How to Buy a Blu-ray Player

The benefits of Blu-ray are crystal clear: Video from traditional DVDs contains fewer than 350,000 pixels, while 1080p HD video packs more than two million, which translates to sublime, high-resolution detail. If you want to make the most of your 1080p HDTV, you should upgrade to a Blu-ray player.

And there's never been a better time to do it. The current crop of Blu-ray players offer stellar HD picture quality, fast disc-handling, and extras like integrated Wi-Fi, 3D support, and audio and video streaming.

These days you can find a well-rounded player that performs well for less than $200 if you do some smart online shopping. Still, there are a lot of choices out there. Here's what you need to consider when choosing the right Blu-ray player:

Blu-ray Basics
If you have a 1080p HDTV, you have the most to gain from Blu-ray, since a television with full HD is equipped to show every one of those glorious pixels. A couple of years ago when 1080p TVs were fetching a premium and Blu-ray player prices were still prohibitively high, it made sense to wait to make the move to Blu-ray. But today, 1080p is more standard than exception in HDTVs, and it's clear that Blu-ray is replacing DVD. Simply put, buying a new DVD player today, no matter how inexpensive, doesn't make much sense; you're just investing in technology that's on its way out. The good news is that all Blu-ray players can upconvert traditional DVDs, (and they'll even look better than they would if you played them on your DVD player) so getting one doesn't mean you have to ditch your DVD collection or keep your old DVD player around.

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