Public losing interest in PS3 for Blu-ray

[admin]

TechRadar spoke recently with Philips' Technology Programme Manager, Chris Buma, and he revealed that more and more people are buying dedicated Blu-ray players, instead of relying on the PS3 for BD
playback.

http://www.techradar.com/news/video/blu-ray/public-losing-interest-in-ps3-for-blu-ray-531694

This might explain the other PS3 news story I just posted:

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=90291

[drfsupercenter]

One of my friends is going to buy a Blu-Ray player, and I can't convince him to get a PS3. He wants to get one of the $200-250 cheaper units.

But what advice should I give? I told him those cheapo Sylvania ones probably aren't too good... that he should go with Sony or Panasonic... those two are the best for upscaling and stuff, right?

[admin]

I still prefer the PS3, but it's not the best value Blu-ray player anymore, especially if you don't want to play games on it or use its media hub functions. But I think even people who don't think they need a media hub will find that they can't live without one once they start using it.

If simply watching Blu-ray movies is all your friend needs, then the cheap players will do fine. The BD-Live stuff is good to have, but by no means essential, and if your friend doesn't have Ethernet available where the player is going to be, then it's a lot of trouble to get it connect to the Net for very little in return. On the other hand, the PS3 has built-in wireless, so if BD-Live is a must have and Ethernet is not available, then the PS3 is the obvious choice.

The PS3's upscaler is pretty good, possibly even better than most other Blu-ray standlones (other than the $1000+ ones). Not as good as a dedicated DVD upscaler though (eg. the Oppo), and so it may work out cheaper (and better in terms of wear and tear) to use a dedicated DVD upscaler along with any old Blu-ray player.

[Wombler]

One of my friends is going to buy a Blu-Ray player, and I can't convince him to get a PS3. He wants to get one of the $200-250 cheaper units.

But what advice should I give? I told him those cheapo Sylvania ones probably aren't too good... that he should go with Sony or Panasonic... those two are the best for upscaling and stuff, right?

As far as quality players go, at the budget end of the market Sony and Panasonic models get the best reviews both for blu-ray playback and DVD upscaling.

The choice though depends on what other equipment your friend has.

Sony's cheapest model doesn't decode all the audio formats and in particular DTS-HD Master Audio. So if your friend has an older AV Amp/Receiver the best choices are probably the Sony BDP-S550 or the Panasonic DMP BD-35.

According to the experts the PS3 was previously the player of choice but has now been overtaken by the standalones. It's still a relatively good choice and has been upgraded since the original firmware but, compared to the better standalones, exhibits more noise and the sound is slightly too bright.


Wombler

[UncasMS]

A very good a versatile blu-ray player is Samsung's BD-1500 and i would most definitely prefer it to Sony or Panasonic in similar price range - c.f. this: CLICK

If you have a lot of DVDs and still want them to look decent on a bigger TV a conventional DVD player like the Oppo admin already mentioned seems to be one of the best.

If you want Blu-ray and DVD in one player then one with a different chip may be of interest.
I decided to buy the Samsung BD-2500, which has a HQV chip.

[ed klein]

Yes, the trend is starting to go to standalone Blu-ray players over the PS-3, BUT, be VERY CAREFUL as to what type of Blu-ray player you select.

The standalone Blu-ray player must be able to play homemade compliant Blu-ray structures built on BD-5, BD-9, and BD-R blank media in addition to the normal compliant commercial Blu-ray structures built on BD-ROM 25gb and 50gb.

This will most likely be a copy protection issue in the futrure for hardware standalone Blu-ray players.

And, there are additional copy protection issues that have to be removed when building M2TS files and compliant Blu-ray structures when playing in the PS-3 over playing in a hardware standalone Blu-ray player.

[drfsupercenter]

If simply watching Blu-ray movies is all your friend needs, then the cheap players will do fine. The BD-Live stuff is good to have, but by no means essential, and if your friend doesn't have Ethernet available where the player is going to be, then it's a lot of trouble to get it connect to the Net for very little in return. On the other hand, the PS3 has built-in wireless, so if BD-Live is a must have and Ethernet is not available, then the PS3 is the obvious choice.

Well he has his Xbox 360 hooked up to the Internet without using wireless, so I'm guessing he has Ethernet available near his TV.

The PS3's upscaler is pretty good, possibly even better than most other Blu-ray standlones (other than the $1000+ ones). Not as good as a dedicated DVD upscaler though (eg. the Oppo), and so it may work out cheaper (and better in terms of wear and tear) to use a dedicated DVD upscaler along with any old Blu-ray player.

How much better is the PS3 than a standalone Sony player? Though I've noticed for DVD upscaling, the Xbox 360's HD-DVD drive does just a good a job... and it's actually slightly less pixelated (but instead it's more blurry)

The choice though depends on what other equipment your friend has.

His TV is a 60"-some inch Samsung LCD. His dad wanted to get a Samsung player to keep the brands consistent but I warned him against that and said I've never heard people comment on Samsung Blu-Ray players (if they even exist)

I think he has surround sound but it's a pretty old system... when I was at his house it didn't even work all that well - it's just 5 speakers and receiver. Probably not one of those super-HD setups.

And upon reading UncasMS's post... I might tell my friend about that specific Samsung model...

[UncasMS]

tell him about BOTH models

the bd-1500 is very inexpensive and was the one i used for my tests
the bd-2500 has a different chip (and that's why i actually bought this version) - a silicon optix REON HQV

not too few test and comparisons speak highly of this player:

- http://www.soundadviceblog.com/?page_id=1207
- http://reviews.cnet.com/video-player...in;contentBody

[Wombler]

A very good a versatile blu-ray player is Samsung's BD-1500 and i would most definitely prefer it to Sony or Panasonic in similar price range - c.f. this: CLICK

If you have a lot of DVDs and still want them to look decent on a bigger TV a conventional DVD player like the Oppo admin already mentioned seems to be one of the best.

If you want Blu-ray and DVD in one player then one with a different chip may be of interest.
I decided to buy the Samsung BD-2500, which has a HQV chip.

The Samsung BD-1500 is pretty good value and good for blu-ray playback but the DVD upscaling isn't as good as the Sony or Panasonic. The only reason I mention that is that drfsupercentre's post seems to imply that that's an important factor.


Wombler

[UncasMS]

The only reason I mention that is that drfsupercentre's post seems to imply that that's an important factor.

that of course is an important factor because for gods sake dvd is not dead

[Wombler]

that of course is an important factor because for gods sake dvd is not dead

Absolutely.

BTW there have been some very good comparative reviews within the last few weeks (What HiFi Sound & Vision's round up is here) and it's interesting how things have changed quite a bit recently.


Wombler

[UncasMS]

fyi: "what hifi" has not tested the 2500 but only the 1500 (different chip)

[Wombler]

fyi: "what hifi" has not tested the 2500 but only the 1500 (different chip)

Yeah I noticed that but couldn't find a comparative review of that model.

It's not too a bad guide for the budget models though.


Wombler