Going Blu!

[hool10]

On 2/17/09 TV signals will stop receiving the normal static that you get with the rabbit ears or antenna. Everything will be broadcast in HD. When I go into a FYE I see DVD's on incredible sales, even buy 2, get 1 for free. Yet there is no denying the fact that Blu-Ray does look much superior to DVD. When watching LOST with my family and comparing the HD version online, you can see the grain pop out. :x In fact it looks like a VHS tape. LOST will come out in HD for Season 4 (and hopefully the other seasons).

Now I asked our inventory Nazi at work (he never gives out stuff that you need) about the PS3. He is an avid supporter of the PS3 and I joke about him supporting the console. I hate the PS3 and that there is no good games for it and it's hard to develop on it. He said that it is indeed the cheapest and best Blu-Ray player on the market like I heard. He also said the PS3 can play both DVD's and Blu-Ray. That shocked me because I thought it was just Blu-Ray and prevents me from having both a DVD player and Blu-Ray player. Yet he also told me things that I didn't think about.

The PS3 can be used as a home entertainment system. This means I can use Vista Home Media Center and put all my songs, videos, and pictures on the PS3. Since I also have a PSP, I can also use it as a remote and put content on it. Even better is that it's all WiFi with no cables. My father hates WiFi though because somebody can hack into it but we do have a router but he still thinks you can hack into it.

Regardless I think my family should make the switch to Blu-Ray. The TV we have is a Direct-view (tube) HD TV that my uncle gave me. http://www.cnet.com/1990-7874_1-5108443-1.html?tag=hdtv;hdtv_l
We still have no clue why he gave it to us but he bought a projector.

Also should I buy a PS3 next year or this year? Many retailers are slashing prices because it's gonna be a bad Christmas, but also Black Friday is quickly coming. So when should I get one?

I was also told by the PS3 fanboy at work that I should get an older PS3 because the newer ones you can hack into and doesn't play PS1 games.

The only dumb move that I have made with HD so far is being Harry Potter 5 on HD-DVD (which there is problems with that disc) and Blade Runner: The Final Cut on HD-DVD. BR on HD-DVD is sort of a collectors item now because the format is no more. Should I re-buy those or what?

What model should I get of the PS3 and where can I find it the cheapest?

 

[Azner]

Cheapest model
end

 

[Iced_Eagle]

If you can find a MGS4 80 GB Model, it's your best bet.

It has a crapload of ports to use (usb, memory cards for cameras, etc) and still has PS2 emulation (any PS3 can play PS1 games, so I assume you just mistyped that).

Also, another note... In February, TV stations will be switching to Digital and moving from analog. Digital != HD. The only benefit you get "for free" is that you don't get that "snow effect" anymore, and various other anomalies caused by analog transmission. However, in most cases, the picture will look basically the same. Digital transmission allows them to more easily broadcast in HD though, so that's why many stations are also taking this time to upgrade to HD. Just thought I'd point that out.

 

[nipples]

Go with one that has more ports and PS2 emulation. The hard drive size doesn't matter since that is easily replaceable. You can just use laptop hard drives in it, which is basically what it uses.

 

[kupocake]

(any PS3 can play PS1 games, so I assume you just mistyped that).

You know, I didn't know this. I knew it played PS1 games from the playstation store, but something my housemate said implied that it wouldn't read PS1 discs. Never thought to check. Still, there are no memory card ports, so no resuming that 80 hour Final Fantasy game in progress from the original card.

Also, surely the REAL cheapest Blu-Ray player is buying an internal Blu-Ray drive for your PC, so long as it's a fairly high-end machine already (I hear GFX cards shoulder some of the workload). Maybe not the most convenient way to hook it all up, but about a third of the price of a PS3 I hear...

 

[Asus]

FYI tube TVs are not HD.
From your link: http://www.cnet.com/1990-7874_1-5108443-1.html?tag=hdtv;hdtv_l
Under: Direct-view (tube) TVs
"Bulky and heavy; limited screen size; lower resolution; usually incapable of displaying HDTV sources; rarely PC-compatible."

As long as you have a HD-DVD drive then you could keep those HD-DVD movies. But if it breaks or you decide you don't want that many players sitting by the TV then get the Blu-ray versions.

BUT if you have a 720p or 1080p screen then go ahead and pick up a PS3. I have a 40GB version. Can always upgrade the hard drive. Can even get an external hard drive and drag it between your PC and PS3 and fill it with media. Or stream it over the network from your PC.

The reason it is the better blu-ray player is because it can always have it's software upgraded and it is probably Sony's center piece for multimedia and probably will always get special attention from Sony to make sure it's up to date. Often I'll see on forums people having issues with this samsung player or some other player not working with a specific Blu-ray movie and they end up waiting to see if that company puts out a bios upgrade for their exact model so they can play the menu on that movie etc. Pretty good assurance that with a PS3 your movies will play right.

The Blu-ray drive for PCs is 'cheap' in comparison but you probably want a video card capable of doing the video and not the CPU. And you will NEED a sound card that can do the HD audio formats (Uncompressed PCM/Dolby TrueHD/DTS-Master Audio) or else you are skipping one of the biggest upgrades of Blu-ray. (Even though the picture is 1080p, it is still a lower resolution than what is from the source. But with those HD audio formats you get the same sound from the studio without it being resampled.)

 

[Raziaar]

I'm not going to get a Blu-Ray player until they're as cheap as DVD players.

I think it'll be quite a while before computer games mostly come out on Blu-Ray. Dual Layer DVD still has a lot of life left for many games.

 

[Acepilotf14]

I'm not getting a blue-ray player until they stop making DVD's.

 

[Warbie]

The PS3 offers superb value for money. Great Blu-ray player/DVD upscaler plus a very decent games console. You really can't go wrong.

 

[nipples]

The PS3 offers superb value for money. Great Blu-ray player/DVD upscaler plus a very decent games console. You really can't go wrong.

This. I love the exclusives on the PS3 more than the 360 exclusives. The only real downside for me is that every single one of my friends and their mothers play 360s. Playing online with strangers is a little lame at times.

 

[hool10]

My TV has the HDMI port on the back and even boats 1080p believe it or not! Got really lucky there on that one. I'm really just looking for a player itself, not a Blu-Ray drive.