Is the PS3 as good as a specific blue ray player?
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My DVD player has just died so I thought I'd go for the upgrade to blue ray as they will also play my DVDs & I guess blue ray is the future. The adverts say PS3 also plays blue ray & DVD so what's the down side? Will it work with a 5:1 surround system (not that I have one yet but it's on the list!) and is there a specific type of surround sound that's compatible? I've very little experience of games systems (wrong generation) last time was with my brother's Amiga...long time ago! The cost of the PS3 is similar to that of a stand alone blue ray player so is there any down side?
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http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1175154
Basically, it's one of the very best. More options than you shake a stick at. Plays loads of video and audio formats. Media Centre built in. Wireless. No-brainer.
If you want the PS3 features especially being able to play PS3 games then that is clearly the machine for you. If however you just want to play Blu-ray and DVD then a standalone is both cheaper and better.
Multiregion DVD and even Blu-ray is the domain of standalones as well.
It sounds the same to me in games and movies...
Since the OP is considering a PS3, I'd take a guess that the price isn't so much of an issue.
So for £160, is BBC iPlayer, the multiple video formats it can play, pictures and games, worth it?
So if you ain't much of a gamer, I'd say just get the best Blue-ray player you can afford, so you've got a better chance it'll play whatever you chuck into it.
Just £198 including 2 Bluray movies - £90 off for a damaged box :eek:
I had a 40Gb PS3 over a year ago but the desire to have multiregion Bluray playback prompted me to sell and buy a Panny.
The current PS3 is about £250 but unless you plan to use its many features - and there are lots - a standalone is best especially as its more than £100 cheaper.
Music storage is a must for me and after struggling with another device for a year I snapped up this PS3 as it handles music storage so well.
Although its not very exciting the PS3 can also access the BD-Live feature on some discs, although most recent standalones should be able to aswell.
The PS3 store will also allow you to download movies in both HD and sd but the prices are so unrealistic as to be laughable
If you want to play US dvd's you can buy a standalone multiregion for dvd for about £20 more although Bluray MR is a lot more.
One significant upgrade for the PS3 slim (for me anyway) is the addition of HDMI Control so that if you switch the PS3 on it will auto change to the correct input and even take the tv out of standby.
This useful feature is not available on the old PS3's even with the latest updates
Or if your TV only has that function on one of it's HDMI inputs which is currently being used by the HD set top box, they save pennies in the daftest places!
The feature appears to be irrelevant to the tv inputs and specific to certain devices.
The Panny tv I have has 3 HDMI inputs but auto switching on either Sky+ or V+ is only available on input 1.
Using either of those boxes on the other 2 inputs fails to auto switch.
My Pioneer dvdr and Panny Bluray both have an HDMI Control setting in the menu and with it switched on auto switching works on any of the 3 inputs.
HDMI Control also allows for you to power up said device and it will take the tv out of standby and switch it to the correct input.
It also means that if you put the tv into standby any HDMI Control devices will also shutdown as long as they are not recording or doing something that will be spoilt by shutting down
When I had my 40Gb PS3 the inabilty to auto switch was annoying so I was pleasantly surprised to find HDMI Control in the PS3 slim setup menu and even further surprised that my sons old PS3 with 320Gb upgrade does not have the feature.
Testing with V+,Sky+ HD ,Pioneer dvdr and PS3 show that its the appearance of HDMI Control that changes whether or not it works with the tv and neither Sky nor V+ has it whch is why it wont work on the others but any device with HDMI Control will work on any HDMI input
I bought the Harmony PS3 adapter which is a perfect solution. Not especially cheap, but very good.
I got the Logik 3 one for a tenner but it does not have the PS button for switching ON and OFF.
I'm still using my trusty Marantz RC2000 but I was looking at the Harmony One .
Not impressed that the PS3 adapter is £40 and even less so that it has to be mains powered all the time