We had a DVD player die, actually it just broadcast everything in grey and yellow, but nothing else. So I figured it was time to upgrade to a Blu-Ray player.
Walked into Best Buy and was immediately assaulted with loud music, and unhelpful sales associates. Walked out, drove across the street, walked into Circuit City and they had 5 different Blu Ray players in stock. I was greeted by a helpful sales kid and immediately narrowed my list down to regular players, they had one that was about $600 and played Blu Ray and HD-DVD disks, in addition to standard DVDs. I didn't see the point in paying a premium price to get the ability to play HD-DVD considering that those are no longer being produced, and considering I don't own any. So I looked over the Blu Ray players and picked a Panasonic model that was mid priced ($499), plays standard DVDs in upscale mode, has 7.1 audio decoding instead of the lower grade 5.1 audio, and it came with my choice of 2 free Blu Ray movies.
I just hooked it up to the HDTV in our bedroom (32" flat panel Akai) and all I can say is WOW does this thing produce a nice picture. DVDs always looked good when played on this TV set, but the Blu Ray actually looks as good as HD, and in some ways looks better.
The downside is the cost. Blu-Ray players are expensive, starting about $350 and going up from there. Honestly I would not buy one just to buy one. But if you have a DVD player that dies and needs to be replaced, and if that DVD player is hooked up to a HDTV and a surround sound system, then upgrading to Blu-Ray is worth it.
Now all I need to do is get a copy of FIREFLY on Blu-Ray!
Walked into Best Buy and was immediately assaulted with loud music, and unhelpful sales associates. Walked out, drove across the street, walked into Circuit City and they had 5 different Blu Ray players in stock. I was greeted by a helpful sales kid and immediately narrowed my list down to regular players, they had one that was about $600 and played Blu Ray and HD-DVD disks, in addition to standard DVDs. I didn't see the point in paying a premium price to get the ability to play HD-DVD considering that those are no longer being produced, and considering I don't own any. So I looked over the Blu Ray players and picked a Panasonic model that was mid priced ($499), plays standard DVDs in upscale mode, has 7.1 audio decoding instead of the lower grade 5.1 audio, and it came with my choice of 2 free Blu Ray movies.
I just hooked it up to the HDTV in our bedroom (32" flat panel Akai) and all I can say is WOW does this thing produce a nice picture. DVDs always looked good when played on this TV set, but the Blu Ray actually looks as good as HD, and in some ways looks better.
The downside is the cost. Blu-Ray players are expensive, starting about $350 and going up from there. Honestly I would not buy one just to buy one. But if you have a DVD player that dies and needs to be replaced, and if that DVD player is hooked up to a HDTV and a surround sound system, then upgrading to Blu-Ray is worth it.
Now all I need to do is get a copy of FIREFLY on Blu-Ray!