dknight's Journal: I bought a Blu-Ray player

Yes, that's right. Last weekend (not christmas weekend, the one before) I found myself at a Best Buy trying to get a Wii. After camping out for a few hours, I found out I was too far back in the line to get one. However, I'd been there for a while, and the store was about to open anyway, so I thought I'd poke around and see if there was anything interesting.

Well, I'd been drooling over a high-def DVD player for a while now. I've got a DLP projector (1080i capable), and had been playing some HD Xbox games on it, and frankly once you see GOOD HD (not the crap that cable/satellite providers call HD) you just cant go back. I'm also a big fan of the blu-ray format. Say what you will of Sony, but it is the better format as far as the tech goes.

So, when I came across the Samsung Blu-Ray player, my willpower crumbled, and I shelled out the roughly $800 to get one. To go along with it, I bought 3 movies: Talladega Nights, Superman Returns, and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. I have a DVD collection that contains more than 600 discs, so right now I'm only buying movies that I dont already own on DVD - which limits my options at this point as the back catalog isnt that big just yet.

All I can say is: wow. I am completely and utterly blown away by this system. Watching a movie, even at just 720p - let alone 1080i - completely destroys the "HD" experience you get from Satellite or Cable. Even on larger (100"+) screens, even at close distance, the difference is nothing short of astonishing. Yes, the price is a bit steep, both for the player and the movies, but in my mind it is worth every penny.

I can not make any comparisons to HD-DVD at this point, as I do not have an HD-DVD player yet (and am not certain that I intend to get one). However, I certainly understand what all the fuss is about. I'm not going to tell you to go out and buy a Blu-Ray player. If you dont have an HDTV, it just isnt worth it. However, if you do have one, and it is larger than 30", you would be doing yourself a disservice not to pick up SOME sort of High Def DVD player.

Subsidized Blue-Ray

[Slipgrid]

That's cool. FYI to anyone else who wants a Blue-Ray drive, get a PS3. They are much cheaper, because the expense is mostly subsidized by the video games they hope you will buy. I'm not sure what the Play Station 3's go for, but it's about $400 to $600 dollars, which would've saved you about $200 to $400.

Cheers!

Re:

[dknight]

I would love a PS3
sadly, they're a tad harder to come by ;)
otherwise, thats what I would've done

Re:

[Slipgrid]

Thanks for the reply. I like the review, and I'm a fan of the technology. I saw this post on Google's blog search, when looking for how to get a Wii in the next few days, and I didn't realize it was a journal at first. Hope you enjoy your system. Wish I had one.