Question About Blu-Ray Disc

[romantico]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 9:13pm

I'm thinking about buying a blu-ray disc player around Christmas but would like to start buying some dvds now. Does anyone know if I can play them on my imac? It would be nice to buid up a nice little library before I buy the player. Thanks!

[KelRel]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 9:14pm

Unless you have a blu-ray drive or player then you can't play a blu-ray disc.

[romantico]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 9:21pm

Bummer! Thanks for the info.

[best12bars]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 9:35pm

Be careful with your semantics, since it's important.

A DVD (Digital Video Disc) is a standard-def disc. It will play on all DVD and Blu-ray players.

A BD (Blu-ray Disc) is a hi-def disc. It will play only on a Blu-ray player.

You said you wanted to "start buying some DVDs." I think you meant BDs.

Part of the new technology is getting used to the new terminology.

DVDs and BDs are not the same thing. And they're not interchangeable, so they shouldn't be as far as what you call them.

By the way, I recommend buying a PlayStation3, whenever you decide to buy a BD player. It's fully upgradeable, and it doesn't matter whether you want to play games on it or not. It's still the best BD player on the market right now. And it's fairly cheap by comparison, especially considering the quality of the machine.

Updated On: 4/19/08 at 09:35 PM

[KelRel]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 9:38pm

That's what I have. We love our PS3.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 10:17pm

I would only add that i hope you don't use credit cards to buy the bds. They will just collect interest while waiting to be played.

Sorry--I've just become converted to suze ormanism so these things pop into my head. LOL

[romantico]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 10:46pm

Hey thanks! Yes, your correct. I need to get in the habit of calling them blu ray discs. I'm glad you told me about the PS3 as well.I'm only going to buy the bigger fx movies on Blu-ray I think for now. I was hoping I could play them on my computer without needing to buy anything extra. Thanks again for the helpful tips!

[Craig]

Posted: 4/19/08 at 10:54pm

Thanks to Best12, I chose the PS3 route and couldn't be happier.

Aside from slowly buiding a BD collection, I'm happy that Netflix has pretty much every blu-ray that's been released and I can rent those I'm not willing to buy - even if it's just to check out a scene or two.

While there are some amazing transfers (like Baron Munchausen, the Harry Potter movies, Chicago, etc) - nothing is as amazing to reference as things like Ratatouille, Cars, etc which are of course, completely digital.

The upconversion is fantastic on the PS3 - and I highly suggest buying the optional remote (which you can get for 19.99).

The latest and greatest firmware for BD-Java is also now available for the PS3...

[romantico]

Posted: 4/20/08 at 12:08am

Thanks Craig! I hope you and Best12 are going to be ready to answer more tech questions when I come closer to buying. You'll need to open a Blue Ray Forum!