I'm going to do my part to help the economy this summer and buy a blu-ray DVD player.
What do you have and why did you get that particular unit? I'm not afraid to spend some money. I've got a farily decent AV system right now so I'm not looking for an entry level model necessarily. I basically want it to play all the CD's & DVD's that I already have plus HD.

 

i dont have one but really the most comon blu-ray player is the PS3 the cost is the same as a sole blu-ray, and you get 40G of memory. My cousin bought one and owns a total of 0 (zero) games. all he uses it for is DVD. also my dad is looking at getting one so that he can play his HD home moives without the camcorder. also if you have a wireless internet setup in your house you can have a harddrive on the network and play the movies off of the PS3...

 

I have the ps3 and it makes a great bluray player. It has had several updates since I got it back in january. now I can watch part of a movie eject the disk and put in a game or cd or whatever and when I decide to get back to the movie it will start back exactly where I left off. you cant go wrong with the ps3, you can even surf the net.

 

what browser do they use? and what do you use as a mouse and key bored on the PS3's? cuz i have a Wii and it uses Opra (not the best) and i have to point to each letter i want to type and it gets old really fast.

 

I'm not sure what browser it uses but you can get a Logitech USB Keyboard for PlayStation 3. I dont have one I just use the ps3 controller when I surf on the ps3...and I dont really surf just go to youtube and look at stuff. the web looks really good on my hdtv but for serious web browsing I use my pc.

 

I am a tv/home theater freak. In Feb of last year I bought a 60" Pioneer elite plasma along with receiver, 12" sub and speakers that are flush mount in the walls and ceiling. No, I'm not married, why do you ask? I absolutely LOVE my setup, but as will all things electronic the next "latest and greatest" is but a few months away. Anyway, all that set up was to ask if you have a 1080p HD TV? If not, you will not get the benefit of the blue ray. There is a big jump between standard definition and a 720p and there is also a discernable difference between 720p and 1080p. If you only have a 720p TV you can by an upconverting progressive scan DVD player and get a near HD picture out of your regular dvd's. If you do have a 1080p TV than absolutely purchase a blue ray player - you will not regret it - the picture is UNREAL. My .02, take it for what it's worth.

 

Even a 720p screen will look much better with an HD source vs an upconvertered/upscaled SD source.

1080p is largely a selling point to hype up. No digital screen displays interlaced images anyway. It's all deinterlaced and shown in progressive scan. It's just how good your deinterlacer is.

1080 vs 720 also has a lot to do with viewing distance. The farther away you are, the less you'll notice if you even notice the difference at all.

1080i vs. 1080p HDTV: should you care? - Fully Equipped - CNET reviews

In any case the PS3 has consistantly beat out all the stand alone units. It can decode all the new HD audio formats such as DTS-HD and DD-HD, or it can stream them to a receiver if it's so equiped to handle them which is usually the better option for sound quality.

The PS3 has also been the cheapest option and as a bonus it plays games. So basicly buy the PS3.

Mike

 

"1080i, the former king of the HDTV hill, actually boasts an identical 1,920x1,080 resolution but conveys the images in an interlaced format (the i in 1080i). In a tube-based television, otherwise known as a CRT, 1080i sources get "painted" on the screen sequentially: the odd-numbered lines of resolution appear on your screen first, followed by the even-numbered lines--all within 1/30 of a second. Progressive-scan formats such as 480p, 720p, and 1080p convey all of the lines of resolution sequentially in a single pass, which makes for a smoother, cleaner image, especially with sports and other motion-intensive content. As opposed to tubes, microdisplays (DLP, LCoS, and LCD rear-projection) and other fixed-pixel TVs, including plasma and LCD flat-panel, are inherently progressive in nature, so when the incoming source is interlaced, as 1080i is, they convert it to progressive scan for display."

You're right, new hdtv's do not show an interlaced signal, but why would you want them to? The article you refer to, partially quoted above, is from 2005, but there is a link on the page to an update from December 2007. Bottom line is if you have a blu-ray player and want see true hd (1080p) you need to have a tv capable of displaying 1080p, which virtually all new 1080p tv's can do (many older model 720p and even 1080p were not able to accept a true 1080p signal). If you see a true 720p next to a true 1080p you definitely see the difference.

 

I don't want interlaced pictures, which is good because digital TVs don't do interlaced. Only progressive. If you receive 1080i, it is produced as 1080p on the screen if your TV is capable of 1080 lines of resolution. Only if your deinterlacer sucks will there be any difference, and even then it will be minimal.

Even though the article is a little dated, the info is still good.

I've seen 720p, 1080i, and 1080p side by side. There is little to no difference at normal viewing distances.

I did get lucky though, as my Panasonic 720p/1080i TV can receive 1080p.

In any case, the PS3 will work great as a Blu-ray player for any HDTV.

Mike

 

I guess im old fashoned but Im just going to wait untill all the hype and price is down so i can get the same thing you all payed $400 for only maybe 150-200. I do already have a 32" widescreen HDTV (off brand though, "Avol") in my room and sony home theater system,both of which dont get used but will I get back stateside. (damn barracks).

 

You can also turn your PS3 into a PC running Linux. ( Turn a PlayStation 3 Into a PC - Sony PS3 Computer Mod Hacks - Popular Mechanics ) That way, you NEVER have to leave your couch! Computer, gaming & Hi-def DVD all in one. Yum!

 

I also recently bought a ps3. the one thing I dont like about it is that I cannot get my universal remote (mx650) to operate it. the remote does everything else including the lights and ceiling fan

 

wait till the blue ray 2.0 comes out. 1.0 has been out now for a while, but you cant hook it up to the internet for patches/upgrades etc.

2.0 is due out by the fall

 

I also have a Panasonic plasma 720p/1080i. Does Panasonic have something over other brands of TV that are 720p/1080i?

I'm really quite shocked that everyone, so far has recommended a PS3. I never really thought of going that route. My son has PS2. Are PS2 games compatible with PS3?

 

Panasonic just builds good TVs. I didn't even know that mine would receive 1080p until I read the nitty gritty stuff in the user guide. Do you know what model you have specificly?

Really the PS3 is the Blu ray player to have. You get a Blu Ray player, a game system, you can surf the net through it, you can save stuff to the hard drive, it supports all the newer HD video and audio formats and can either decode them or bit stream them to a stand alone receiver. I'm pretty sure you can store movies and music on the hard drive as well.

Best of all, it is going to be 2.0 compliant with a software update.
New Blu-ray 2.0 spec makes PS3 the most future-proof player

There are many more articles about the PS3 being 2.0 compliant if you google for them.

PS2 games are not compatible with the 40gb PS3. They made this one that way to save some $$$ and get it to market for 399. I'm 99% sure that all the other models can play PS1-3 games.

Also the hard drive is upgradable on the PS3 if you need it.

Mike