Those of you who know me in real life, have probably heard me bring up my Blu-Ray DVD player. I usually try to bring it up in the first ten minutes of conversation.
I caught this spectacular deal on a Sony BDP-S350 before it was released (I'm convinced the AAFES website mistakenly listed a lower price) and jumped all over it as a natural compliment to my HD TV that I never get to use the HD portion for (because I'm way too cheap to buy a satellite service with HD programing).
After having it for a couple of months I cannot recommend that other people invest in Blu-Ray. Not yet anyway.
Don't get me wrong, the picture is just the best thing I have ever seen and it turns out my TV doesn't even show movies in 1080p format (which is the best on the market now). I own three BluRay movies (all animated) the picture on play-back is almost indescribable.
The cost is just stupid though. $400 is still a typical price for a Blu-Ray DVD player, with prices not expected to fall under $300 this year. Movies cost $27.99 at AAFES and at Amazon.com, although you can catch a deal when they are first released.
I'm just not sure it's really worth it. You can get great DVD players for just over $100 that up-convert "regular" DVDs and play the on high definition TVs that I've got to assume would be comparable. I don't regret the Blu-Ray player I bought, but I think our current home movie collection of Blu-Ray DVDs (which consists of the two Disney Pixar movies and one Dreamworks movie) might be as big as it gets until the prices drop. I'm using Netflix to get Blu-Ray DVD's in order to justify the purchase of the thing, but anyone who uses Netflix from here surely shares my aggravation with that process.
So - if you're thinking about buying one - you might want to check it out in person first. Oh, and if you were thinking of getting one here in Poland - you'll be irritated to know that the stupid regional encoding system that they branded DVD players with, still exists with Blu-Ray. Which means that if your player is from Europe, you pretty much have to buy the DVD's in Europe. What a scam that is.
4 comments:
We bought one of those cheap "region free" Polish DVD players for our basement. It played our DVD's from the US, but when we hooked it up to our American TV (our is old - 6 years old) it would only play the DVD's in black and white. We used it mostly for the kids and then we sold it last summer at the Mums and Tots Bazaar (great place to get rid of stuff - I made like 500zl). Anyway, just an FYI for you and your family - Josh just brought home "The Nightmare Before Christmas" that he got in the States and it had a Blu-Ray disc in addition to the regular movie. Let me know if your kids would be interested in between the Netflix lag.
you should write your tips on
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There are more people reading ;)
Thanks for your comment Anonymous, but I'm going to continue to write my little articles for my four loyal readers, even if only one of them ever leaves comments - Holla Globetrekking Mom!
I have been looking around online for a Blu-Ray player for my husband as he is mad on DVDs and I know he would love one for Christmas. I have found some on the Play.com Sale pages for as little as £150 which seems like a great deal. I just hope he will be happy with it.
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