Blu-ray players are starting to come into their own. Now that Blu-ray has won the high definition DVD format war, you can expect more and more Blu-ray players to be released by several companies, including Sony, Philips, Panasonic, Samsung, LG and others.
One of the first Blu-ray players to be widely distributed is actually a game console—its’ Sony’s PS3. The PS3 is expensive for a game console but quite competitively priced for a Blu-ray player. That may be the best way to think of it—a Blu-ray player that also doubles as a gaming console. While the PS3 may not be as popular as Nintendo’s Wii, it has sold hundreds of thousands of units and will remain a popular high definition gaming platform. It is probably the leading option in Blu-ray players if you have any interest at all in video games. The high-end version of the PS3 is also backward compatible—it will play PS2 games.
Philips is in the Blu-ray business now, too, and offers the BDP900. It has some nice design touches and excellent Blu-ray image quality. It is a bit pricey, however and has less comprehensive audio capabilities than many players.
In 2007, LG and Samsung released standalone players that could read both HD DVD and Blu-ray discs. These players were very expensive and didn’t really catch on. Both discontinued these drives as of May 2008, and no longer manufacture them at any price point. Some computer manufacturers, including notables like Hewlett-Packard and Acer, have offered computers with combination HD DVD and Blu-Ray drives.
Blu-ray will be with us for years to come after vanquishing HD DVD by gaining the support of the major Hollywood studios. The name is derived from the blue laser (actually, violet colored) that is used by Blu-ray machines used to read and write this type of disc. This type of laser has a shorter wavelength than the kind used for regular DVDs, which means a lot more data can be stored on a Blu-ray Disc than on a DVD disc. DVD discs use a red laser. A dual layer Blu-ray Disc can store 50 GB of data or video almost six times the capacity of a double-dual layer DVD.
Blu-ray is essentially the brainchild of Sony, but they didn’t do it alone. The Blu-ray Disc Association, a group representing consumer electronics, computer hardware, and motion picture production, developed Blu-ray Disc. By September 20, 2008 more than 850 Blu-ray Disc titles have been released in the United States and more than 500 Blu-ray Disc titles have been released in Japan, and there are expected to be over 1500 Blu-ray Disc titles released in the United States by the end of 2008.
Blu-ray discs can be made to support various high definition formats. Broadcast high definition is shown in either the 720p format or the 1080i standard. While the 1080i ostensibly has more lines of resolution, it is interlaced (Thus the i next to the number). This means you are looking at 540 line fields rather than a full frame. In effect, 720p is basically higher resolution than 1080i as a result of this interlacing. The scan lines on 1080i don’t translate directly into more resolution.
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