Unlike the difference in physical appearance between VHS video tapes and DVDs, it takes a sharp eye to discern a DVD from a Blu-ray Disc. It takes even a sharper eye to figure out which profile your BD player is using. Profiles are part of the BD-ROM (read-only format for distribution of HD movies, games, etc.) specification. They define four Blu-ray Disc player profiles, including an audio-only profile (BD-Audio) that does not require video decoding or other software.

All three of the video-based player profiles (BD-Video) are required to have full implementation of BD-J, with varying levels of hardware support. BD-J is a specification supporting Java ME which allows for sophisticated bonus content on Blu-ray Disc titles, including picture-in-picture, network access, and access to expanded local storage.

Each profile has a different set of required features — some optional, some mandatory — which affects what kind of bonus content you can play back. Let’s take a closer look at all four profiles:

Profile 1.0 (Grace Period)
This profile is the original minimum hardware requirement for BD-Video players. As of November 1, 2007, the Grace Period Profile as superseded by the Bonus View Profile as the minimum profile for all new BD-Video players manufactured and released to the market.

When Blu-ray Discs not authored with interactive features dependent on Bonus View or BD-Live hardware capabilities are played using Profile 1.0 players, the main feature can be viewed but some extra features may not be available or will have limited capability.

Profile 1.1 (Bonus View)
The most noticeable difference between profiles 1.0 and 1.1 is the ability for picture-in-picture commentary made available by using advanced video and audio decoders. A small, low-resolution window displays, usually in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, where an actor or other individual provides trivia about a scene while it is plays simultaneously on the screen in the background.

Initially, studios were somewhat reluctant to include picture-in-picture functionality, but its popularity has actually created a demand for this feature.

Profile 2.0 (BD-Live)
As the name implies, BD-Live stands out from profiles 1.0 and 1.1 with the ability to have communication with the Internet, usually with an Ethernet port. Some Profile 1.1 Blu-ray players use an Ethernet port, but they can’t be used to access downloadable content and are only capable of downloading firmware updates.

Another feature of Profile 2.0 is the ability to store downloaded content — either internally or externally suing USB ports or SD card slots. Other than downloading movie trailers, Profile 2.0 provides the ability to use Internet-enabled features.

Profile 3.0 (BD-Audio)
Profile 3.0 is an audio-only profile, intended to be used with audio-only Blu-ray Discs. It opens the door for manufacturers to make low-cost Blu-ray players that lack all the requirements placed on Profiles 1.1 and 2.0 (e.g., secondary video /audio decodes, etc.).

Which Profile Do I Need?
Because technology changes so quickly, purchase a Profile 2.0 player — the most future-proof option currently out there. You don’t want your media to be more advanced than the hardware it is being played on or you’ll be missing out the picture-in-picture feature.

hhgregg proudly carries the LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony lines of Blu-ray players.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 2nd, 2010 at 8:13 pm and is filed under TV & Video. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.