Blu-Ray Players

[drvndervish]

Hey There,

This may be the wrong forum to ask this question, but all who responded to my last question had such good info that I thought I would try it again.

I am wondering about Blu-Ray players and streaming netflix and pandora through them. Does anybody have that set up and does it work well? Is Blu-Ray the player of the future or is it going to be quickly replaced by something better like betamax's short life?

Since this is a PC forum, and this is not a pc question maybe I am wasting your time. But if you know anything spill it!

Please

David

 

[Zenthar]

Since this is a PC forum, and this is not a pc question maybe I am wasting your time. But if you know anything spill it!

I don't know much about blu-ray, but this part of the forum might be best suited for this kind of question. Sorry I cannot be of more help :-/

 

[jaguarskx]

Blu-Ray is the current standard and will probably last for at least the next 8 - 10 years (best guess). HD-DVD was Blu-Ray's competitor, but it has since died.

Don't worry, I'm sure movie studios will figure out some way for you to buy another format version of a movie like Star Wars:

VHS - Full screen
VHS - Wide screen
DVD - Full screen
DVD - Wide screen
DVD - Special Edition - wide screen
Blu-Ray - Special Edition - wide screen

 

[muscles_soccer]

Blu-ray will be around for a while. If you are going to put a Blu-ray player into your computer it might be wise to have a good monitor and vid card in order to take full advantage of the movies. I got a PS3 and let me tell you the movies are nice on Blu-ray. As of now, I do not know of any other use for Blu-ray other than movies; I could be wrong though.

 

[jaguarskx]

Blu-Ray blanks can be used as a backup solution since Dual Layer Blu-Rays has 50GB of storage capacity.

 

[ausch30]

Blu-Ray blanks can be used as a backup solution since Dual Layer Blu-Rays has 50GB of storage capacity.

Last I looked though the 50gb media was about $30 each though so as of now it's an expensive option.

OP: My Blu-Ray player doesn't stream netflix but from what I've read those that do perform fairly well. If you have a 360 you can stream netflix through that but you can't watch Blu-Ray.

http://reviews.cnet.com/4321-6463_7-6646260.html
Here's a CNet review of the available netflix enabled Blu-Ray players

 

[muscles_soccer]

Blu-Ray blanks can be used as a backup solution since Dual Layer Blu-Rays has 50GB of storage capacity.

Good point I forgot about the blank disc.


Also here is a link to an article at askmen.com, an affiliate company of the ever popular ign.com, that talks about five different players they see as having the longest life.

http://www.askmen.com/entertainment/guy_gear/56_future-proof-blu-ray-players.html

The one thing that I would say you do want to keep in mind is that the cheaper the player is, the less likely it will be compatible with new movies down the line; one of the reasons I chose to buy a PS3. Sony has released a fair amount of updates to keep the player one of the best on the market. (The ability to play games maybe also had some affect on my decision lol)

Just do your research and expect to pay at least $350 on up for a good player.

 

[ausch30]

Good point I forgot about the blank disc.


Also here is a link to an article at askmen.com, an affiliate company of the ever popular ign.com, that talks about five different players they see as having the longest life.

http://www.askmen.com/entertainment/guy_gear/56_future-proof-blu-ray-players.html

The one thing that I would say you do want to keep in mind is that the cheaper the player is, the less likely it will be compatible with new movies down the line; one of the reasons I chose to buy a PS3. Sony has released a fair amount of updates to keep the player one of the best on the market. (The ability to play games maybe also had some affect on my decision lol)

Just do your research and expect to pay at least $350 on up for a good player.

I agree that you shouldn't buy the cheapest player, better players have better support and the format is still changing. I was fortunate. My player, Panasonic DMP-BD35, was free with the purchase of a Panasonic Plasma in a pre-black friday deal last year. Panasonic has regularly released firmware updates for the player, the last one being released a couple weeks ago. If you get a player I would suggest going with an upper mid range model, I'm sure the quality and support will be far superior.

 

[jaguarskx]

Last I looked though the 50gb media was about $30 each though so as of now it's an expensive option.

Never said it was a cheap solution, but in a few years it will become cheaper as demand increases / technology matures.

Example, Verbatim DL+R 8.5GB DVDs have only recently become "affordable". Best Buy used to sell a 20 disc cake for $30 when on sale (about $40 regular price). Recently they were selling these Verbatim discs for $23 which is comparable to what Newegg sells them for online.