Blu-ray player on analog tv? Yes?

November 29, 2009 1:23 PM

Should I get a blu-ray player even though the TV is analog? And would it even work?

My dvd player has died. At first i was going to get a cheap dvd player to replace it. The tv is about 15-20 years old although it still works great with no issues. The stereo setup is about 10-15 years old (both were top of the line when bought new and both still do everything well). But i have a bit of money and i could maybe afford to buy a blu-ray player.

Now why would i do this? Well because i want to stream Netflix movies. Also over the next year or so i will be upgrading the tv and maybe the stereo (though i love this stereo system). So when i update the tv i will be able to see the improved quality with blu-rays and in the meantime i can enjoy Netflix and dvds. Perhaps. That's if it even works. The tv does have digital cable attached although for the life of me i have yet to see how i can get a dvd player to attach when the tv is already attached. My old dvd player died when analog died and my old old dvd player that didn't need the signal is just about dead after not being used in so long. So..

1. Should i get the cheap dvd player and wait to get the blu-ray player when (if) the tv is upgraded?

2. Or would it be harmless to get it now? Would it work?

(Sorry for the lower case i's and lack of commas. My laptop keyboard also went sporadic in the last 3 days and i am tired of copy/paste capital i's and commas.)

posted by Danila to technology (7 answers total)

As long as your current TV has the necessary inputs, I'd go for the Blu-ray player.
posted by andrewcilento at 1:42 PM on November 29, 2009

It depends a bit on the Blu-Ray player... but you may have some trouble hooking it up to the TV. I'm not sure what outputs are on a Blu-Ray player, if you can get the same inputs on the TV. (I doubt the TV has component - 5 plugs blue red green for video and red/white for audio). Maybe it's got composite (yellow barrel plug). Maybe the Blu-ray player will have composite out.

If you really want to stream the netflix, see if you can get your desired player to talk to the TV. If it's got the right input/outputs... it'll probably work? Honestly though, Blu-Ray keeps getting cheaper, and the spec keeps changing. If you can wait, it'll be cheaper. But that's always the case!

It would help if you could tell us the inputs on the TV and the model / example of the Blu-Ray player you want.
posted by defcom1 at 1:43 PM on November 29, 2009

The tv has composite and s-video.

The blu-ray player.
posted by Danila at 3:17 PM on November 29, 2009

Well, the specs there say it has a set of composite outputs and standard audio outputs (red/white), so it should work fine on your TV. Normally the big drawback of Netflix streaming is that it's only standard definition for now, but that obviously wouldn't be a problem with the TV you currently have.

I "only" have a 720p TV right now, and I've thought about getting a player also. But I don't know if there's anything coming down the pipeline as far as Blu-Ray hardware goes that should make me consider waiting until next year. Prices look good enough now anyway that future drops wouldn't be as much of an incentive to wait. And I don't really plan on getting a 1080p anytime soon.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 4:40 PM on November 29, 2009

No. Don't bother. Spend the money on a cheap DVD player and save the rest of your cash. The future of home video entertainment is constantly in flux these days and upgrading a component that you can't leverage right this instant is a bad idea.
posted by chairface at 7:36 PM on November 29, 2009

If you can find a blue-ray player that has netflix and is cheaper than buying a Roku and a cheap-dvd player combined, then perhaps it's worth it but as other's have said it's not worth "investing" in blueray right now if you can't use it today.

It's still not really clear that Blu Ray as a technology is here to stay for the long run and prices are still failing at quite a good clip, so if you are going to buy a new TV in a years time it probably makes sense to wait until then.
posted by dyslexictraveler at 11:59 AM on November 30, 2009

Okay, I take that back. It looks like the LG BD370 does support netflix and at $129 would meet my criteria. Note however, that it does not have Wifi on it, so you'll need to be able to plug the player into an ethernet cable to get the network features.
posted by dyslexictraveler at 12:08 PM on November 30, 2009