The headlines read: “Sony Says Blu Ray will Conquer Half the Market By 2008.” Until now, you may have never have heard of the blu ray disc player before. If you’re the kind of person who watches movies every week or every couple weeks and loves that home theater, high-definition, surround-sound experience, then a Blu Ray disc player is in your near future.

The good news is that you didn’t get suckered into buying a HD DVD player that is now obsolete. Here you will learn all of the basics about this new technology so that you can make up your mind as to whether it’s a trend or a necessity for your household.

blu ray disc
Blu Ray (BR) is the new format developed for optimal recording, rewriting, playing and storing of high-definition video. The world first learned about the new technology with the release of Sony’s PlayStation3 in November 2006. To make more advanced games, Sony needed a way to “fit in” more data.

While the DVDs in your current collection hold 9 GB of information, the Blu Ray discs are able to hold 25-50 GB, making it five times more efficient! Manufacturers like Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp and JVC (to name a few) are using a different type of laser (blue versus the traditional red) to pack more data with better precision.

blu ray discs
Several days after the November 2006 release of PS3, Sony offered its first stand alone Blu Ray disc player for $300. Thanks to the new technology, the PlayStation was surpassing its rival, the Xbox360, by selling 13 million units. The good news is that old CDs and DVDs will still work on the Blu Ray players, although all new movie releases will only work on the new Blu Ray players.

Since November, all the blu ray player featuring 1.1-2.0 technology and are BD-Live enabled, meaning that you can link up to the internet to download movie trailers onto the rewritable portion of your Blu Ray disc and play interactive games, as well as receive firmware updates and exclusive downloads of additional bonus material.

blu ray hd dvd
So just how popular is the Blu Ray? It’s so popular that market analysts are speculating that Sony may not have the capacity to tackle the demand for the new blu ray hd dvd! The demand is said to be around 43 million units worldwide, but factories can only handle production for 38 million, and that’s after an upgrade to their facilities.

Therefore, you can expect prices to remain high until the supply side catches up with the demand. Prices on the initial players range from $400 to $1,000 but the subsequent versions are expected to be offered for around $300.

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If you’re one of the Flintstones, you may still be using an old-fashioned curved-screen television. It’s time to switch up to one of the new High Definition TV, don’t you think?

All types of LCD Televisions - from LCD display televisions to plasma TVs and projector units, are superior to old screens in a variety of ways. They don’t lose definition when seen from the edges, making those least-desired seats in your living room perfectly acceptable. They also have significantly better resolution than old-style televisions. You may still be able to make out the pixels when you sit close, but because HDTV sets use digital technology instead of less-accurate analog, they have a much superior picture, either in still frames or motion. And they are designed to work well with all the latest technology, from blu-ray to HDTV.

Up until recently, flat-screen sets have been on the expensive side, and a lot of people who needed a new set were waiting until the prices came down a little. Well - it’s time. Small LCD TVs cost what an old-fashioned television would cost, if you could still find them, and even the large screens are often under a thousand dollars.

Before you buy, though, you need to understand a little bit about these new technologies.

LCD TVs use a liquid crystal display (LCD). Watches using this technology in monochrome have been around for decades, but only in the last ten years have researchers figured out how to create good-quality color liquid crystal that is reliable and long-lasting. An LCD TV has a nice thin appearance, and is basically a layer of liquid crystals sandwiched between transparent layers, with a backlight behind everything. The light shines through the liquid crystals, which have been polarized to show up in the different colors for your display - and there’s your television. LCD TVs, when kept dim, use very little electricity, making them great for a darkened TV room. And they are among the cheapest flat-screen televisions you can buy.

LCD TVs do have a couple of drawbacks: first, older models are subject to “ghosting”, where a dim image of a previously-displayed picture can be seen through the new picture; for this reason, it’s wiser to buy LCD TVs new. They may also not be the best choice for a fast-paced game, as they often have a lag time that can mess you up. Blacks aren’t always as sharp and dark as you might like, another reason to view in a darkened room. And if you mistreat it, you can wind up with “dead” pixels, where nothing will display because that segment of LCD has been destroyed. In most new LCD TVs, though, these problems are minimal or nonexistent.

Plasma TVs are also flat-screen televisions, but work very differently from LCD TVs and have a very different set of strengths and weaknesses. While you can lay an LCD TV on its back - carefully - without ruining it, a plasma television can be destroyed if it is laid flat. That’s because instead of liquid crystals, it uses an inert gas sandwiched between two pieces of glass to create its display. Seals more easily come loose when the plasma TV is laid flat, allowing the gas to escape right then or over time.

Provided you care for it well and mount it properly, your plasma TV will function well for years. Unlike LCD TVs, plasma TVs display blacks very well (one selling point) and most will also work great for fast-refreshing games. Plasma TVs are often advertised as having the most realistic, highest-resolution, best-contrast display of all televisions, and this is probably true in almost every situation. Drawbacks include the expense - plasma TVs are not economical to make in small sizes, so you’ll have to buy a large one - and the relative fragility of these televisions.

Both plasma and LCD TVs usually need good wall mounts. The last thing you want to do with your high-def TVs is install them, only to have them fall down a couple of weeks later! Quality wall mounts for HDTVs should include very good hardware, preferably made by the same manufacturer that produced the television, and excellent directions so you can easily put it up yourself. If you are at all worried that you will not install it right, it may be wise to have someone install it for you.

DLP TVs are the third major set of television displays in use today. These are also called rear-projection televisions, and while they are significantly cheaper than either LCD or plasma TVs, they also are larger and bulkier (though not as bulky as projection TVs were in the past) and have a somewhat less impressive display. Still, for most uses DLP TVs do fine, and because the light source in a DLP TV is usually replaceable by the consumer, they have a much, much longer lifespan.

Very similar to DLP TVs are projector units. These gadgets are often small enough to carry by hand, but can project a movie-screen-size picture if they have a high enough resolution. Similar in appearance to an old-fashioned slide projector, projector units are a great choice for a small area, for someone who needs a portable large television, or for someone who wants a television without having an obvious television.

Your Home Theater

Plasma TVs, LCD TVs, DLP TVs, and projector units are all high-def TVs, as long as they have the appropriate tuner. Once you have them set up, you need to think about other components of your home theater. After all, what’s a large-screen television if you have to sit in your old uncomfortable couch to watch it?

Your first thoughts should be for electronics to enhance your viewing experience: good surround-sound speakers for a great theater experience, and universal remote controls to sit in comfort as you control everything in your environment yourself.

Once you have your electronics in line, go for the last thing on your list: theatre furniture. Your home experience, with comfortable chairs that don’t fold up when you stand up, can be superior to one at the local movie house. Look for spacious, durable seats that can handle spills as well as roomy cup holders and somewhere to put snacks, remotes, and anything else you habitually keep close while you’re watching your favorite flicks.

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First there were VHS players. Remember these bad boys? I sure do. I can actually still recall when my father brought one home. I must have been in the fifth grade. We were all so stoked about owning one. If you’re old enough, then you probably remember how folks used to actually rent VHS players in the 80s from the video stores. Ha, if you tell your kids that now, they will probably think it’s about the lamest thing they’ve ever heard. It’s amazing how much has changed in the last 20 years. Of course these days we are dealing with DVD players. More and more folks are doing away with the old-school VHS stuff altogether. It’s kind of like cassette tapes or A-tracks. Okay, nothing is quite like A-Tracks, and it probably doesn’t want to be. Anyway, what high-tech DVD player is sitting in your family room? Although these babies used to cost a pretty penny, now days you can find a dvd player sale about anywhere.

Do you recall what DVD players were selling for when they initially hit the home entertainment scene? They were quite pricey. I can’t say that I saw a dvd player sale back then. It’s sort of like when plasma televisions hit the market. It is all a big deal for a while, but then the newness of it all fades out. Something new and improved typically comes along. That’s the way of our world. We always want the newest and greatest stuff. Regardless, sometimes the best doesn’t necessarily mean the most expensive. If you didn’t already know it, these days you can find a quality DVD player for under 100 bucks. Now, I know they go as low as like 30 dollars, but you also have to remember that you get what you pay for. I recommend that you go with a brand you can trust. For example, I recently spotted a dvd player sale online. They had a Sony DVD player for 65 dollars with free shipping. That’s awesome if you ask me! In my experience, there’s no reason to spend hundreds on these entertainment systems. Sure they’re essential in this day and age, but they only last a few years. This is my third one, and I will bet that it won’t last more than three years. Sure, it will still be there, but I’ll bet it won’t read the disks worth a darn. That means a lot of skipping and stalling.

If you are currently in search of a dvd player sale, then it’s time to get jacked into the web. Check out websites like BestBuy.com and CircuitCity.com for a number of recent deals and specials. Find that new DVD player for a price you can afford.

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