PS3 no longer the cheaper blu-ray player?


Recommended Posts

So I was doing some research, because all the people I know with a PS3 keep spamming me to return my Blu-ray player, and pick up a PS3, because it is a "cheaper blu-ray player" and it "plays games".

So I set out to check prices online, at www.futureshop.ca, and compared the price of blu-ray players, to the price of the cheapest PS3.

Blu-Ray Players:

post-42644-1231459402_thumb.jpg

Link here

PS3 Prices:

post-42644-1231459416.jpg

Link here

I can see 6 blu-ray players for cheaper than a PS3, 3 the same price, and 3 prices higher than a PS3.

These prices are listed as Canadian, and taken on todays date.

It's not been the cheapest for quite a while (many months), so I dunno who's been "spamming" you with that.

Standalone players would always end up catching up and become cheaper fairly quickly - All they do is play movies, the PS3 does a lot more than that and therefore has higher manufacturing costs = longer lengths of time to drop in price.

People still recommend it due to how well it plays Blu Rays/DVDs and the fact it's a media hub and game player. If your budget can stretch value wise it's a good all in one home theatre device to have under your TV.

That is why on places like Neowin, it's still going to be recommended over a standalone. But if your on a tight budget, standalones are quite a bit cheaper now.

I don't understand why I would return my blu-ray player either, (after I got it for free (long story)).

the stand-alone players were priced over $500+ before, but seem to of taken a huge price drop, something that was long awaited for.

Even if the Playstation 3 does have both capabilities, I think the stand-alone would be the pick for the majority of the consumers, who don't game.

I think over xmas there was a blu-ray player for ?99 somewhere. That's a 3rd of the cost of a PS3. Quite a saving..

Then you could buy a 360 for gaming needs for less than ?200. Of course all that is useless if you want PS3 exclusives..

I don't understand why I would return my blu-ray player either, (after I got it for free (long story)).

the stand-alone players were priced over $500+ before, but seem to of taken a huge price drop, something that was long awaited for.

Even if the Playstation 3 does have both capabilities, I think the stand-alone would be the pick for the majority of the consumers, who don't game.

Well I dunno why you'd return either, unless you want to game.

Of course the stand-alone is going to vastly outnumber PS3 sales worldwide for the format. There's many more people out there just interested in movies, than there is gaming. Then by the time things are even cheaper you're going to end up with multiple blu ray players in households, like most of us probably have about "8 devices" than can play DVDs.

Couple that with costs of standalone, and there you go.

Majority of every day consumers will be buying with their wallets, over brands and elaborate features.

The flip side is for those interested in gaming and/or a home media server also, the all in one option saves them money.

I have to ask,

Has the PS3 received an upgrade to the blu-ray player at all? Is it some what comparable to the stand-alone players (newer models)? I would think the PS3 holds a cheaper quality rom inside of its system.

It's not the cheapest anymore but it's still the best choice for most people because of the firmware updates and the added game console.

Players also offer firmware updates, not just PS3.

I have to ask,

Has the PS3 received an upgrade to the blu-ray player at all? Is it some what comparable to the stand-alone players (newer models)? I would think the PS3 holds a cheaper quality rom inside of its system.

Quite the contrary, the PS3 has always been an upgradeable Blu Ray player, which was crucial near the beginning of the format wars as some of the standalone players couldn't be updated.

I believe pretty much all of them can be now though.

Sony have updated a few things, first of all the biggest being upgrading it to profile 2.0, then they also added DTS-HD and DTS-MA decoding capabilities (HD audio).

And no, quality wise the player ranks highly on HD playback, and DVD upscaling.

I think over xmas there was a blu-ray player for ?99 somewhere. That's a 3rd of the cost of a PS3. Quite a saving..

Then you could buy a 360 for gaming needs for less than ?200. Of course all that is useless if you want PS3 exclusives..

there was a $99 (US) blu-ray player on black friday in the states.

Quite the contrary, the PS3 has always been an upgradeable Blu Ray player, which was crucial near the beginning of the format wars as some of the standalone players couldn't be updated.

I believe pretty much all of them can be now though.

Sony have updated a few things, first of all the biggest being upgrading it to profile 2.0, then they also added DTS-HD and DTS-MA decoding capabilities (HD audio).

And no, quality wise the player ranks highly on HD playback, and DVD upscaling.

I was about to ask about the DTS, since blu-ray.com says it does not, along with TrueHD surround.

I think over xmas there was a blu-ray player for ?99 somewhere. That's a 3rd of the cost of a PS3. Quite a saving..

Then you could buy a 360 for gaming needs for less than ?200. Of course all that is useless if you want PS3 exclusives..

That ?99 is probably BD 1.0 at best, which means you lose PiP and BD-Live (plus a few other things) that the PS3 still offers. Depends on what your needs are.

I was about to ask about the DTS, since blu-ray.com says it does not, along with TrueHD surround.

Link me?

I can 100% assure you the PS3 can pretty much decode absolutely everything out there right now (DD, DTS, PCM, ect), and being able to decode DTS-HD and DTS-MA being two big pluses for home theatre enthusiasts.

I have my PS3 decoding HD audio for my amp/speaker system right now :)

You just need an amp that can accept audio (PCM to be specific) over HDMI.

Link me?

I can 100% assure you the PS3 can pretty much decode absolutely everything out there right now (DD, DTS, PCM, ect), and being able to decode DTS-HD and DTS-MA being two big pluses for home theatre enthusiasts.

I have my PS3 decoding HD audio for my amp/speaker system right now :)

You just need an amp that can accept audio (PCM to be specific) over HDMI.

http://www.blu-ray.com/players/compare.php?p=1

it also says my blu-ray player only does 1.1, but has since upgraded to 2.0

http://www.blu-ray.com/players/compare.php?p=1

it also says my blu-ray player only does 1.1, but has since upgraded to 2.0

That list is right, it does True-HD, it just doesn't do True-HD bitstream.

What bitstream means is it would be passing the audio to your amp/decoder for it to decode it.

Instead, the PS3 just decodes it itself, and sends the already decoded audio to your amp for playback.

That list is right, it does True-HD, it just doesn't do True-HD bitstream.

What bitstream means is it would be passing the audio to your amp/decoder for it to decode it.

Instead, the PS3 just decodes it itself, and sends the already decoded audio to your amp for playback.

Oh, I must of moved over a column when looking up. I thought the X was under the TrueHD column, not the bitstream.

I work in an electronics store, and we don't sell the PS3 as a games console.

We sell it as a 'Connected Home' device. Cause it's a Media Streamer, you can watch TV on it (with a little bit of software), and it plays Blu-Rays, and it has internet access.

.. Oh, and it does play games if you want it to.

i think what they meant was "cheaper" to buy a ps3 then a blu ray player is that

you get the blu ray fuction of playing those supported disc

and that the PS3 has additional stuff like playing games, watching movies from the HDD or a network etc.

so i think, you save money so to speak then to buy lets say

an xbox 360 and a blu ray player when you game as much as you watch HD movies.

(i am an xbox fan boy so dont attack me :D)

but yeah

if you dont game then go get the blu ray player !

:D imo but if you do game and want the blu ray fuction,

why not consider the ps3 as it tends to deliver great quality pictures, as i heard.

good luck.

like people have said yes there are cheaper options but they are not very good (like that cheapest samsung listed thats profile 1.1 only, and samsungs bd players are so bad that a customer has started to sue them link) probably the best lowcost player is the sony bdp-s350 (profile2.0) but i would get a divco tvix myself, with there beta firmware you can play ripped blu-rays also the hdi bd prime plays most popular file formats plus bluray and isnt much more expensive than some bluray players

Edited by Waylander
i think what they meant was "cheaper" to buy a ps3 then a blu ray player is that

I think it was dollar to dollar. Nothing to do with options, or multi-purpose.

I wouldn't be too proud of those first 3 on the Futureshop list, they're not great players.

lol.. they are outdated models, but still a bargain for that price.

You get what you pay for :p

Players also offer firmware updates, not just PS3.

I think the difference (at least for me) lies here. The PS3 has wireless so I can have it anywhere I like the house (I move it around a bit) and it will update firmware without a problem as soon as I switch it on. I gather with a standalone player you have to either plug it in via ethernet or burn the latest firmware to a disc. Not difficult I guess, but a bit of a chore.

I think the difference (at least for me) lies here. The PS3 has wireless so I can have it anywhere I like the house (I move it around a bit) and it will update firmware without a problem as soon as I switch it on. I gather with a standalone player you have to either plug it in via ethernet or burn the latest firmware to a disc. Not difficult I guess, but a bit of a chore.

You generally don't move all of your other equipment around, do you? The TV, DVD player, speakers, subwoofer, etc.?

You generally don't move all of your other equipment around, do you? The TV, DVD player, speakers, subwoofer, etc.?

I have it hooked up to my PC monitor for gaming, but move it to my TV for playing when friends are round or I want to watch a Blu-Ray or something. Once standalone Blu-Ray players are a bit cheaper I guess I'll buy one and it won't move around so much.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • The proportion (or number of iterations) has nothing to with this aspect of Copyright I am describing. In short, it doesn't matter how many times the manager tells you to change something or how. Your work product is always YOURS until and unless you then assign that to the person representing the client/company, usually for financial compensation -- either in salary or as a subcontract work for hire payment. if iterations determined copyright, then businesses would have learned to just keep making changes until they could claim they owned the copyright, without having to compensate the artist for their work. And that would be BAD. The only place where the amount of changes does have a role is in how much does a human modify a previous public domain work (from any source) before it is considered fair use or their own work, etc. For example, if a human makes substantial changes to a public domain (re: AI, by definition) work, then they can then claim that derivative work as their own...but NEVER the original version, of course. That's why anyone can make a movie about Dracula, for example, as long as it is based on the public domain novel, but not if they take new ideas from copyrighted movies made afterwards. As one of the people who personally advised the US Copyright Office on their recent ruling on these very issues, be assured that I specifically used the terminology precisely -- though I made it simple enough for laymen to understand it. If I made this confusing by doing so, I apologize. But, to be clear regarding your assumption that I would agree to your second statement that I quoted above -- the answer is NO. If AI does the work, no matter how much "direction" you give it, it cannot be copyrighted. All AI generated content is in the Public Domain and therefore the copyright cannot be assigned to ANYONE, even you -- until and unless substantial modifications are made to it BY A HUMAN BEING (yourself or a contracted artist/writer/etc.) and then that copyright on the derivative work is legally (in writing) transferred to you. This is a critical distinction. And it is important that people, especially AI sloppers, understand this. For example, YouTube is not paying AI slop generators for the copyright, etc. of their AI slop. What YouTube is doing is sharing AD REVENUE for permission to publish your AI slop. Copyright/ownership/rights never come into it. Importantly, that means that anyone can copy any AI slopware on YouTube, etc. and rehost it anywhere they want, even back on YouTube, and there is nothing legal that YouTube can do about it with regards to copyright protections, ownership, DMCA, etc. Anyone is legally free to use any AI slopware in any way they want. When this ruling was pending, I warned Disney legal of all of this before they did their OpenAI deal -- that it would literally dilute their entire IP portfolio forever. They ignored that warning for the PR and stock bump. But that is why, when the ruling came down last year, Disney quickly extricated themselves from that OpenAI deal, even eating the initial upfront fees -- followed closely by OpenAI ending their entire AI video generating business model. They adjusted their PR release dates to make this less obvious to shareholders, of course. Phew. I hope that this clears up the key distinctions for you and anyone reading. If you have any additional questions or even hypotheticals about AI and Copyright, please feel free to ask.
    • Each of the devices displayed on this page now has a little volume meter next to it to show if there is audio actively playing. About time.
    • Owing to the nature of Windows feature enablement updates, it was distributed over Windows Update services as a complete system upgrade rather than as an ordinary cumulative update
    • Microsoft confirms Windows 11 26H2, urges IT admins to prepare for release by Usama Jawad Windows 11 typically follows an annual update cycle, but Microsoft recently broke that tradition a bit by releasing a "26H1" version in the first half of this year as a "scoped" build for select new silicon PCs only. This version was not available for customers using 24H2 and 25H2 builds, as Microsoft is busy preparing version 26H2 for them, confirmed officially for the first time. In a Windows IT Pro blog, Microsoft has urged IT admins to prepare for the upcoming release of Windows 11 version 26H2. The company has confirmed that this will be a small enablement package (eKB) that will simply light up certain disabled features that are already present in the operating system's code base. This means that the "refined" Windows update and deployment experience will be simpler and quicker, with minimal disruptions, as the feature update will simply toggle a few flags rather than performing a complete replacement. Microsoft has explained that this is all possible because the standard Windows 11 releases share the same servicing branch and hence, the same source code. However, this also means that Windows 11 26H1 users won't be able to upgrade to 26H2 as that is a different branch, but this is something we have known for a while now. Similar to previous annual feature updates, Windows 11 26H2 will offer the following support cycles: 24 months of support for Home, Pro, Pro EDU, and Pro for Workstations editions 36 months of support for Enterprise, Education, IoT Enterprise, and Enterprise Multi-session editions Microsoft has not confirmed a concrete release date for Windows 11 26H2, but noted that it is "coming soon". If we go by the ongoing release cadence, we can expect it to begin rolling out in early October 2026. As such, IT admins have been encouraged to begin validating Windows Insider releases in the Experimental Channel, plan rollout rings, and strategize the utilization of their existing deployment tools.
  • Recent Achievements

    • Collaborator
      ryansurfer98 went up a rank
      Collaborator
    • Week One Done
      Eurosoft10 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Eurosoft10 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • One Year In
      Skeet Campbell earned a badge
      One Year In
    • One Month Later
      Sharbel earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      576
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      188
    3. 3
      Michael Scrip
      79
    4. 4
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      78
    5. 5
      neufuse
      72
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!