Blu-ray Disc™ (BD) Wise® is a form of optimization and "up-converting" available on certain Samsung® products. The technology uses interactivity between electronic devices, most notably a Blu-ray™ player and High Definition Television (HDTV). Though it is seen as more of an enhancement to Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), it can also provide an optimal viewing experience when watching media on the Blu-ray™ format. BD Wise® is essentially an automated process by which the HDTV and other devices adjust their settings to provide the best picture quality possible.
Enhancements and Features
The main benefit of this technology is that it seeks to find the best resolution setting possible for viewing DVD products. Many DVDs were created before HDTVs became extremely popular and affordable. Therefore, the resolution of video content on a DVD, while better than the older Video Home System (VHS) tapes, is not usually set to a level that takes advantage of the resolution available on an HDTV. The BD Wise® system helps by providing an enhancement to the resolution on a DVD, and also adjusting the settings, such as contrast and color balance, on an HDTV to better display those improvements.
Home audiences can also use BD Wise® when watching a Blu-ray Disc™ and other High Definition (HD) media. While it does not increase the resolution of such video, it can make adjustments to picture quality to improve presentation. Of course, environmental factors such as lighting in the room should be controlled by the TV watcher, to ensure optimal viewing conditions.
Requirements
For BD Wise® to work, both the media player, such as a Blu-ray™ player, and the television set must be Samsung® products and include BD Wise® as a feature. If one device does not include this feature, then the interconnectivity between them does not function. In addition, the television must be an HD set that is capable of adjusting its own resolution. The player and TV typically need to be connected by a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable, which lets the two devices "communicate."
Optional Use
In some cases, users may wish to rely on their own settings rather than the automatic adjustments made by the BD Wise® feature. Although Samsung® intends for this feature to be better most of the time, there could be occasions when the system does not adequately set an optimal resolution for a particular disc. Unusual encoding on a DVD, for example, might cause the system to set an incorrect resolution or brightness, and DVDs burned from a computer could also have problems with automatic up-scaling. In those instances, users can turn off the feature and choose their own settings.
Availability
The BD Wise® feature does not come standard on all Samsung® Blu-ray™ players. Many TVs and players do include the technology, but buyers should check the details on the box of a product before buying it to make sure it includes this feature. The higher-end models also include other features such as BD Live®, which allows users to connect to the Internet and download content. Other models of Blu-ray™ players, even those not made by Samsung®, often include "up-scaling" for older content. Such options provide similar improvements in video resolution, though they do not usually change other TV display settings.