You're ready to make the leap and buy a Blu-ray player for your HDTV this weekend. Here's what you need to know, simply and straightforward.

First, Blu-ray players are like binoculars. The less you pay, the less you get in mechanical and optical quality. While many retailers are offering special deals this time of year, it's wise to know where the Blu-ray player you're eyeing fits into the price spectrum and what features are essential.

 Samsung BD-P2500

For example, the Samsung BD-P1400 is last year's model. It has HDMI 1.3, 1080p output, has lots of advanced HD sound output options, like Dolby Digital Plus and Dolby TrueHD, but has no onboard memory and cannot be upgraded beyond Profile 1.0. This year's model, the BD-P1500 is Profile 1.1, otherwise very similar. Finally, the latest model, the BD-P2500, introduced for the holidays, has all that plus 1.0 GB of RAM, upgradeability to Profile 2, and can receive Netflix content over Ethernet.

For more details on Profile 1, 1.1, and 2.0, see this iPO article. You need to decide if the interactive features are important to you. If they're not, then you may be able to get a good price on an older model. However, see the Gotchas below.

For more information on the various HD sound formats, here is a good tutorial. My perception is that more movies are being released with advanced Dolby options, like (uncompressed) Dolby TrueHD than DTS HD Master. But that's just my experience.

The best thing to do is settle on a brand, a solid brand like Sony, Samsung, LG or Panasonic. Then look at the product history, as I did above, and make a chart of the features you want to have. Then shop for the best price on that specific model.

What you probably don't want to do is buy an off-brand model from a label you've never heard of, buy on impulse based on a really low-ball price, and then find out later that it doesn't have a key feature, such as Ethernet input, desired HD sound formats or the number and type of output connectors you need.

Netflix Compatibility

There are only two current Blu-ray players that have Ethernet plus the required firmware to receive Netflix content. The LG BD-300 and the Samsung BD-P2500 (or the BD-P2550 which is a Best Buy only model number and requires a firmware upgrade for Profile 2.)

You'll have to be a Netflix customer at one of the unlimited levels to access Netflix content with your account info.

Gotchas

1. Blu-ray discs require better hardware than DVDs for holding the disc stable as it rotates. That's one reason why Blu-ray players are more expensive. Cheaper Blu-ray players might cut corners on this -- although I don't have any definitive information. I think it's best to stay with the name brands who have a reputation to protect.

2. Some expensive Blu-ray players have costly chips to improve the look of DVDs. You can pay $2,000 for the Denon DVD-3800BDCI player with the Realta HQV video processor from Silicon Optix. Or you can buy a no-mame player for $128 at Wal-Mart. Defining your needs and finding your price point will require some research first.

3. Don't buy features that you can't use. For example, if the player has x.v.Color (deeper color bits), but your HDTV can't exploit that, then you're wasting money.

4. Lots of Blu-ray players advertise 24 fps (movie mode, which is really 48 fps) but most HDTVs can only accept 60 Hz input. So the HDTV has to do a special frame conversion that results in possible "judder" of the picture in high speed motion. (Even then it's almost impossible to see in normal viewing.) 60 Hz output into a 60 Hz TV will be fine for all but the purists. If you have one of the new 120 Hz HDTVs, then it can accept 24 fps without that special conversion. It's a nit, but the point is to match your Blu-ray player to the specs of the HDTV.

5. An Ethernet port is essential, even if it isn't a player, listed above, that supports Netflix. Internet firmware updates are far easier than downloading, burning a DVD, and manually updating.

6. All Blu-ray players will play DVDs (but not HD DVDs) Some will upconvert DVD output to 720p or even 1080p. The more accurate, fast, and capable the electronics, the better that upconversion will be. Without deep research into the specs, the best advice is to either use an upconverting A/V receiver, stick with a name brand Bu-ray player that is in the middle to top of the product line, or let the HDTV do it. Volumes shave been written about this, but the bottom line is to be sensitive to that trade between price and quality. Salesmen and women won't know much about this, so asking is futile.

Recommendations

For the average Mac customer who is into quality, I would recommend mid-line products from Sony (BDP-S550, ~$310), Samsung (BD-P2500, ~$300), LG (BD300, ~$300) or Panasonic (DMP-BD55K, ~$330). These players have the horsepower to make DVDs look good and aren't missing anything you'd ever need.

It's possible to go a step down, say, the Sony BDP-S350 or the Samsung BD-P1500 or Panasonic DMP-BD35 and get into the $200 range if finances dictate, but I can't recommend anything cheaper. Be careful to compare the specs to see if anything important to you is missing if you chose this course. Maybe there won't be.

Finally, I've been watching movies on Blu-ray for a year now. It's easy to see the superiority of a Blu-ray movie, and it makes watching movies especially satisfying. DVDs are fine for routine stuff, but the fact is, the difference is clearly visible, and DVDs for a major movie or two you love and want to buy for Christmas just don't cut it anymore.

Blu-ray will light up your living room on an HDTV.