Sharp pictures for big screens: The advantages of Blu-ray players

These days it's easy to stream high-quality films from online, but Blu-ray still wins in picture quality, especially if you have a larger TV. — dpa

The world of television and home cinema is in a constant state of change. Blu-ray, once celebrated as the format of the future, may soon be on the way out. So does it make any sense to buy a Blu-ray player today?

Blu-ray players allow you to view movies in Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) which even on large screens give a sharp image. Some players also support UHD (Ultra High Definition) which has four times the resolution of Full HD at 3840 by 2160 pixels. Blu-ray players can also play DVDs, so you won't have to repurchase any films.

All of today's devices deliver good picture quality so the difference mainly lies in additional services such as apps. Build quality is also a factor.

Whether you buy one that supports UHD depends on the size of your TV. Full HD is adequate on a TV that's up to 55 inches, says TV pro Stefan Witzel. That would be a TV with a diagonal of around 140 centimetres.

For TVs bigger than that it makes sense to favour UHD. As the maximum viewing distance, Witzel recommends between three and five metres.

A Full-HD Blu-ray player can be bought for as little as US$50 (RM209), but if you're looking for a better-quality product, it makes sense to spend around twice that.

The latest UHD players cost around US$170 (RM712) although Roland Seibt, home cinema expert with "video" magazine, recommends spending more than US$225 (RM942).

So does it not make more sense to stream Full HD and UHD movies rather than buy a Blu-ray player? No, Seibt says.

According to him, Blu-ray delivers a data rate of up to 50 megabits per second whereas streaming providers can only achieve 10 and 15 megabits per second for UHD and the new HDR (High Dynamic Range) format over the Internet.

If you have a TV screen of higher quality, you'll see the difference between a player and streaming, Seibt says. Blu-ray also offers significantly more audio channels than streaming. – dpa