http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxk2_8kDHGc&hl=en

Hot Myth #1

HD Blu-Ray players make an excellent addition to your high definition TV, but especially if you have an 1080p model which makes use of all the features that this technology has to offer has to offer!

Hot Myth #2

Contrary to popular belief blu ray players can play standard DVDs, meaning you can use one player for all your viewing. Not only can they play standard discs but most models can improve the quality of the image using software rendering.

Hot Myth #3

Look for the latest models which can stream video direct from the internet. Take advantage of this to stream the latest on demand movies from major companies such as Blockbuster and Netflix!

Hot Myth #4

If you have just purchased a new 3D capable TV, some of the latest players enjoy 3D capability which makes your player the ultimate in entertainment systems.

Hot Myth #5

Prices are tumbling! The prices for a decent player are tumbling down as companies release their latest models, driving the general prices down, compared to when blu ray first came out, the prices are ultra competitive!

So there you have my five favorite myths that needed solving. Although they are by no means the ultimate bits of information out there, they help to solve some of the myths that people enjoy spreading around every time a new bit of technology comes onto the market.

Firmware: Firmware simply put is a computer program that is embedded into the Blu-ray Player. Manufactures are constantly updating their firmware. Allowing the Blu-ray Player to acquire new features and functions or fixing any problems. So you can see how this is very important, and why you would want to update your Blu-ray Player whenever possible with new Firmware. The easiest way to accomplish this is to directly download the firmware to the Blu-ray Player via the internet. Having your Blu-ray Player connected to the internet will provide automatic firmware upgrades.

BD-Live Content: More and more movie studios are providing a greater amount of BD-Live content with their Blu-ray Movie releases. Content that can only be access if your Blu-ray Player has an internet connection. You can get updated trailers, recent videos after the movie has been released, and online chat rooms. BD-Live is bringing the World Wide Web to your Home Entertainment experience in a new and exciting way.

Streaming Services: Having your Blu-ray Player connected to the internet will allow you to download or stream various High Definition online media. Depending on which Blu-ray Player you have, leading content providers such as Netflix, Amazon On Demand, YouTube, Vudu and many more can be easily accessed. Another advantage of having a Blu-ray Player connected to your Home Network is to bridge the gap between your computer to your television. Programs such as Tversity and Vuze will use your Blu-ray Player to stream video and pictures located on your computer directly to your television set.

Making the Blu-ray Player a part of your Home Network will grant you easy and quick access to Firmware upgrades, BD-Live content and online streaming media. And the possibilities for the future seem endless as the Blu-ray Player is the device that will bring your Home Entertainment experience to new levels.

Blu ray disc readers use Blue laser to read and write the data to the disc. This is a shorter wavelength and allows for substantially more data ( 6 times more) to be stored on a Blu-ray disc than can be on a DVD disc. There are two types of discs available, the standard size which is 12 cm in diameter and holds 25 GB on a single layer or 50 GB on a dual layer; and the mini disc which is only 8 cm in diameter and holds 7.8 GB on a single and 15.6 GB on a dual layer.

There are four Blu-ray disc player options available, the audio only player that has no video decoding requirements, and three video player options. It is not a compulsory requirement that the players are backwards compatible but most are capable of reading DVD and CD’s. Making this a standard means more people will be able to pull in their existing DVD library without the additional costs of replacing them in Blu-ray format.

There are many companies who make Blu-ray players on the market today, and Sony is the leader of the pack. Sony players are available in many different structures and you will find a version to fit your entertainment system needs. You will need to decide what you are wanting your cinematic experience to be before deciding on what player to purchase and also what price range you want to stay within.

The Sony BDPS350 is a player that has 1080p high definition picture, a 7.1 surround sound system built in, with 24 p true cinema. It also comes with Dolby Digital plus. The case colour is standard black. The Sony BDPS350 Blu-ray player is considered as close to a cinematic experience as one can get making

The Sony BDP-S350 plays the following formats in discs, DVD + Video R/RW, CD playback and AVCHD playback. It is effortlessly upgraded for firmware by connecting the player to the internet, this will also allow the owner to download studio specific content such as trailers, interviews and other extras. Watching your Blu-ray movies will be almost instant, taking just 6 seconds to start with the quick start up mode. Watching a movie with this player will give the viewer a cinema like experience not gotten from DVD.

The Sony BDP-S550 Blu-ray player is a player ramped up to the next level of entertainment. The S550 Blue-ray player is a complete home entertainment system with 1080p, full high definition and 7.1 surround sound. Besides have the ultimate in sound experience, this blur ray player gives instant access to studio specific content and the precision cinema HD technology allows you to convert standard definition signals to 1080p with the use of a HDMI cable. The remote is backlit so surfing in the dark with the remote will be a breeze.

Sony makes a wide range of Blu-ray players so choosing one will be the hardest part of your shopping experience. The price ranges are easy on the wallet so there is a Sony player for everyone. Blu-ray movies are comparable to DVD in price making it fairly easy to switch over from DVD.

Some feel all the the High End players are just too expensive. And to purchase the less expensive players you will be loosing out on video and audio quality.This is untrue. While higher end players tend to have more features and functions, such as internal memory and built-in Wi-Fi. Entry level players still have excellent video and audio quality. They provide a good set of features. And most importantly, giving this to you at a reasonable cost. Below you will find a list of the best Blu-ray Players, all with a price tag of under $200.00. Any one of these players will provide you with BD-Live content, incredible 1080p High Definition images and great Dobly or DTS HD audio. Based on image quality, features/functions and a base price of $200.00, these are the best Blu-ray Players available.

1. Panasonic DMP-BD60 Blu-ray Disc Player

While not having all the features of its higher end competitors, the Panasonic DMP-60, more than makes up for that in its unbelievably clear and crisp images and stable Blu-ray playback. It has built-in decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio and has Viera Cast which allows you access to YouTube-Picasa-Amazon On Demand-Weather Channel-Bloomberg Stock and more. And with a price tag of less than $200.00 it is clearly the best Blu-ray Players you can purchase in this price range.

2. Sony BDP-N460 Blu-ray Player

The Sony’s BDP-N460 provides excellent video quality on Blu-ray discs. It can stream online media such as Netflix, Amazon Video On-Demand, YouTube, Slacker, and Sony’s own Crackle Network. It is Profile 2.0 or BD-Live compatible and has internal audio decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

3. LG BD370 Blu-ray Dics Player

The LG BD370 is an entry level player. It is Profile 2.0, so it supports all your BD-Live content. You get NetCast™ Entertainment Access, which allows you to get online streaming services such as Netfilx,YouTube and and CinemaNow. Internal audio decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio Essential should meet everyone’s HD Audio needs. Load times and operational speeds for the BD370 are relatively fast compare to most players. Picture quality is good, but not as good as other entry level players. And there is no option for Wi-Fi. Over all the LG BD370 is a very good entry level player. For a very reasonable price you get a good set of easy to use features which includes online streaming services like Netflix.

4. Samsung BD-P1600 Blu-ray Player

The Samsung BD-P1600 has great picture quality on Blu-ray disc. Offers online Streaming Media services Neflix and Pandora. Very good load times and operational speed. It is a Profile 2.0 blu-ray player so it can support BD-Live content. The BD-P1600 has internal audio decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. It is WI-FI ‘Ready’, meaning you will have to use a USB port to plug in a Wireless LAN adaptor/Wi-Fi dongle, so you can connect to the internet. This Wireless LAN adaptor will have to be purchased separately.

5. Sony BDP-S360 Blu-ray Player

Sony’s BDP-S360 has all the great basic features that are found in most entry level players. It is a Profile 2.0 player, so it is capable of BD-Live content. It has internal audio decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio Essential. It produces great image quality on most Blu-ray discs. Unfortunately, it does does have any Online Media Services such as Netflix.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYR9VIZ2dp4&hl=en

With DVD players there was a single hardware requirement but this is not the case for Blu-ray players. It may be confusing at first but it is easy but once you know what each profile means. And even though Blu-ray technology is rather recent, you will find it is moving forward at a rapid pace so the format is constantly changing and evolving. If you’re not careful you may end up with an “older” Blu-ray player.

So, what exactly is a Blu-ray Profile? Well, they are used to catalogue Blu-ray players and it determines the standard features and specifications of audio and video codec abilities found in Blu-ray Players. What a certain Profile a DVD player has tells you what set of features it supports. Blu-ray Profile 1.0 was the first set of features and functions labeled for discs and players. Then came Profile 1.1 and the latest is Profile 2.0 (BD-Live).

Now, any type of blu-ray profiles will play a blu-ray disc but with the different Profiles you get different extra features available to you.

Bly-ray Profile 1.0

The first Profile was 1.0, it has no extra features. You may also hear it referred to as “Initial Standard Profile” or “Grace Period Profile”. Being the first generation of Blu-ray players it meets the very basic standards and minimum requirements. It has 64 KB of built-in persistent memory. Local storage capability, Secondary video decoder, Secondary audio decoder and Virtual file system are all optional. But it would be rare to find any Profile 1.0 Blu-ray player with any of these features.

After Nov 27, 2007 all of Blu-ray players manufactured were required to support Profile 1.1. But you still can find Profile 1.0 Blu-ray players being sold. The Sharp BD-HP20U or the Pioneer elite BDP-95FD, for example, are still available. If you are someone who does not care for extra features and only interested in the movie, these Profile 1.0 blu-ray players maybe the right one for you.

Bly-ray Profile 1.1

Since Profile 1.1 is now the basic mandatory requirement of all Blu-ray players, these types are the most common. The profile 1.1 Blu-ray Players have 64 KB built-in persistent memory, 256 MB of local storage and a Virtual file system. But the main difference with Profile 1.1 blu-ray players is the addition of picture-in-picture function, also known as Bonus View. This is mainly use to show a smaller picture in the corner of the movie. Usually having a director or actor providing comments about the movie or a particular scene being displayed in the larger picture. A secondary video and audio decoders are required for the smaller picture. Most movie studios now apply this feature to all their standard releases.

Bly-ray Profile 2.0

Although Profile 2.0, also known as BD-Live, is not mandatory for new Blu-ray players, more and more manufacturers are beginning to producing these Profile types. The major different feature in Profile 2.0 is the ability of an internet connection, usually through an Ethernet port, and it is capable of interactive features when playing a blu-ray disc. Features such as movie-related games, blogs and other content. While movie studios are excited about this features and see it as the next “big thing” in home entertainment, so far interactive content has been not been all that spectacular or riveting. However, the possibilities to use this technology are vast and will surely improve.

The other technical details of Profile 2.0 are similar to Profiles 1.0 and 1.1. It has built-in persistent memory, Secondary video and audio decoders(for picture-in-picture), a Virtual file system and 1 GB of local storage. This large increase in storage from 256 MB that is in Profile 1.1 is to accommodate downloaded material from the internet. One thing you should be aware of is that some Profile 1.0 and 1.1 Blu-ray players have Ethernet ports. This is not for download extra content but for firmware updates.

When looking to purchase a Blu-ray players, you are most likely to come across all three Profile Types. So the question is, which one should I buy? Since the prices of Blu-ray Players are rapidly coming down, your best option would be the Profile 2.0 because it’s the latest and the most future proof of all the Blu-ray Players. But if you’re not interested in special features or interactive capabilities, than considering a Profile 1.0 or Profile 1.1 Blu-ray Player is a very reasonable choice and will save you some money. Besides, you still be able to enjoy all and future Blu-ray disc movies; you just won’t be able to download extra content.

Much of the staleness of TV entertainment was due to the limitations of the analog system of broadcasting a TV signal. Only so much information could be sent over the air by analog format so no real advances in TV electronics were needed. But when satellite and cable TV entered the picture and introduced digital broadcasting, things began to change, and soon the DVD format just completely took over as the preferred medium for viewing movies at home on TV. The success of these digital format technologies has spurred the changeover from analog to fully digital entertainment and HDTV is the realization of that dream.

However, current DVD players are unable to display movies in high definition format even though their picture and sound is much improved than what has been available in the past. So there will be a need for dvd players to be taken to the next level now too as HDTV becomes an accepted standard for TV entertainment.

Already two of the largest manufacturers, Sony and Toshiba are set to introduce two competing technologies for displaying DVD entertainment in high definition format on a HDTV. Sony’s version is called Blu-Ray, and Toshiba’s is called HD DVD. Interestingly they are incompatible, so expect an electronics war to see which format gets accepted as the standard in coming years. As with all new technologies the initial models will be very expensive and the early DVDs that take advantage of this technology will be very limited, but if the meteoric rise of the initial DVD format is any clue, they can be expected to sell fast and become accepted very quickly.

DVRs(digital video recorders) will still be in their current format for the foreseeable future, but somewhere along the line you can expect to see units that record in high definition format to start showing up too. A lot probably depends on how quickly the new technologies are widely accepted.

As the switch to HDTV continues you can expect almost all new analog equipment to totally disappear in the next few years, perhaps as soon as 2010, so make your buying choices today with that well in mind. The future of TV entertainment is in high definition and dvd players and recorders will eventually meet those standards as well.

As the industry of mp4 player devices evolved, more features such as fm tuner, voice recorder, email, internet browser capability and others were added to mp4 devices, making them a desired product among electronic users.

Differences between mp4 and mp3 format, relies basically that mp4 devices holds both audio and video files. As for the mp3 it only holds the audio type file. So, one could think of mp4 as being the next step in this evolution file format that started with mp3.

Due to the capability of delivering audio and video at the same time, mp4 devices can offer a wide range of interesting features, such as web browsing, email, instant messaging, video and music download, bluetooth wireless technology, digital camera and others. Also game capability and multiple language options are features that made mp4 devices so popular. Other features, such as voice recording, enabled mp4 devices to be used for professional purposes, besides entertainment.

Another important mp4 feature is the storage capacity, that can start from 256 mega bites up to 40, 60 and up giga bites. Usually a small hard disk unit is used to hold several giga bites of data. For smaller storages, an internal electronic flash memory may be used.

As a music player device, mp4 may offer a 7-band equalizer which will allow the user to change the sound category according to the music style. These sound categories are Pop, Jazz, Rock, Soft, Classic and DBB. Also mp4 player device will support various format files such as Mp3, AMV, ASF, WAV, WMA, WMV and others. As far as the supporting video formats are concerned this device proves to be able to convert file in the AVI, MPEG, Windows media format into the AMV thru the use of software.

Since mp4 devices is compact, it is safe to say that its small size, light weight and good user interface menu, make this device portable, easy to control and access no matter where one can be.

As mp4 format became more popular, several internet audio-video download sites started to offer services, so that mp4 users can download their favorite music or video at affordable prices. There are sites that offer music file download for only 99 cents each, and one has to only pick his favorite song, not the entire album.

Also available in these internet sites are files called Podcasts, which includes information programs, news broadcasts, comedy and entertainment programs. Podcasting is quickly becoming a buzz word among the techie crowd. So what is podcasting, anyway? Podcasting is online audio and video content that is delivered via an RSS feed. Although Podcasting is new, it should become a mainstream communication medium in the near future.

Being basically a container, mp4 player devices are able to provide multimedia solutions with its audio-video file format. Because of that mp4 players became very popular and as it becomes more sophisticated with new features being added in new models, people become more eager to own these device players. After all most electronic consumers do have a wish to keep up with modern time.

Roberto Sedycias

IT Consultant for PoloMercantil

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