PS3 as a BRD player - predictions
 

Due to cost reasons, as well as to prevent it from completely canibilising sales of dedicated BRD players, it's obvious that the PS3 will have to drop some aspects of the Blu-Ray format. But which ones will they be?

I personally think that for BR movies it will only support up to 1080i, it won't have support for the new Dolby/DTS formats, and I also think that it won't do things such as scaling standard DVDs.

Admitteldy I haven't been following PS3 news too closely, so some of the above may have already been officially confirmed or denied. But I'd still be interested in hearing your thoughts on the issue. Remember, the PS3 - when it comes to Blu-Ray - is a budget player coming sometime after dedicated players, and as a result it won't do everything you'd hope for.

Well, there was a sign on the CES PS3 display that said it would output at 1080/60p, so we're okay on that one. Upscalling to HD will probably be there as well - remember, that was one of the big presentation points of the Cell. It probably won't have BD-J, is my guess. And obviously, it won't have any onboard hardware decoders for Dolby or DTS.

You must realize that all producers of Blu-Ray are counting on the PS3 to take the budget Blu-Ray player spot (have you heard of another Blu-Ray player for less than $1000?). These companies will allow Sony to be the loss leader and get the machines into people's homes quickly. Once the format war is settled, people will start buying stand-alone Blu-Ray players which will be of a better quality than the PS3.

No, but admittedly, most Blu-Ray hardware manufacturers didn't announce prices with their products at CES.

question: what is the release date for the PS3 slated for?

It seems like this would severly limit the player... all the fancy menu and interactive content I've been seeing would appear not to be available without BD-J...

While looking around for information on BD-J, I found this 1/7/06 article saying that first gen players may not be "full profile" which means BD-J won't be fully supported. Weird because on the digital bits interview (posted in this thread), Pioneer says that BD-J is ready. If this article is true, it really muddies the waters.

From CES 2006: First-generation Blu-ray disc players may not be full-featured:

Blu-Ray really seems like it's not ready for prime time. BD-J not available on first-gen players, initial discs mastered using only MPEG2 compression...

Why would it be any worse than a standalone? It's got the hardware (3.2 GHz Cell, 550MHz Nvidia graphics chip, BR drive, HDMI, etc.) and any software problems can be fixed through updated firmware.

That's not a whole lot different than DVD was when it first hit the market in '97 (only single-layer discs, no DTS support from players). Getting the product on-the-market sped things up, and just a year later, things were different. So I'd expect Blu-ray (and HD-DVD) to be greatly improved when 2nd-gen players are here next year.

I think it will be about like the PS2. A good player, but not great. Will get people by until the price of the others come down. :shrug:

These companies should be learning from the mistakes of the past, not repeating them.

(This applies to both formats).

If they learned like I wish they would, there would not be two formats.

Agreed about the two formats but look at the bright side. Two competing products mean competative pricing.

As for leaving things out of the early players like 1080p/audio support, well, I'm sure every CE company has a laugh about this as they don't see it as a mistake. i.e. Selling interlaced dvd players then progressive then upscaling ....

I agree. My PS2 did me for 4 years and introduced me to the world of DVD's (my bank account has never been the same again :p )

I've always regarded the PS2 as one of the worst DVD players of all time. Is that just me?

Very true, but do they ever really learn?

In fact it could well be the other way round. I read an article from a gaming expert the other day complaining that the CELL processor was much more suited for multimedia and video than for gaming.

No you are not the only one, the PS2 was a pretty crappy dvd player. They did improve it with later revisions of the system, but it still isn't very good.



I don't plan on using my PS3 as a BD player for two reasons.

1. Consoles are generally poor performers in this area.

2. Extra wear on the console itself.

I thought DVD was proof they had learned their lesson from Beta/VHS. I remember discussions like that back in the mid-90s. SACD/DVD-A and BD/HD-DVD show that DVD was a fluke, instead. Idiots.

It's not just you. But for a lot of people, it will get them by.

No official date yet.

But sometime this spring/early summer in Japan, and around the Holiday shopping season in the US.

Forbes is backing up what Josh mentioned above that the PS3 may be delayed.

http://www.forbes.com/technology/fee...fx2453335.html

I would expect the PS3 like the PS2 to be a very entry level player. Sony wants to get you into Blu-Ray with it and then get you to upgrade to a better standalone.

I agree. A friend of mine had a PS2 that he used as a DVD player for years, I hated the thing. The PS2 was hard to control and the picture quality was good, but not great. Years later, he picked up a $99.00 DVD player, he is much happier with the Stand alone player.

That all said, since I already have a nice DVD player, I am going to be very happy with a PS3 hooked up to my HDTV. Cheap and the video quality should be much better than my current player.

Not sure if this is mentioned anywhere and I havent seen it, but I know both BR and HD-DVD are supposed to be backward compatible, but will the PS3 be as well. I figure it will be, but I wasnt so sure. Also, will it be backward compatible and upconvert as well?

It should be BC because BC with PS2 games is a selling point of the system. In order to read those discs, the player will need to read DVDs and CDs. Wether it upconverts is anyone's guess, but I doubt it.

If one is looking at PS3 for the Blu-ray only, I'd rather spend a couple or few hundred dollars more and buy a much better Blu-ray player than rely on the PS3...which will surely be of same quality as the DVD player in PS2.

But, that's just me. I'm sure many couldn't care less.

But (as has been pointed out I believe) BR is Sony's own technology and has been (i'd assume) planned for the PS3 since it's inception.

I'm a little disheartened at the prospect of only a million PS3's in Nov, thus making it hard to get one till first quarter 07... and the confirmed BR titles being less than what I'd hoped.

Seeing the same cover-art slapped on the BR displays doesn't exactly fill me with confidence that the studios are putting any effort into the initial titles either. Thoughts?

:(

I'm really concerned about the tranfers. Film can definitely look better than it does at the current DVD resolution but I have my doubts about studios actually producing HD transfers that are worth upgrading for. Especially with the early releases. Lets not forget the many bad transfers made in the early days of DVD.

As far as the PS3, I don't see it being a great Blu-Ray player (its going to be doing a lot at a much lower price point from standalone players so expect compromises), but it should be okay until the second generation of standalone players hit the market with the bugs worked out and at lower prices.

But also bear in mind that telecine tech has come a long way since then, and the DVDs you're happy with now were downsampled from the HD masters that are going to be used for HD-DVD/Blu-Ray.

Yeah, didnt think about that, but makes perfect sense...

Same cover art as what? The DVD version? Hopefully they're using the original movie artwork in which case :up:

That's the way it should be. If anyone is confused by the big-ass BLUE packaging as opposed to regular dvd, then they have other issues that need to be dealt with.

If the PS3 is delayed potentially till November, how bad will this hurt blu ray if Toshiba gets theirs out in march/ early april? We've heard that the xbox is going to get an add on HD player, i'm curious to see if they can get that out in the summer as well. If all that happens, then i would think that the momentum would be with HD DVD. IT'll be interesting to see what happens in the next two months.

I agree with Josh. Also, I don't know about you guys, but I have no problem spending a few hundred dollars more than the PlayStation3 to get a GOOD Blu-ray player. But, in the meantime, I'm on the fence anyway. The fact that Blu-ray is getting rushed makes me think there may be a number of frustrating bugs and glitches on many players and/or discs. I just can't justify spending so much money on items which will probably have issues. Again, if the quality is there, then no problem. As I said, I'll be on the fence and see how it starts to roll out.

I do have a problem spending a few hundred more. Because that's going to be close to a grand and I'm not paying that much to watch a BR movie. A PS3 will be my only way to watch one, unless they can match the entry level Toshiba HD player.

If the PS3 is delayed to November, what was the planned release? Summer?

If it has decent Blu-Ray capacity, that's definitely a selling point for me, especially early. I'm sure I'll buy one eventually, since I've been nothing but happy with PS and PS2, but the added BluRay support is the thing would make me buy it earlier, rather than waiting for the price to go down (as the library goes up).

I definitely won't be to pay a few hundred dollars more for a decent blu-ray player. I can wait.

I'll wait, and THEN spend a few hundred more. Once the $2000 models have dropped to $800 range.

Spring for Japan, than Sept/Oct for the U.S. The delay and shortage was just speculation in a recent article, we'll see.

I wouldnt count on the PS3 this year in the US until there is an official announcement. I have a feeling it will be out in Japan at the end of this year (maybe) and in the US early next year. I just have a feeling about this since there are so many issues with blue ray and no one has any solid details on the PS3. If it does come out this year expect major shortages at launch cause they are having issues making the Cell precessor and with the addition of a Blue Ray drive I am pretty sure they will have problems meeting demand for it.

I will buy a PS3 the day it comes out and I might buy a few Blue Ray discs for it, but my TV is just 720p and I wont be able to get a 1080p set for a few years so I am in no rush for HD DVD or Blue Ray. I will just use my NeuNeo to upscale my current library and maybe get a few BR discs of movies I really like.

Okay I'll refute it.

Burden of proof

If I say something that goes against what is widely accepted, it is up to me to prove it.

If I say a major major project by a big CE manufacturer is going horribly wrong (as in missing the targeted holiday season), I really should have a smidgen of information to back that up.

Otherwise, it is speculation: "forming opinions without having definite or complete knowledge or evidence"

which is what bluntman72's post is.

As far as speculation on the PS3 goes, my favorite is a nice article on next-gen.biz (which was later reproduced by Business Week), because it goes totally against the grain, and because if true, it'd be a great thing for those of us who intend to use the PS3 mainly as a Blu-ray player.