Blu Ray players started out as simple disk players and have evolved over the last few years into sophisticated machines that are able to play a wide variety of electronic disk formats as well as stream data from the Internet.

Profile 1 Version 1.0 players – Any player released before November 1, 2007. They can play Blu Ray disks, plus standard DVDs and CDs. With very few exceptions, these players cannot be upgraded to Bonus View or BD-Live. If you are interested, the exceptions are: LG-BH100, LG-BH200, PlayStation 3, and Samsung BD-UP5000.

Profile 1 Version 1.1 or “Bonus View” players – Players that can play Blu Ray disks, standard DVDs and CDs, plus they have the ability to run two video/audio streams at the same time. Bonus View is also called Picture-in-Picture (PIP). It is used for things like director commentary while viewing a movie. These players may have an Internet connection (usually Ethernet), but it is used for firmware updates and not for accessing Internet-based content. Players in this category include 256MB of local storage for updates. The storage can be built into the player or made available through a removable memory card or USB drive.

Profile 2 or “BD-Live” players – BD-Live players have all the capability of Bonus View players plus an Internet connection for accessing bonus material available on some Blu Ray movies. Some movie studios are using this for things like online games, chat, downloadable extras (quizzes, movie trailers, etc) and access to social media sites. Players in this category have to have 1GB of local storage. Before BD-Live, when you bought a disk, that was all you got. With BD-Live, you can access additional content and activities on the internet.

BD-Live must be built into the Blu Ray disk (may not need to be said). The following list (probably not all inclusive) of studios are making Blu Ray releases with BD-Live information: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount and Warner. Each movie studio is putting it’s own spin on BD-Live. Disney is advertising “living menus” that change appearance according to your local time and weather, and delivery of the latest movie trailers for Disney titles.

Some BD-Live players can also stream movies from the internet. This requires a high speed Internet connection and a membership to an online video or music site. Many sites have comments indicating the streamed videos do not play with the same video and audio quality that the same movie on a Blu Ray disk does.

The review sites are already discussing next generation possibilities, including ringtone and wallpaper downloads, peer to peer interactions, live events and gaming activities.

BD-ROM players are required to support Dolby Digital, DTS and linear PCM. They may optionally support the others.

There are two formats for audio files: PCM and DTS. The difference between the two has to do with how the data is stored.

Linear PCM (LPCM) – up to 8 channels of uncompressed audio, standard format used in
computers, older electronic music keyboards, some CDs audio
DTS is a predecessor of the DVD audio.

PCM format
DOLBY Digital (DD) – format used for DVDs, 5.1-channel surround sound
Dolby Digital Plus – 7.1-channel surround sound
Dolby TrueHD – lossless encoding of up to 8 channels of audio

DTS format
DTS – 5.1-channel surround sound
DTS-HD High Resolution Audio – 7.1-channel surround sound
DTS-HD Master Audio – lossless encoding of up to 8 channels of audio

HDMI (digital) – up to 8 channels of digital audio

Advantages
—Better picture quality
—Better sound quality
—Interactive features (BD Live, Bonus View)
—Can play your existing collection of DVDs and CDs with better picture & sound
—Blu ray disks can hold 5 times as much data as DVD disks
—Some blu ray players can play videos off the internet (Netflix, Panorama, etc)

Neither here nor there
—Physical appearance is quite similar to a DVD or CD player
—Display menu is quite similar to a DVD player
—Blu ray disks look similar to DVD disks
—Playing a blu ray disk is like playing a DVD, just insert and watch

Disadvantages
—A whole new set of jargon
—Need a high definition TV to see improved picture quality
—Need to be careful to get a match on connections between your player & TV
—Blu ray disks cost $5-10 more each than DVDs
—Slow load times
—Getting player updates can be a drag

CDs
Audio CD – umbrella term covering many standards of playing back audio
CD-R – Compact Disk-Recordable – This is a CD that you can record on once, although you don’t have to record the whole thing at one time. You can read it multiple times, something called Write Once Read Many or WORM.
CD-RW – Compact Disk-ReWritable. It was also known as CD-E (Compact Disk-Erasable) during it’s development. You can write on this CD multiple times.
SACD – super audio CD – a special high-resolution, read-only optical audio disk format, not accepted by the mainstream market, but recordings and players continue to be made

DVDs
DVD-R (V mode only) – Record data once, and then it’s the same as a DVD-ROM.
DVD+R – Record data once, and then it’s the same as a DVD-ROM.
DVD-ROM – Read only, no record.
DVD+RW – Record and erase data multiple times
DVD-RW (V/VR mode) – Record and erase data multiple times
DVD-RAM – Record and erase data multiple times.
DVD-Video – properly formatted and structured video content
DVD-Audio – properly formatted and structured audio content

BDs
BD-ROM – blu ray disks, read only, no record.
BD-R – Record once and then it’s the same as a BD-ROM
BD-RE – Record and erase data multiple times

AVCHDs (format for the recording and playback of high definition video)
AVCHD = Advanced Video Codec High Definition
Used in tapeless camcorders, and allows recording high definition video onto disks, memory cards, memory sticks and hard drives. It is compatible with Blu Ray disk format and can be used to create and distribute high definition video.

The reason? Most HDMI cables have no locking mechanism. Which means everything, including gravity itself, can cause it to come disconnected.

If you don’t do something you may have the following problems:
—The cable will continue falling out
—The socket on your player or TV may become damaged
—The cable may stop working
—The cable may freeze up the device it’s attached to
—The cable may cause interference with the device it’s attached to

Possible solutions:
—Try putting your Blue Ray player closer to your TV
—Get a longer cable (= less strain…or maybe it’s more cable to tape down…)
—Get an HDMI adapter
—Get an HDMI cable that has a lock mechanism

Websites covering blu ray players indicate that the cable is the most likely point of failure. They also are the last thing people check when something is wrong.

Before you buy a Sylvania Blu Ray player…

1.  Can I play my existing collection of DVDs and CDs on a Blu ray player?

DVDs – yes.  Sylvania blu ray players can play standard DVDs.  Most can even “upscale” your video DVD playback so it looks a lot better than when viewed using a DVD player.

CDs – probably.  Most Sylvania blu ray players can play standard CDs, including CD-Rs and CD-RWs, but you should check the specifications or features of the Blu ray player you are considering to make sure.

If you have “non-standard” DVDs or CDs, you should take them with you to try out in the player before you buy it.

2.  Can I use my existing TV?

You can connect your Sylvania blu ray player to any TV that has composite video inputs (what your current DVD player is probably using, will be labeled something like AV IN) or an HDMI connection, but if you want to “see the difference” you need an HD-compatible TV.  You must check the connections on your TV and make sure the Blu Ray player you are considering has compatible connections.

3.  Can I use my existing sound system?

The reviews seem to indicate that the answer to this is frequently “no”. Your Sylvania blu Ray player and sound system must have compatible connections.  If they don’t, you won’t be able to use them together.

4.  Can I play video games on my Sylvania blu Ray player?

If you want to play video games on your Blu Ray player, buy a Sony Playstation.

5.  Can I play music and/or videos from the Internet?

Maybe.  Check the list of features for your Sylvania blu Ray player.  Some will have an Ethernet connection, but it’s just for updates.  The list of features will say Netflix or Pandora, or perhaps Amazon on Demand.

6.  Is it easy to set up?

If you were able to set up your DVD player, you should be able to set up a Sylvania blu Ray player.  The outputs on a Blu Ray player are clearly marked.  Some Blu Ray players only have an HDMI connection, so you need to make sure you have a TV and a Blu Ray player with compatible connections.