Blu-Ray connection question

R

Rylan

Audioholic
Audioholics talks about connecting my Blu ray player via the Internet. This may sound basic, but I don’t want to sacrifice any quality or audio sound hooking up anything incorrectly.
My tv is currently hooked up the wall with a cat6 cable. So In order to connect my Blu ray player based upon audioholics recommendations (see below) am I connecting my blue ray to the tv or at I getting a splitter to connect both my TV and the Blu-ray player to the wall? I also have an AV receiver and I will be hooking up 7.2 Atmos. I don’t want to hook anything up incorrectly that will jeopardize my video and audio experience. I will also be using blue Jean HDMI cables.

Audioholics says “
Connecting Your Blu-ray Player to the Internet

First, any updates for your Blu-ray player can be automatically downloaded and installed. Installing software updates (called firmware updates) is important as these updates are used to provide compatibility for newer Blu-ray discs. If you don’t update your player occasionally, some new discs may not play.

Secondly, some extra or interactive content on Blu-ray discs can only be loaded if your player is connected to the Internet. Your Blu-ray player may have Internet streaming functions such as Netflix and YouTube. You must connect the player to the Internet in order to use these streaming services.”
1669933090215.jpeg
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
I would connect your bluray player to the avr, not the tv. I never use the live-bd features on my players, ymmv.....but updates once in a while may happen so connecting to your network should work fine for such.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
Audioholics talks about connecting my Blu ray player via the Internet. This may sound basic, but I don’t want to sacrifice any quality or audio sound hooking up anything incorrectly.
My tv is currently hooked up the wall with a cat6 cable. So In order to connect my Blu ray player based upon audioholics recommendations (see below) am I connecting my blue ray to the tv or at I getting a splitter to connect both my TV and the Blu-ray player to the wall? I also have an AV receiver and I will be hooking up 7.2 Atmos. I don’t want to hook anything up incorrectly that will jeopardize my video and audio experience. I will also be using blue Jean HDMI cables.

Audioholics says “
Connecting Your Blu-ray Player to the Internet

First, any updates for your Blu-ray player can be automatically downloaded and installed. Installing software updates (called firmware updates) is important as these updates are used to provide compatibility for newer Blu-ray discs. If you don’t update your player occasionally, some new discs may not play.

Secondly, some extra or interactive content on Blu-ray discs can only be loaded if your player is connected to the Internet. Your Blu-ray player may have Internet streaming functions such as Netflix and YouTube. You must connect the player to the Internet in order to use these streaming services.”
View attachment 58867
If you are going to connect more then one device to that Cat6 cable at the TV, then you need a local Ethernet hub. So you connect that cable to the hub input and connect Cat6 cables between them and the local hub.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
You could just use wifi for the bluray player, too.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
You could just use wifi for the bluray player, too.
He could, but hard wired connections are better, especially for updates. Hubs and Cat6 cables are cheap. I only use Wi-Fi for mobile devices. Anything that does not move is wired.
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
He could, but hard wired connections are better, especially for updates. Hubs and Cat6 cables are cheap. I only use Wi-Fi for mobile devices. Anything that does not move is wired.
FWIW have never had an update issue due to wifi on my bluray players. Mostly there's just not a lot of updating, tho. Pain in the butt for me to hardwire them in my house, and just no need compare to wifi. YMMV.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
Which player is this? The older it is, the less likely that you will need a wired connection for updates. You can check the vendor's website to see if there is a latest firmware and update it. Once they have a newer model out, you can expect updates to become far fewer. To me, this would be the only reason to connect the player. In terms of audio/video playback of most discs, there is no need for that connection.

If you plan to use apps on the player for things like Netflix, etc... I would advise against that as in my experience, the player based browsers are not very good, nor are they well supported. Even your TV likely has better apps, but a dedicated streamer is still a preferred option.

And I have not seen a disc with bonus internet content in about maybe 10 years. To be totally honest, I tried a number of those disc features back in the day and I cannot say that any of them was worth having that connection. Since those days, that same content is all available on the web.
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
If you have multiple devices that require network access, but you only have a single port that goes back to your router (modem), then you will need to split that connection so you can hard wire in your multiple networked devices. The network connection will not impact the quality of video from the Blu-ray player or other devices. Likewise, using a hard wired connection provides the fastest, and most secure way to connect to the Internet.

To split that single incoming Internet connection, you will typically use a small network switch. These are readily available from Amazon or Newegg and aren't expensive.

$16 on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Splitter-Optimization-Unmanaged-TL-SG105/dp/B00A128S24/ref=sr_1_2_sspa

This 5-port switch is connected from your wall to ANY of the available ports. The switch is smart enough to know where your Internet connection is coming from, so you don't have to use any specific port as the 'Internet IN' connection. Just connect it to your wall, then connect your Blu-ray Disc player to another open port on the switch, and connect your TV to an open port, and connect your AV receiver to an open port.

This will give every device that needs it, in your equipment rack, a hard wired connection to the Internet.

If you add other devices that need a network connection to your equipment stack, then you can connect them to that switch until it is filled up. If you think you will have MORE devices than a 5-port switch can handle, then I would recommend getting a larger network switch that can handle all the devices you intend to use.

It's not much more money to pick up a 8-port switch...

Leaving ports unused on a gigabit switch will not negatively impact the performance of your system.
 
Trell

Trell

Audioholic Spartan
He could, but hard wired connections are better, especially for updates. Hubs and Cat6 cables are cheap. I only use Wi-Fi for mobile devices. Anything that does not move is wired.
Same here, except for one of our PCs. A nit-pick is that he wants a switch and not a hub.
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
I'm going to add to this....
None of your network ports carry video the same way HDMI carries video (and audio). The network ports carry data. That data can vary wildly. From streaming video through Netflix or Disney+, to firmware updates, or other content. But, that additional content is highly compressed and depends on your network speed. Once it reaches your TV, it gets handled by the TV, or the Blu-ray player, or your streaming device, and then uncompressed audio and video is pumped out over the HDMI connection, or played locally on the TV itself.

Separating that network cabling and HDMI/audio/video cabling are COMPLETELY different from each other is important. But, getting the most out of your network does mean that using a wired network switch is the best way to go if you can do it. Sounds like you can, so definitely pick up a switch.
 
newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top