Blu-ray beginner set up: What you'll need

Are you a Blu-ray beginner? You're on the right track, and we'd very much like to welcome you aboard the high def train to home movie watching heaven. While Blu-ray may be next-gen tech, all the gear you need to enjoy it now is affordable and commonplace, and you're task isn't getting the money together for it, but using your cash for the best models. Read our guide here and we'll break down just what you need for HD movies in the home.

A HD TV
First thing's first, to enjoy all of the extra detail, pixels and colour in a Blu-ray movie or TV show, you're going to need an HD TV. High definition TVs are near universal these days, but you should always look out for the HD ready feature just to be on the safe side. Stick with one of these flatscreens and you'll be futureproofed for years, as more people switch to Blu-ray, and more HD telly channels roll out.

The real decision to make is what size HD TV to get, and what screen tech you need. We've got you covered in those respects of course: our How To Size Up The Perfect TV guide will help you whittle down the right screen for your living room, while our FAQ on LED TV will help you pick out the right model with incredible contrast and colour.

A Blu-ray player
Naturally, if you want to play Blu-rays on your HD TV, you're going to need a Blu-ray player. Once upon a time, these were slow, pricey and tricky to use, but today's Blu-ray players are far from bare bones set top boxes. Step forward the Toshiba BDX1100KB, an affordable HD movie spinner that still pumps out incredible sound and the maximum number of pixels to your TV without breaking a sweat.

Of course, a dedicated Blu-ray player isn't your only option: a multimedia laptop such as the Toshiba Satellite A665 comes with a Blu-ray drive and a HDMI port, so you can watch that box set on the train, and on your HD TV when you get home too.

Extra frills
There's a few other hardware titbits you should school up on before you slap down for a Blu-ray player for the first time. If you get to grips with HDMI, the standard cable for HD video and TV, you'll know that it's capable of more than just shoving through images and audio: it can even be used to boss around your whole AV setup from one remote control, thanks to the wonders of REGZA.

Once you've got all this though, you're good to go. Enjoy your new Blu-ray player!