Even from just these five options, choosing the right Blu-ray player for you can be a struggle. Browsing each doesn’t help when your reading gibberish. HDR, UHD, I mean, what do all these abbreviations even stand for?
4K and UHD: These are shorthands for a 3840 x 2160 resolution. That’s a measure of the pixels in a given display. 4K and UHD (Ultra High Definition) are interchangeable ways of referring to the same resolution.
HDR: High Dynamic Range (HDR) is the tech that makes your TV’s contrast really pop. The colors are more vivid, and the darks become more legible with HDR on. HDR10, HRD10+, Dolby Vision, and Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) are all different forms of HDR. HDR10 is the standard, so anything aside from that is going above and beyond.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth: Some Blu-ray players can connect to the internet. Wi-Fi compatibility sometimes, but not always, equates to being able to use streaming services directly from your DVD player. Some Wi-Fi players support streaming apps while others don’t. Additionally, some Blu-ray players have Bluetooth support to allow you to route the audio through your home speakers or headphones
Native 4K vs Upscaling: When we talk about “Native 4K” and Blu-ray players, we are referring to the ability to play 4K/UHD discs. Upscaling, on the other hand, is a hardware-based way of converting lower resolutions automatically to higher ones. No matter what you upscale, there will always be some loss of quality in the process. That’s why native is always preferred. If you have a huge Blu-ray collection, though, the ability to watch all those 1080P movies in upscaled 4K could be a deal-maker when it comes to which one of these players you choose. Some devices can also upscale your old standard def DVDs to Blu-ray quality 1080p.
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