Now that Shakey has decided Blu-ray is the way to release his music archive, you may decide it’s time to look into updating your play equipment. Blu-ray, as you probably already know, holds more data than DVDs (five to 10 times the capacity!), offers amazing picture and sound quality and you can update their disc contents via the Internet.

Of course, I’m a hybrid kind of gal. I don’t like to have a bunch of specialized equipment around when hybrids will do the job too — especially if I’m not paying more for the multi-functionality. So let’s look at two “duo” players, electronics that play both Blu-ray and HD.

First up, the Samsung BD-UP5000. Pricing runs from about $380 to about $790. It exploits the interactive features and offers Blu-ray Disk playback at 1080p resolution. Don’t worry; it’s not limited to playing just Blu-ray or HD disks; you can also run your DVD Video and DVD-RW/-R discs too. The software lets you customize your viewing experience.  For example, if you — like I — run subtitles just to understand what those mumbling actors are saying, you can specify subtitles in a different color, you can animate them and you can fade them in and out. Is that cool or what?!

Reviewer pzprods likes the unit, although he or she detects a delay in loading movies.

LG Electronics offers the BH200, which is priced between $422 and $800. The functionality is basically the same as the Samsung, though reviewer bballcards from MO reports that load time for “Superbad Blu-Ray” is speedy compared to alternatives and that bugs reported in the initial release have been repaired in firmware updates put out by the company. Bballcards complains, however, about a short warranty (a year, the same as the Samsung model) and a high price (again, pretty comparable to the Samsung model).

Of course, upgrading from a HD player to a hybrid player almost demands that you run a high-def viewer too. Otherwise, why bother?! So, if you haven’t upgraded your TV to install one of those drive-in-theater hi-def models that take up a wall and form the centerpoint of dinner conversations with your friends for easily a full three months after purchase, not to worry! Your economic stimulus check is in the mail!

Posted on May 9th, 2008 by dian