The Features to Consider When Shopping for a Blu-Ray Player
The Features to Consider When Shopping for a Blu-Ray Player
>> Looking to add a blu-ray player to your home theater? Ever since the blu-ray platform won the war with the competing HD-DVD platform a few years ago, home theater manufacturers have been releasing blu-ray players that include more and more features.
All of the blu-ray players made today offer 1080p high definition resolution. They also include HDMI capabilities that allow high definition and sound transfer to other audio and video equipment. The tricky part of shopping for a blu-ray player today is deciding what extra features you need.
Many blu-ray players have the capability to stream movies. They typically use the Netflix service, which requires a monthly subscription. A subscription includes movie rentals through the mail, downloadable movies to your computer and downloadable movies to your blu-ray player. If you are already a member of Netflix then make sure the blu-ray player you are considering is compatible with your movie service.
Some blu-ray players offer streaming music through Pandora. Pandora is a free service that allows its users to create and customize music channels. You can enter a song, an artist or a genre and Pandora will pick other songs that it thinks you will like. You tell Pandora whether or not you like a song by giving the song a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Over time Pandora learns your taste in music and offers up only songs that you like. Pandora is offered on a lot of blu-ray players and it should be considered when shopping for a new player.
In order for your blu-ray player to downloads movies through Blockbuster and Netflix and stream music from Pandora it needs to be connected to the Internet. Some blu-ray players must be connected directly to a modem or router with a cable. Other players can connect to the Internet via WiFi. WiFi capable blu-ray players are a bit more expensive but if you want to rid yourself of wires and connect the player to your home’s WiFi network then the extra cost may be justified.
Even if you do not plan on using a streaming movie service or Pandora, you should still consider buying a blu-ray player that can connect to the Internet. Many manufactures release firmware updates. These updates fix glitches in the player’s software. Also, if new features become available the manufacturer may provide these features to its existing customers through a firmware update. Internet connected blu-ray players will automatically download and install these updates. If you have a player that is not connected to the Internet then you will have to download the update on your computer, burn the update file onto a DVD and then install it onto the blu-ray player. Considering the small premium that Internet connectivity adds to the price of a blu-ray player it is a smart move to include this on your list of features to look for in a new player.
Since all of the blu-ray players on the market today provide amazing picture and sound quality the decisions you need to make when buying a new player revolve around the extra features. Like any other electronics purchase it pays to think ahead to the features that may be useful in the future even if you do not think you will use them immediately.
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