Shop popular Blu-ray players from a large selection. You can find Blu-ray players from all the famous bands such as Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, Toshiba, LG, Sylvania and more. You can search a specific model using the search box. Click on the product link for more details, price and reviews. You can then add to your shopping cart and continue shopping for Blu-ray discs, PS3 games, and more.

Selecting a Blu-ray player

Blu-ray players are becoming very popular now. After the format war with HD was over, prices of Blu-ray players and Blu-ray discs have dropped significantly. Some Blu-ray players can be bought for prices under $100. With the market now flooding with Blu-ray players and with all the features that are available it becomes very confusing in deciding what player to buy. This article will try to help you in deciding which Blu-ray player to buy.

First lets talk about profiles

When Blu-ray players were first introduced, Blu-ray Disc Association did not initially require all players to support all of the format's advanced functionality. Instead, the Blu-ray Disc Association established three hardware profiles.

Profile 1.0
Profile 1.0 is also called the Initial Profile and the Grace Period Profile. Early Blu-ray players were Profile 1.0 players. Profile 1.0 guarantees player can play back Blu-ray movies. Profile 1.0 players can also access standard audio commentary tracks and some special features like you seen on a regular DVD.Hardware requirements for these players are modest. Hence many Profile 1.0 players struggle when called upon to do much more than play a movie. Manufacturers are no longer allowed to introduce Profile 1.0 machines to market, though some players might still be found in stores.

Profile 1.1
Also called Final Standard Profile or Bonus View, Profile 1.1 adds lot of new functions including picture-in-picture functionality and at least 256 MB of memory. All players introduced since October 2007 must, at a minimum, meet Bonus View standards. The PIP function is known as Bonus View. Typically, Blu-ray movies use this feature to display a small window of video commentary, where a director or actor talks about a scene while it happens in the background. If you are not interested in the Profile 2.0 features listed below, then these players you will get at a good price.

Profile 2.0
Also called as BD-Live adds an Internet connection and 1 GB of storage. The 1 GB storage is not mandatory to have it as internal storage, hence lot of the players have SD slots or USB ports to support external storage. This profile gives a Blu-ray player the ability to download additional bonus materials related to the current disc. They also enable online shopping and gaming. Blu-ray players with the 1 Gig internal memory help to improve player responsiveness.

So decided what features are important for you between 1.1 and 2.0 and decide the profile.

Other important Features

First thing to consider purchasing a Blu-ray player is picture quality. Your TV determines how good the image you will actually get to see. Blu-ray discs are encoded at 1080p and all blu-ray players are capable of sending the 1080p signal to your TV. However if your TV is full HD capable only then you can see the picture in full resolution. Most movies are shot at 24 frames per seconds. If your TV and Blu-ray disc player both support 1080/24p, you can get the best playback of movies using this format. Consider also DVD playback performance for all the old DVD movies you might have.

Also to consider is Audio. High-resolution audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio are lossless and can deliver superior sound. All Blu-ray players must support Dolby Digital, DTS, and PCM. However, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio are all optional. So if you want to enjoy the new audio formats, be sure to choose a player that can handle them. Most Blu-ray players can decode Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD internally. Some players can also decode DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio. However not all Blu-ray players with built-in surround sound decoding have multichannel analog outputs, so you will have need a HDMI input in your receiver. Some models do still offer multichannel analog connections, so be sure to look for them if you have a home theater receiver without HDMI inputs.

Check what formats the Blu-ray player supports. Some Blu-ray players don't support rewritable media, such as DVD-R or CD-R/W. If you have lot of e.g. home video DVDs in those formats then make sure the player can play those. Some players might not play audio CDs. If you want your player to play those, then make sure it can play those. Also if you have a HD Camcorder then it you might want the Blu-ray player to support the AVCHD format (The most common format of the HD-Camcorders).

With the 3D Blu-ray format getting finalized, if you have are planning to buy a TV that supports 3D, and if you want to see the movies in 3D then you will need a 3D Blu-ray player too. So consider that if you are a 3D enthusiast.

Lastly cost. Make sure you are paying the correct price. Check out the cheap N' Good players on this site for players with good price and good reviews. Make sure you buy a player with the features you want. Good Luck!