blu-ray: Is it worth it? Recommendations?

My DVD player is officially fried, so I'm in the market for a replacement. I'm on the fence as to whether I should get a blu ray or not. Currently, the TV is NOT a high def but surely it will be replaced with one (no plans of it at the moment, but it'll die one day I'm sure). So if I get the player now, I won't feel like I have to replace a standard DVD player when I get a new TV.

Any thoughts or recommendations of a particular brand/model would be appreciated.

:hi:

I haven't watched too many Blu-Ray movies, but I've loved what I've seen. (Mainly the BBC Planet Earth series.)

Gorgeous pic, great sound.

I forgot all about that aspect! And my home theatre system is pretty new, so that'll be good!

Usually, I just run the sound through my computer speakers (which are decent -- but not a fancy 5.1 setup or anything), and the difference is pretty noticeable.

I recently watched a couple episodes of Lost on Blu-Ray at my brother's place; he has a nice fancy home theater setup. That was kind of mind-blowing. Crazy jungle noises from all sides!

I will get a Playstation 3, I figure for the extra hundred bucks, I get the game console functionality.

I think Blu Ray players will come down in price but, since you can get a regular DVD player for less than 40 dollars these days, I am too cheap to spend 200 for something that just plays discs.

When you put a standard DVD on it, it will play even better on a Blu-Ray player, definitely get the BR....

anyhow i really it, still plays all my old movies as well.

we have a Sony-

i think it's this one but it was about $599 when we bought it.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_158BDPS500/Sony-BDP-S500.html?tp=171

Since you still have a standard TV with no immediate plans to replace it, just get an inexpensive DVD player until you do.

1) Prices on Blu-ray players are just going to keep going down.
2) Features and capabilities of those players will be increasing at the same time.

That said, if you're still set on upgrading to Blu-ray now, hold out a few weeks for the Oppo Blu-ray player that they are about to release. Here's an early review: http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/transports/high-definition-dvd-players-hd-dvd-blu-ray/oppo-bdp-83-universal-blu-ray-player

The short version for anyone who doesn't want to click:
It's a region-free universal BD player that will hit the market able to play DVDs, CDs, SACDs and DVD-Audio discs. Price is expected to be somewhere between $499 and $599. Oppo has a great reputation in the industry for great players at reasonable prices.

I have an Oppo upconverting DVD player, and it's amazing. My TV is only 1080i though, and not 1080p, so I'm not switching to Blu-ray until that gets replaced some day.

www.oppodigital.com

Get a BD-Live-ready Blu-ray player for $169.99

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13845_3-10136482-58.html?tag=mncol

I think it's worth the money.

I doubt I'll get one of those, though- my days of gaming are behind me.

We figured if the Blu-ray was not what it was cracked up to be, or if it went obsolete because HD DVD was more successful, we'd still have the game system for him.