Buying Blu-ray
By Louisa Hearn | theage.com.au | 29 April
You've bought the high definition TV, mounted it on the wall, decked it out with tweeters and subwoofers, and have now turned your attention to the gleaming new Blu-ray players beckoning from the showroom shelves. Find out if this next-generation technology is really for you with our top 10 tips on buying Blu-ray.
1. What's on offer?
Now Blu-ray has knocked the competing HD-DVD format out of the game, the task of buying a high definition disc player is no longer such a gamble. But accommodating two competing formats in the market has meant that those manufacturers in the losing camp (such as Toshiba) are notably absent from the Blu-ray market.
This means only 10 models of Blu-ray players are available in Australian stores from manufacturers Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer Sharp, and Samsung. They retail for an average of $725 and, despite the humble size of the market, the price of units varies enormously among retailers with offerings ranging from $599 to $1799.
Although price erosion is inevitable over time, the players are holding onto their market value (and in some cases prices might even have marginally risen) as Blu-ray revels in having the market to itself.
2. Will it work with my TV?
Blu-ray has a legion of supporters among the world's hardware manufacturers so finding compatible devices should not cause too many headaches, but to take advantage of Blu-ray's high definition format you must run it on a TV that adheres to the 1080p standard (which means the 1080 horizontal lines that make up the picture are displayed in every frame) and can accept the 24p (true cinema) signal.
3. Can I record from the TV?
None of the units on the market are capable of recording, but retailers anticipate the release of a Blu-ray recorder in the market later this year. Expect prices of integrated machines to double, and you will also need to buy Blu-ray recordable media discs if you want to record high definition content.
4. Will it play my old DVDs?
Most current and all new models to be released will let you play your existing DVDs and some will even enhance them using a feature that upscales the picture to the 1080p standard - giving it a higher definition than the original picture.
5. Can I buy or rent Blu-ray movies?
Blu-ray has enjoyed broad support from most of the major movie studios but while there are about 250 titles for sale in the Australian market these are not all necessarily available from a single DVD retailer. Sanity/HMV has about 116 Blu-ray titles available in its catalogue and it displays a smaller selection in its stores. Titles are priced between $29.99 and $49.99 - which is more expensive than standard DVDs - and retailers say that Blu-ray films are unlikely to make it into the specials bin anytime soon.
The main video rental outlets do carry a limited selection of Blu-ray titles for the same price as other new release films. However, the selection is likely to remain narrow until demand steps up.
6. Image quality
While Blu-ray itself signifies a huge jump forward in picture quality, retailers say that higher priced units won't necessarily deliver any substantial improvements over cheaper units because all players are built to deliver 24p frames.
A feature in some mid- and high-end units called enhanced DVD Playback can raise the quality of a standard DVD movie to a 1080p resolution, although this will still fall short of true Blu-ray disc quality.
7. Audio quality
Unlike image quality, a higher priced Blu-ray unit will probably yield substantially improved audio quality over its cheaper peers. The most expensive players support Dolby True HD and DTS HD 7.1 surround sound formats.
8. Compatible gaming hardware
Sony's PlayStation3 gaming console includes a Blu-ray player, which is not surprising given that Sony is one of Blu-ray's main backers. Microsoft put its money on the HD-DVD format so the Xbox360 does not support the Blu-ray standard, and neither does Nintendo's Wii.
9. Upcoming new features
New machines to market are boasting functional improvements such as quicker start-up times to get a movie to run. Another cutting edge feature is the picture-in-picture technology that allows you to watch special features as the movie plays, at the press of a button - such as director's commentary. An update to Blu-ray expected later this year adds a layer of internet connectivity to the technology so you can download additional content such as trailers and games from the internet.
10. Will Blu-ray still be around in five years' time?
Some say Blu-ray's victory will be short lived with movie downloads becoming the norm once internet delivery technologies are better established. However, with Australia's limited broadband capabilities it is hard to imagine being able to efficiently pipe the highest definition movie content directly into our sitting rooms in the near future.
First published by TheAge.com.au on April 29 2008
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