Hey guys, I'm thinking about picking up a PS3 mainly for the Blu-Ray player. Is it a good unit compared to stand alone units (in the same price range) ?

I bought a PS3 in January mainly to play Blu-Ray movies. I can't compare it to other Blu-Ray players, but I have no complaints as far as Blu-Ray discs go. I can't watch them in 1080p, but even in 1080i they look amazing. (I don't like playing DVDs on it, though, because I see a screen door effect.) After a recent firmware update, it now has the option to upscale DVDs. I can't use this feature because my HDTV lacks HDMI, but it's nice to know that it's there in case I upgrade my TV in the future.

Not only is it an excellent Blu-ray player, with the recent firmware updates it is now a very good upscaling DVD player as well. It is the center piece of my home theater since it also has the ability to play things streamed from my PC.

it's an excellent blu ray player... an excellent upscaling DVD player... i have mine on the HDMI out to a 1080p TV...

picture is excellent... and i don't think many other players would come with the quality of audio a PS3 is capable of...

Yeah, if you are comparing it to $50 players. Being a pass-through player really shouldn't be very hard.

It's the best of both worlds. I have it connected to my TV via HDMI. I use it for Blu-Ray at 1080i into my Sony 34inch HDTV tube, and I use it for regular DVDs upscaled to 1080i. When I get my projector in March 2008, I'll finally be able to see 1080p at about 92 inches diagonal.

glad to hear so much PS3 praise. I was at bestbuy today to check out the blu-ray movies and I hardly saw any. where would be the best place to pick up movies? (in store or online)

I thought there were some things about it that made it not quite as good. No? It can output 1080p, etc.?

Does it have the ability to pass the newest audio settings (trueHD or whatever)? If not, is this something that will be fixed by a new version of the hardware, or will it be upgradeable via firmware?

It does almost everything, seriously, I love it. The only thing it doesn't currently do is bookmarking which I hope they add with a future update. Shouldn't be too hard, don't know why they haven't implemented this yet...

I like mine, but I absolutely hate the fact I can't use my universal remote. Seriously, not having IR is a major draw back IMHO. I'd use it as my main DVD player if it would work with my Harmony. Since it can't, I've been watching the prices on the Toshiba HD player.

Easily one of my biggest annoyances with HD/Blu in general.

What does this mean?? You can stream videos from your computer to the PS3 wirelessly?


Ok I'm dumb. What would one do with bookmarking on a blu-ray player? What is there to bookmark?

Just like on most DVD players, you can mark where you are in the movie, so when you turn the player off or remove the disc, the player recalls where you were last time you watched that particular movie and starts you there.

wow, i never even knew that existed

PS3 is a great player. Except for the remote. Threres no convenient and ideal way to use a universal remote. If you usb the kludge of a ps2 ir adaptor and usb convertor, then you cant turn the system on or off via remote. If you use the PS3 bluetooth remote you have at least two remotes.

I LOVE the PS3 as a Blu-Ray and upconverting DVD player. Very quality machine. However, the bookmarking issue is my main problem and the Bluetooth remote offered by Sony PS3 is lackluster with NO backlit buttons.