Blu-Ray in the car, coming soon to a dealer near you

I love movies and I am a huge fan of high definition. When Blu-ray won the battle against HD format, I was ecstatic. My wife could not see the difference in picture quality. Are you kidding me! The difference is huge. HD resolution is 1280x720 vs. 1920x1080. That’s 921,600 pixels vs. 2,073,600. More than double the pixels.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term. The resolution of a television is the number of pixels in each dimension that the television can display. The higher the resolution is, the better the picture quality. But I am not here to talk about Blu-ray or resolutions. My problem is when I decided to install an entertainment system in my 2009 Cadillac Escalade a few years ago; I could not find an in-car Blu-ray player. They didn’t exist.

I did some research, and supposedly manufacturers were unable to make a 10-inch screen that shows high-definition. Blu-ray came in 2002; this technology was 10 years old and they still could not make a 10-inch Full HD 1080p screen.

I love buying movies. I have a 60” at home. So I buy Blu-ray. Now I have to buy the Blu-ray and the DVD version for the car. I know I can buy the combo pack that comes with both. But that’s not a solution.  Blu-ray took over few years ago and it is growing. DVD will be obsolete soon.

You can argue and say for screens smaller than 40”, 720p is more than enough.  That is correct. As a matter of fact, 1080p resolution is worth it only for 40”-60”. Your eye will not be able to tell difference at a distance. But at this point I’m not worried about picture quality. Just offer me something that plays my Blu-ray discs in my car.

Apparently, Panasonic unveiled the first Blu-ray Player in 2007 Tokyo Motor show. And in 2009 they said they are getting ready to launch it. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi is getting ready to offer there version as well. Still nothing heard from both companies. Until finally in 2011 Engadget reported that “Audiovox shows off the industry’s first in-car Blu-ray player, the AVDBR11” with an MSRP of $349.99. That is the only in-car Blu-ray player I could find.

You know the disappointing part is that, till today, not even a single Car manufacturer offers it; I guess there isn’t a true demand for it because I’m sure they would love to make the extra money. Or maybe DVD is good enough.

And Blu-ray is not stopping at 1080p resolution. The new 4k Ultra HD resolution is the next generation Blu-ray. That will be my next year resolution: 3840x2160. That’s over 8 million pixels.

I will leave it up to you to decide whether DVD is enough or not. But one thing for sure, Blu-ray is the future.