Sexy times!

@P3nnst8r: But no Home mention? =o*(

Um, until the PS3 can _bitstream_ DD+/TrueHD/DTS-HD HR/DTS-HD MA, I'd say it's NOT the best one ever. Sony has a couple coming out this summer that are better than the PS3, in fact.

That said, this is a really welcome upgrade. Let's hope the new store roll-out has a Home beta following next to it. WiiWare and PSN Home - it's going to be a great summer, methinks.

Looks good. So does Grace Chen.

Wow. My tv's speakers are so not worthy of this.

@P3nnst8r: Screw Home. This thing's firmware updates make it the box with the most features added via updates I have ever owned. Has got to be the best Blu-Ray player by far.

Only have one gripe though. They seriously need to include bluetooth support in all of their higher-end universal remotes. I love the hell out of their original touchscreen universal, but I still have that, and the PS3 remote at the end of consolidation. I want to get a new one since mine is grimy, but not unless its got bluetooth.

It's about time! Now the PS3 has finally caught up with the Panasonic DMP-BD30K.

Now they have to teach the Panasonic to play games :)

@Erwos: Any idea if it's even possible to give the PS3 bitstream capability through a firmware upgrade?

I suppose this is good news. I'm just watching movies on mine until GTA IV, MGS4, and a real GT game come out.

@NNTPgrip: Totally agree with the remote deal. I find it amazing no one has come out with a universal remote that actually has PS3 support -- not even Sony! Is their console market penetration so low that they can't justify coming out with a Universal or Intelligent remote that also has PS3 Bluetooth compatibility?

It's the main reason why the two remotes on my coffee table in my living room are the DirecTV controller and the PS3 controller. Yes, controller, not remote controller but just plain Six Axis controller that came with it. As much as I hate having to control my movies with a game controller, I hate even more buying the PS3 remote control which does nothing more than control the PS3.

One product I'd love to see from Sony would be a Home Theater all in one: DVD, BD, full PS3, USB, iPod, wifi, AM/FM/HDR/SR, HDMI, DVI, one heck of a Universal Remote, Wireless rear satelite speakers, did I miss anything? And if they want to keep the PS3 seperate then why not a PS3 with Home Theater capabilities? They already have a nice little Home Theater system that does DVD and Upconverts to full HD but they skimped on BD on this one. Would be nice to only have the Home Theater AMP (or super PS3) and the Satellite/Cable box hanging up on the wall with my TV. It'd be even nicer to have all of that built into the TV set but I'm not sure I want one device handling everything. Too much tech eggs in too fragile of a basket.

@xtremesniper: The PS3 hardware isn't capable of bitstreaming advanced audio codecs. Specifically, the Si9133 broadcom chip used in the PS3 isn't capable.

Other negatives: no IR receiver or lcd display.

This is why the PS3 will never be the best Blu-ray player, much to a fanboy's chagrin.

Bitstreaming is completely unneeded in a blu-ray player! Profile 1.1 and above movies are authored in advanced which means that the player HAS to decode the audio in PCM. Why would you then RE-ENCODE into DTS or Dolby to send to your receiver? You wouldn't! You lose zero quality when going to PCM. This makes the PS3 THE BEST blu-ray player bar none.

@jm9843: Makes perfect sense to me.

I'm still considering a purchase if they drop the PS3 price by $50 because then I won't be able to justify paying more for a movie player that doesn't play games, even if it supports bitstreaming.

You can buy the Nyko Blue Wave IR remote with the USB plug-in receiver, and then use any universal IR remote you like. That's what I've done. It's $17 at Amazon. If you are using a Harmony remote, there is already a device config for Nyko on the Logitech website, so it's easy.

The PS3's RF remote is a plus if you hide your AV components inside cabinets.

@xtremesniper: You can get $100 off the PS3 by signing up for a Sony credit card. Google it and you'll find the deal. Keep in mind that opening lots of credit cards dings your credit rating, so only do this if your credit is good, you don't have too many cards already, and/or you aren't planning to get a mortgage in the near future. You also may be able to swing another $20 off if you buy from Amazon using the "Gold Box Trick," resulting in a PS3 that costs only $280 delivered.

@apeguero:

keep an eye on this website.

Full control of PS3 from IR remotes, including ON/OFF and activities.

[ir2bt.com]

The site only allows pre-orders when the units are produced, so you will need to wait for the last shipments to be cleared before ordering re-opens.

@bandit: I'm a little too weary on opening a credit card just to save money on a console, especially since I would want to just cancel the card right after.

I live in Canada, so that deal may not even exist here. I would also probably not be able to take advantage of the Amazon trick either.

But thanks for the advice anyways!

@Accordion: It's a nice idea but too $$$. If they bring the price down then they'll really have something.

when are we going to get in game music??? i think that is one of the coolest things yet we dont have it. there was no way i was going to get a 360, cant stand the controller and no wifi blah blah whatever lets not get started.

why must you be so prude with us Sony?!!?!?!?!

@matsayz: As a PS360 owner, I have to say:

Load times seem better on 360, the controller is better designed than the PS3's rumble-less troller, Live is a must, and in-game music is another advantage.

It sounds like the only thing holding you back is fanboyism.

@Erwos:

Bit-stream is absolutely unnecessary. The best setup is to decode at the player and send the uncompressed pcm to the receiver.

No matter how many thousands you spend on your receiver, the quality only kicks in at the pcm level. The process of decoding is exactly the same quality in the receiver or the player, how the pcm is handled after decoding is what matters and thats why you feed the raw pcm to the receiver.

Also, if you want BD 2.0, YOU HAVE TO DECODE AT THE PLAYER. Just lke you had to with HD-DVD. New 2.0 feature and old pre 2.0 features for the standard require you to decode at the player so you can mix pic-in-pic audio with the main soundtrack and/or mix in the center channel specific language with the rest of the standard soundtrack since BD and HD-DVD don't come with one full sound track for each language. The soundtracks are mixed in real time to save space and this can only be performed after the tracks are decoded and in pcm form. Therefore, you have to decode at the player. If not, then the player is probably decoding anyway, then down sampling and sending to your receiver.

I don't care if the PS3 is or isn't the best player (though right now it is the indisputable best-bang-for-your-buck king), but get your bit-stream facts right mate. There's so much misinformation about bitstream vs uncomp pcm out there its frustrating, and the only reason for that is that electronic companies are happy charging you for the decoding chips twice, once in the player and the second time in the receiver, when they know full well that you only need one (the one in the player), and that the one in the receiver is completely useless with properly encoded HD-DVDs and after the 2.0 profile in Blu-Ray.

Get it...

@Rikqi:

couldn't have said it better myself

So does this update fix the streaming mp4 stuttering that was introduced in 2.20? VOBs and M2TSs still stream just fine, but mp4s becamse unwatachable if streamed from a DLNA server.

@Rikqi: Thanks for that explanation. I've been trying to figure this whole thing out (as I only recently got into home theaters and I just bought a receiver that does TrueHD and DTS-HD) but there isn't that much helpful information out there.

This is awesome. The PS3 is most definitely the best Blu-ray player now, no question.

@OMG! Ponies!: eh, i dont do fanboyism. i also dont care for Live and the controller is personal preference so lets not argue on that point.

it's personal preference on lots of the features really. like my house is wifi and not wired for CAT5, plus the router is in a different room. the rumble controller, yes i was pissed it didnt come with that the 1st day, luckily i havent bought a second controller so the rumble controller is on its way and i can live with that.

what made you choose the 360?

@OMG! Ponies!: Yeah, I'm a PSWii60 owner, and I agree that the 360 has the better gaming experience (controller, Live, music), but I still have to go with the PS3 when it comes to anything non-gaming. It's a better hardware experience overall -- quieter, better upscaling of DVDs, and, I hate to say it but, less prone to catastrophic failures. I'm so paranoid now that I've started to pick up all multi-platform releases for the PS3 despite the awkward controller (especially for FPS games).

Thankfully, I'm not a huge audiophile, so this probably won't rock my world too much. I only recently set up a surround system, as my friend was ditching his Onkyo R340 and gave it to me for free -- problem is, it seems to not recognize a few important codecs, so most Blu-rays I own come through as PLII. So I usually just have 2 friends come over and run around the room holding the L and R speakers so I can still get the 3D sound effects.

@NNTPgrip: Yeah, i agree, thus with my first comment, but i am excited to see Home. Also, i don't have a receiver that takes HDMI input.

@Canoehead: "So does this update fix the streaming mp4 stuttering that was introduced in 2.20? VOBs and M2TSs still stream just fine, but mp4s becamse unwatachable if streamed from a DLNA server."

And does it fix broken WMV playback? A plethora of WMV's I have come back with errors or only show half-way through the program, whereas my 360 plays them back fine.

Still waiting Sony - please fix this!

@xtremesniper:

No problem, check this link out:

[www.highdefdigest.com]

My good friend Joshua Zyber (who goes on to quote Sanjay Durani) compiled a hell of an article regarding HDMI 1.3 and all it really means for audio and video.

This article is so good that I never bothered re-inventing the wheel and constantly recommend it as the definitive source for all HDMI 1.3 questions. It does a great job in clearly covering almost all of the HDMI 1.3 audio decoding and video standard issues.

@Rikqi: Thanks I'll definitely check that link out.

My only gripe is that while most components in my setup can handle HDMI, the one that can't is my TV. So I would have to use HDMI between the console and the receiver, but component cables to the TV. Oh well, at least I get the audio.

"application living natively on PS3"

sweeet.

@MisterSleep: As someone who has has all three consoles in the past year, I chose the 360 not only for gaming, but for the multimedia experience as well. The ability to stream from my Media Center server allowed me to justify a 2nd 360.

When no discs are being run in it, the unit is quieter than my powerbook's fan....not too noisy at all. You are absoluelty correct about the upscaling of DVDs though, the 360's upscaler is as poor as I've seen.

@Rikqi: You completely ignored the following facts:
1. There are very few profile 2.0 discs right now. Even when there are, there's nothing stopping me from just using bitstream TrueHD/DTS-HD MA in the movie and then LPCM in the extras and PiP.
2. Receivers can generally not apply processing to linear PCM streams, and that processing can greatly enhance audio quality in some situations.

I never said bitstream is the end-all, be-all of features. It's not. But you're flat-out wrong when you discard the bitstreaming feature as being entirely useless. I don't see why some arrogant people seem to think that if they don't use a feature, NO ONE should use that feature. It's absurd!

@MisterSleep: Absolutely. I got my PS3, craigslisted my old upscaling DVD player, jammed in a 250GB drive and now use it as a Blu-Ray player. Unfortunately, just like the games, quality BR movies are only now just starting to come out.

For multiplats, I wait for reviews and see which gives a better playing experience.

For media, PS3 is superior (though an actual universal remote would be nice); for gaming, the online and music still give an edge to 360.

Sure, fanboys and say "what about FF13 and MGS4?" However, until those games actually ship, they count about as much as Duke Nukem.

There is a feature that the PS3 has that is not advertised and should: the ability to install your own drive without voiding the warranty. It takes about 15 minutes (that includes installing the firmware). My 40GB PS3 is now a 250GB PS3, meaning I can put a music library on the drive.

My take is that both MS and Sony shipped machines with glaring flaws which mar otherwise wonderful pieces of hardware. People need to stop dumping on both of them and admit that both are worth the money.

@Erwos:

I honestly don't want to get on a pissing contest with you, but your reply is so blatantly wrong that I'm forced to answer.

I hope you don't take this personally again.

Your first point would only barely make sense if your second point was valid. Your second point however is not a "fact" and it is outright wrong.

No receiver in existence can apply processing to a bit-stream. Every single receiver decodes everything to PCM first internally before it applies any kind of processing. This is the nature of the technology, period.

Think of it this way:

Say you have a zip file (lets say a MS Word file) in your computer (analogous to the soundtrack in a movie). Now say you want to change something in that Zip file (analogous to mixing different sound effects in your movie), can you do so without unziping the file first?

No, you can't. Period.

You have to unzip it, (analogous to decoding to pcm) then open it with a workable program (MS Word), and then make changes to it (analogous to processing and adding effects).

Once you change it, does it make a difference if you e-mail it to a friend without ziping it again or if you just send the file?

It doesn't make a difference, your friend will get the same file either way, period.

Encoding and then decoding again will not add (nor degrade) any new musical notes or fidelity to the file from thin air.

The final file will be exactly the same and if you were to zip it your friend (analogous to the receiver) would have to unzip it again so he can make his changes to it (analogous to the internal decoding process happening on every single receiver known to man).

The only reason manufacturers are neglecting to educate the consumer in this matter is because they can make allot more money by selling those decoding chips twice, once in your player and once in your receiver (analogous to both you and your friend having to buy separate copies of Zip software in order to encode and decode (compress/decompress) the file your'e sending each other).

You can achieve the same result for half the price by just decoding (unziping) at the player and sending the linear pcm (unziped file) so the receiver can work with it in its native form (your friend doesnt have to unzip anything, he can just work with it right away).

Any HD-DVD and/or BluRay disc authored in advanced mode will force you to decode at the player, period. HD-DVD was this way from the start.

So, tell me again: Why would you pay for something in your receiver that you don't have to use right now (and wont make a difference if you do, only add to the price of the receiver), and flat out wont be able to use with any new discs?

And I repeat, there is no increase in quality/procesing/pixie dustness/or any other voodooness by decoding at your receiver. FACT.

I don't imagine that made it any clearer to you since you sounded pissed off in your reply.

But, I had to try. Hope it helps...

@Rikqi: @Erwos:

Both you guys need to settle down a bit. Rule number one of commenting: It's just the internet. No need to get worked up.

That said, it's all moot until they release enough Blu-Ray movies to justify Joe Public buying one. Movies with Milla Jovovich and/or mutant zombies don't count.

@Rikqi: Great explanations. I agree that there's a lot of confusion out there regarding bitstream. It's a bit of a leap of faith to accept that you don't really need it, and even bigger to think that there's no reason why both receiver and blu-ray player each need the decoding chips, but that's just the way it is.

I'm looking forward to DTS-HD MA on my PS3. Now I just need to get a heftier amplifier and better speakers!

@Lizard_King: You can use a UPnP Media Server on the PS3.

@Erwos:

Why is bitstreaming so much better than just internally decoding it and sending it out?

@Rikqi: Since you seem knowledgeable on this topic could you perhaps elaborate a little bit for me?

I am not too familiar with the new HD audio formats, but I know in my current last gen audio setup, its preferable for my dvd player to pass through (not decode then re-encode) the bitstream signal to my receiver which can process the signal a lot better. If I did the decode at the player and then pass the signal to the receiver (again last gen so 5.1/7.1 analog ) my receiver can only output the sound as decoded by the player and can not perform any processing on the sound.

It is my experience with last gen audio receivers that they are only able to process a digital bitstream signal as it decodes it and not an analog or pcm signal.

Are you saying that with the new generation of Bluray players and AV Receivers that the av receivers capable of receiving a 7.1 pcm signal via HDMI are also able to process this signal rather then just play it as it is passed to it?

I know it makes no sense for the ps3 to decode the bitstream signal and re-encode back to send it to the receiver but are you saying the ps3 isn't capable of just passing through the bitstream signal for the receiver to decode?

What if I have a last gen a/v receiver that can only accept either bitstream DTS-ES or DD-EX or 7.1 analog, can the ps3 re-encode into those? Sorry lots of questions since I am considering buying a ps3 mainly for the blu-ray player.

@topbravo222: I already have a Media Center server, and head to head, the 360's support as an extender offers more options including DVR support. It's seamless. The Media Connect options are getting better all the time, though.

Doesn't a receiver have to be HDMI 1.3 compatible to have the bandwidth for 7.1 pcm? Or am I completely wrong?

@dabub:

-Last gen or current gen:

If you do ANALOG from the player to receiver, then the receiver can't process anything (imagine printing out a word file. That is analog, once you do so you really can't format that piece of paper any longer. What's printed is printed).

Also, keep in mind that when you do analog, the player is not only decoding the bitstream, but also converting the audio from digital to analog (printing). That's what makes the difference, read below.

-Now, for last gen with no hdmi:

If your receiver has better digital to analog converters (DAC or D-to-A) than your player then send the bit-stream through toslink or spdif and use the receiver to both decode and do the D-to-A conversion. You can also opt to decode at the player, send the digital lpcm to your receiver, and have your receiver handle the D-to-A conversion (you can't do this for dvd-audio nor SACD please read below). In other words, it really doesn't matter where you decode as long as you keep things digital up-to the receiver (which will then make them analog for your speakers).

Last gen IS ABLE to do processing on both bit-stream and lpcm. Bass management, effects, and other kinds of processing are available as long as the input is digital. Again, your receiver will decode everything to pcm before it applies any processing, that is true for last gen and current gen.

If you have a higher end player with bass management and better D-to-A converters, then do everything at the player and send analog to the receiver.

The one exception to this is with DVD-Audio and/or SACD. Toslink and SPDIF don't have the bandwidth to handle these in digital form, so your only option is to decode and do the D-to-A conversion at the player and send analog to the receiver. This is where hdmi (not only 1.3, but everything after 1.0[no dvd-a]and 1.1[added dvd-a]) changes the game, hdmi gives you the increased bandwidth to send not only dvd-audio and sacd, but also hd-video and the new audio formats at the same time. Keeping them in digital form (bitstream or pcm) all the way to your receiver.

-Now, for your setup with a current gen BluRay player and a last gen Receiver with no HDMI:

If you get a PS3 with your last gen receiver with no HDMI, then your best bet is to connect them through toslink and do lpcm or bitstream. I know that the ps3 will decode everything new and down-convert to DD or DTS and stream that, I'm not sure it will down-convert and send it in pcm (I think it can but never tried it). Either way you will have good good audio, just not true next gen audio due t the down-convert.

Another option would be to see if they sell a multi channel analog audio out adapter for the PS3, I'm not sure they do and if they do, I'm not sure the ps3 can do bass management which is essential.

In a nutshell, if you can live with the down-conversion to DD & DTS, then I think that the PS3 is still the best bargain and most flexible player you can get (upgrade your receiver to one with hdmi later and get the full benefits of next gen audio then).

If you don't want the down-conversion, then your only option is paying more for another Blu-Ray player that has built in multi audio out and bass management (and decent D-to-A converters). This way you get true next gen audio but with D-to-A conversion at the player (your receiver basically just acts as an amplifier, nothing more [and thats ok]).

I have to go. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have more questions...

Hey guys there's a video on Wired about this it shows how it works and stuff! Here's the link: [blog.wired.com]