i have just bought a full hd camcorder panasonic sd20 and had no where to store hd videos ,my laptop would not support avchd files so i bought a ps3 as a media centre and if my laptop breaks its a short term browser so far so good then can the bonus of a blu ray player again nice. Here's were it is shocking i have an xbox360 and i rented out a game on the ps3 to compare and the picture was as good but the sound was awful on my denon1909 i have the sound at -40db on the xbox360 but on the ps3 it needed to be set at -24 to get close and the detail was nowhere near it, plus online is a joke the lag u get from the ps3 is awful but then again thats the sony sever not the ps3 and the xbox360 is made by computer people so that explains that,my next test was a flying daggers on dvd my fav again xbox360 detail was good though my monitor audio br5's br centre and br1's denon1909 amp but play it through the ps3 and you have to crank the volume up simliar to sky hd and it sounded 85% of the xbox360, i will say though the picture was a touch better and the ps3 ran silent cause u cant install dvd's on the 360harddrive like games. so my main worry is i have 13 blu rays now and enjoy them but i know the ps3 is poor for audio could a stand alone blu ray offer crisper more detailed sound and not have to be driven as hard plus i guess i could see that magical hd light on my amp. would like to hear people views many thanks simon