Blu-Ray Buying Guide, Part I

The format war is over, Blu-ray won, and you're ready to make tracks for nearest electronics store. Well, hold your horses, fella. Here's a few facts to consider before you crack open your wallet.

Blu-ray players are still way pricey: While Blu-ray managed beat out HD DVD to become the HD disc format of choice, the overall Blu-ray market is still relatively young, and that means high prices—as in $250 or more (as I wrote earlier this week). So, when will prices start falling for Blu-ray players? Hard to say; as Chris wrote, price tags may begin to fall as more manufacturers start coming out with Blu-ray players, but it could be months before Blu-ray prices fall below $200. In short...if you buy Blu-ray now, get ready to pay a premium.

Some players are already out of date: Not all Blu-ray players are created equal. Older Blu-ray decks (which, of course, happen to be the most affordable) may not be able to play the latest interactive bonus features on the new Blu-ray discs. As it stands, there are three Blu-ray "profiles" in the mix:

• Profile 1.0: The oldest and most basic Blu-ray profile, which lacks picture-in-picture commentary and Internet-enabled features.
• Profile 1.1: Also known as "Bonus View," this profile adds picture-in-picture video commentaries (a feature available in the first HD DVD players, by the way) but doesn't require support for Internet-enabled bonus features. All Blu-ray players made after November 1, 2007 must be Profile 1.1-compliant (although plenty of Profile 1.0 decks are still on store shelves).
• Profile 2.0: Also known as "BD-Live" and set for release this fall, this upcoming profile mandates support for downloadable Internet features and "widgets."

Unfortunately, existing Profile 1.0 players can't be upgraded to Profile 1.1, and most 1.1 players can't be upgraded to the upcoming 2.0 standard. (The sole exception is the Blu-ray-equipped PlayStation 3, which can be upgraded via a software download.) So if the latest and greatest extras are important to you, consider paying extra for a Profile 1.1 player, or wait until the fall for a Profile 2.0 deck. On the other hand, if you can live without picture-in-picture commentaries and downloadable Net features, a cheaper Profile 1.0 player might actually be a good bet.

Blu-ray players will play (and upscale) standard DVDs: One question I get asked a lot is whether standard DVDs will work in a Blu-ray player. The answer: yes, and then some. A Blu-ray player will take a 480p DVD and (if you're watching over an HDMI connection) "upconvert" the video signal to 1080p. Now, that doesn't mean that your old DVDs will suddenly look like HD; rather, your Blu-ray player will do its best to extrapolate a 1080p image out of the 480p signal. Results will vary, but in general, you can expect a slightly sharper picture.

Slow start-up times: Get ready to wait when you load up your first Blu-ray disc. Some decks take up to a minute to begin playing a disc from cold start (again, the PlayStation 3 is an exception).

Scant selection of movies: Take a good, hard look at the movies and TV shows out on Blu-ray before you snap up a player. I found a total of about 675 Blu-ray titles on Amazon; compare that with tens of thousands of DVD titles. The number of Blu-ray releases is sure to accelerate now that the format war is over, but for now, there's a good chance that your favorite movie isn't on Blu-ray.

OK, got all that? Good. Click here for part two and some Blu-ray buying ideas.