New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

and the only BD player that will be updatable (for free) to "2.0" compliance, with BD-Live (web features).

The PS3 is already firmware updated for profile 1.1 (PIP) and decodes Dolby TrueHD internally. It will be updated to decode DTS-HD MA internally as well in the next few months is not sooner (info from the Sony insider).

The only thing the PS3 won't do is stream advanced audio codecs in raw bit-stream form to an external decoder as its HDMI 1.3 chipset lacks this ability (bummer). But with the internal decoding of DTS-HD MA soon to be realized, it won't be necessary since it can extract advanced audio to PCM over HDMI.

If you just want a cheap BD player and don't care about 2.0 web features, then get the new Panny 30 which will stream advanced audio over HDMI 1.3 and is 1.1 compliant (PIP). If you want web features, the PS3 lets you get into BD now and update it later for 2.0 compliance with the spec is ready.

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

There's no doubt. DTS-HD MA decoding is on the way. "Early 2008" was stated, and January-Feb is the expected time-frame based on the larger conversation (but if it comes in March, it's still coming).

Sony's delay is likely more about letting other stand-alone BD player manufacturers get their DTS-HD MA decoding gear on the store shelves first... for bragging rights. Since the PS3 is basically the swiss-army-knife of Blu-ray Disc players, Sony sometimes intentionally lets it take a back-seat for a time to give other manufactures a chance to distinguish their products.

For instance, it was *after* the Panny 30 went for sale with profile 1.1 that Sony finally released the profile 1.1 update for the PS3.

Oh, the same source told us that was coming as well. He's been right every step of the way since the PS3 went to market.

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Norman,

the problem isn't your price. It's the 2.0 spec: there are no 2.0 players yet... it's still probably a few more months before we get it. Yes, no argument for me that this is pretty lame considering how long BD has been on the market, especially since HD DVD had it working day-one.

HOWEVER,

my point with the original post was that the PS3 *will* be 2.0 compliant with an update. So it's a "safe buy" now because it already does profile 1.1 and *will* do profile 2.0 (web interactivity). I'm not sure what the cheapest price of a PS3 is, but it's probably a little above your $250... but still close enough to warrant consideration.


Yes, that's exactly what I mean. The PS3 has to do the "extraction" of both TrueHD and (soon) DTS-HD MA to PCM for passing over HDMI.

In theory they should both sound the same since it's getting turned into PCM by one device or another. But in practice it's possible that some variables *could* affect the sound depending on where it happens. For instance, jitter might affect PCM over HDMI differently than bitstreamed compressed audio data. It's also possible that dialog normalization and other "features" of TrueHD, or some sort of additional processing, could be applied in one case but not the other (or applied differently) depending on your gear and set-up.

Since I can only decode to PCM and hear it that way I can't compare myself. But I can say that the decoded 5.1 24/96 TrueHD on the David Matthews BD (sent as PCM over HDMI to my Marantz) was beyond belief.

BTW, I bought a Marantz 8002 with HDMI 1.3 and built-in decoding of TrueHD and DTS-HD MA so I could keep my options open in the future: the PS3 is not the last BD player I'll ever own and I'd like to hear it both ways and decide what I like better with my next player (bitstream versus extraced PCM). I would encourage ANYONE buying a new audio receiver to do the same: don't get ANYTHING that doesn't have HDMI 1.3 *and* internal advanced audio decoding. Keep your options open... you might have that receiver for a long time (had my last one for over 5 years) and you want to make sure it can accept and decode these new formats to ensure that you're not going to miss anything going forward.

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Hah!

Can't help you there.

Funny because I've had the PS3 since since it was first release and I have yet to buy a SINGLE game!

BTW, unlike the 360 add-on, the PS3 is a true "stand alone" BD player... a single-box solution just with gaming capability (the only "gaming" aspect for BD movie watchers is the unorthodox shape and increased fan-noise to cool the cell processor versus a "regular" BD player). It cues up and plays a BD movie or DVD when you insert, has full HDMI for video and audio with no hic-ups, has the fastest load-time of any BD player on the market, great DVD upscaling, and has an optional blue-tooth remote for those who don't want to use the game controler for movie use. All of this means that it's as easy, straight-forward, and high-performance as a regular BD player (ie, the significant other can use it while you're not around without calling you for instructions).

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Good to hear (never had a 360 add-on so don't know first hand). BTW did that version of the add-on have HDMI or just component video... or did that depend on the game console version it connected to?

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

The downside of the bluetooth remote is you can't program it into a universal remote controller.

Hey, I forgot about CES. You're right... let's hope for some annoucement of 2.0 BD-live hardware. Anyone thinking about jumping on a PS3 for movie-only use should hang-tight to see what comes out of CES. If no 2.0 players are announced at a reasonable price or for a reasonable time-frame, the PS3 is your best choice (if the bluetooth remote won't present a problem integrating it into your system).