Does anyone know if there is a difference between a Sony or Samsung Blu-ray player v/s buying a PS3 and using it to play blu-ray discs? Im currently interested in buying a PS3 player (mainly getting more bang for my buck cause the PS3 also plays games)and want to make sure by doing so, Im not limiting myself with it v/s buying a Sony or Samsung Blu-ray player. I think my highest concern is getting the best picture and sound then having the ability to play games... I have heard that the PS3 is more limited in what exactly it reads or decodes v/s a "real" blu-ray player... (its probably obvious that I have no clue what the hell Im talking about...LOL) TIA jhill1023
I have read many opinions that say a better player makes a better picture. I have no proof of this and would say that unless you have a large high quality display you may not ever see any difference. I have no interest in PS3 so I bought a sony bdp-s500 and on a very good TV the picture is absolutely incredible. I don't know anybody who has the PS3 or I would test it out. From what I've read I'd say the PS3 is highly compatible with the ability to play streams and avchd's directly, I haven't read anything about them being limited in regards to compatibility. Will be difficult to sort fact from opinion in issues like this because everyone likes to think their "ford" is better than the neighbours "chevy"
I was just reading about stand alone blu-ray palyers, PS3's and the firmware upgrades and now Im really confused about a few things. I have read that only the PS3 is "upgradeable" and that stand alone Blu-ray players are not, however, I have also read that stand alone Blu-ray players are upgradeable. Hmmm??? Which is it??? If I buy a PS3 from my local Costco (they have a bundle that has a wireless controller and an 80 or 100 GB HD) will it be able to upgrade to the newer 2.0 firware or do you have to have a special PS3 player to be able to do the firmware updates. id think that all the newer PS3 players will be able to upgrade to any version of firmware, but if that is the case, why are they saying that the older versions of the PS3 will not be able to upgrade to 1.1 or 2.0. Any experts out there??? TIA jhill1023
hardest part of flashing the firmware on my stand-alone was digging up a blank cd-r. piece o' cake. boots faster thankfully
the ps3 used to be limited in that it couldn't bitstream dts-hd/ma/truehd, but i think that was fixed in a firmware upgrade. I would go with the ps3 if you're even remotely interested in games/streaming. Other than form factor and now price there is no upside to a standalone. Both can be upgraded, both will do all video/audio codecs. Both will likely NEED to be upgraded out of the box. I get to play with quite a few makes and models of bluray players and none have the startup/load times of the ps3, its just way quicker. Go with the ps3 and be confident you made the right choice.
The PS3 is one helluva multi-media machine, and a superb BD player. The only drawback, if you consider it one, is it cannot (pretty sure will never) bitstream HD audio (TrueHD, DTSHD-MA). However, that doesn't mean sqaut, all that means is the PS3 internally decodes the HD audio and sends it to the receiver as a raw audio stream, which isn't bad at all. You can still enjoy all of the HD audio codecs, as longs as your set-up is compatible. As for the firmware updates, they are always free to anyone. Easily updated via internet connection directly to you PS3, or via thumb drive. All models are BD v2.0 as well.
