International Cinema Festival of India

The home experience will not be complete without a Blu-ray DVD disc player. Blu-ray players greatly increase your entertainment level with stunning high definition audio and images. What should you look for when you are shopping for a Blu-ray player?

Blu-ray players come with a variety of features, just as DVD players do. However, some of the Blu-ray players require additional accessories to use them, so selecting the right one is critical. Below you will find an outline of the most common Blu-ray features so you will know what to look for when buying a Blu-ray player for your home theater set up.

High Definition – 1080p – If you own a HDTV you are likely familiar with the terms 720p, 2080i, and 1080p. Even if you’re not familiar with this terminology, you just need to know that 1080p is the highest available video resolution. Currently, Bly-ray players offer the best source for this resolution. Even HD television programming can’t compete with the stunning can crystal clear images that a Blu-ray player delivers.

Of course, a Blu-ray player alone cannot deliver these superior images. You will also need a high definition television set that can display 1080p. This will give you the clearest picture possible and should definitely be what you should aim for. However, even if you don’t have a 1080p HD television you can still use a Blu-ray player. They are capable of selecting the resolution that suits your television best. You will still get a remarkably clear picture if you use a Blu-ray player with a display of 1080i or 720p.

High Definition Sound Quality – Audio quality is the next feature that attracts people to Blu-ray players. DTS and Dolby digital are the formats that you might be familiar with as these formats are provided on DVD players. The Blu-ray versions of these formats are superior to those offered on DVD players.

First, you have the Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD. These are an improvement over the Standard Dolby Digital and DTS because they offer higher bit rates and compression that’s more efficient. This provides excellent quality sound.

Second, is Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, which uses a “lossless” compression codec, which means once it’s decoded it is identical to the studio master. Providing you with the best possible sound, matching the movie audio you get in a theater. There is also PCM. This is an uncompressed audio format, which again matches the original studio master.

While most Blu-ray players support the new audio formats, not all of them do. They are not required to. If you want the best sound performance, choose a player that includes at least one of the following audio formats: DTS-HD Master Audio DTS-HD High Resolution, Dolby TrueHD, and Dolby Digital Plus.

Online Streaming – Some newer models offer online movie and music streaming through Pandora, Amazon-On-Demand, Pandora, YouTube, and others. To use this feature you will have to subscribe with these providers and have a broadband Internet connection. There are some players that allow you to add it to your home network so you can access digital content that’s stored on your computers.

Final consideration. The last thing you may want to look for in choosing a Blu-ray player is what other type of media it can play. For example, you are probably used to your DVD player being able to play CD-Rs or CD-RWs. Not all Blu-ray Players have these capabilities. Or they may be able to play MP3s on a CD but not on a DVD disc. You would have to look to see if the Blu-ray Disc Player has any of these capabilities.

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