What Will The Best Blu-ray Player Do For My Movies?

You should definitely buy a blu-ray player because in January 2008, HD-DVD or high-definition DVD conceded the battle to blu-ray. That means HD-DVD is finished. I assume that it also means both HD-DVD players and discs either are no longer in production or will cease production shortly.

If you are wondering about streaming movies, there are definitely people doing this but surveys indicate that more people prefer blu-ray discs to streaming movies which means that the move to blu-ray is on.

In the last six-months, blu-ray manufacturers have made valuable advances to entice us into buying their technology. The cost of players has dropped significantly and so has the cost of the discs. Amazon (who I am most familiar with) as well as other companies are offering amazing package deals -- sometimes bundling free discs with players and other times bundling groups of discs.

The movie companies, including Disney and Imax, have increased the release of movies on blu-ray format and now there are over 1,000 movies available on the format. It certainly appears that blu-ray has arrived!

A high-definition television! To make the most of your blu-ray player, you will definitely need a high-definition television. Together, they will be an unbeatable team!

Blu-ray offers up to six times better resolution than DVDs did. They provide even better quality than your high definition television channels. If you value the best quality picture, you are going to love blu-ray.

To understand why blu-ray discs provide better pictures, you need to know the difference between high definition signals known as 1080i and 1080p. Both offer the highest resolution possible today with a television but they are different.

1080i signals are 'interlaced' meaning that the pictures on the screen are displayed half a screen at a time. This picture flips many times a second so that one half and then the other half is displayed. Sounds odd, but this happens so quickly that your eye cannot tell it is going on although you may sense a very slight flicker.

1080p signals are 'progressive' meaning that screen displays the entire picture which updates many times a second so that there is only a full image rather than halves. The result is that the pictures from 1080p are absolutely steady.

Most high-definition televisions support 1080p but the only method for obtaining progressive-scan high definition pictures is from a blu-ray. The signal from your provider -- be it satellite, cable or phone -- can only stream at 1080p.