Blu-Ray Players

[OBCT]

Yeah, the PS3 is still a good choice. BD players are generally still quite expensive (especially those with the feature set of the PS3), so if you think you'll get any use out of the gaming portion of the PS3, it's pretty much a no-brainer. IMO.

Here is a good little article on the topic.

This article is encouraging, in that it shows that Sony is still putting significant research & development resources into the PS3.

Also encouraging for PS3 fans/owners is the fact that the PS3 has outsold the Wii in Japan by a considerable margin for two straight months (see here). The Wii had outsold the PS3 there for the previous 16 months.

[Canada 02]

well, I have no interest in gaming, so as a standalone BD player, what is better the PS3 (~$400US), Sony BDP S550 (~$320US) Sony BDP S360 (~$250US) or something else?

[Burninator]

I bought a standalone BR player because I knew it would be way, way cheaper. Not only was the player cheaper than the PS3 but then I wouldn't tempted to buy games for the PS3 and controllers and whatever else they sell for the thing. If I had a PS3 I would have probably already boughten an extra remote and a couple games. I probably would have played those games for a couple weeks max. and gotten bored of them. Same thing happened with my Xbox 360, it became an expensive DVD player with a big awkward remote.

[OBCT]

ahhhh... fair enough. With absolutely no interest in gaming, I would suggest going a different route. I have no idea if the $75 premium is worth paying to get the upgraded 550 over the 360.


<slight tangent>
In the past, I may have recommended that PS3 on it's secondary merits alone. The table here shows the different design and feature configurations released as PS3 "model upgrades" throughout the years.

In 2006 and 2007, most PS3s shipped with several excellent extra features (especially considering the price). Full backwards-compatibility to PS2 and original PS games, Super Audio CD format compatibility, multiple flash memory card readers (often including slots for all of the following: SD/MultiMedia Card, CompactFlash Type I/Type II, Microdrive, Memory Stick/PRO/Duo), 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi wireless networking capability and 4 USB ports. This was on top of the impressive audio and video specifications that made it a noteworthy Blu-ray Disc player for movies, the fact it was the first Blu-ray 2.0-compliant player to hit the market, it's early Bluetooth compatibility, it's sizeable (& upgradeable) dedicated hard drive, tweakable operating system (Linux anyone?)... oh, and of course, it's incredible graphics and sound for it's primary purpose, video games.

Up until January 2008, Sony took a huge risk by heavily marketing their PS3 and selling them at a substantial loss. Hoping to recoup losses on very strong sales of BD movies and PS3 games, they were met with initially mediocre reviews and a limited arsenal of movie and game choice early on. Sony chose to dig in, take the hit in stride and rely on the long-term strength of the product to make the PS3 (and BDs in general) a worthwhile undertaking.

In the last year or so, they've trimmed down the PS3 considerably, getting rid of many of the pricey extras most of us apparently weren't willing to shell out the extra coin for. They're still treading water profit-wise [very interesting article here], but are now starting to see a resurgance in sales ... their risk just may be paying off. They've managed to acquire many more (and much better) games for their production queue, BDs are slowly becoming the norm in home theaters across the world, and prices have now dropped to mostly sane levels across the board.
</slight tangent>


All that to say... the PS3 isn't the can't-miss deal of the decade now that it was in 2007... unless you like it for the games. It actually has less functionality now than it did then for practically the same price. If the you can find a working, good-condition PS3 circa 2007 somewhere on the used market and the price is right, then that might be a steal for you... but other than that, I'd just go for a standalone BD player with good reviews in the areas you consider important. This is a fast-changing area of technology, so waiting will never gets you anywhere... there's always something else to wait for.

[Finny61]

I still stand by Panasonic as the best bang for your buck Blu Ray player, standalone of course.

[I_H8_Crawford]

One other thing to consider - the PS3 works as a FANTASTIC media extender/center from your computer - so if you want to stream music, or even download movies (SD or HD) to watch the PS3 may be worth the extra coin - if you don't do any networking, and have no need for that, then just go for the standalone.

[metallicat]

Are companies still going to be making DVDs for a few years to come?

[Canada 02]

Originally Posted by Finny61

I still stand by Panasonic as the best bang for your buck Blu Ray player, standalone of course.

which model? thx

[OBCT]

Originally Posted by oilers_fan

Are companies still going to be making DVDs for a few years to come?

Yes.

This is the total sales numbers for DVDs over the last number of years...

2001 - $5 billion
2002 - $9 billion
2003 - $12 billion
2004 - $15 billion
2005 - $16 billion
2006 - $17 billion
2007 - $16 billion
2008 - $14 billion

Not too shabby.


Still, some predict that by 2012, DVDs will begin to be phased out in full force.

http://www.digitaltvnews.net/content/?p=7171

“With more than 1100 BD titles to choose from, combined with growing retail support and increased promotional activity, the rise of Blu-ray will offset rapidly declining sales of standard DVD product. By 2012, around 50% of US and 35% of Western European video disc retail sale volumes will be Bluray.”

Blu-ray is here to stay, with a lucrative roadmap stretching out for at least the next five to ten years. Factor in the rise of 3D and its associated technologies, which are ideally suited to the BD delivery platform, and there is clearly a long-term opportunity for the industry to further sustain consumer interest in packaged entertainment media, and Futuresource will continue to closely monitor developments within this market.

[Vulcan]

Has anyone here gone the computer Blu-Ray player route and if so, any problems?

[RW99]

I've been fairly happy with my Sony 350. But I really wish these things were faster though to load up the menus.

[bomber317]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Has anyone here gone the computer Blu-Ray player route and if so, any problems?

I currently have my computer hooked up to the TV for blu-ray. No issues as of yet. BUT I never owned a stand-alone BD player so I can't compare.

I'm using an ATI (4870) card with the HDMI dongle (comes with the vid card) that carries both Audio/Video to the receiver.

[bomber317]

Anybody keeping tabs on the new Oppo BD player that they're releasing?

http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/

[OBCT]

Originally Posted by bomber317

Anybody keeping tabs on the new Oppo BD player that they're releasing?

http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/

Yes, but only through a little bit of reading here and there.

My understanding is that the BDP-83 is shaping up to be quite a world-beater. If not for the $500-$700 price tag at it's release (that's including tax, shipping, currency exchange for Canadians, what have you), I think this product would literally start flying off the shelves of Oppo's warehouses. It could come close to being the best at everything it does right now... and it does a LOT.

Two extremely interesting (at least to me) threads devoted to this product are below:

[BDP-83 FAQ and technical discussion]
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1124287

[Preliminary comparisons between BDP-83 and other BD players]
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1136139


If I had the money to put together a nice dedicated home theater system, I would find it very difficult not to go out and purchase this item... especially if it lives up to the hype. Thankfully(?), I do not. The universal aspect of it is really very appealing to me, plus, I've had a very good experience with Oppo's in the past (the DV-980H is a great universal DVD player, BTW).

If price isn't a primary consideration in the purchase, people should strongly consider the Oppo BDP-83 when BD player shopping. Maybe even if it is!... lol.

[cal_guy]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Has anyone here gone the computer Blu-Ray player route and if so, any problems?

I've got the LG HD DVD/Blu-ray combo drive and like bomber317 I've have it hook up with the HDMI dongle on my 4870 graphics card. However there conditions must be met before you can play blu-ray on your computer.

1) You must be runing Windows Vista or newer, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows XP do not support blu-ray.

2) You must have a software media player that supports blu-ray(my combo drive came with Powerdvd Ultra 7).

3) If you using a digital input (DVI-D and HDMI) then your graphics card as well as any television/monitor connected to your graphics card must be HDCP compliant, otherwise you must connect your television/monitor using an analog connection(VGA or component out).

[bomber317]

Originally Posted by OBCT

. If not for the $500-$700 price tag at it's release

ugh... that's a lot of money..... Maybe i'll stick with my computer on wheels setup for now. I was hoping it'd be under $500, but oh well.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by cal_guy

I've got the LG HD DVD/Blu-ray combo drive and like bomber317 I've have it hook up with the HDMI dongle on my 4870 graphics card. However there conditions must be met before you can play blu-ray on your computer.

1) You must be runing Windows Vista or newer, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows XP do not support blu-ray.

2) You must have a software media player that supports blu-ray(my combo drive game with Powerdvd Ultra 7).

3) If you using a digital input (DVI-D and HDMI) then your graphics card as well as any television/monitor connected to your graphics card must be HDCP compliant, otherwise you must connect your television/monitor using an analog connection(VGA or component out).

Thanks, it looks like I'd only need 2) a software media player as I guess Vista Home Premium's media center or player won't work.

[psicodude]

Do most of these new players (including PS3) have both HDMI and optical outputs? I have an older HK receiver that lacks HDMI inputs and am wondering if it will be a big problem. So, I want to use HDMI directly to the plasma for video and optical for audio.

Anyone know?

[LockedOut]

Originally Posted by psicodude

Do most of these new players (including PS3) have both HDMI and optical outputs? I have an older HK receiver that lacks HDMI inputs and am wondering if it will be a big problem. So, I want to use HDMI directly to the plasma for video and optical for audio.

Anyone know?

PS3 does. Don't know about the rest but I'm sure if you look at the specs for the BD players it'll tell you if it does. Most likely they do.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by OBCT

Yeah, the PS3 is still a good choice. BD players are generally still quite expensive (especially those with the feature set of the PS3), so if you think you'll get any use out of the gaming portion of the PS3, it's pretty much a no-brainer. IMO.

Here is a good little article on the topic.

This article is encouraging, in that it shows that Sony is still putting significant research & development resources into the PS3.

Also encouraging for PS3 fans/owners is the fact that the PS3 has outsold the Wii in Japan by a considerable margin for two straight months (see here). The Wii had outsold the PS3 there for the previous 16 months.

I was a big supporter of the ps3 until this week. My 18 month old unit worked perfectly until friday, and then all of a sudden stopped reading discs of any kind. After doing some research, it looks to be a pretty common problem after a year or 2. So, it is pretty much toast now, and sounds like it would cost about $200 to repair.

Can't say I recommend a ps3 to anyone anymore. I expected a longer life than that out of a $400 piece of hardware.