If you are interested in purchasing a Blu-ray player, or already have a Playstation 3, you may have heard about ‘Blu-ray’ profiles. But what are they, and what difference will they make to your viewing experience?
When it was first launched, Blu-ray was still a work in progress, and the technical specifications were not completely finalised. Despite this, many manufacturers released their own dedicated Blu-ray players to satisfy the needs of demanding consumers and home cinema enthusiasts. The technical specification of Blu-ray is now almost complete, so the very latest players should have all the features of the latest specification known as the Blu-ray profile.
Apart from the sound and picture quality advantages, the main feature that many users were waiting for was the ‘live’ aspect of Blu-ray, known as ‘BD-LIVE’. This enables viewers to connect to the internet to download bonus scenes, trailers, subtitles, interactive games, and even things like ringtones for mobile phones.
The Blu-ray Profiles
Which Profile Should I Get?
The answer to this is easy – the very latest! Unless you get a great deal on a player with an older profile, you should be aiming to get BD-LIVE (profile 2.0) for the internet connectivity.
Many of the earlier profile 1.1 Blu-ray players can be updated by a simple ‘firmware’ update to the latest profile so it might be worth checking if yours can. Playstation 3 owners will have been automatically updated to the latest profile, so will already have BD-LIVE, and will continue to get further profile updates.
Our Blu-ray player reviews will state what profile each player is and whether it can be upgraded or not.