With a seemingly endless number of Blu-ray players on the market these days, you’d think it should be simple to pick one out — they all play Blu-ray movies, and that’s the whole point.

Connecting to the Internet

Connecting your Blu-ray player to the web may seem a bit odd, but doing so gives you some pretty neat options. Along with a high-speed Internet connection such as DSL or cable, you will need a router of some sort. If you aren’t sure if you have a router or what it is capable of, call your Internet provider or head into your local electronics store and speak with a sales associate.

There are two ways to go about connecting your Blu-ray player to the Internet: via a standard network cable or your home wireless network. Many Blu-ray players can connect with a network cable, but not all can connect wirelessly — a feature that usually costs a bit more. Connecting your Blu-ray player to the web lets you easily update its software, access additional online content on certain Blu-ray discs and use streaming applications.


Streaming Applications for Blu-ray

Certain mid- and high-end Blu-ray players let you stream some of your favorite online content from services such as Pandora, Netflix and YouTube directly to your TV. You will need accounts with these services to use many of their applications, and some (such as Netflix) require a subscription.

The benefit of having these applications on your Blu-ray player is twofold: You can enjoy some of your favorite Internet streaming options on a much larger screen than your desktop or laptop, and you can control it all from one device.