Why the PS3 isn't the best Blu-ray player
Not too long ago we asked you what the best Blu-ray player was and as many would expect one of the hottest answers was the PS3. At $400, with the PS3's ability to be updated to support just about any new Blu-ray feature, it seems like the best value; but there's one thing about the PS3 that is often overlooked. No, we're not talking about the lack of IR remote (easily solved with a $15 adapter) we're talking about the limited audio codec support. Sure, the PS3 supports Doby TrueHD decoding internally, but it lacks a big one, DTS HD. For whatever reason, the PS3 does not support bitstream output -- no, not even TrueHD -- only PCM, and since there's no DTS HD decoder built in, that leaves out one of the hottest new codecs. Sure, only ~15% of Blu-ray titles even include a DTS HD sound track, but judging by the upcoming releases from Sony, Disney, Fox, New Line and Lionsgate, we'd say this number is going to get a lot bigger. At this point, the best option is the Panasonic DMP-BD30 and a newer HDMI 1.3a A/V receiver with all the decoders built in, but who knows, maybe Sony will figure out a way to upgrade the PS3.
