regular, standard-definition DVDs.

* A 24 fps frame rate reduces image distortion, but not all televisions are compatible. High-definition discs are encoded at a frame rate of 24 frames per second (fps), but converted to 60 fps by the player because most televisions can't accept a 24 fps input. However, the process of converting one frame rate to another creates a tiny motion artifact known as "judder" -- a combination of the words jerk and shudder. Some players have the ability to also output video at 24 fps. While that would eliminate judder, only some of the newest HDTVs can accept that frame rate. While some viewers complain about judder, most are unaware that the artifact even exists.

* Check for firmware updates. Most Blu-ray players can accept firmware updates, and manufacturers are using that capability to fix performance issues or to add new features to players after they reach consumers. Players with Ethernet or wireless connections are easiest to update, since they can fetch updates directly from the Internet. Otherwise, you need to download the updates to your PC and burn it on a DVD, which you then insert into the player.

* You'll need an HDTV. For the best viewing, you'll need an HDTV with 1080p resolution. Many HDTVs only have 720p resolution, so high-def images will be scaled down to fit that television's available pixels. However, the image is still HD, and picture quality should be terrific.
 
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