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PS3 Good As a Blue Ray Player

#1
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7/20/09 at 6:20pm
  • Joined: July 2009
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Hi everybody,

I'm new to this forum...  I want to seek your opinion/advice on whether the PS3 is a good Blue Ray player.  I'm trying to make up a case to convince my wife to let me get a PS3 :-)  You know, every little bit counts!  But seriously, does the PS3 contains as many movie playing feature as you can find on any standard/regular DVD/Blue Ray player?  What's your experience with PS3 on Blue Ray?  Would you recommend it?

Sorry... so many questions at once! :)
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#2
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7/20/09 at 6:36pm
  • Joined: April 1999
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The PS3 is a good, full-featured player overall, the main downsides vs. alternatives:
- no built-in IR sensor, so to use a universal remote on it you have to budget some money for either a bluetooth->IR adapter, or an IR dongle+IR remote
- no analog multi-ch output for those with older, non-HDMI audio processing receivers who can't stand the idea of not being able to listen to the newer lossless audio Blu-ray codecs, being limited to regular DD/DTS (which is still excellent, not that big a deal IMO).
- slightly noisier fan
- no Netflix streaming.

If you are interested in PS3 games it's a no-brainer 2 for 1.  But if you aren't really a game player there may be other players that have cost/features you find to be better value.
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#3
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7/20/09 at 9:51pm
  • Joined: July 1997
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My main issue with the PS3 as a Blu-ray player for my HT was the fact that even with a Blue tooth to IR adapter you still didn't get ON/OFF functionality without some creative use of sensors and macros with some of the more sophisticated remotes out there with advanced capabilities.  I recently moved my PS3 from my HT to another location and substituted the new Oppo BDP-83 which to me is the current king of the hill of Blu-ray playback.  Don't get me wrong. In my opinion the PS3 is still one of the finest Blu-ray players out there in performance terms. If you factor in the 2 for 1 aspect of gaming it's still a bargain in that regard.  But if a top quality Blu-ray player with a wide range of features and performance is your main focus then at only $100 more than the $399 PS3, the BDP-83 would be my choice.
RAF
[Demented Video Dude since 1997]
[Computer Maven since 1956]
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#4
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7/21/09 at 6:36am
  • Joined: April 2004
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I've got no troubles with my PS-3.  I bought it when it was the only BD player that had all the features....

Some folks grouse that there is no front-panel display.  Some want a universal remote, as noted above.  I personally find it very easy to use the bluetooth remote control.  My own version of a universal remote is to have five remotes side-by-side on the little table where I keep my snacks!

The price of a PS-3 is no higher than a good, dedicated BD player, and the load times on the PS-3 are very fast.  If you want games and BD, go PS-3.  Maybe someday they'll fix it to allow Net-flix streaming...

--ignore the man behind the curtain

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#5
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7/21/09 at 4:34pm
  • Joined: July 2009
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Woww, thanks guys!  I do play games, and I believe this is good info for me to try to make a case to get the PS3 :) 

Do you guys like Net-Flix streaming?  Are those HD takes long time to download?
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#6
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7/22/09 at 6:13am
  • Joined: July 2002
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I love Netflix streaming; or at least I want to.  But I don't think they offer HD versions, and there's only a limited selection of streaming titles.  Worse, they put many of the good titles on the streaming list for only a limited period of time.  If the PS3 otherwise fits your needs I'd go that route and think streaming for the next generation.  (Or if you're an optimist, hope for a loadable patch.)
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#7
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7/22/09 at 9:49am
  • Joined: April 1999
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Quote:
I love Netflix streaming; or at least I want to.  But I don't think they offer HD versions, and there's only a limited selection of streaming titles.

Selection is limited, and almost all older stuff.  There are some HD selections, albeit only a few hundred out of the 12k+ titles.  Also no 5.1 audio yet so I avoid it for action movies.  All this rates to improve in the future.  As of now, it's a nice free bonus on top of their regular disc-by-mail service, I use it when my Blu-rays are in transit to catch up on older movies & TV series.  The quality is quite variable on the older SD encodes, some of them are terrible, some reasonably close to DVD.  The HD stuff is better than DVD but of course not Blu-ray quality.  Pretty impressive though considering they are squeezing 720p into ~3Mbps.

There is no "download time" since it's streaming, it starts in seconds.  You just need fast enough internet to get the best quality.

If streaming Netflix is important to you, can always get the $100 Roku box. The PS3 does have its own download movie store, but you have to pay per title.  It does have more new movies though.  (But for me, new movies, I prefer Netflix to just mail me the Blu-ray since it's cheaper + best possible quality).
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#8
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7/22/09 at 10:32am
  • Joined: December 2004
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HDFan View Post

Woww, thanks guys!  I do play games, and I believe this is good info for me to try to make a case to get the PS3 :) 

Do you guys like Net-Flix streaming?  Are those HD takes long time to download?
I tried the NetFlix streaming and I don't think it is quite ready for prime time. I played it through my XBox360 in my theater with a 110" screen using a 1.5m DSL connection. The picture quality was not worth watching, no surround sound, and it kept stopping for buffering. It might be OK for a laptop or PC but definitely not a big screen.

Cave Country Weather
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#9
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7/22/09 at 11:09am
  • Joined: April 1999
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1.5 Mbps DSL is not at all fast enough for good quality Netflix streaming, especially at 110"!  Not surprised it looks like crap under those conditions.  You need at least 3Mbps for their best SD stuff, probably 5+Mbps for the HD.

I have 6 Mbps DSL, 55" screen @ 9 feet, much better results particularly on their HD stuff.

You do get surround sound, matrixed pro-logic, not as good as discrete 5.1, hopefully they fix that soon.
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#10
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7/22/09 at 12:14pm
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The downsides have been covered well already, but I also want to add some people don't like the form factor of the PS3 because it doesn't look like traditional A/V components, and more importantly doesn't tend to fit in traditional spaces in A/V racks intended for equipment due to it's somewhat odd dimensions.

With regards to getting a universal IR remote for the PS3 and the ability to power on, Logitech has released the Harmony Adapter for PS3 which works with Harmony remotes to give you access to all 51 PS3 commands (including power off/on).

If games aren't important to you, but you want the speed/power of the PS3 in terms of spinning up BD discs, and the ability to play other formats such as DVD-A and SACD, why not look at the Oppo BD player? It seems to nearly rival the PS3 in speed, looks more like a conventional player, has the analog outs in addition to HDMI, and as a bonus plays SACDs and DVD-As.

As a PS3 owner myself, I'm seriously contemplating buying an Oppo.
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#11
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7/23/09 at 5:49pm
  • Joined: October 1997
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To update, yesterday I bought the Harmony Adapter for the PS3, to complement my Harmony One remote, and I couldn't be happier with it. Previously I had tried to use the Nyko USB add-on for the PS3 with the Harmony One and while I could use most of the controls, they weren't set up as intuitively on the Harmony (and it was too much work to try and get them to my liking) and of course I still couldn't power the unit on with the Nyko/Harmony combo, and I found myself using the Bluetooth PS3 BD remote 99% of the time (which was a pain because I'd still have to use the other remote to control volume).

Now I have all 51 commands including powering on (and easy power off) of the PS3 with the new setup and now my Harmony One truly is a universal remote and I can now have just one remote on my living room table!
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