EmailAbout Blu-ray
Until now, relatively few people have made the move to Blu-ray Discs and players. Cost has been a major issue. That's becoming less of a concern as players have dramatically dropped in price over the last year. Budget machines can now be purchased for less than $150, while very capable performers start at slightly more.
Most Blu-ray players are still a tad slower on startup than standard DVD players, a result of the massive amount of interactive features and functions that the Blu-ray format employs. But most critics and users say it's no longer a real issue. Even with many budget Blu-ray players, performance is becoming as trouble-free as with standard DVD players.
Three Blu-ray hardware profiles explained
One of the biggest issues surrounding Blu-ray players at their introduction was the inability of some to play advanced audio formats, handle interactive disc features or connect to the Internet to retrieve additional content or features. Part of the reason for that is design. Though the specifications for handling those tasks have been part of the Blu-ray standard since its inception, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) did not require manufacturers to implement those features immediately, partly because of the race to get hardware to market. Instead, the BDA established three hardware profiles.
Profile 1.0
Almost all early Blu-ray players were Profile 1.0 players. Profile 1.0 is also called the Initial Profile and the Grace Period Profile. Hardware requirements for these players are modest. Support for the Blu-ray version of the Java programming language that makes interactive features possible is mandatory, but there is no minimum onboard memory requirement, so many Profile 1.0 players struggle when called upon to do much more than play a movie. Manufacturers are no longer allowed to introduce Profile 1.0 machines to market, though some players might still be found on retailers' shelves.
Profile 1.1 or Bonus View
Also called Final Standard Profile or Bonus View, Profile 1.1 adds a host of functions, including at least 256 MB of memory. It also adds secondary audio and video decoders to allow for features such as picture-in-picture (hence the name Bonus View). All players introduced since October 2007 must, at a minimum, meet Bonus View standards.
Profile 2.0 or BD-Live
Profile 2.0 (also called BD-Live) adds an Internet connection and 1 GB of storage. Those features give a Blu-ray player the ability to download additional content such as trailers and other bonus materials related to the current disc. They also enable online shopping and gaming. The extra memory helps to improve player responsiveness.
While BD-Live is optional, all but the least-expensive current model Blu-ray players support it or are ready to. Some BD-Live players are actually only BD-Live ready. That's because the required storage is not built in. Such players can be made BD-Live compliant by adding memory via a USB drive or a memory card with sufficient capacity. Some BD-Live-ready players ship with the optional memory; with others you must supply it yourself. Without the added memory, such players only meet the Bonus View profile.
Important Features
Blu-ray Disc players bring higher-quality video and audio to owners of HDTVs. If you don't have an HDTV, a standard DVD player is a better alternative; you can learn more about DVD players in a separate ConsumerSearch report. You should consider the following factors when shopping for a Blu-ray player:
- 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 Master Audio are lossless and deliver "studio-master" sound. Most Blu-ray players can pass high-resolution audio via bitstream over HDMI to audiovisual receivers, but only some of the latest receivers have the needed decoders and HDMI inputs. Players with their own decoders can pass high-resolution audio to any audiovisual receiver that can accept and process (not just switch) audio via HDMI -- and those are much more common. Some 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 standard-definition DVDs.
- 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, because they can fetch updates directly from the Internet. Otherwise, you will have to download the updates to your PC and burn them 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 HD images will be scaled down to fit the television's available pixels. However, the image is still HD, and picture quality should be terrific.
- Don't forget the network connection. BD-Live-compliant players need a connection to the Internet to fetch additional disc content and features. One solution is a wireless link to your Internet router, and many full-featured Blu-ray Disc players now include that. Budget Blu-ray players, however, require a hardwire connection, though some do also offer an external Wi-Fi radio as an extra-cost accessory.