Best First Blue Ray player - PS3 or something else?

[admin_exported]

Hello All,

Have just bought a new HD TV (Sony 32KDL W5500) and I now want to feed it some proper HD to see what it can do.

My question is what should I buy to watch Blue Rays? I am attracted to the PS3 for the lowish price, future 3d compatability but i am not sure I would use it much for games. I already have a Wii and Xbox 360 that dont get used alot.

Is the PS3 a decent player and is it better to get a stand alone player?

I want to be able to eventually set up surround sound so need a player that I can do this with, can the PS3?

Are the players much of a muchness or do you need to spend big bucks to get better quality?

Thanks for any help/views

 

[Sizzers]

Well as you've just bought a new TV I'm assuming you won't be changing it any time soon for a 3D set, and if you're not concerned with the gaming facilities then forget the PS3.

The Sony BDP-S360 can be had for £130-£150 (max) and is a far better proposition.

 

[bigboss]

Agree with sizzers here. If you're not concerned about the media streaming abilities of the PS3 or games, look elsewhere. You can get a blu-ray player for half the price of the PS3. If you still want 3D capabilities in your blu-ray player (which obviously your new TV won't play), then the Sony S370 is launching soon, probably this month.

 

[Anonymous]

Are you sure you wouldn't use the PS3 for games ? It's still a brilliant media hub - streaming, 3D fw update coming this summer, Vidzone, BBC iplayer, music visualisers, photo viewer - all for free, as well as the video store and.... erm... Blu-Ray !

All that for under £250 is a bargain I reckon.

 

[Anonymous]

THE_FORCE:
Are you sure you wouldn't use the PS3 for games ? It's still a brilliant media hub - streaming, 3D fw update coming this summer, Vidzone, BBC iplayer, music visualisers, photo viewer - all for free, as well as the video store and.... erm... Blu-Ray !

All that for under £250 is a bargain I reckon.

The PS3 is great but if your not into games then one on the other dedicated BD machines would be better. The trouble with the PS3 is it's not IR but bluetooth so ideally you would need a Sony Blu-Ray Disc Remote Control (PS3), £15 from Amazon or you would have to faff about with the games controller which isn't ideal or missus friendly.

Most of the newer BD machines are coming out with wireless connectivity and stream/iPlayer features anyhow.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello Guys,

Thanks all for the responses. I purposly bought a 32inch and not a 40inch with an eye on upgrading to a 40 inch 3D Sony set at the end of the year, so 3D compatability is a must. The 32 will be shifted to the bedroom wall.

I guess most current players are not 3D compatible so I would be paying a premium for a new player? I know a PS3 firmware update is supposed to make it 3D compatible so that is why I viewed it as a good option.

Is there much difference in the picture quality of BD players? i.e if I buy the Sony BDP-S360 for approx £130, will the picture not be as good as if I bought a player for £400?? I would like to get as good a picture as I can.

As stated I rarely play Xbox or Wii and the Wii already has iplayer and the XBox online films. Therefore the PS3 BD function is all i am really interest in.

Already use the Xbox for DVD so the Mrs is used to using a game pad to watch movies!!!

 

[smuggs]

i have seen the sony 360, and 2 panasonic blu rays bd30 and another on and they both just pip the ps3 but only just and thats if there side by side. I would say that if you spend £300 the same as ps3 you should get a standalone that makes them bad blu ray transfers look alot better than the ps3. Ive just asked if anyone has upgraded from a ps3 and noticed a big change. I do find my slim better than the older 80gb model. But to defend the ps3 i would say you can

upgrade harddrive,store all your cds(use a dac if you want),store and watch avchd files off hd camcorders. If your laptop/pc/mac goes in for repair or leave it somewhere there is a ok browser that can get you out the s**t,there is bd update on april the 8th and june-july the 3d update. And now this is major if you keep your box and unit in good shape in 9 months or so if things change major you will always with 3months warranty left get about £150 for your ps3. But a standalone would not hold its trade value well. This is imo only. Good luck

 

[bigboss]

You wouldn't really appreciate a difference between a PS3 & a standalone blu-ray player on a 32-inch TV. Yes, the PS3 will be 3D compatible.

You may want to wait a few weeks for the Sony S370 which will be 3D compatible for & then decide which one suits you the best.

Sony BDP-S370

BDP-S370 £180, due March
BRAVIA Monolithic Design
Full HD 1080p single-disc Blu-ray disc, DVD, SA-CD, CD player
BRAVIA Internet Video and BD-LIVE
Entertainment Database Browser with Gracenote technology
Wi-Fi Ready (USB wireless LAN adapter sold separately)
DVD upscaling to 1080p with Precision Cinema HD Upscaling
BD Remote (iPhone/iPod touch remote control - free app.)
Photo/Music/Video Playback via USB and DLNA
Dolby TrueHD and dts-HD Master Audio decoding
SACD playback

 

[Anonymous]

Hello BigBoss,

Did you mean the BDP-S470 ?

I was just reading about this, think this will suit my needs perfectly. Shame I have to wait till May for its release.

I might be tempted by the PS3 instead of waiting.

 

[dcanham001]

i actually think the PS3 is a great second room solution especially if you don't play many games on it.

it has iPlayer, freeview and PVR allowing you to record TV, allows you to watch all your dvds and blu rays, will be 3D compatible and gives you access to other bits and pieces (photos etc)

i'd recommend buying a PS3 for your 32inch TV and then moving both into the second room when you upgrade your TV (obviously this means buying another blu-ray player tho)

 

[professorhat]

JONDCL:and the XBox online films.

Do you use the movie download service on Xbox? If so, I personally think the PS3 movie download service is quite a bit better - a lot more choice of HD films and much easier to navigate. The main issue with it is films only have stereo soundtracks (unbelievably!) whereas Xbox has 5.1 Dolby Digital on the films in most cases.

If you're looking to get a player specifically with 3D in mind, I think the PS3 is your only choice at the moment, but new standalone players will be out soon and are very likely to give a better performance for less money so if you really won't use any of the PS3 features, it's probably better to wait for one of these.

 

[bigboss]

JONDCL:

Hello BigBoss,

Did you mean the BDP-S470 ?

I was just reading about this, think this will suit my needs perfectly. Shame I have to wait till May for its release.

I might be tempted by the PS3 instead of waiting.

No, BDP S-370, which is coming in March. check this link:

http://www.whathifi.com/News/UPDATED-Sony-confirms-UK-prices-for-2010-Bravia-TVs/

 

[professorhat]

dangalf:it has iPlayer, freeview and PVR allowing you to record TV

Well, you need the PlayTV unit to get Freeview and the PVR functionality which is an extra £50 - £60. Don't get me wrong, it's great (I use it constantly as the picture is far better than my other PVR) but worth noting the extra expense. You'd probably also want to replace the internal hard drive if you were going to use this feature a lot as well as 40 or even 80 GB won't last long when you're recording lots of TV shows.

 

[Anonymous]

stefanr:THE_FORCE:
Are you sure you wouldn't use the PS3 for games ? It's still a brilliant media hub - streaming, 3D fw update coming this summer, Vidzone, BBC iplayer, music visualisers, photo viewer - all for free, as well as the video store and.... erm... Blu-Ray !

All that for under £250 is a bargain I reckon.

The trouble with the PS3 is it's not IR but bluetooth so ideally you would need a Sony Blu-Ray Disc Remote Control (PS3), £15 from Amazon or you would have to faff about with the games controller which isn't ideal or missus friendly

Granted that there is the fact of either using the Sixaxis/DS3, or getting the separate BD remote. If it was me, I'd personally banish all the remotes anyway, get a Harmony 555 and the Logitech Harmony PS3 adaptor. This would make using the whole setup extremely missus friendly ! One remote with the bonus of complete control of your PS3 for BD's.

If it's strictly a 3D Blu-ray player you're after then obviously check out all options, but as a first BD player with 3D compatibility the PS3 is still such a great deal. It ain't as good as dedicated players on horizontal pans, and you might see a bit of judder, but it's a real power house as a media hub that allows you to upgrade the HDD, and new features are always being added with fw updates.

Oh and The Last Guardian should be worth owning a PS3 for alone !

 

[Anonymous]

THE_FORCE:stefanr:THE_FORCE:
Are you sure you wouldn't use the PS3 for games ? It's still a brilliant media hub - streaming, 3D fw update coming this summer, Vidzone, BBC iplayer, music visualisers, photo viewer - all for free, as well as the video store and.... erm... Blu-Ray !

All that for under £250 is a bargain I reckon.

The trouble with the PS3 is it's not IR but bluetooth so ideally you would need a Sony Blu-Ray Disc Remote Control (PS3), £15 from Amazon or you would have to faff about with the games controller which isn't ideal or missus friendly

Granted that there is the fact of either using the Sixaxis/DS3, or getting the separate BD remote. If it was me, I'd personally banish all the remotes anyway, get a Harmony 555 and the Logitech Harmony PS3 adaptor. This would make using the whole setup extremely missus friendly ! One remote with the bonus of complete control of your PS3 for BD's.

If it's strictly a 3D Blu-ray player you're after then obviously check out all options, but as a first BD player with 3D compatibility the PS3 is still such a great deal. It ain't as good as dedicated players on horizontal pans, and you might see a bit of judder, but it's a real power house as a media hub that allows you to upgrade the HDD, and new features are always being added with fw updates.

Oh and The Last Guardian should be worth owning a PS3 for alone !

This is exactly what I have set-up and is excellent, but allow for an extra £70 in your budget for both.

 

[manicm]

Ok, here's the rub, and I know I'm gonna p**s off many here, but I have the Sony 360 - and maybe my LCD is to blame I don't know - but I'm not that impressed with the 360 - I think other players can retrieve a better picture and suppress noise better.

As soon as I find an alternative I'm gonna flog it.

 

[Anonymous]

stefanr:
This is exactly what I have set-up and is excellent, but allow for an extra £70 in your budget for both.