Once one decides on purchasing a TV, an LCD TV, a Plasma TV or one of the top HDTVs under $500; the next in line would most probably be DVD Players. And with CDs and DVDs making way for Blu-Rays, the race for the top DVD Players has heated up. The Blu-Ray disc or just BD is an optical disc now widely used because of its great advantages; it can store more data compared to the standard CDs and DVDs and can record, rewrite and playback high-definition video.
This innovative idea is the brain child of a group known as the Blu-Ray Disc Association, which includes almost all the top manufacturers of consumer electronics, personal computers and recording media such as Apple, Dell, HP, LG, Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, Pioneer, Walt Disney Pictures, Thomson and so on. Though today DVDs still rule the roost, Blu-Rays are not lagging behind. The famous movie studios have released movies on BDs along with the DVDs. Most of the top manufacturers have come up with DVD players that play Blu-Ray discs.
Blu-Ray discs will take some more time to gain popularity as it all depends upon how fast the BD format becomes widespread. But that shouldn’t daunt you in checking out the latest Blu-Ray DVD players and seeing the difference between BD and DVD.
Showing posts with label DVD Players. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DVD Players. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
The Very Best Way to Save Gas This Summer
Stay Home and Watch HDTV
Last month we reported on several ways to save gas this summer including buying a GPS with traffic info and gas prices. Since that report was published the price of gas has risen over a dollar a gallon along with the price of everything else. After much internal discussion we can only re-emphasize the conclusion that the best way to save gas is to not drive. Seriously, this may very well be the summer of the stay-at-home vacation and while you're staying home, why not watch HDTV? Look at it this way; a week-long road trip vacation is going to set you back at least $2,000. For that kind of money you can get a nice big LCD or Plasma TV that you'll be able to enjoy all year 'round.
Summer Olympics HDTV Extravaganza
There’s no shortage of good HD programming. The summer Olympics start in a few weeks and NBC has promised that this is going to be a premiere HD event with over 1000 HD cameras recording over 3500 hours of HD Olympics coverage. And before you know it, the fall TV season will be starting up including Monday night football. If you haven't watched football in HD you have been missing out on the visual treat of viewing players' tattoos in detail and checking out all the good looking babes (and guys) in the stands that on SD just look like one big blurry mass of people.
1080p vs. 1080i
We've been known to recommend 1080i/720p sets for good value. In fact, they're still good values and if you're looking at something smaller than 32 inches most people can't tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p at those screen sizes. Furthermore, all programming comes in over the air on cable or satellite at 1080i or 720p so a 1080p is really unnecessary. On the other hand, with less expensive (maybe) Blu-ray players on the horizon, upconverting DVD players and game consoles all driving 1080P on HDMI outputs, we say it's a good idea to future-proof your HDTV set purchase with a set that supports 1080P.
HDTV Suggestions
Here are some suggestions of HDTV sets that will cost lest than a week long vacation and still leave you with enough cash for maybe one fill up.
The Olevia 747i is at the top of Retrevo's LCD value list. For around $1,500 you get a 47" LCD TV that does 1080p and gets high marks from experts and users for image quality. Second on the value list is Sony's BRAVIA KDL 46V3000 which also does 1080p and costs around $1,600. It gets generally favorable reviews with some mention of blurring on fast action scenes. For a real bargain you should consider a 720p Vizio LCD TV. The 37" VX37LHDTV goes for well under $1,000 while the better rated, 32" VX32LHDTV which gets very good reviews costs around $600.
If Plasma is your choice then consider the Hitachi P50T501, 50" Plasma HDTV that does 1080p for a very affordable $1,300. Samsung offers the Samsung FP-T5884 a 58" 1080p Plasma TV for around $2,300 and LG has a 60" Plasma for about the same price called the LG 60PC1D while the top-rated Panasonic TH-50PZ77U, 50 inch plasma will cost you around $1600.
Projection TVs are probably going to disappear eventually as big LCD TVs become better and cheaper but you can still get a lot of HDTV for your money. Unfortunately part of that bigness comes in size for example, you can get the Samsung HL-S5687W, a big 56 inch rear projection TV that runs 1080p for less than $1000. You can get the Sony BRAVIA KDF-46E3000 a nice LCD-based projection TV for around $900.
Last month we reported on several ways to save gas this summer including buying a GPS with traffic info and gas prices. Since that report was published the price of gas has risen over a dollar a gallon along with the price of everything else. After much internal discussion we can only re-emphasize the conclusion that the best way to save gas is to not drive. Seriously, this may very well be the summer of the stay-at-home vacation and while you're staying home, why not watch HDTV? Look at it this way; a week-long road trip vacation is going to set you back at least $2,000. For that kind of money you can get a nice big LCD or Plasma TV that you'll be able to enjoy all year 'round.
Summer Olympics HDTV Extravaganza
There’s no shortage of good HD programming. The summer Olympics start in a few weeks and NBC has promised that this is going to be a premiere HD event with over 1000 HD cameras recording over 3500 hours of HD Olympics coverage. And before you know it, the fall TV season will be starting up including Monday night football. If you haven't watched football in HD you have been missing out on the visual treat of viewing players' tattoos in detail and checking out all the good looking babes (and guys) in the stands that on SD just look like one big blurry mass of people.
1080p vs. 1080i
We've been known to recommend 1080i/720p sets for good value. In fact, they're still good values and if you're looking at something smaller than 32 inches most people can't tell the difference between 1080i and 1080p at those screen sizes. Furthermore, all programming comes in over the air on cable or satellite at 1080i or 720p so a 1080p is really unnecessary. On the other hand, with less expensive (maybe) Blu-ray players on the horizon, upconverting DVD players and game consoles all driving 1080P on HDMI outputs, we say it's a good idea to future-proof your HDTV set purchase with a set that supports 1080P.
HDTV Suggestions
Here are some suggestions of HDTV sets that will cost lest than a week long vacation and still leave you with enough cash for maybe one fill up.
The Olevia 747i is at the top of Retrevo's LCD value list. For around $1,500 you get a 47" LCD TV that does 1080p and gets high marks from experts and users for image quality. Second on the value list is Sony's BRAVIA KDL 46V3000 which also does 1080p and costs around $1,600. It gets generally favorable reviews with some mention of blurring on fast action scenes. For a real bargain you should consider a 720p Vizio LCD TV. The 37" VX37LHDTV goes for well under $1,000 while the better rated, 32" VX32LHDTV which gets very good reviews costs around $600.
If Plasma is your choice then consider the Hitachi P50T501, 50" Plasma HDTV that does 1080p for a very affordable $1,300. Samsung offers the Samsung FP-T5884 a 58" 1080p Plasma TV for around $2,300 and LG has a 60" Plasma for about the same price called the LG 60PC1D while the top-rated Panasonic TH-50PZ77U, 50 inch plasma will cost you around $1600.
Projection TVs are probably going to disappear eventually as big LCD TVs become better and cheaper but you can still get a lot of HDTV for your money. Unfortunately part of that bigness comes in size for example, you can get the Samsung HL-S5687W, a big 56 inch rear projection TV that runs 1080p for less than $1000. You can get the Sony BRAVIA KDF-46E3000 a nice LCD-based projection TV for around $900.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Some Reasons to Wait for Good Blu-ray Player
The format war is over and Blu-ray prevailed over HD DVD. All HD programming currently comes over the air or cable at 720p or 1080i. If you have a “full HD” HDTV and don’t have it hooked up to a high definition TV you have probably have never seen it at its highest resolution of 1080p. The big question is, should you buy a Blu-ray player now or wait? Here are some reasons to wait:
Profile 2.0: The current Blu-ray standard is Profile 1.1 also called “Bonus View.” Profile 1.1 includes features like picture-in-picture commentaries. Profile 2.0 or "BD-Live," will add online connectivity features including the ability to get trailers and other content over the internet. You’ll also be able to download firmware upgrades. This standard should be good for a while. The only problem is you can't buy a standalone player right now with Profile 2.0.
Price: Blu-ray players currently cost around $500. Prices may drop by hundreds of dollars by next holiday season. Even though the competition is out of the picture a reason to cut prices could be the fact that the Blu-ray folks may want to establish a big customer base before downloaded movie transfers become the new distribution media.
New Models: New models from Sony, Panasonic, Sharp, and Samsung should hit the market as early as this summer, if not sooner. Sony just announced two new players that will incorporate Profile 2.0. The BDP-S350 will be available this summer for around $400 but will need a firmware upgrade for 2.0. The BDP-S550 will cost around $500 and will be available next fall with 2.0 included. The Panasonic DMP-BD50 will include Profile 2.0 and is expected to cost around $500. It will also offer “Deep Color” compatibility which works with HDMI 1.3 to deliver richer colors. This could be the one to buy.
Upconverting DVD Players: You can currently buy a standard definition DVD player that upconverts to 1080p for under $100. The image is no match for Blu-ray 1080p video but it could get you buy until prices drop and new models emerge.
Blu-ray DVDs Don’t Have Latest Features Yet: Because the standards weren't implemented in the players the studios have been slow to add interactive features. It will take a while before Blu-ray DVDs include the features supported by profiles 1.1 and 2.0 but once they do there should be some very cool features like, “Backstage Pass,” that provides all kinds of info about things like costumes, sets, or even what the actors had for lunch, or “Peek Behind the Animation,” that lets you watch the actors create the voices.
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