Criterion Collection's BD Player is a...

I didn't read the article. What PJ was selected?..

...and which popcorn popper?
--Bob

The Samsung SP-A800B, which apparently Joe Kane designed.

Don't know, but I'm sure it's somewhere in picture 6.

Cnet referenced your post.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-....html?hhTest=1

Interestingly, Joe Kane recommends the ps3 as the best blu-ray player with regards to image quality as well. This is contrary to the posts that say the ps3 has a soft picture relative to some dedicated players.

As far as I'm concerned the people knocking the PS3 mainly do so for one reason. They absolutely cannot accept that a game console that throws in BR disc playback does a better job than most standalones on the market. It's snobbery, plain and simple.

..nah, many of us "knocked it" because at launch it wasn't everything it should have been (profile 2.0, decoding of lossless codecs, PnP media playback). Like BD (if I may be bold) it had huge potential but (at the time) an expensive price and an underwhelming first year. Plus, annoyances like a lack of IR made for those who truly =aren't= using it as a game player were forced to look at clunky solutions.

In late 2008, it's another story. No player comes close, period. There are mature solutions for the IR solution (amusing that Joe K chose one of the flakiest - can the Nyko even power off the PS3? Email Ben, boys and girls of Criterion!). Profile 2.0 is here. Load times are 1/10th of the slowest players. TrueHD/DTS-HD MA are now working happy. With Tversity I can use the unit as a full featured streaming machine. And, if you -don't- use it for DVD upscaling or game play, it's a heck of a lot more quiet than it -could- be.

No analogue m/c output, no bitstream, and a requirement to purchase an IR workaround. It uses lots of electricity comparatively, and is louder than a standalone. It's form factor is greatly different than any of the other a/v pieces on one's rack.

These are the =only= remaining caveats, and (not coincidentally) are the only things that can't be fixed by a FW update. Heck, I had a total of 2 weeks of owning my used 20gb unit with a "broken" 5.1/7.1 issue with some BD titles, and those got fixed, if quietly, by the latest round of updates. These remaining caveats are drastically overwhelmed by the sheer divide between this player and every other one in terms of features and capabilities for anyone that has an HDMI-based audio system.

It would be a shame to gloss over the growing pains this unit had, just as it would be a shame for anyone in the market for the finest blu product available to ignore the PS3 just cuz it's for "gamerz".

Believe me, I get and agree with everything your saying but was the PS3 worse than any 1st or 2nd gen standalones? I'm really talking "here and now" anyway.
As far as the Nyko goes, with one of the last two F/W updates you can power down with it. Sony added "Power Off" to the XMB.

That was a nice read. The gear list is very sensible.

I can't wait until some Criterion Collection Blu-Ray discs come out. I love what they do for movies.

I will happily play them on my 'reference' 60GB PS3.

+1. I started off with a BD standalone player and swore I would never use a PS3 as my primary BD player (I had a 360 and the HD DVD add-on and hated it as a player). Well, I finally came to my senses July/07, sold the BD standalone (Samsung BDP-1000) and picked up a 60GB PS3. I have not looked back. The PS3 has played every single disc flawlessly. Not one glitch or hiccup. Not one audio drop. Not one issue at all, and I have played well over 100 BD movies on it. It looks and sounds amazing. It is quick. It is complete (BD Live, Bonus View). It has wireless ethernet. It has a hard drive. My biggest issue was lack of IR but I purchased the Nyko Blu-Wave remote for $9.99 and my Harmony remote works flawless now. I have no heat issues, and my PS3 is not loud.

I have zero reason to upgrade to another player at this time as the PS3 does it all. I read some of the other player threads in this subforum and I see people on their second, third, and even fourth BD player and they cannot seem to find one that suits their needs (this one is too slow and has playback issues, this one has audio drops, this one is not 2.0, this one cannot decode DTS-HD-MA, etc).. No thanks..

Yes. I was very happy with that update I have no retired my Sony bluetooth remote. Will probably sell it..

why not a HD-SDI modified BD player?

-Gary

If only the PS3 was able to bitstream all the codecs I would have gone with it. I don't care how someone classifies something, if it does the job and does it well I could care less what it is classified as.

No bitstream, a required IR workaround and the "unusual look" of the player kept it out of my rack. (I'm not into video games)

I had the BD-P1400 Bluray player and just got the PS3. It is so much better! It is very fast and holds all of my music (uncompressed), etc., etc... Of course I'm disappointed that it doesn't bitstream and has bluetooth--but all things considered, I could never go back.

Incidentally, I own a SP-A800B projector. It is fantastic, and can be had for a lot cheaper than the MSRP (10k).


This (below) describes me to a T. For some reason, I thought the PS3 was childish and I was turned off by their initial marketing arrogance.

"+1. I started off with a BD standalone player and swore I would never use a PS3 as my primary BD player (I had a 360 and the HD DVD add-on and hated it as a player). Well, I finally came to my senses July/07, sold the BD standalone (Samsung BDP-1000) and picked up a 60GB PS3. I have not looked back. The PS3 has played every single disc flawlessly. Not one glitch or hiccup. Not one audio drop. Not one issue at all, and I have played well over 100 BD movies on it. It looks and sounds amazing. It is quick. It is complete (BD Live, Bonus View). It has wireless ethernet. It has a hard drive. My biggest issue was lack of IR but I purchased the Nyko Blu-Wave remote for $9.99 and my Harmony remote works flawless now. I have no heat issues, and my PS3 is not loud.

I have zero reason to upgrade to another player at this time as the PS3 does it all. I read some of the other player threads in this subforum and I see people on their second, third, and even fourth BD player and they cannot seem to find one that suits their needs (this one is too slow and has playback issues, this one has audio drops, this one is not 2.0, this one cannot decode DTS-HD-MA, etc).."