Blu Ray DVD Players

Naa_KwaKai · 12-12-2013, 19:40

Please don't laugh at me...

I'm new to the concept of Blu Ray DVD. In fact, I only found out what they were about 2 years ago...

My DVD player recently broke down (it was like £20 and I got it a couple of years ago) so now I'm looking to purchase Blu Ray DVD player as it's supposed to be better quality.

What I want to know is :

Does a Blu Ray Dvd player play non blu ray DVDs?
Can it record television onto DVD?
What is the lowest price that you can expect to get a reasonably decent Blu Ray DVD player that can do all these things (provided they can be done)?

alan1302 · 12-12-2013, 19:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai

Please don't laugh at me...

I'm new to the concept of Blu Ray DVD. In fact, I only found out what they were about 2 years ago...

My DVD player recently broke down (it was like £20 and I got it a couple of years ago) so now I'm looking to purchase Blu Ray DVD player as it's supposed to be better quality.

What I want to know is :

Does a Blu Ray Dvd player play non blu ray DVDs?
Can it record television onto DVD?
What is the lowest price that you can expect to get a reasonably decent Blu Ray DVD player that can do all these things (provided they can be done)?

Yes, it can play normal DVDs

It could only record TV if it was recorder.

£50 (for a player, no idea of a recorder price)

Naa_KwaKai · 12-12-2013, 19:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan1302

Yes, it can play normal DVDs

It could only record TV if it was recorder.

£50 (for a player, no idea of a recorder price)

Cool, thanks. So is the Blu Ray recorder and Blu Ray player a separate thing or can you get both in one?

alan1302 · 12-12-2013, 20:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai

Cool, thanks. So is the Blu Ray recorder and Blu Ray player a separate thing or can you get both in one?

A blu ray player will only play whilst a recorder will play and record.

grps3 · 12-12-2013, 20:03

just a suggestion ...

but buy a ps3

it can play blurays and dvds +cds

you can setup mediasharing so you can stream all your stuff from lappy/pc to your tv via ps3

the ps3 also has iplayer,itvplayer,4OD,netflix 5ondemand lovefilm etc

and you could buy playtv to turn the ps3 into a pvr(personal video recorder)

and you can play games if the tv gets boring

Naa_KwaKai · 12-12-2013, 20:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by grps3

just a suggestion ...

but buy a ps3

it can play blurays and dvds +cds

you can setup mediasharing so you can stream all your stuff from lappy/pc to your tv via ps3

the ps3 also has iplayer,itvplayer,4OD,netflix 5ondemand lovefilm etc

and you could buy playtv to turn the ps3 into a pvr(personal video recorder)

and you can play games if the tv gets boring

I have an XBox 360, thanks

Don't think it plays Blu Ray. Me thinks I'll just get a Blu Ray DVD player/recorder in one, seems cheaper. Thanks for your help, guys.

alan1302 · 12-12-2013, 20:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai

I have an XBox 360, thanks

Don't think it plays Blu Ray. Me thinks I'll just get a Blu Ray DVD player/recorder in one, seems cheaper. Thanks for your help, guys.

The new Xbox One has a built in Blu ray player!

Naa_KwaKai · 12-12-2013, 21:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan1302

The new Xbox One has a built in Blu ray player!

But after all the bad publicity early on it really put me off!

Plus I think I'm gonna wait until it becomes half price in like 2 years. I saw the graphic difference demonstration between the 360 and One and I honestly thought it was a joke.

grahamlthompson · 12-12-2013, 21:09

Just to enlighten the OP. Blu-ray discs aren't DVD's they are Blu-ray discs. Blu-ray discs will play back most optical storage media.

DVD, AVCHD (High definition on DVD media), Blu-ray discs and CD's.

You need a special blu-tay player to play back 3D Blu-ray discs in 3D and of course a 3D TV.

alan1302 · 12-12-2013, 21:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai

But after all the bad publicity early on it really put me off!

Plus I think I'm gonna wait until it becomes half price in like 2 years. I saw the graphic difference demonstration between the 360 and One and I honestly thought it was a joke.

If you have not seen the difference between a DVD and Bluray it may be worth taking a look first as a lot of people think the same about that DVD vs Blu ray. I know my wife isn't bothered what format it's on - it's only me that knows the difference.

grahamlthompson · 12-12-2013, 23:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by alan1302

If you have not seen the difference between a DVD and Bluray it may be worth taking a look first as a lot of people think the same about that DVD vs Blu ray. I know my wife isn't bothered what format it's on - it's only me that knows the difference.

Provided you have a HD TV, Blu-ray players these days can make DVD's look very good thanks to the excellent scalers they have.

Depending on the OP's TV It's very likely a DVD played on a Blu-ray player is going to look a lot better than it did on his old DVD player.

The size of the TV and the distance you view it from has a major impact.

A UK DVD has a maximum resolution of 720 x 576 pixels, if you view it on a full HD TV either the player or the TV (or a combination of both) has to invent the extra pixels to 1920 x 1080.

Blu-ray has a native 1920 x 1080 resolution, the TV or player does not have to invent any extra pixels except for the following.

Blu-ray is recorded at 24fps, some TV's cannot work with 24p content so the player has to invent extra frames to allow the TV to display the content.

Unless you have a 1080p24 compliant TV you will not see the full potential of the format, video wise.

Lastly much of the impact of Blu-ray is the enhanced audio capabilities, thin screen TV's have very poor sound so this is entirely lost. Add a decent sound system with full surround sound and it's like being there

. The same applies to DVD's though the audio capabilities are a bit less.

In the end we do not know what the OP has as a display device (TV), it might be a 4:3 CRT, it could be a high end 16:9 lcd/plasma. We do not know if it even has digital video inputs, or merely analogue. If analogue whether the TV has RGB capability.

All Blu-ray players for full performance require a TV with a hdmi digital input.

Naa_KwaKai · 13-12-2013, 03:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by grahamlthompson

Depending on the OP's TV It's very likely a DVD played on a Blu-ray player is going to look a lot better than it did on his old DVD player.

It's she

and my TV is HD ready and huge...

ironjade · 13-12-2013, 09:34

I have an LG Blu-Ray player and mainly use it for playing back video/audio files from an external drive. I only have one Blu-Ray disc and don't plan on buying any more. Given the price of blanks, Blu-Ray recording is a wste of money.

grahamlthompson · 13-12-2013, 11:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai

It's she

and my TV is HD ready and huge...

In that case go for a Blu-ray player. Recommend Sony or Panasonic.

If you have a Richer Sound near you

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...y-bdps1100-blk

grahamlthompson · 13-12-2013, 11:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by ironjade

I have an LG Blu-Ray player and mainly use it for playing back video/audio files from an external drive. I only have one Blu-Ray disc and don't plan on buying any more. Given the price of blanks, Blu-Ray recording is a wste of money.

Blu-ray recorders will record High Definition TV in high definition to the internal Hard Disk. There is no need to use blanks. I burn blu-rays but only home made high definition camcorder content. I have a fairly large collection of blu-rays, I rarely play them as I back up to usb drives which I can play back anywhere using a HD tablet (Nexus 7). A 1TB drive can hold around 250 movies in full Blu-ray quality.

ironjade · 13-12-2013, 13:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by grahamlthompson

Blu-ray recorders will record High Definition TV in high definition to the internal Hard Disk. There is no need to use blanks. I burn blu-rays but only home made high definition camcorder content. I have a fairly large collection of blu-rays, I rarely play them as I back up to usb drives which I can play back anywhere using a HD tablet (Nexus 7). A 1TB drive can hold around 250 movies in full Blu-ray quality.

You don't really need a Blu-Ray recorder to record HDTV if you have a decent PVR. Much as I love my BR player and other gadgetry, I really can't see a use for a BR recorder.

grahamlthompson · 13-12-2013, 13:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by ironjade

You don't really need a Blu-Ray recorder to record HDTV if you have a decent PVR. Much as I love my BR player and other gadgetry, I really can't see a use for a BR recorder.

Nor me, I have a esata Blu-ray burner I can connect to my laptop when I need it.

Naa_KwaKai · 13-12-2013, 15:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by grahamlthompson

In that case go for a Blu-ray player. Recommend Sony or Panasonic.

If you have a Richer Sound near you

http://www.richersounds.com/product/...y-bdps1100-blk

Ok so you wouldn't recommend a Blu Ray recorder? Any reason why as I do plan on recording some TV shows every now and then.

I have 16:9 lcd/plasma and about 3 HDMI inputs.

Also, I'm seeing stuff about internal and external hard drives? So some Blu Ray recorders has an internal storage device that you can record stuff on and access?

chrisjr · 13-12-2013, 16:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai

Ok so you wouldn't recommend a Blu Ray recorder? Any reason why as I do plan on recording some TV shows every now and then.

I have 16:9 lcd/plasma and about 3 HDMI inputs.

Also, I'm seeing stuff about internal and external hard drives? So some Blu Ray recorders has an internal storage device that you can record stuff on and access?

Just buy a Blu-Ray player and a Freeview HD PVR to handle the telly recording duties. Might well work out cheaper over all as well.

There is very little point buying a Blu-Ray recorder if you are hardly ever going to be recording to Blu-Ray disk. If all you ever do is record to the internal hard drive then the extra expense and complication of a Blu-Ray burner is wasted.

Plus keeping them as separate units may be more versatile in that you can definitely be recording two TV channels and watching a Blu-Ray movie at the same time with separate units. Which might not be possible with a single combined recorder unit.

12-12-2013, 19:40	#1
Naa_KwaKai Inactive Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 1,767	Blu Ray DVD Players Please don't laugh at me... I'm new to the concept of Blu Ray DVD. In fact, I only found out what they were about 2 years ago... My DVD player recently broke down (it was like £20 and I got it a couple of years ago) so now I'm looking to purchase Blu Ray DVD player as it's supposed to be better quality. What I want to know is : Does a Blu Ray Dvd player play non blu ray DVDs? Can it record television onto DVD? What is the lowest price that you can expect to get a reasonably decent Blu Ray DVD player that can do all these things (provided they can be done)?

12-12-2013, 19:42	#2
alan1302 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: West Yorks Posts: 6,180	Quote: Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai Please don't laugh at me... I'm new to the concept of Blu Ray DVD. In fact, I only found out what they were about 2 years ago... My DVD player recently broke down (it was like £20 and I got it a couple of years ago) so now I'm looking to purchase Blu Ray DVD player as it's supposed to be better quality. What I want to know is : Does a Blu Ray Dvd player play non blu ray DVDs? Can it record television onto DVD? What is the lowest price that you can expect to get a reasonably decent Blu Ray DVD player that can do all these things (provided they can be done)? Yes, it can play normal DVDs It could only record TV if it was recorder. £50 (for a player, no idea of a recorder price)

12-12-2013, 19:56	#3
Naa_KwaKai Inactive Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 1,767	Quote: Originally Posted by alan1302 Yes, it can play normal DVDs It could only record TV if it was recorder. £50 (for a player, no idea of a recorder price) Cool, thanks. So is the Blu Ray recorder and Blu Ray player a separate thing or can you get both in one?

12-12-2013, 20:00	#4
alan1302 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: West Yorks Posts: 6,180	Quote: Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai Cool, thanks. So is the Blu Ray recorder and Blu Ray player a separate thing or can you get both in one? A blu ray player will only play whilst a recorder will play and record.

12-12-2013, 20:03	#5
grps3 Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 2,735	just a suggestion ... but buy a ps3 it can play blurays and dvds +cds you can setup mediasharing so you can stream all your stuff from lappy/pc to your tv via ps3 the ps3 also has iplayer,itvplayer,4OD,netflix 5ondemand lovefilm etc and you could buy playtv to turn the ps3 into a pvr(personal video recorder) and you can play games if the tv gets boring

12-12-2013, 20:27	#6
Naa_KwaKai Inactive Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 1,767	Quote: Originally Posted by grps3 just a suggestion ... but buy a ps3 it can play blurays and dvds +cds you can setup mediasharing so you can stream all your stuff from lappy/pc to your tv via ps3 the ps3 also has iplayer,itvplayer,4OD,netflix 5ondemand lovefilm etc and you could buy playtv to turn the ps3 into a pvr(personal video recorder) and you can play games if the tv gets boring I have an XBox 360, thanks Don't think it plays Blu Ray. Me thinks I'll just get a Blu Ray DVD player/recorder in one, seems cheaper. Thanks for your help, guys.

12-12-2013, 20:28	#7
alan1302 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: West Yorks Posts: 6,180	Quote: Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai I have an XBox 360, thanks Don't think it plays Blu Ray. Me thinks I'll just get a Blu Ray DVD player/recorder in one, seems cheaper. Thanks for your help, guys. The new Xbox One has a built in Blu ray player!

12-12-2013, 21:06	#8
Naa_KwaKai Inactive Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 1,767	Quote: Originally Posted by alan1302 The new Xbox One has a built in Blu ray player! But after all the bad publicity early on it really put me off! Plus I think I'm gonna wait until it becomes half price in like 2 years. I saw the graphic difference demonstration between the 360 and One and I honestly thought it was a joke.

12-12-2013, 21:09	#9
grahamlthompson Forum Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Redditch Worcs Posts: 17,293	Just to enlighten the OP. Blu-ray discs aren't DVD's they are Blu-ray discs. Blu-ray discs will play back most optical storage media. DVD, AVCHD (High definition on DVD media), Blu-ray discs and CD's. You need a special blu-tay player to play back 3D Blu-ray discs in 3D and of course a 3D TV.

12-12-2013, 21:18	#10
alan1302 Forum Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: West Yorks Posts: 6,180	Quote: Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai But after all the bad publicity early on it really put me off! Plus I think I'm gonna wait until it becomes half price in like 2 years. I saw the graphic difference demonstration between the 360 and One and I honestly thought it was a joke. If you have not seen the difference between a DVD and Bluray it may be worth taking a look first as a lot of people think the same about that DVD vs Blu ray. I know my wife isn't bothered what format it's on - it's only me that knows the difference.

12-12-2013, 23:09	#11
grahamlthompson Forum Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Redditch Worcs Posts: 17,293	Quote: Originally Posted by alan1302 If you have not seen the difference between a DVD and Bluray it may be worth taking a look first as a lot of people think the same about that DVD vs Blu ray. I know my wife isn't bothered what format it's on - it's only me that knows the difference. Provided you have a HD TV, Blu-ray players these days can make DVD's look very good thanks to the excellent scalers they have. Depending on the OP's TV It's very likely a DVD played on a Blu-ray player is going to look a lot better than it did on his old DVD player. The size of the TV and the distance you view it from has a major impact. A UK DVD has a maximum resolution of 720 x 576 pixels, if you view it on a full HD TV either the player or the TV (or a combination of both) has to invent the extra pixels to 1920 x 1080. Blu-ray has a native 1920 x 1080 resolution, the TV or player does not have to invent any extra pixels except for the following. Blu-ray is recorded at 24fps, some TV's cannot work with 24p content so the player has to invent extra frames to allow the TV to display the content. Unless you have a 1080p24 compliant TV you will not see the full potential of the format, video wise. Lastly much of the impact of Blu-ray is the enhanced audio capabilities, thin screen TV's have very poor sound so this is entirely lost. Add a decent sound system with full surround sound and it's like being there . The same applies to DVD's though the audio capabilities are a bit less. In the end we do not know what the OP has as a display device (TV), it might be a 4:3 CRT, it could be a high end 16:9 lcd/plasma. We do not know if it even has digital video inputs, or merely analogue. If analogue whether the TV has RGB capability. All Blu-ray players for full performance require a TV with a hdmi digital input.

13-12-2013, 03:18	#12
Naa_KwaKai Inactive Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 1,767	Quote: Originally Posted by grahamlthompson Depending on the OP's TV It's very likely a DVD played on a Blu-ray player is going to look a lot better than it did on his old DVD player. It's she and my TV is HD ready and huge...

13-12-2013, 09:34	#13
ironjade Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: London Posts: 8,651	I have an LG Blu-Ray player and mainly use it for playing back video/audio files from an external drive. I only have one Blu-Ray disc and don't plan on buying any more. Given the price of blanks, Blu-Ray recording is a wste of money.

13-12-2013, 11:18	#14
grahamlthompson Forum Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Redditch Worcs Posts: 17,293	Quote: Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai It's she and my TV is HD ready and huge... In that case go for a Blu-ray player. Recommend Sony or Panasonic. If you have a Richer Sound near you http://www.richersounds.com/product/...y-bdps1100-blk

13-12-2013, 11:23	#15
grahamlthompson Forum Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Redditch Worcs Posts: 17,293	Quote: Originally Posted by ironjade I have an LG Blu-Ray player and mainly use it for playing back video/audio files from an external drive. I only have one Blu-Ray disc and don't plan on buying any more. Given the price of blanks, Blu-Ray recording is a wste of money. Blu-ray recorders will record High Definition TV in high definition to the internal Hard Disk. There is no need to use blanks. I burn blu-rays but only home made high definition camcorder content. I have a fairly large collection of blu-rays, I rarely play them as I back up to usb drives which I can play back anywhere using a HD tablet (Nexus 7). A 1TB drive can hold around 250 movies in full Blu-ray quality.

13-12-2013, 13:19	#16
ironjade Forum Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: London Posts: 8,651	Quote: Originally Posted by grahamlthompson Blu-ray recorders will record High Definition TV in high definition to the internal Hard Disk. There is no need to use blanks. I burn blu-rays but only home made high definition camcorder content. I have a fairly large collection of blu-rays, I rarely play them as I back up to usb drives which I can play back anywhere using a HD tablet (Nexus 7). A 1TB drive can hold around 250 movies in full Blu-ray quality. You don't really need a Blu-Ray recorder to record HDTV if you have a decent PVR. Much as I love my BR player and other gadgetry, I really can't see a use for a BR recorder.

13-12-2013, 13:31	#17
grahamlthompson Forum Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Redditch Worcs Posts: 17,293	Quote: Originally Posted by ironjade You don't really need a Blu-Ray recorder to record HDTV if you have a decent PVR. Much as I love my BR player and other gadgetry, I really can't see a use for a BR recorder. Nor me, I have a esata Blu-ray burner I can connect to my laptop when I need it.

13-12-2013, 15:54	#18
Naa_KwaKai Inactive Member Join Date: Sep 2013 Posts: 1,767	Quote: Originally Posted by grahamlthompson In that case go for a Blu-ray player. Recommend Sony or Panasonic. If you have a Richer Sound near you http://www.richersounds.com/product/...y-bdps1100-blk Ok so you wouldn't recommend a Blu Ray recorder? Any reason why as I do plan on recording some TV shows every now and then. I have 16:9 lcd/plasma and about 3 HDMI inputs. Also, I'm seeing stuff about internal and external hard drives? So some Blu Ray recorders has an internal storage device that you can record stuff on and access?

13-12-2013, 16:22	#19
chrisjr Forum Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Reading Posts: 27,916	Quote: Originally Posted by Naa_KwaKai Ok so you wouldn't recommend a Blu Ray recorder? Any reason why as I do plan on recording some TV shows every now and then. I have 16:9 lcd/plasma and about 3 HDMI inputs. Also, I'm seeing stuff about internal and external hard drives? So some Blu Ray recorders has an internal storage device that you can record stuff on and access? Just buy a Blu-Ray player and a Freeview HD PVR to handle the telly recording duties. Might well work out cheaper over all as well. There is very little point buying a Blu-Ray recorder if you are hardly ever going to be recording to Blu-Ray disk. If all you ever do is record to the internal hard drive then the extra expense and complication of a Blu-Ray burner is wasted. Plus keeping them as separate units may be more versatile in that you can definitely be recording two TV channels and watching a Blu-Ray movie at the same time with separate units. Which might not be possible with a single combined recorder unit.

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Blu Ray DVD Players