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awhited74 wrote:

I have always been amazed with the PQ on HD discs. First with HD DVD(Tosh HD-A30) and now with Blu-Ray(PS3), especially on properly transferred and mastered discs. The Departed, King Kong, and Planet Earth look really good. And the Hi-Res audio is amazing.

 

Comparing UV to Blu-Ray/HD DVD is unfair. UV compressed stream running at 6 meg vs Blu-Ray bitrates capable of up to 54 megs, no contest.

 

I just got my copy of The Dark Knight in the mail and can't wait to watch it. Saw it in the theater and it was amazing. My friend says the scenes filmed in IMAX are truly amazing on the Blu-ray disc!

 

I think overall the PS3 is one of the better Blu-Ray players. It has many capabilities; Blu player, video game machine, media streamer, web browser. My only minor complaint is no bitstream of Hi-Res audio, only PCM. If you are not concerned with all the bells and whistles and don't like the high price of the PS3, I think the Panny DMP-BD35$249 and the Sony S-350$249/550$349 are the best stand alone Blu-Ray players available. IMHO

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I got the Sony 350 on black friday for 189.00 and love it. Just remember that these players are very fussy about disc smudges and finger prints so for goodness sake keep your kids away from it.

I had actually gotten bored with my old Onkyo 5.1 system until popping in a Blu-ray brought back all the joy and wonder. Reviews I read said that there was not much difference in sound for most people and was barely noticeable but on my dad's tv with stock speakers the sound is crisper and the dialog more pronounced.