Now that the format war is over and you don't have to worry about which movies are going to be distributed on which standard, it might be time to buy a Blu-ray player. If you've never seen Full HD or 1080p on an HDTV set you are missing out on a viewing experience. There are some who say wait to buy a Blu-ray player but here are some reasons to go ahead and take the plunge today:

Profile 1.1
As a home theater enthusiast interested in experiencing a movie in the highest resolution and sound quality right now, you may not even care that much about downloading ring tones, promotional content, chatting with other viewers, or participating in quizzes; all possible with Profile 2.0

Price
Now that the competition is out of the way, there is no compelling reason to drop the prices. Furthermore, there are reports that the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) is dragging their feet in licensing Blu-ray to Chinese manufacturers which could also affect how fast prices drop.

Image Quality
If you have a 1080p HDTV set chances are you have never even seen a 1080p image on it since all HD programming currently comes over the air and cable at 720p or 1080p. The image quality is noticeably better especially on HDTV sets larger than 37 inches.

Sound Quality
Blu-ray players support 7.1 channel True HD from Dolby and DTS-HD MA. These are probably going to be the HD audio standards for awhile except for high bit rate lossless audio which you'll find on high end receivers and players

PlayStation 3
If the online features in Profile 2.0 are a major requirement for you then you can always get a PlayStation 3. Sony will be releasing a firmware upgrade in April that takes the PS3 to Profile 2.0

The Best Blu-ray Player To Buy Today If you decide that a Profile 2.0 player is not worth waiting for, the one Blu-ray player that everyone seems to agree is the best stand-alone BD player to buy is the Panasonic DMP-BD30. It supports the latest high definition audio formats like True HD and DTS-HD MA and it does a good job of upconverting standard DVDs to 1080p. You can buy it for just under $500 but expect that price to drop as Profile 2.0 players emerge in the next several months.

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