Why tease me with mentioning Finding Nemo?

As a fairly new ps3 owner myself what I can't stand is the blu-ray menu system.
I hate the menu system on blu-ray, HD-DVD had a much nicer in-movie menu system.

However, all the movies I have seen on it so far have been absolutely great.

because I want that title in 1080p more than anything else right now. dammit.

Overall I am very impressed with you even-handed observations. The only thing I would point out is that forced trailers are nothing new, and certainly not exclusive to Blu-ray. Even if the HD DVDs that were released didn't contain them, that doesn't mean that none ever would. I'm sure you already know this, but I thought it was worth a (very brief) mention.

But as far as hating forced trailers, I couldn't agree with you more.

Can you give some specifics about what bugs you? I'm not saying you're wrong at all, but I just haven't noticed enough of a difference between the Blu-ray and HD DVD in-movie menus to be annoyed by it, so I'm curious about how other people pick up on things.

It's really a minor issue, but it does bug me.

If I'm in the middle of watching a movie and am curious about deleted scenes, commentaries, or any other features with HD-DVD you can access the menu without stopping the movie - you can even switch chapters very easily.

Every Blu-Ray I have viewed so far has a menu like SD-DVD where you have to stop the movie and go back to the main menu. It's just not as convenient and doesn't have a "new technology" feel to it.

Really?

That hasn't been the case for me.
I can browse special features without stopping the film in my Blu dvds -- I can do everything you say you can't. Maybe you're watching old BDs and they've changed the system? I don't know. Maybe I'm just remembering wrong.

Your reading comprehension needs some work ...you actually bought a PS2, not a PS3...your bad.

Are you using the PS3 controller as your remote, or did you pick up the Sony brand BD remote? The BD remote is really nice and has a "Pop-up menu" button specifically designed to bring up the in-movie menu that, AFAIK, practically every Blu-ray has, just like HD DVD. There should be a way to bring it up with the controller as well, but I've never used that for movie playback.

I had the same impression watching the few BDs I've watched on the PS3. (offhand: Spiderman 3, Gone Baby Gone, wife has had Ratatouie on several times).

Right now I'm just using the controller, I haven't bought the Sony BD remote yet. I guess I'll be picking that up sooner than later, I really didn't much like the Sony controller as a remote anyway.

Thanks.

I only used the PS3 controller once or twice for BD before getting the remote, but IIRC the Square button will bring up the in-movie pop-up menu for Blu-Ray's.

This is true. There is no button for the Top Menu though. With the Nyko BluWave remote (which just emulates a controller), the button labeled Top Menu is actually the Pop-Up Menu and is the same as pressing square. This isn't much of an issue, as some discs don't even have a separate Top Menu.

Well, all Sony titles do (Across the Universe, Spiderman 3, Damages). Disney's titles don't seem to (e.g. Lost)

Great news! OPPO will also make BD players. They are in the early stages of development, but more details will be released this Summer.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20...lu-ray-player/

Some may not, but others (such as Ratatouille) do.

Sounds interesting...

This info was taken from a blu-ray.com thread regarding the new Sony players:

Sony will be introducing two new Blu-ray Disc Players. One the first week of July 2008, Model# BDP-S350, which passes all high bit advanced audio codecs (like the Panasonic DMP-BD30) to an outboard decorder (Pre-Amp or Receiver) and will be Profile 1.1 . The other player, coming out the first week of August 2008, the BDP-S550, will incorperate all the high bit advanced audio codec decoders in the player and will also be Profile 1.1. Both are HDMI 1.3a, catagory 2 compliant (output). Load times are faster. Both will play CD's, but not SACD.

The tentative price points will be:

Sony BDP-S350 $ 349.99
Sony BDP-S550 $ 449.99

Funai's Blu-ray player features Panasonics's UniPhier chip and Sony's Blu-ray Optical

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"At International CES 2008, Funai revealed it will release its "NB500 series" Blu-ray Disc player in the second quarter of 2008. Street pricing is expected to be US$300. Some even said, "Street pricing might fall up to US$199 by the time of year-end sales season in 2008."

Funai's Blu-ray player features Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd's 45nm-process UniPhier LSI and Sony Corp's optical head for Blu-ray. It shows a glimpse of the Blu-ray group's ulterior motive for competing with Toshiba's price reduction strategy by lowering pricing for Blu-ray Disc players from products of Funai, which is well-known for the development of low-price products.

"I knew we would gain overwhelming superiority in the player competition" following Funai's entry to the group, said an executive member of the Blu-ray supporters group.

In other words, the Blu-ray supporters group was sure that it would bring an end to the next-generation DVD war and win in 2008. "

http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english...080220/147732/

If this pricing holds come August the Funai players will have quite a bit of pressure on them. They will have stay at least 100$ under to compete effectively. A Walmart entry, more than likely.

Pro-B

The PS3 will most like be $299 by the time these players are released and will still be the lowest cost blu-ray player available.

So the BD50 from Panasonic is the only 2.0 profile player that has an official announcement so far right? (Obviously the PS3 will probably be updated also)

Sony making 1.1 players...still?

While I personally don't give a rat's ass about 2.0 or online connectivity, I don't understand how they expect any studio to dedicate time and resources to creating web-enabled content if they won't require all machines to have 2.0.

Oppo will have their first player $299! They'll probably sell million units..and then all other manufacturers will lower their price...

I would rather them spending more resources and time on improving the PQ and AQ than the online crap/features.