So, what exactly is a blu ray dvd player???

[hereorthere]

My dvd player has given up the ghost and looking around there is sooooo many different dvd players out there.

We do have a HD tv so presumably a HD dvd player could be good (if I can find a cheapish one!) but blu ray? WTF is that?

Thank you!

There were two kinds of "newer/better" dvd - "HD-DVD" and "Blu-Ray". They are not compatible, so you have to buy the kind of disks which go with the machine you have. I think HD-DVD has now pretty much lost out in terms of which studios are releasing films on them. We have an HD-DVD player, but if I was choosing now I'd definitely go with Blu-Ray.

Blu Ray is a high def DVD basically they retail at the same price but arent widely available yet.

If it were me Id get a blu ray player.

HD DVD is the 'Betamax' of DVD formats - don't buy one.

Blu-ray is the format of the future, but it is relatively new so players and media are still pretty expensive, recorders outrageously so.

I would go with an ordinary DVD player at the moment as they are stupidly cheap, and get Blu-ray when they drop below £175. Perhaps get one with a screen so you can use it in the car then it will not be totally sacrificial? As long as your screen is not either very large or very cheap the upscaled DVD quality will be fine (especially if it is a Panasonic or Sony).

Actually my Betamax analogy is not a good one. Betamax was better than VHS but it was proprietory to Sony so VHS prevailed. Blu-ray is better than HD DVD, and everyone including Sony is behind it.

Hmm.. ok it's making more sense except that i've seen HDDVD / Blu ray dvd, does that just play both then?

Thank you!!!

Actually it probably makes sense to buy a cheap one and then wait! You can get basic dvd players for around £20 now!

I'm so glad I checked.

Yes, most Blu-ray players will play HD DVD too, (but not the other way round), and might therefore advertise that as HD DVD/Blu-ray.

But I think we are both agreed that the £20 one from Tesco or wherever is the best solution for the next 6 months or so .