Polly the Parrot

Is Blue Ray DVD player way to go, or jury still out?

Does a Blue Ray player accept regular DVDs ok?

Are they zoned, and if so can this be overcome?

Any issues with them at all?

T.I.A.

Terry Wrist

It obviously depends on what kind of TV you have, (also audio system); and
how much you are prepared to spend.
BluRay is a high definition format if you have a standard definition TV
there will be little point, also picture is one aspect to get full advantage
of BluRay you'll need a audio system capable of multichannel audio.
BluRay is fully backwards compatible with DVD. Some BluRay players will play
DVDs from any Region and others will not (I believe Sony doesn't). BluRay
movies also have a different Region coding system. all BluRay movies I have
seen in Australia are region free I have not attempted to play any overseas
movies in my player yet so I can't comment on that.
AnyDVD is a program that will make a BluRay Drive on a computer region free
so there are hacks around the ability to make a particular stand alone
player Region free you'd have to have a specific brand and model to check.

Many BluRay players actually upscale DVDs so they look better on a HD TV
played through a BluRay than a std DVD player.

Negatives
The format is still evolving and there are new features which may appear in
the future which will not be compatible or work with older players. Current
players support 50Gb dual layer discs but there is talk of 100Gb quad layer
discs. Although given the cost and world wide economic concerns it looks
less likely new products will rush to the market and current technologies
will be milked for every dollar. This is actually good news for longevity,
unlikely new formats will hit the market if people aren't buying luxury
technology items.

"Polly the Parrot" <flatulantdingo@deadspam.com> wrote in message
news:20081016122849.3b3817ed@linux-k6os.site...
> Is Blue Ray DVD player way to go, or jury still out?
>
> Does a Blue Ray player accept regular DVDs ok?
>
> Are they zoned, and if so can this be overcome?
>
> Any issues with them at all?
>
> T.I.A.

Polly the Parrot

On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:21:54 +1000 "Terry Wrist" <police@fed.gov.au> wrote:

> It obviously depends on what kind of TV you have, (also audio system);
> and how much you are prepared to spend.

(snip)

Thanks for the help.

Alan Rutlidge

"Polly the Parrot" <flatulantdingo@deadspam.com> wrote in message
news:20081017223541.09144c7e@linux-k6os.site...
> On Thu, 16 Oct 2008 23:21:54 +1000 "Terry Wrist" <police@fed.gov.au>
> wrote:
>
>> It obviously depends on what kind of TV you have, (also audio system);
>> and how much you are prepared to spend.
>
> (snip)
>
> Thanks for the help.

Good reply Terry.
The other thing in favour of Blu-ray is the other HD system (HD-DVD) is now
defunct, paving the way for less confusion over the HD format issues from
the consumer's perspective.
Of course, as you pointed out, one needs a full-HD display and a decent
sound system to realise the full potential of the Blu-ray format.
Some people make the mistake of judging the potential of full-HD by watching
FTA HD TV. Definitely not the same as FTA transmissions are significantly
bandwidth limited compared to playback of a Blu-ray disc via an HDMI1.3a
connection.
From my own perspective, once you experienced a good Blu-ray set up, it's
hard to go back to conventional DVD.

Cheers,
Alan