Official Playstation 3 Blu-Ray player Thread (1 Viewer)

[Jim Rondeau]

Pulled the trigger -- got no payments or interest until 2009 along with the $150 back. Counting tax, I'll be paying about $382 in 14 months.
Also will get 4% back for going through ebates.com.
Thanks again for posting! Come to think of it, I'm going to copy this to the Coupons & Bargains thread for general consumption.

Awesome. I can't wait to get mine. It shipped yesterday, the same day I ordered it. According to Fedex I should get it Wednesday. I picked up the component cables yesterday as my TV is older and doesn't have HDMI. Need to put a couple Blue Ray discs in my Netflix queue too so I get them by Wednesday.
Also, in case you weren't aware, there is an offer for 5 free Blue Ray discs too at http://www.bluraysavings.com.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I think there was a "download latest firmware" button on the product page on the Sony site. That might show it.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Thanks, Jim. I knew about it -- I need to decide between The Guardian and Invincible though. Any recommendation? (Also not sure about my selection in the last set of 5.)
Also, I need to buy a TV. . .

 

[Evolution-One]

1.9 at the moment!
v2.0 will be arriving in the next couple of months and will be the first major upgrade.

Does anyone know what firmware update the PS3's are coming with nowadays?
I sold my 20gb and will be buying the 60gb in the next week or two. I'm hoping that they're coming with 1.80 but I'm thinking it's too early for that one.

 

[Doug Otte]

though. Any recommendation? (Also not sure about my selection in the last set of 5.)
Also, I need to buy a TV. . .

Yeah, there's nothing in the list that I REALLY must have, but for free...? We've seen both The Guardian & Invincible on the pay channels. They're both enjoyable, but nothing to write home about. If you like formulaic little-guy-overcomes-odds-in-sports movies, choose Invincible. If you like old-burnout-overcomes-odds-to-redeem-himself movies, choose The Guardian.
Doug

 

[Doug Otte]

Online Instruction Manual

Thanks, John. I did look at the online manual last night, but didn't see anything about it. I'll try accessing the setting from the XMB as you suggested.
So far, with less than one week's usage, I get the impression this is a robust all-in-one machine. My only nitpicks are (and suggestions to Sony for possible future upgrades):
1) No power on/off button on the DVD remote;
2) No disc memory (after removing the disc);
3) fan noise is audible during quiet parts of movie.
Now I'll just have to be patient until I can afford an HDMI 1.3-capable receiver so I can enjoy MCH SACD & hirez MCH PCM soundtracks. Until then, I still have my Pioneer squeezed into the rack for SACDs.
Doug

 

[Jim Rondeau]

though. Any recommendation? (Also not sure about my selection in the last set of 5.)
Also, I need to buy a TV. . .

I haven't seen either of those movies, but from reviews if I had to pick one I'd probably go with the Guardian as that interests me more. I've been reading reviews of the give away discs and think I'll go with the following:
Chicken Little
Corpse Bride
Stealth (or maybe Resident Evil 2)
The Italian Job
Hart's War
I'm hoping to pick up a new receiver in the next couple months as mine doesn't have HDMI. I really want to be able to take advantage of the improved sound.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

v2.0 will be arriving in the next couple of months and will be the first major upgrade.

Any idea what will be affected/improved? IMO the 1.8 was a major update as it provided DVD upscaling and 720P output. along with blacker than black and whiter than white. All of these enhancements have revolutionized BD and DVD viewing on my 720p projector...

 

[Joe_G]

1.9 at the moment!
v2.0 will be arriving in the next couple of months and will be the first major upgrade.

Are they coming with 1.9 loaded in them already? I wouldn't think so since that upgrade was just released. I'm trying to find out what update they're coming loaded with.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Quote:



Originally Posted by Jim Rondeau
I haven't seen either of those movies, but from reviews if I had to pick one I'd probably go with the Guardian as that interests me more. I've been reading reviews of the give away discs and think I'll go with the following:

Chicken Little
Corpse Bride
Stealth (or maybe Resident Evil 2)
The Italian Job
Hart's War

I'm hoping to pick up a new receiver in the next couple months as mine doesn't have HDMI. I really want to be able to take advantage of the improved sound.





I heard that Chicken Little and Stealth were pretty bad. Underworld Evolution was only OK, but some people liked it (you can read my full review of the DVD in the DVD Reviews Archive folder). I'm actually a pretty big fan of both Resident Evil flicks -- even though I already have the DVD, I'm getting RE2 over the others in its category (not all that interested in Stir Of Echoes -- and I think I have the DVD somewhere anyway). My review of it should also be in the DVD Reviews Archive.

Corpse Bride was decent, but it was no Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm getting Blazing Saddles instead from that category.

The Italian Job was good enough, and I haven't seen Babel (sounds like a rental to me) or The Devil's Rejects (not really up my alley), but Black Rain is a no-brainer!

I remember liking Hart's War, although it was a little different from what I expected from the marketing. No interest whatsoever in the ridiculous Omen remake. Species was fun, but I'm not sure that I need to own it. I'm tempted by The Last Waltz, because I'm a big collector of music DVDs, but The Band isn't really one of my faves. Then again. . .Scorsese!

Anyone know if the Blu-Ray includes the commentaries and extras? (Unfortunately Amazon doesn't seem to be too good with that information just yet.)

 

[DaViD Boulet]

Corpse Bride was decent, but it was no Nightmare Before Christmas.

Personally, i liked CB more than nightmare...

 

[Jim Rondeau]

Quote:



Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman
I heard that Chicken Little and Stealth were pretty bad. Underworld Evolution was only OK, but some people liked it (you can read my full review of the DVD in the DVD Reviews Archive folder). I'm actually a pretty big fan of both Resident Evil flicks -- even though I already have the DVD, I'm getting RE2 over the others in its category (not all that interested in Stir Of Echoes -- and I think I have the DVD somewhere anyway). My review of it should also be in the DVD Reviews Archive.

Corpse Bride was decent, but it was no Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm getting Blazing Saddles instead from that category.

The Italian Job was good enough, and I haven't seen Babel (sounds like a rental to me) or The Devil's Rejects (not really up my alley), but Black Rain is a no-brainer!

I remember liking Hart's War, although it was a little different from what I expected from the marketing. No interest whatsoever in the ridiculous Omen remake. Species was fun, but I'm not sure that I need to own it. I'm tempted by The Last Waltz, because I'm a big collector of music DVDs, but The Band isn't really one of my faves. Then again. . .Scorsese!

Anyone know if the Blu-Ray includes the commentaries and extras? (Unfortunately Amazon doesn't seem to be too good with that information just yet.)





My selections are pretty much based on reviews from DVDTalk. They have reviews for a fair amount of Blueray Discs. I tried to focus on the quality of video and audio first, extras second and then weigh those against how much I cared for the movie itself. Just for fun, here's a link to each possible selection:

Category 1:
The Guardian
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=26480&___rd=1
Pearl Harbor
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=25917&___rd=1
Invincible
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=26015&___rd=1
Chicken Little
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=27224&___rd=1

Category 2:
Corpse Bride
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=24158&___rd=1
Phantom of the Opera
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=25950&___rd=1
Blazing Saddles
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=24514&___rd=1

Category 3:
Stealth
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=23024&___rd=1
Resident Evil 2
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=26466&___rd=1
Underworld Evolution
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=22797&___rd=1
Stir of Echoes
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=23952&___rd=1

Category 4:
The Italian Job
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=25387&___rd=1
Black Rain
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=26456&___rd=1
Babel
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=26588&___rd=1
Devil's Rejects
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=23846&___rd=1

Category 5:
Kiss of the Dragon
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=25153&___rd=1
Omen 666
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=25914&___rd=2
The Transporter 2
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=26014
Species
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=23079&___rd=1
Hart's War
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=26285&___rd=1
The Last Waltz
http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read....=23213&___rd=1

 

[Evolution-One]

Any idea what will be affected/improved? IMO the 1.8 was a major update as it provided DVD upscaling and 720P output. along with blacker than black and whiter than white. All of these enhancements have revolutionized BD and DVD viewing on my 720p projector...

They haven't announced anything as certain when it comes to the AV side yet. The software engineers have previously stated that they believe that v1.9 is about 40% of what is possible on the PS3 in the AV department.
v1.8 did offer some serious improvements to quite a few areas but was still little more than a revision to v1 of the firmware.
V2 will be more of a new build of the firmware. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_versioning)
At the moment Sony have talked more about the comms side of this via games and the social networking aspects of PlayStation Home (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_Home).
It seems unlikely that the AV side won't have added features or at least improved features in v2 as the firmware has improved considerably when you consider that they are still using v1 at the moment.
I wouldn't be surprised to hear some announcements in Leipzig between August 23 - 26th as they have continually referred to this as their big show for 2007. They have on more than one occasion promised "fireworks" at their conference, hopefully they weren't alluding to an actual firework display though?

 

[Grant H]

Thanks, John. I did look at the online manual last night, but didn't see anything about it. I'll try accessing the setting from the XMB as you suggested.
So far, with less than one week's usage, I get the impression this is a robust all-in-one machine. My only nitpicks are (and suggestions to Sony for possible future upgrades):
1) No power on/off button on the DVD remote;
2) No disc memory (after removing the disc);
3) fan noise is audible during quiet parts of movie.
Now I'll just have to be patient until I can afford an HDMI 1.3-capable receiver so I can enjoy MCH SACD & hirez MCH PCM soundtracks. Until then, I still have my Pioneer squeezed into the rack for SACDs.
Doug

Resume play won't work with Java titles like POTC. I'd actually gotten in the habit of pausing anyway, so the first time I watched the Pirates films on the PS3 I didn't even notice resume didn't work.
Don't know if it's something that will be overcome down the line or not. Memory for resuming after turning off the machine would be good too.

 

[Dave Gilbert]

My only nitpicks are (and suggestions to Sony for possible future upgrades):
1) No power on/off button on the DVD remote;

If you hold down the PS logo button for a couple of seconds, it should ask you if you want to shut down.

 

[Chris Bardon]

Wasn't there supposed to be something in the BR spec about resume play? Either way, it's a feature I'd really like to have (bookmark the playing disc, and resume later on).

 

[Doug Otte]

If you hold down the PS logo button for a couple of seconds, it should ask you if you want to shut down.

Thanks, Dave...just tried it. It actually works to turn the system on and off.
Disc memory: I always wondered why more players don't have it. Like I wrote before, my old cheapie Sony player had it. It seems like all it would require is a utility reading and writing a small table. Whenever a disc is stopped, it records a row in the table with the disc ID and stopped location. Whenever a disc is put in the player, it reads the table and resumes from that point. On the old player, it worked for any DVD, but it didn't work for CDs or SACDs.
Doug

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Jim, thanks for posting those review links. Sounds like they only ported about half the extras from the Last Waltz DVD. They're not insubstantial, either -- I'm kind of leaning against it, but none of the other discs in that category are very appealing at all. Who knows.
Chicken Little sounds like a great disc of a lame movie. I'll have to think about it.
I loved the line from the Phantom review: "I had to listen to Quadrophenia four times to recover!"

 

[Jim Rondeau]

review: "I had to listen to Quadrophenia four times to recover!"

No problem. I figured they'd be helpful to those trying to decide what discs to get. Other than Chicken Little and Corpse Bride, I'm still not sure.
I got my PS3 today (was estimated by FedEx as tomrrow, so that was a nice surprise). Only had time to hook it up and get the firmware updated before my daughter woke up from her nap. Looks like I've got everything hooked up correctly so it's just a matter of trying stuff out. I've got the first Pirates disc coming on BD from Netflix tomorrow so I can A/B it against the SD version. I'm heading out tonight to pick up the remote and maybe a game or BD.

 

[BrettB]

I think you can currently get the remote for $20 @ Circuit City.