I was watching a DVD the other day and for some reason it just felt really old fashioned, watching it on TV feels more new.

So I am thinking about moving on to Blu Ray and was wondering if any of you could tell me any of the benefits from getting a Blu Ray player.

I would be really grateful.

High definition.

Do you have a HDTV otherwise there isn't much point?

Yes I do have a HDTV.

Potential for other facilities, such as iPlayer, Netfix, YouTube, usb/hdd playback.
Upscaling of existing dvds plus hd bluray.

With the 'warning' that this doesn't make it HD, it merely makes it fit the screen - which your TV already does. However, BD players normally have good scalers, and may well do a slightly better job than your TV does.

So don't buy one because it upscales - buy one because you want to watch BD films in HD.

If you have a home cinema set up you will also get far better surround sound on blu-ray such as Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio. IMO these blow the standard Dolby Digital or DTS soundtracks you get on DVD out of the water!

There can't be many reasons not to buy a BD player now, prices are cheap and you get better sound and vision. There is a slight premium on the disc price but that's about it.

If have SKY HD or Freeview HD, dvd is going to look inferior surely?

I use mine for playing video files from an external drive rather than playing overpriced discs which I'll probably only watch once.
The 3D feature is also handy.

A somewhat vague comment but I can never understand why people pick BR players and not recorders. Surely the best of both worlds (admittedly budget might be an issue). Am I talking rubbish?

Unless you own a HD camcorder there's not a lot you can record in HD. If you imagine they can record a HD source via hdmi input they can't. A blu-ray burner for a PC are pretty cheap these days anyway.

No, but Blu-Ray recorders come with some restrictions

"Blu-ray recorders
If you're into archiving TV, then the idea of burning your own Blu-ray discs probably appeals. In that case, a Blu-ray recorder, will be right up your street.


Combining a Blu-ray burner with a hard-drive recorder, they come with either a Freeview HD or freesat satellite tuner. The basic idea is to record TV shows directly onto the hard drive, and then, if you want to archive anything, you can burn a copy to a blank Blu-ray disc.

Broadcasters have the power to restrict just how many times a recording can be copied, though. They can even prevent any discs being made altogether, thanks to copy prevention flags. While this restriction may keep copyright-holders happy, it's rather frustrating if you're used to burning your own DVDs or recordings to tape whenever you feel like it.

It's probably also worth bearing in mind that not all Blu-ray players can play home-made Blu-ray recordings.

One other compelling reason to own a Blu-ray recorder is to make HD recordings of your own camcorder footage. Using the AVCHD format, these discs will play on almost every other Blu-ray player. It's a great way to share your home movies."

From:http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/blu-ray-pl...uide-50005406/

Thanks. That enlightens me - and I was wondering what the AVCHD was for!

Above post is misleading, AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) allows you to record HD content onto DVD blanks, you only need a DVD player to burn these but you do need a blu-ray player (or a PC with a DVD drive with the right codecs) to play them back A BD recorder is only needed for BDAV format. You can fit about 30-40 minutes of 1920 x 1080 on a single layer DVD blank, more than enough to bore your family in HD.

I have a BD burner and a HD camcorder, I rarely use the burner, the cost of the blank discs is a lot more expensive. A DVD blank costs about 16p.

Cheers.

Same, I have a 3D LG bluray with integrated 5.1 surround built in. It also has Wifi.

The biggest asset is being able to play AVI's through the USB input with surround sound and also iplayer, which comes in HD.

We have some 3D blu rays, but there's not so much software around.