Buyer’s guide to Blu-ray players to help clear up the confusion
By Mike Ferro
Many of you may be interested in purchasing a Blu-ray player, but may be intimidated by all the talk of “profiles” and other technical mumbo jumbo. Here we will attempt to clear up the confusion, as well as look at a number of popular players.
Currently there are three profiles on the market: 1.0, 1.1 and 2.0. Profile 1.0 is the basic Blu-ray player, allowing you to simply watch Blu-ray movies. Profile 1.1 has “Bonus View” which is includes the addition of a second video and audio decoder allowing picture in picture capability. Finally Profile 2.0 has “BD-Live” which is the extensive social networking feature set.
Basically you have to decide which player is right for you, taking into account all the features that you might want. Usually consumers will either clump into the Profile 1.0/1.1 category or fall into the Profile 2.0 hungry category.
Profile 2.0 offers so much more with interactive features from BD-Live such as live viewing of a movie with other people in different locations. While watching the movie or afterwards, you could express your opinion or thought to others watching the same movie.
There are other features that come along with BD-Live such as website access for that movie, allowing for extensive social networking capabilities.
Okay, lets jump into the mix and take a look at few of the top players on the market.
Profile 1.0
This is the basic profile all of the launch models came with. These players are just for playing Blu-ray movies nothing else.
Sony BDP-S300 Profile 1.0 - $300
This is your basic Blu-ray player with very little in the way of features. If all your looking to do is watch hi-def movies, then this is your ticket. This player has the capability to upconvert DVD format as well as display video in 1080p resolution. On the downside there is no onboard Dolby TrueHD decoding as well as there are some known performance issues with slow load time.
This player has no Ethernet port so upgrading is impossible.
Profile 1.1
With the release of Profile 1.1 the players now have the capability to display picture in picture. This is a handy feature when showing some of the interactive features of the movie. Most players out are at Profile 1.1 considering the older players are discontinued.
Panasonic DMP-BD30 Profile 1.1 - $399
This is an excellent player and the first to hit the market with Profile 1.1 standard. This player can output Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio in bitstream format as well as upconvert DVD to 1080p resolution.
However this player does not have an Ethernet port so future firmware upgrades would not be possible.
There is a SD card slot for hi-def AVCHD video format as well.
Samsung BD-P1500 Profile 1.1 - $329.99
This player is one of the few on the market that has the capability to upgrade to Profile 2.0 which could make it a worthwhile investment. There is also onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and bit stream output feature as well as the capability to upconvert DVD to 1080p resolution.
This player is one of the better deals you will find especially with the upgrade capabilities.
Profile 2.0
With this profile a feature called BD-Live is available. BD-Live aims to bring social networking to the Blu-ray movies such as an interactive website where you can download various things such as ringtone, wallpaper and trailers.
Currently there are only a few players that support 2.0 and is fully compliant.
Panasonic DMP-BD50 Profile 2.0 - $699
This player is actually the successor to the BD30 player shown above. Much like it’s predecessor it is the first standalone Blu-ray player to bring Profile 2.0 to the market. This player has all the features one could ask for, also with a SD slot one could view AVCHD video format via the player as well.
This player also boasts onboard decoding for all high-resolution soundtrack formats, plus bit stream output as well as the standard DVD upconverting capabilities.
The only downside to this player is it’s price. The price is pretty hefty when considering other players in that range.
Sony BDP-S350 Profile 2.0 ready - $399
The Sony BDP-S350 is the successor to the budget S300 model we talked about earlier. However unlike it’s predecessor this player has all the features the previous player was lacking. This player supports 1080p in both 24 and 60 frames/sec. with onboard decoding for Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD.
This player is also capable of bitstream output for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. This is actually a great player with most of the features you need plus it’s BD-Live ready as well.
PS3 Profile 2.0 40GB $399 - 80GB $499
The PS3 is a multifunctional home entertainment system with the capability to play Blu-ray movies as well as play hi-def video games. However for our purposes we will look at the Blu-ray capabilities.
The PS3 is widely considered the best Blu-ray player on the market. The PS3 comes in either a 40GB storage model or 80GB storage model with Profile 2.0 firmware update already out for the system.
The PS3 can also decode DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio tracks if you have a receiver that can handle it.
The PS3 can also play back Divx video as well as MP3 audio straight from the hard drive. You could say the PS3 is the ultimate home entertainment system.
Recommendation
If you are looking for just a basic Blu-ray player it might be wise to just stick with the Sony BDP-S300 considering you can find those players for around $300 which is a phenomenal price for a Blu-ray player.
However if you are looking for something a bit more high end, hands down the PS3 makes the top choice for a Blu-ray player with all the bells and whistles for a low price of $399 cheaper than some of the other Profile 2.0 players.
Not only does the PS3 have the latest profile it has a huge 40GB or 80GB storage capacity for all of your media storing needs such as music and videos.
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