What is the impression of this blu ray player?
Is it worth picking up for $200.00
Thanks

Had I known ahead of time what the S300's performance was like, I never would have spent $500 on it. $200 is much more reasonable, assuming it's new. Otherwise, pass.

What is wrong with the performance?

It's very slow (even with the non-BD-J titles), doesn't decode TrueHD, upconverts quite poorly, and generally leaves a lot to be desired. It's not a terrible player; I just don't feel it's worth the $500 I spent on it just seven months ago.

Wait for the S350.

I'd pass on the 300 and wait for the 350. I'm a little bummed Sony is excluding SACD from it though...may turn me away.

I agree with this completely.

So is the PS3 a better purchase even at higher cost?
I game a lot too so I wouldn't mind having the PS3 to go along with my 360.

PS3 appears to be be best choice for the next year at least.

I want to get a standalone, i was thinking of the S300 but i guess after reading the reviews, i'll pass.

Hows the BDP-S500??

+ 2.

Not only that, I get frequent 'skipping' on regular DVDs as well where it jumps ahead at the end of one chapter to the begining of the next passing over sometimes 1/2-1/4 of a minute. Also the HDMI connection loses synch for a second or two at least once every couple of hours resulting in the screen going black for a second or two. And I get noise on the analog outs frequently. These last points I find intolerable which is why I've started to use the $130 HD DVD player I picked up a few weeks back as a spare for my primary player now- something I didn't want to do since I don't want to tax it any more than neccessary. Ironically, it also puts out a noticeably better picture than the Bd player with regular dvds. I wish I could find another on sale locally- I'd buy another discounted A-30 long before I'd buy another high priced, low quality/value Bd player. Hopefully they'll have their acts together by Christmas '09 and I can dump this POS for a good all around Bd player that's fully spec'd for around $200. Paying $500 for this Sony left a really foul taste in my mouth. And to finally answer your question- no. I wouldn't pay $200 for it either.