Blu-ray players are fast becoming the centre piece in most consumers' home theatre systems. Blu-ray devices coupled with a 1080p LCD or plasma HDTV will give you the ultimate home theatre experience.

The Blu-ray, is the optical disc format requirement of the Blu-ray Association (BDA), which includes all the major consumer electronic manufacturers. It enables you to record, rewrite and playback high-definition video (HD). It also has the ability to store large amounts of data on 25GB single-layer discs and 50GB dual-layer discs.

Blu-ray technology gives you the best home movie experience, providing rich, deep blacks, true colour rendition, and outstanding picture resolution that rivals movie theatres. This technology is capable of providing the ultimate movie picture, yet not all movies will give you the same picture quality. This is because the mastering process varies widely, giving some excellent movie reproductions and some disastrous copies. So, the machine delivers but the movie quality of the blu-ray discs do not always deliver.

Blu-ray enables you to record, rewrite and playback high-definition video (HD). It also has the ability to store large amounts of data on 25GB single-layer discs and 50GB dual-layer discs.

Blu-ray technology gives you the best home movie experience, providing rich, deep blacks, true colour rendition, and outstanding picture resolution that rivals movie theatres.

To quote a recent article in the New York Times, "There is simply no better image quality available to the average consumer than a well-mastered Blu-ray disc. The pictures it creates are of such high quality that they can only have been dreamed about by television engineers just a few years ago."

Blu-ray technology is capable of providing the ultimate movie picture, yet not all movies will give you the same picture quality. This is because the mastering process varies widely, giving some excellent movie reproductions and some disastrous copies. So, the machine delivers but the movie quality of the blu-ray discs do not always deliver.

Some Background History of Blu-ray DVD Players

When blu-ray players first appeared towards the late 1990s, it was considered by the major movie houses as being too expensive to produce compared to HD-DVD the competing technology. However, HD-DVD was later to concede defeat, giving Blu-ray the uncontested market for new HD video playback.

The earlier models were large cumbersome boxes, with very limited features and extremely long (by our instant gratification standards) loading times. Today's blu-ray players are now ultra-slim, loaded with features and have loading times around the 10 second mark (eg. Sony's Quick Start-up mode allows you to get your BDP-S360 Blu-ray Disc player started after just six seconds (6 sec)).

The Blu-ray players that are available today, have an abundance of features, with newer models adding even more upgraded features.

Panasonic DMP-15: Panasonic one of the lead developers of Blu-ray technology introduced the first portable Blu-ray player, the DMP-15 for those on the go. It has a 8.9 inch high quality WSVGA LCD screen, as well as VIERA CAST™ internet accessibility and BD Live functionality.

Samsung's BD-P4600 features Wi-Fi connectivity, streaming of movies from Netflix and Blockbuster, videos from YouTube, and music from Pandora subscriptions.

With Blu-ray DVD players you get to experience true 1080p high definition, with crystal clear viewing, and cinematic resolution, giving you the best TV picture you can get.

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