Want A Ray Disc Player?

In the format war, the Blu Ray disc by Sony has triumphed over Toshiba's HD DVDs. However, there are still many choices to make. Do you want the Blu Ray disc player version 1.0, version 2.0, a Sony PlayStation3 with Blu Ray compatibility, or just a DVD up-converter? These days, buying your next movie player will be similar to purchasing a computer. You will have to decide what features are worth paying for and consider the idea that upgrades may be necessary in the future.

Sony's Blu Ray disc may be the next best thing since the DVD, but manufacturers, filmmakers and developers alike will be scrambling to maintain their supremacy over the temptation to move toward exclusive digital downloading. "The battle against HD DVDs was barely a minor skirmish in comparison to the fight ahead, which will be convincing apathetic consumers of the need for something better than plain DVD," said Josh Zyber of High-Def Digest. "That's the real format war, and it's only just started." To keep "wowing" buyers, the HD DVD Bluray format is likely to undergo some exciting transformations this year, offering unsurpassed content and interactivity, in addition to superb audio-visual quality.

If you were one of those in-the-know consumers a year ago, then you may already have a PS3 or version 1.0 Blu Ray player. With 25-50GB of storage space and the demand for a more effective medium to showcase high-definition technology, you saw the writing on the wall and probably got a great deal. The Blu Ray player demand skyrocketed, driving prices well past $499, since Toshiba backed out of the formatting war and ended production of the HD-DVD player. Now you may be wondering what's next for the Blu Ray disc.

Currently there are over 500 Blu Ray titles available, but the major networks like Sony, Fox, MGM, Paramount, Warner Brothers and Disney, to name a few, have all agreed to release new movies strictly on Blu Ray discs. Consumers will have little choice but to upgrade to the new system or forever languish in nostalgia, watching old low-res DVDs with lossy MPEG-2 compression. Many consumers have already taken the hint from the cable networks and upgraded their television sets to handle 1920x1080 pixels, which is up from 1280x720 pixels. So why not see what the new Blu Ray disc players have to offer?

If you were an early bird buyer, then you have the original prototypical Blu Ray disc 1.0 player. "The earliest Blu-ray player, Profile 1.0, are dinosaurs already," reports The Courant's Kevin Hunt. "Consumers who dropped $1,500 on a player a year ago cannot update their players." These bare bones players offer the high-definition 1920x1080 pixels with superior coding and 7.0 surround-sound audio, but offer little in terms of extra features and menu options. Developers admit they probably should have just waited a year for the unveiling, but they were compelled to hurry up and compete in the Sony vs. Toshiba bidding war.

The 1.1 Blu Ray disc player quickly followed, featuring "BonusView" picture-in-picture commentary, like the surfing menus on Dish Network, secondary audio-video decoders and 256 MB of local on-disc storage. Experts say that buyers who bought the earliest version will still be able to play BR 1.1 movies, although some of the bonus features may not work. As of right now, all the Blu Ray disc releases have been in 1.0, though, so no worries. "Sunshine" is the first 1.1 release scheduled for the first quarter of 2008. Panasonic has 1.1 Blu Ray players for about $500 and market research analyst Paul Erickson says Profile 1.1 players will become the standard by next Christmas, with prices likely dropping below $200.

But just wait! There is the new Blu Ray disc 2.0 player set to be unveiled soon. These HD DVD Bluray machines are said to have been the prototype that finally wooed major networks like Disney, Warner Brothers and Paramount to side with Blu Ray rather than HD DVDs in the format war. The next generation of Blu Ray disc players will come with a function called "BDLive," which includes an ethernet port for internet connectivity, so users can download high-def trailers and add additional language tracks or other bonus materials. BD-Live will also allow viewers to chat in real time, get free movie ringtones and wallpaper for their cell phones, play online multiplayer games and upload custom audio commentary from directors, producers and actors. Sony recently announced two new Blu Ray players with 2.0 capacities: the BDP-S350 (available this summer for $399) and the BDP-S550 (available in the fall for $499). They also said that the BR 2.0's will be able to be upgraded to the latest version via the internet, s o eager buyers will be rewarded.

There are still a few defiant buyers who refuse to pander to developers and cash-in on the latest technology. They ask, "Why fix something that isn't broken?" For these people, there is still a small niche market for DVD up-converters that can transform traditional DVD recorders into Blu Ray disc capable drives. For instance, the Denon1730 converter can give you that 1080 resolution for less than $200. However, some argue that this patchwork cannot possibly deliver the quality of upgrading your system altogether. "Even the best upscaling DVD players are no match for genuine HD source material," argues TechRadar.com reader Matt Hastings. "Why stick with DVD's dated video system, based on very lossy MPEG-2 compression, and rely on an upscaler's guesswork at what bits of the image are missing? Get the whole thing for real on Blu ray discs. For those movies you still own on DVD, Blu Ray players upscale too, so you get the best of both worlds."

A lot of people call the Sony PlayStation3 a "best buy in Blu Ray players." In addition to allowing firmware upgrades, like the other Profile 2.0 Blu Ray disc players, the PS3 can also play some of the most advanced video games ever developed, stream media over the internet, play DivX videos, send photos and video over a home network and allow BD-Live functionality. "It will be the cheapest BD-Live player by the end of the year," predicts Paul Erickson of DisplaySearch market research. While stand-alone Blu Ray players range from $400 - $1,000, you can get a PS3, which can be upgraded, for just $399.

Some consumers are complaining about paying $40 for a Blu Ray disc, as opposed to the $20 for a regular DVD. To offset the cost of upgrading, many distributors and stores are stepping in to help promote the new Blu Ray disc technology. For instance, Amazon is offering a 2-for-1 Blu Ray discs sale on popular titles like Blade Runner, The Fifth Element, 300 and Pan's Labyrinth. Super-saver shipping is free for orders over $25 while supplies last. They are even offering lesser known titles, like The Curse of King Tut's Tomb Miniseries, The Last Sentinel or BBC's Planet Earth Series at an extreme discount of only $10!

To offset the cost of upgrading, Blu Ray disc retailers are cutting prices to entice buyers. Sony announced that the new disc players will be priced between $400 and $500, but Best Buy is offering two free Ray discs with the purchase of a new Panasonic 1080p player and Amazon is offering 50% off select titles. There are over 500 titles currently available in Blu Ray release, with many more Blu Ray titles on the way.

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