Best Blu-Ray - Sony or Panasonic using HDMI (1 Viewer)

[Floyd]

I own a new Samsung LN52A850 with a new Onkyo 706 receiver and Toshiba HD DVD Player(Sorry, I picked wrong). I connect via 1.3 HDMI and component as a backup. I have a matched set of Infinity 5.1 speakers anchored with the Infinity Alpha 50's. I may add the 2 side speakers soon for 7.1. I want to buy a good blu-ray player but would rather stay below $300 if possible. Should I get the Sony 350 or 550 or the Panasonic 35 or 55?
What should I buy now for best blu-ray!

Also is the PS3 as good at blu-ray as the stand alone players?

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

I don't know how the new Sony standalones compare to the Panny's -- I'd probably go for a Panny, if I was choosing.

The PS3 should still be as good as most any standalone, except it doesn't pass the lossless formats undecoded (ie. undecoded via bitstream instead of decoded to multichannel PCM), which is really a non-issue AFAIK, *and* does not output multichannel analog audio. Oh, it also doesn't have any official IR remote support -- only Bluetooth is officially supported (and the PS3 does not normally come w/ remote included though you can use the game controller in a pinch).

If you do need to use a universal remote w/ it, you'll probably need to buy some 3rd party solution which may or may not work well enough for you, eg. there's an as-yet-hard-to-get ~$50(?) IR-to-Bluetooth solution that supposedly works perfectly for Harmony remotes (partly because Harmony actually provides the full remote codes for it). I don't have a Harmony remote myself, but my sister does, so I might see about borrowing her remote to teach my Universal Remote remote all the commands for this, if I ever get that solution. For now, I just use the Sony Bluetooth remote.

_Man_

 

[Jon Martin]

Money Magazine has a comparison this month, and they say the PS3 is the best Blu Ray player.

They also say it is the player that Criterion uses to test their DVDs.

 

[AmusingistheDawn]

Is this still true? I've been browsing the threads looking for an answer to the same question. How is PS3 as far as CD playback is concerned?