Get Blu Ray or Stay With DVD?

Blu rays are not shiny new any more and have been around for a while, but it seems like the regular DVDs are not going away in the meantime. What issues should you consider before buying a new player? read on to find out.

How Much Will it Cost You?

There are a few issues you may want to consider before making a decision on a new movie player. For most of us, the first thing we’ll think about is price – how much will it cost me? Blu Ray players are still very expensive compared to regular DVDs. Their price is going down as time goes by, but looking at upfront purchase cost – the regular DVD wins hands down.

But that was only upfront costs. What about ongoing costs? Blu Ray titles cost more than regular DVDs. Go to any store, or just browse through websites that sell movies online. The Blu Ray movies are significantly more expensive. So it is not only about how much you pay to get the player – it’s also about all the money you’ll have to spend when you want to actually watch something.

Title Availability

Touching on the subject of movies, Blu Ray still has a problem with titles availability. All new titles are produced in Blu Ray format – no problem with these. However, older movies take time to port to the Blu Ray format, and all in all – the total number of titles in Blu Ray format is about 1 percent of the variety that regular DVD offers.

Quality of Experience

When it comes to the quality of the picture and sound – regular DVD just can’t face up to Blu Ray. The 1080p resolution, the colors, the contrast – Blu Rays have everything ready to provide you with a near-cinema experience on trrue HD screens. Regular DVDs, on the other hand, go as far as 480p and lower picture fidelity.

And don’t get me started about sound. With the right sound system, you get studio-quality soundtracks, with everything exactly as it sounds in a theatre. Regular DVDs use inferior sound technologies (which are not too bad for older titles, as soundtrack quality wasn’t so good in the past anyway).

The downside of this is, of course, that to really enjoy the soundtrack you’ll need a new sound system…

Special Features

With Blu Rays, special features are really in their early days. You can pop up the player’s menu without stopping the movie, picture in picture, Internet connectivity and so on. The only thing where they are inferior to regular DVDs is the movie loading time – which is longer. Additionally, if this is of interest to you, Blu Ray set top recorders are currently available only in Japan.

Bottom Line

You probably don’t need to go and get a Blu Ray right now if your old DVD player is still working. However, if you’re getting a new home theatre or just really need that quality go for a Blu Ray…

If you’re still wondering – why not let Choozza help you? Read our comparison, personalize it by setting importance to various features, and see what’s best for you.