When to Upgrade your Blu-ray Player

It’s easy to know when to buy a Blu-ray player, but how do you know when to upgrade your Blu-ray player? A new BD player will (or should) offer a big picture upgrade—particularly on larger screens. Obviously (or perhaps not), anyone who still has a DVD player should know that a new model will offer a significant picture upgrade-particularly on larger screens like in rooms with front projection.

But what about the guy who bought his Blu-ray player early? Is there ever a reason to upgrade?

Absolutely.

Early Blu-ray players did nothing more than at back the data on the disc…barely. Newer players offer the ability to send native Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master audio off of discs. PCM audio was all there was in the beginning. These new master-quality soundtracks, however, provide studio-level sound with most recent AV receivers. If you have an older player, you’re not going to have access to that.

Newer players are also awash with features like streaming media services. It’s not uncommon to see players that include Netflix, Hulu Plus, VUDU, and other services—and still be priced under $250. These players are wonderful additions to any home theater because they offer more access to what we all want to begin with: Movies.

An upgraded Blu-ray player can also provide much better video quality than older players. There is a reason the industry is playing catch-up to products like the players from Oppo. Advanced video processing means that you get more of what is stored on the disc. Deinterlacing and noise reduction can be the difference between a good picture and a great picture.

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So When Do You Upgrade Your Blu-ray Player?

Our opinion is that you should consider upgrading immediately if you are still using a first-gen player. If you haven’t upgraded any of your other components then it may not be as critical for audio quality. Those with newer AV receiver, however, may experience a nice bump in audio capabilities after an upgrade.

If you are looking into streaming media services, updating your Blu-ray player is a great way to achieve that and effectively kill two birds with one stone. You get an upgraded player, and you save the money you would have spent on network media streaming device.

Finally, if you upgraded your display recently, upgrading your Blu-ray player to a high-end model may be just the thing. The advanced video processing available on some of the higher priced models are very much worth the money if you love a good picture.

And if you love audio—I mean really love audio, then players that focus on their analogue output stages may be just the thing. Oppo has a high -end audio Blu-ray player that is out of this world. You’ll pay a premium, but it’s got better audio circuitry than anything else we’ve listened to to-date.

Have you upgraded your Blu-ray player recently? If so, drop us a line on Facebook or comment below and let us know what you purchased.