Blu-Ray and HDMI Cable

The first prototype Blu-ray Disc players were released in 2003 and then officially released three years later, and are considered superior to the widely used DVD format. The Blu-ray differs from the DVD technology in the way that the data is read - the DVD players use red laser with 650 nm wavelength, while the Blu-ray players use blue-violet laser with shorter wavelength, which translates into better precision. This allows more data to be "crammed" into a disk, which is of the same size as the DVD disks, and a dual-layer Blu-ray disc can contain up to 50GB of data. While most of us link this technology to movies only, the larger data storage capacity means that the gaming consoles could use these types of disks too and offer even more beautiful and life-like graphics in the near future, which graphics would be accompanied by excellent quality sound.

When using a Blue-ray Disc player, you would want a high quality HDMI lead too, which will give you loss-less surround sound, full 1080p with Deep Color, and the best performance that you can get. Connecting the player to your HDTV is a simple as it gets - simply identify the HDMI output connection on the player and the HDMI input connection on the TV, and run the cable between them. Depending on the TV model, you might have more than one HDMI input connections, but you can use either one of them with the same success. If you want to make use of the BD Live feature over the Internet, then you would have to use an Ethernet cable to connect the Blu-ray disc player to your LAN or computer.

What Blu-Ray HDMI lead should I purchase?

Technically speaking, any HDMI cable will work with your Blu-ray Disc player since the HDMI cables come with Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD video and audio at full resolution support since the first, 1.0 version. What could make a difference is the quality of the cable, especially if you are going to need a long one. If the cable is only two to three meters long, then even the cheapest one should give you excellent quality audio and video, but if you are building a good setup and have spent quite a bit of money on a good Blu-ray player, then you might as well purchase higher quality HDMI cable as well. This is especially valid if you are looking at cables longer than 10 meters, want durability, or want to run the cables in-wall.