Ps3 Bluray player, is it still worth it?

[admin_exported]

I'd like to ask all the expert if it is still worth getting a PS3 as a bluray player and would Sony perhaps be able to upgrade it's performance via software update?

If so are there any plans in the pipe line to do so ?

 

[Anonymous]

• sony are always releaseing updates for the ps3.
• apparently the last one added support for the new phillips tv the extra wide one reviewed today.

 

[Anonymous]

If you want a games machine go for it but you can get better Blu-Ray players for less. Unsure if they could squeeze better performance from it. I would think they would be happy selling new machines rather than upgrading the PS3.

 

[ElectroMan]

I think they'd also be happy selling more PS3's !

 

[professorhat]

Agree with paulusmasonus - if you're only purely after Blu-Ray go for one of the standalone players - they're cheaper and a few of them are even better. If you are interested in the other aspects the PS3 has to offer (gaming, wireless streaming, media centre etc. etc.), then there's more of an argument for it.

 

[Anonymous]

Hello Guys,

I am in similar situation. I am not very into gaming but it would be nice to play sometime specially when my sister's children come arround. Having said that, I don't want to suffer a huge picture + sound quality. So my question to you is:

PS3 as compare to stand alone blueray (particularly Pioneer BDP 51FD ..prefering pioneer because of Kuro Link with my TV Kuro 5090)

- Will there be low sound quality from PS3 even if I have Onkyo 875 amp.?

- Will there be noticable picture quality difference from PS3 ?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[professorhat]

Unfortunately I can't comment directly on the Pioneer, but with the Sony BDP-S550, there is very little difference in the picture quality between the two from what I can see - the standalone Sony just pips the PS3, but I really had to look to notice. The main difference is in the sound, with the standalone Sony again producing better results, but much more noticeable, especially in the low end (this is running through my Onkyo 905).

Having said all that, the PS3 is certainly not a bad Blu-Ray player (still rated 4 stars by WHF compared to others around the same price) so you certainly won't be suffering a huge picture + sound quality loss with it, but there are unsurprisingly compromises when compared to the best standalone players at that price.

 

[lobby]

When you consider the PS3 is primily a games console it does very well with blu-ray and as so far iv'e played over 50 titles without any problems. Fast loading times compared to some of the budget players not the best for dvd or cd play back but acceptable. Best game is Resistance if you can put up with the cheaters, if it's the only console you are going to own then it's a good investment, otherwise go get a stand alone player.

 

[Garth Man]

I bought a 80gb PS3 yesterday after my Xbox died from overheating!!

I have a Sony 550 and to be honest there isn't much difference bewtween the two players, except for the sound. Though I do think the PS3 had traces (small) of noise in the picture compared to my standalone player with Bluray and Dvd. I tested The Dark Knight for this and Pulp Fiction

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your replies.

As far as I know PS3 is not region free, which means I can not play Indian DVDs or Blurays. Is there any standalone blu-ray region free for the price of PS3.

 

[Anonymous]

No not worth it, buy urself a standalone player, an xbox 360 and a wii 3.. for the price of 1

 

[professorhat]

aulakh:As far as I know PS3 is not region free, which means I can not play Indian DVDs or Blurays. Is there any standalone blu-ray region free for the price of PS3.

Yes that's true. Quite a few stores will offer some of the standalone players with multi-region DVD capability (e.g. I got my Sony BDP-S550 from Richer Sounds with this facility) but very few actually do multi-region Blu-Ray at the moment, and it usually costs extra to get this.

Assuming you are in the UK, a good starting place to look for multi-region Blu-Ray is here (note that some are both Blu-Ray and DVD multi-region, whilst others are only DVD multi-region capable), but there are other sites as well.

 

[Garth Man]

professor Hat is right, buy one with muti region dvd and look for region free blurays

Unless you want to pay top dollar for a muti region bluray player.......
http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=45222

 

[Andy Madden]

aulakh:
Hello Guys,

I am in similar situation. I am not very into gaming but it would be nice to play sometime specially when my sister's children come arround. Having said that, I don't want to suffer a huge picture + sound quality. So my question to you is:

PS3 as compare to stand alone blueray (particularly Pioneer BDP 51FD ..prefering pioneer because of Kuro Link with my TV Kuro 5090)

- Will there be low sound quality from PS3 even if I have Onkyo 875 amp.?

- Will there be noticable picture quality difference from PS3 ?

Many thanks in advance.

The Pioneer '51FD's picture will look better and sound quality will definitely be superior to the PS3. It's worth bearing in mind that some new Pioneer players lurk just round the corner too, including the BDP-320 and BDP-LX52. We've actually got a big Blu-ray player Super Test coming up in our September issue - out July 29th...

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the great replies everyone, here is another question though is the bluray on the ps3 held back by the actual hardware or would a software upgrade enhance what it currently has ? If it is not held back by the current hardware then potentially it could still get better.

 

[professorhat]

To a certain degree it's hardware. After all, a big cost component in the PS3 is the cell processor which, among other things, is required to create the graphics for the gaming side of the console - this may help in speeding up PS3 loading times, but does little else of value for Blu-Ray playback that a much cheaper CPU couldn't handle. This means that standalone players of equivalent price can include better hardware components related to improving the quality of Blu-Ray playback. Thus, it's extremely unlikely that the PS3 is ever going to be the best player for the money.

There have been upgrades in the past which improve it, but these have been very slight in my opinion. The updates have generally been more around improving functionality (e.g. making it Profile 2.0) rather than making the picture / sound quality better.