blu-ray players
So, since I have this Vizio 42" digital TV, I've been looking at the blu-ray players and reading
reviews about them. I can get streaming HD movies and TV shows from Netflix (without commercials) using the included widget apps in the Vizio TV.
My question is about blu-ray players. They seem to also provide the widget apps for watching Netflix and a remote and a lot of duplicated equipment that I don't want. I'm kinda used to buying a $20 DVD player that fits in a hard drive bay in the PC. Now, it looks like I'm supposed to buy a $200 blu-ray box that looks like the VHS/DVD rack mount (not PC bay sized) player with the associated remote. It looks like a stereo receiver instead of a DVD drive.
The other thing is that the reviews about these boxes all complain about the cyberworld software
that is the only software on the block - kinda like microsoft with windows - if you buy a blu-ray player, you gotta buy their software. I haven't looked at what that would cost, yet. Why do I need the software to play
blu-rays? I guess if you want to copy the blu-ray, you'd need some kind of Nero software - or equivalent. So maybe that's the reason for all of this new stuff.
I've seen blu-ray players at Newegg for $80 or so. Could I just get a minimal player and forget copying the blu-rays to have and to hold forever? It looks like a blank 50gb dual layer disk costs around $10. Who needs the copy? I'm I just missing some gorgeous video experience by not owning all of this stuff? The TV looks fine playing 480 line TV shows from the PC. The 1080p stuff does look better. But, I don't think it's worth getting another 300 dollars worth of equipment, cables, expensive blank disks, remotes, etc.
Has anyone figured out what's going on here? Is this a bill of goods for those who want the ultimate home theater?
reviews about them. I can get streaming HD movies and TV shows from Netflix (without commercials) using the included widget apps in the Vizio TV.
My question is about blu-ray players. They seem to also provide the widget apps for watching Netflix and a remote and a lot of duplicated equipment that I don't want. I'm kinda used to buying a $20 DVD player that fits in a hard drive bay in the PC. Now, it looks like I'm supposed to buy a $200 blu-ray box that looks like the VHS/DVD rack mount (not PC bay sized) player with the associated remote. It looks like a stereo receiver instead of a DVD drive.
The other thing is that the reviews about these boxes all complain about the cyberworld software
that is the only software on the block - kinda like microsoft with windows - if you buy a blu-ray player, you gotta buy their software. I haven't looked at what that would cost, yet. Why do I need the software to play
blu-rays? I guess if you want to copy the blu-ray, you'd need some kind of Nero software - or equivalent. So maybe that's the reason for all of this new stuff.
I've seen blu-ray players at Newegg for $80 or so. Could I just get a minimal player and forget copying the blu-rays to have and to hold forever? It looks like a blank 50gb dual layer disk costs around $10. Who needs the copy? I'm I just missing some gorgeous video experience by not owning all of this stuff? The TV looks fine playing 480 line TV shows from the PC. The 1080p stuff does look better. But, I don't think it's worth getting another 300 dollars worth of equipment, cables, expensive blank disks, remotes, etc.
Has anyone figured out what's going on here? Is this a bill of goods for those who want the ultimate home theater?
Comments
As far as copying goes, the content providers will always find ways to stop you from "stealing" their content. I'm content as well with just buying the DVD's I want to own, and renting (netflix) the DVD's I just want to watch once. Sure, with all that software you could copy and store all your movies onto a huge harddrive then stream movies to any computer, laptop, TV, or smart phone on your network.. but whoopeedoo, it's just as easy to slide in a DVD and watch it on the TV.
If I were to get a Blu Ray player/burner, it would be one as an optical drive in a HTPC build for my TV.