What To Buy…the Blu-ray Addict

Blu-ray is currently the best medium to view movies for the consumer. Anyone serious about maximizing their audio and video experience at home need not look further than blu-ray at the moment. It’s the pinnacle of home entertainment.

So that said, what should you purchase for the blu-ray addict in your life?

The first thing should be a nice, 1080p display. To get the most accurate, cinematic detail from movies, then a plasma panel is the most ideal. When it comes to displays, my philosophy is always to go big. The price of many 50 inch sets have come down dramatically. Case in point, the Panasonic TC-P54S1. This is a 54 inch television, and it is a steal at the current asking price.

After the display, you obviously need to get the blu-ray addict in your life a blu-ray player. There are very few players under $200 that offer the kind of quality that the Sony BDP-S360 offers. It offers all that you need to get the most out of your blu-ray collection. The player is Profile 2.0, so it’s BD-Live capable. It will both bitstream and internally decode the lossless audio codecs, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA. The picture quality is superb at 1080p, and the DVD upscaling is solid.

What blu-ray home theater setup would be complete without a receiver? The answer is none. A perfect entry level A/V receiver is the Onkyo TX-SR607. Check out the overview by Bret below.

After the receiver, speakers are a must for the complete home theater experience. While I personally am not a fan of HTIB (home theater in a box) speaker systems, there are some that are more than adequate for anyone but the haute audiophile. The Onkyo SKSHT750B is a great 7.1 speaker system for anyone on a budget. It will certainly rock the house. You will not find a better 7.1 speaker system in this price range, and I’m sure the person receiving these speakers will be more than satisfied.

So now that you’ve procured the display, blu-ray player, receiver and speakers for the blu-ray addict in your life, they’re almost set. The last thing they’ll need are blu-ray movies. There is no shortage of spectacular movies making the leap to blu-ray. Some of my personal favorite blu-ray titles are The Lives of Others, Paris, Je T’aime, 3:10 to Yuma, There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men, just to name a few.

Once a person goes blu, there is no turning back. Why don’t you spread the blu-ray cheer this holiday season? It’s an auditory and visual feast.

Check out our other holiday gift guides:
What to Buy the Traveler
What to Buy the Wanna-be Chef
What to Buy the Vinyl Enthusiast

More to come!

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