Is everything moving to Blu-Ray??

[Darinbs]

Great info, been debating on adding a bd player to my computer. I use it as a home theater system and appreciate all the knowledge. I think solid state storage is what will be the future standard with the coming of usb 3.0. Vhs dvd bd then solid state of some sort.

[johneric]

I added an internal Blu-ray drive to my machine - great decision if you watch movies on the PC or have a HTPC. I use mine all the time.

 

We bought a Sony Blu-ray player for the living room when they first came out - it sucks. I've updated the firmware (a ridiculous process, BTW) twice and still it takes FOREVER to boot and load. Response to the remote is slooooow, and as a result my wife is always pressing more buttons instead of waiting for the darn thing to catch up... pressing multiple buttons while it is "thinking" completely wigs it out. For less than half of what we paid for the crap player, I got the drive, which acts like I want it to, has more utility (it's also a Lightscribe DVD-burner), and obviously a much smaller footprint. I love it.

[Darinbs]

I added an internal Blu-ray drive to my machine - great decision if you watch movies on the PC or have a HTPC. I use mine all the time.

 

We bought a Sony Blu-ray player for the living room when they first came out - it sucks. I've updated the firmware (a ridiculous process, BTW) twice and still it takes FOREVER to boot and load. Response to the remote is slooooow, and as a result my wife is always pressing more buttons instead of waiting for the darn thing to catch up... pressing multiple buttons while it is "thinking" completely wigs it out. For less than half of what we paid for the crap player, I got the drive, which acts like I want it to, has more utility (it's also a Lightscribe DVD-burner), and obviously a much smaller footprint. I love it.

Thanks exactly what I was wondering. Whether to buy a player or just add a drive. My wife can be the same way.

[Comp Dude2]

Is Blu-Ray going to become the new standard as DVD took over VHS?

 

I'm certainly not a pro but it doesn't really seem that the advantages of BD to DVD are that substantial as DVD to VHS.

 

It is already quite obvious that Blu-Ray isn't taking the route of the MiniDisc medium..

 

What's your take on the topic?

So slightly better image quality is better than 4x the image detail? the difference is NIGHT AND DAY, and blu-ray players are

[Guest_Jim_*]

Unless you plan on watching Blu-Ray movies on your computer, I personally don't recommend getting a Blu-Ray drive for a computer, yet. Prices will definitely come down for those, and as movies are the only use of Blu-Ray at the moment there isn't much need. Of course, if you have the money and the need of a good optical drive, go ahead and get one, they are nice, I just don't see the need for computers to have them yet. (Of course laptops and HTPCs are exceptions as part of their purpose may be to watch movies.)

When it comes to the players, do your research. Some are going to be cheap because they are cheap, just as with all other products. I would always recommend the player I have, but at $500 most probably wouldn't want to get it unless it made them coffee.

[psycho_terror]

Unless you plan on watching Blu-Ray movies on your computer, I personally don't recommend getting a Blu-Ray drive for a computer, yet. Prices will definitely come down for those, and as movies are the only use of Blu-Ray at the moment there isn't much need.

if you want to watch blu ray movies on your HTPC i don't see why you shouldn't get one. they are cheaper than standalone players, and if your computer is half decent will offer better quality playback, way more options and easy upgradeability .

[Waco]

When it comes to the players, do your research. Some are going to be cheap because they are cheap, just as with all other products. I would always recommend the player I have, but at $500 most probably wouldn't want to get it unless it made them coffee.

Once your price point moves beyond $300 or so it's damn near impossible to not recommend a PS3.

[Guest_Jim_*]

Believe it or not, my player gets better reviews than a PS3, as a Blu-Ray player. At the time mine launched it unseated the PS3 from the No. 1 spot. To my knowledge there is only one player, not out yet, that could unseat mine, and that thing costs 5 times as much. One of the reviews of mine did state that at $500 you can find plenty of good players cheaper, but if you look at the players in the $500 price range, mine owns them.

Considering all the references I just made to it, I should probably say my Blu-Ray player is the Oppo Digital BDP-83.

[wevsspot]

(Of course laptops and HTPCs are exceptions as part of their purpose may be to watch movies.)

Exactly. If you already have a HTPC machine - a BR Drive is just a natural extension. One thing I love about the LG BR drive is that load times are only a few seconds longer than load times of a DVD on my Panasonic DVD player. Also, the version of PowerDVD that came with the drive integrates nicely with Win7 Media Center so I can use my WMC remote to control the playback of DVD or Bluray, as well as cruise Netflix for some Watch Instantly action, or my music collection, or my movie collection - all at the fingertips of my remote. Talk about lazy media overload - I've turned into a complete couch potato

 

My TV Tuner card kind of sucks because it doesn't work well with Cox Cable HD content, but it's adequate for time shifting and recording a must see show that we might have missed otherwise. Frankly, I love the integration possibilities when wrapping everything up into a Media Center. For that reason I would highly recommend a player for your HTPC instead of a stand alone unit. Sure, you probably get a lot more options and better PQ using a $500 BR player, but I'm perfectly content with the $89 I spent for my LG drive.

 

The only thing I'm still having a little trouble with is the ATi HDMI audio drivers on the HD5750. Some input sources play 5.1 and 7.1 audio just fine, while other sources/content won't. Still trying to get to the bottom of that one. Of course I could always just go 5.1 analog directly from the soundcard, but it's kind of nice having both audio/video from just a single HDMI cable.

Edited January 18, 2010 by wevsspot