Is Blu-Ray Worth It?

[heydude]

I own a dvd recorder/vcr combo.

I want to purchase another dvd player so I can dubb dvds that I recorded of TV shows on to other DVDs (to edit out commercials, etc.).

Should I buy just a regular dvd player or should I spring for the blu-ray dvd player?

I have an hdtv.

is blu ray worth it? are blu-ray dvds worth it?

do you even notice any difference?

the blu ray player would also contain a usb port to attach to my computer, which would be cool.

i am torn.

thanks.

[Miss Cellane]

First thing I'd do is double-check that your current DVD recorder can't edit out the commercials and create a new, edited version. Also, if some gaming systems will play Blu-Ray disks, so that's worth a check as well.

Second, how much do you watch movies? If you watch them a lot, then maybe the Blu-Ray is worth it.

Third, how big is your flat screen TV? On smaller flat screen TVs, Blu-Ray doesn't make a huge difference. On larger ones, I think it does.

My brother is the techie in the family. He has turned his family room into a theater room. He has a 60" plasma TV with a Blu-Ray player and, yes, you can really see the difference. He also has an HD projector and a huge movie screen that unrolls from the ceiling at the touch of a button and you can also see the difference with that.

There's the difference between Standard Definition and High Definition. The difference between High Def and Blu-Ray isn't quite as great, but it is still a clearly noticeable difference in the sharpness and quality of the picture. You can see tiny details that you would have missed before. At Christmas, we were all at my brother's house and people were commenting that you could read the words on the soda cans the actors were holding--there was a can that looked like Dr. Pepper but it actually said Dr. Peeper.

Whether or not the difference is worth it to you is something that only you can decide.

[bae]

When I had to replace my DVD player a year ago, there was not much of a price difference between a Sony BluRay player and a DVD-only player. BluRay discs from Netflix seem to be more and more common.

If the cost difference still is small, I'd grab the BluRay just to have more longevity.

The picture quality on a HD monitor is noticeably better, also the very inexpensive player I got has some line-doubling/interpolation features in it that make even "boring old DVDs" seem higher quality.

[liquid]

Yes, blu-ray players are worth getting now especially when you already have an hdtv. One option is to buy a Playstation 3. It will play your blu-ray and dvds, plus you can play games on it :)

[jp1]

I bought SO our blu-ray a few years ago for christmas, so I may be out of date on this, but at the time one of the big selling points of the unit I selected was that it can stream netflix movies online. At the time only some models did this, but I assume now almost all do. It also streams hulu and youtube, etc, although we don't do those much. The netflix streaming, though, has been the most common way we use the thing. Far more then the discs.

Regardless of streaming, or the superior video quality (which definitely is superior. I'm still amazed at how much more I enjoy our HDTV vs. regular tv and the blu-ray vs. dvd difference is very similar) I agree with bae. The difference in price is so small at this point, and the likely extra longevity of the device before obsolescence make the decision a no-brainer to me.