Pyro Stick:
Well this has been an unbelievably bad week for me with technology. First my camera breaks, then my graphics card dies and now my DVD player has finally died. All in one week. Although the dvd player was around 6 years old at least so im suprised it lasted this long considering it only cost £20 lol. Ive decided to upgrade to Blu Ray since i think it would be a bit pointless to invest in a new dvd player when they are probably going to be phased out for blu ray eventually. So im looking for help in getting something good but affordable. All the blu ray players on amazon have reviews that are putting me of each product so i have no idea what to go for as i have no blu ray experience at all.
cornixt:
I wouldn’t bet too much on Blu-ray lasting very long though, what with HD downloads and cloud storage. BD doesn’t even do 3D yet. I’d stick with getting another DVD player unless you want the whole surround sound experience and have a 45" screen.
Swissdictator:
If you’re going blue-ray you might as well get a PS3 and have more versatility.
Hashut’s Blessing:
Personally, I think Blu-Ray is likely to take at least half a century to make DVDs stop being produced, unless something revolutionary comes out. All I would say is get one that isn’t expensive and still plays DVDs as well. Something to note is that Blu-Rays often cost more than a DVD too and to fully get benefit from the extra quality, you would probably need an HD tele. HD/Blu-Ray is only noticeably better when interchanged with standard or put next to it at the same time, otherwise you won’t really notice.
Long story made short: DVD players are probably cheaper than before now and would be easier to sort out and just as good.
Sorry I can’t be any actual help.
zobo1942:
If your computer’s video card has HDMI out, and you’ve got an HDMI-in on your HDTV, there really isn’t a need for a BR/DVD player at all.
That said, since I don’t have a great television, and since I usually only watch xvid movies and television programs, I have a classic first-generation xbox running Linux and XMBC which acts as a pretty sweet interface between my computer’s hard drive and the television.
Might want to look at doing something like that to save some cash…
Pyro Stick:
I wouldn't bet too much on Blu-ray lasting very long though, what with HD downloads and cloud storage. BD doesn't even do 3D yet. I'd stick with getting another DVD player unless you want the whole surround sound experience and have a 45" screen.
cornixt
The 3D thing is a good point. I have surround sound but the epic tv will come later.
If you're going blue-ray you might as well get a PS3 and have more versatility.
Swissdictator
Since a PS3 costs about twice what a Blu Ray player costs i doubt ill go that route. Plus i would rahter buy Xbox 360 games.
All I would say is get one that isn't expensive and still plays DVDs as well. Something to note is that Blu-Rays often cost more than a DVD too and to fully get benefit from the extra quality, you would probably need an HD tele.
Hashut's Blessing
Im def going to get one that plays both dvd's and blu ray. Do they actually make ones that dont?
Ive been buying these combi packs recently so i dont feel so bad about spending more on a blur ray disc. When you compare it its acutally a good deal. Usually £12.99 for dvd and £15.99 for blu ray combi pack.
If your computer's video card has HDMI out, and you've got an HDMI-in on your HDTV, there really isn't a need for a BR/DVD player at all.
zobo1942
I think i built my computer before HD and HDMI was even widely available.
zobo1942:
You mentioned that your graphics card died this week - have you already bought a replacement? If not, check to see what kind of video-out you have. Even if it is only RCA (composite) out, you can plug that into your television and choose that as the input source.
Hit play on your computer, full screen it, and there you go!
Pyro Stick:
You mentioned that your graphics card died this week - have you already bought a replacement? If not, check to see what kind of video-out you have. Even if it is only RCA (composite) out, you can plug that into your television and choose that as the input source.
Hit play on your computer, full screen it, and there you go!
zobo1942
Rechecked its specs and since it was top of the range at the time i bought it i think it actually does have HD capabilities. Doesnt matter now since its totally died.
Im just going to go with a blu ray player that costs around £100 or something. Just need to decide on the make and model now.
zobo1942:
OK. Unfortunately, I have no experience with bluray players, etc… After going all-networked, it seemed unnecessary.
My brother just bought a bluray player to go with his 46" LCD… pretty sweet! Turns your television into a window to another world. However, as mentioned previously, if you don’t have a 1080p TV, you really won’t see a difference.
Best of luck!
Pyro Stick:
However, as mentioned previously, if you don't have a 1080p TV, you really won't see a difference.
zobo1942
No problem. Im planning on getting one soon anyway. Im sick to death of the tiny CRT we have been using for years.
Willmark:
Blu- Ray has a very, very nice picture quality to it, unfortunately BR is kinda like a “White Elephant”. Digtal downloads will make DVD and BR the last of physical media type playback.
And HB this will happen within 10 years if not sooner
Pyro Stick:
Blu- Ray has a very, very nice picture quality to it, unfortunately BR is kinda like a "White Elephant". Digtal downloads will make DVD and BR the last of physical media type playback.
And HB this will happen within 10 years if not sooner
Willmark
Im not big on digital downloads. I prefer to have something in my hands for my money and im sure a lot of other people do to. If Vinyl is still around and being frequently used and albums are still frequently being pressed on Vinyl then im sure blu ray/dvd will still be used for years to come.
starscream:
a couple of friends ordered this one. Its excellent quality and very cheap!
http://www.ebuyer.com/search?parent=168916
zobo1942:
I prefer the digital downloads… Why? Because everytime I go to the video store and rent a movie, I end up having to clean the disc five or six times and the playback suffers because the disk is in such crappy shape.
Being able to watch something without those kind of interuptions is why I think digital downloads are the way to go.
Also, I wonder about the emerging ‘home 3D’ and if the amount of storage space on a blueray disk sufficient to handle it. I’ve already heard of special edition versions of films with lots of ‘extras’ which cannot fit on the disk and need to be downloaded…
Willmark:
Blu- Ray has a very, very nice picture quality to it, unfortunately BR is kinda like a "White Elephant". Digital downloads will make DVD and BR the last of physical media type playback.
And HB this will happen within 10 years if not sooner
Willmark
Im not big on digital downloads. I prefer to have something in my hands for my money and im sure a lot of other people do to. If Vinyl is still around and being frequently used and albums are still frequently being pressed on Vinyl then im sure blu ray/dvd will still be used for years to come.
Pyro Stick
Not saying it will happen today or even tomorrow but the day is coming. If you want to go Blu Ray go for it the picture quality is astounding.
wallacer:
I have Blu-Ray and think it’s great. I believe mine is a Sony BD550 connected to a 46" Sony X series (HD) flatscreen TV (could be wrong about that though, that’s just from memory).
Not only do the blu-ray discs have a noticeably better quality than normal discs, but the blu ray player also upgrades the quality of my normal discs (not to full HD, but crisper all the same).
I don’t really have much faith in online movies. I’m not sure what the broadband is like where you live but in New Zealand it is crap. I would be amazed if I could actually watch a live-streaming Hi Def movie here.
By the time digital downloads become practical here my Blu-Ray player will probably have died anyway.
My main gripe with Blu-Ray is that the Blu-Ray DVDs cost more.
Pyro Stick:
I don't really have much faith in online movies. I'm not sure what the broadband is like where you live but in New Zealand it is crap. I would be amazed if I could actually watch a live-streaming Hi Def movie here.
By the time digital downloads become practical here my Blu-Ray player will probably have died anyway.
wallacer
My broadband is seriously crap. My download speed is about 50kbps so by the time i downloaded a blu ray/3D/HD quality film over my internet i could have walked to the shop about 100 miles away and bought it. Ill have more faith in online movie downloads when it takes me at most 30 min to download a movie.
My main gripe with Blu-Ray is that the Blu-Ray DVDs cost more.
wallacer
I think if i get a blu ray player i will only shell out extra cash for movies i really like. Or ill buy them cheaper on ebay or get the combi packs so i can justify spending the extra cash.
furrie:
Blu- Ray has a very, very nice picture quality to it, unfortunately BR is kinda like a "White Elephant". Digtal downloads will make DVD and BR the last of physical media type playback.
And HB this will happen within 10 years if not sooner
Willmark
Im not big on digital downloads. I prefer to have something in my hands for my money and im sure a lot of other people do to. If Vinyl is still around and being frequently used and albums are still frequently being pressed on Vinyl then im sure blu ray/dvd will still be used for years to come.
Pyro Stick
Not a big fan of digital downloads either. When I buy something I want to be able to hold it in my hands.
And about switching to blu ray, I would do it. The blu ray department at my local media store is growing while the DVD department is getting smaller. So at least here the blu ray is gaining ground on the DVD
Pyro Stick:
Now i just need to decide which brand i want to go with. I dont think im going to go with Sony so its between LG, Panasonic or Toshiba or maybe Samsung but i have heard a lot of bad things about their blu ray players.
edit: Think im going to go with this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-DMP-BD65EB-K-Blu-Ray-Disc-Player/dp/B0039MJ5J8/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
Its affordable and seems to have everything i need from it. It also comes with 3 free blu rays although the only one im interested in is Avatar. I hate Minority Report and im not really interested in Fantastic Mr Fox. The one thing i didnt know was that if you unlock a blu ray player you cant update the firmware so it looks like i need to buy a £10 dvd player and unlock it for my multi region dvd’s.
furrie:
I have a samsung blu ray player and I don’t have any problems.