Blu-ray Accessories

Finding all of the bits and pieces required to make the most of your Blu-ray player can sometimes be a difficult task. Because Blu-ray is a relatively new technology Blu-ray accessories such as cables can be difficult to find/replace and are usually extremely expensive. The following is a list of Blu-ray accessories currently available online: Read more

Blu-ray Recorders

Recording your favourite TV shows and movies at home has become an obsession for many Australians. With the dawn of the Blu-ray players as the latest must-have item in your lounge room it is not surprising that Blu-ray recorders were not far behind. Blu-ray Recorders are generally capable of recording 4-5 hours of digital HD programming or up to 63 hours of analog programming - however these specifications are changing all the time. Some Blu-ray recorders are able to support both single-side, dual-layer Blu-ray Discs (BD) with a maximum capacity of 50 gigabytes.

The following is a list of Blu-ray recorders currently available online:

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Blu-Ray Players

For the very best high definition audio-visual experience, you will need a Blu-ray player. There are a huge range of good quality Blu-ray players available from the very cheap bottom end to the top manufacturers such as Sony, Panasonic and Samsung.

It's also taken this long for Blu-ray to get its act together and we have seen Blu-ray go through three separate profiles to land at Profile 2.0 (or BD-Live). If you're looking for the most future-proofed Blu-ray player, get one based on this.

Features to look for in a player nowadays are Ethernet and USB ports (for BD-Live and YouTube/Picasa), onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, and firmware upgradeability.

Players have fallen to below the sub-$400 mark and have become more accessible to consumers.

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Blu-ray Regions

When looking for a Blu-ray disc or shopping for a Blu-ray player, one thing to take into account is the region classification system. Blu-ray regions are defined by the area that the disc or player was manufactured for, either Region A, B or C. A Blu-ray disc classed as region A will not work in a Blu-ray disc player from region B or C, and vice versa.

So how does this affect me?

The Blu-ray region system has been implemented by TV and film production companies to prohibit movies being traded internationally before being released in other countries. By imposing region codes on discs and players, people cannot simply buy a disc when on holiday or over the internet and expect it to work in their Blu-ray player back home.

What are the regions?

Region A – North, South and Central America, Japan, North and South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia

Region B – Greenland, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Australia and New Zealand

Region C – Pakistan, India, China, Rusia, Central and South Asia

Blu-ray Player

Blu-ray players are rapidly penetrating the DVD market, as they are backwards compatible – meaning they can replace the job of an ordinary DVD player as well as being a Blu-ray disc player.

This new generation optical disc format employs the latest technology to read and write Blu-ray discs. The name ‘Blu-ray’ is derived from the colour of the laser used to write to the discs. Blu-ray discs are the same physical size as DVDs, but the blue laser uses shorter wavelengths when burning a disc, and thus more data can be stored on the same sized optical disc.

Blu-ray players are also including interactive technology DVD players do not generally offer. For example, the Sony BDP-s350 is capable of displaying 1080p high definition picture at 40 megabits per second. It also has the added features of an Ethernet port allowing for internet connectivity.

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