So Sony's got a $399 Blu-ray player on the market now, huh? Really blasting away at that price point, huh Sony? Really keeping on your toes now that HD DVD is dead and gone, giving you zero competition in the physical format space, yeah? Oh, we forgot, you're using a blue laser, and those require bloody war with dastardly intelligent man-eating monkeys to boot up. We got to handle
Sony's new BDP-S350 Profile 2.0 Blu-ray player tonight, and while we aren't mad that the new player draws less power, takes up less space, and supports more technical HD hotness, it literally feels like a $20 DVD player in the hand -- no way Sony has $400 of electronic components in this thing. Even the front LCD is teensy: we've bought $200 home theater in a box systems from Sony with more extravagant displays. We understand Sony trying to make back a few dollars from a pricey format war, but at this point this ridiculous price point is looking way artificial. In other, less insulting news, Sony was showing off the new HT-SS2300 Home Theater System, which is designed to complement the S350, along with the HT-IS100 "Micro System," which we found intriguing. Sony also showed off its
HDR-CX12, which is nothing special in person, though we certainly like what's under the hood.
posted July 16th 2008 7:20PM
I think we're all overlooking the real travesty here...a Justin Timberlake video, WTF?
Yessss
Am I the only one that realize how bad it is when part of the concern with buying a DVD player is "I hope it's upgradeable for future versions!" ?
You didn't have that with Beta, VHS, DVD, or HD-DVD.
I mean, it's a great thing for current player vendors - even without a format change, they can keep putting out high-end players at expensive prices to meet the new "format features".
Yet another reason I hate BR. Non-standard, ever-changing specs are NOT a good thing for the consumer. Unless you like dropping a few hundred on a new player every couple of years. And risking old discs not playing in your new player, and/or new discs not playing in your old player.
It's ridiculous.
The $400 price for this thing is set artificially high by Sony so people will buy the PS3.
I own a PS3, bought almost exclusively as a media player. From my perspective current standalone BR players don't even come close to the capabilities of the PS3.
The PS3 is not just a game system that can play BR movies, it's so much more than that. It's a "media extender" in almost every meaning of that term.
It can display Web video, play any video / audio you might have available on your local PC's (any format if you use software like TVersity as the server), it can even rip and encode your DVD's to it's hardrive (through Linux) if you have some favorites and don't feel like loading them in the PS3 all the time. It's integration with a PSP isn't quite as useful as a Sony Locationfree (which I own as well) since they haven't come out with a DVR option for the US "yet" (though they have one for Europe). Sony just brought online video sales to the table, which added something that has been needed for the PS3.
Last but not least is it's ability to do video/audio conferencing with other PS3 owners.
While I didn't mention it's a good gaming console system and even a weak but serviceable computer they are something to consider unless your strictly comparing them as media devices, so I left that out of the "upsides" to using the PS3 instead of a standalone. There are still some downsides to the PS3 versus a standalone that have been mentioned in this thread already, but I'll restate them.
Audio capabilities are weaker than they should be, especially over HDMI. This one I doubt can or will get a firmware fix. Another issue is the infrared remote, this one can be fixed at any time Sony wishes (I have a USB IR dongle on my PS3 for my keyboard/mouse) but I'm not at all sure they wish to "fix" this problem. I suspect the only real fix for this would come from the remote manufacturers adding bluetooth as an option or someone creating a small converter type device.
Last up for downsides is the bizzare shape of the PS3, only hope for fixing that is a new design on future units which will definately happen, but there is no way of knowing if Sony will design something more in line with what a videophile would want or stay with a "unique" look that is an issue currently.
Just my opinion, but unless your setup or "future setup" has the level of audio components where you could actually hear the difference between the PS3 and a standalone, the PS3 just obliterates a standalone in all around capabilities at the same price point. If you do happen to have or are going to get such an audio setup considering how much you already have invested in that your a definate buyer of a standalone or perhaps both.
Sorry for the long post, but just trying to do my part in case someone reading this is trying to decide what might be the better option for them.
Dave
Was this supposed to be a review? Check your fanboy at the door if you're trying to review a product.
I'd find it quite humerous if by the time BluRay becomes affordable another format hits the scene and blows BluRay out of the water. Sony and friends are being greedy, and I predict they will suffer for it. Technology moves too fast to try and sit on BluRay.