PS3 vs BDP-S350 vs s550

[stogster]

I'm looking at buying a new home theater system soon. I'll be buying a Sony LCD Bravia HDTV and either the Blu-ray Disc™ Matching Component Home Theater System (HT-SS2000) or Blu-ray Disc™ Matching Component Home Theater (HT-SF2000). My biggest question is over which BD player to buy. Should I go with the PS3, s350, or s550? I'm looking to have as nice of a "clean" setup as possible. I've read the PS3 is the best BD player currently available but Sony finally has 2 standalone 2.0 players coming out. (One note: I'm not really a gamer, and I am liking the possible Bravia Theater Sync option.) Thanks for any help/suggestions!

[brett_day]

Originally Posted by stogster

I'm looking at buying a new home theater system soon. I'll be buying a Sony LCD Bravia HDTV and either the Blu-ray Disc™ Matching Component Home Theater System (HT-SS2000) or Blu-ray Disc™ Matching Component Home Theater (HT-SF2000). My biggest question is over which BD player to buy. Should I go with the PS3, s350, or s550? I'm looking to have as nice of a "clean" setup as possible. I've read the PS3 is the best BD player currently available but Sony finally has 2 standalone 2.0 players coming out. (One note: I'm not really a gamer, and I am liking the possible Bravia Theater Sync option.) Thanks for any help/suggestions!

i would still go with the PS3 pver any other player currently available! it supports all audio codecs, is the only profile 2.0 player and is future proof due to the fact you can connect it to the net! PS3 is definately the way to go

[matthewrounds]

I'm holding off for the the 550 from Sony. I was going to purchase the BD50 from Panasonic, but its a little pricey. The MSRP of the 550 is $499 and surely there will be some deals in the $399 range a little while after it is released. For some reason I though the BD50 would have an internal hard drive but both it and the 550 use an SD card for the 1 GB minimum storage capacity for a 2.0 player. I have always been very satisfied with Sony products even though they are a bit overpriced. The 550 will surely be cheaper than the BD50 so I guess I will be holding onto my PS3 for a little while longer.

On another note, I think we are getting past the point for too many more firmware updates on players. Many of us are early adopters and expected this need to occasionally update the player. I am confident the newer players won't have a need for too many updates, but because both players will have an ethernet connection and I'm sure the updates will be easy and simple.

[aviman33]

Originally Posted by brett_day

i would still go with the PS3 pver any other player currently available! it supports all audio codecs, is the only profile 2.0 player and is future proof due to the fact you can connect it to the net! PS3 is definately the way to go

No reason to waste your time on the PS3, the new Sony S350 is Profile 2.

John

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by aviman33

No reason to waste your time on the PS3, the new Sony S350 is Profile 2.

John

if i remember correctly (this is the one im looking at) its only profile 2 with an update and a seperate memory card/usb (cant remember which) thats sold seperately

edit: im waiting to see some reviews and load times since the load times cant be beat yet compared to the ps3

[Entertainment72]

Originally Posted by aviman33

No reason to waste your time on the PS3, the new Sony S350 is Profile 2.

John

Because it is so much more than just a blu ray player.

Eric

[mr.hidef]

Originally Posted by aviman33

No reason to waste your time on the PS3, the new Sony S350 is Profile 2.

John

I agree. Way to many gamers on this site, throwing the PS-3 down peoples throats.Come on?...............Do you really think women want to stare at a video game console in their living rooms? What about people in their 30's and 40's? Go to the PS-3 forums then. This is BLU-RAY.COM, we talk about blu-ra y

[ewwhite]

The PS3 is the cheapest (and only one available) 2.0 player currently, but it cannot bitstream any HD audio codecs. It can only pass them as linear PCM. It is still said to have the fastest loading time of any BD player and one of the better pictures to look at among BD players. The Sony S350 will be 2.0 compatible with firmware update and usb thumbdrive to make up for the lack of onboard memory. The S550 will be fully equipped, but not available until the fall. The BD50 is by far the best player that will be available the soonest, but the pricepoint is very high. I'd love to see a review on the Samsung BD1500. That is supposed to be upgradeable to 2.0 next month.

[Xerious]

Originally Posted by mr.hidef

I agree. Way to many gamers on this site, throwing the PS-3 down peoples throats.Come on?...............Do you really think women want to stare at a video game console in their living rooms? What about people in their 30's and 40's? Go to the PS-3 forums then. This is BLU-RAY.COM, we talk about blu-ra y

considering that right now, as it stands, the ps3 is the best bluray player on the market (for price, function, stability, etc.)... why do you think everyone recommends it??? hmmmmm....

[Entertainment72]

Originally Posted by mr.hidef

I agree. Way to many gamers on this site, throwing the PS-3 down peoples throats.Come on?...............Do you really think women want to stare at a video game console in their living rooms? What about people in their 30's and 40's? Go to the PS-3 forums then. This is BLU-RAY.COM, we talk about blu-ra y

I'm 35.. you are talking out of your a$$. I use mine for 80% movies 20% games.. (COD4).

PQ and AQ is second to NONE! Period! If it is less then you aren't setting it up correctly.

[Xerious]

Originally Posted by Entertainment72

I'm 35.. you are talking out of your a$$. I use mine for 80% movies 20% games.. (COD4).

PQ and AQ is second to NONE! Period! If it is less then you aren't setting it up correctly.

what theme is that? it's hot. can you give me a link??

[Entertainment72]

I can get it once I get home.. can't remember off the top of my head.

[meckel]

If you want something now or in the near term then go w/ the PS3. The Sony 350 should be out July time frame and the 550 will not be out until late Oct. If you are not hooked on Sony and are leaning towards a stand alone, here is a little wrinkle for you.

Right now Panasonic is $100 above Sony in the market but compare the units avalible. The Sony 350 v. the Pan 30 is $399.99 v. $499.99, the panny gives you profile 1.1 and bits all audio codecs (the Sony does not do DTS-HDMA at all) The Sony 500 v The Pan 50 $599.99 v. $699.99. The Panny will give profile 2.0 (sony is 1.0) and the option to either pass as PCM or bit all audio (the 550 does not do DTS-HDMA as far as I know). What does this mean well the specs for the new Sonys are very close the the Panny for less. I feel reasonable sure that once the 350 hits the market or a little before the Pan BD30 will have a price drop to $399.99 to remain conpetive to the Sony the same will happen with the BD50 once the Sony 550 hit if not much sooner.

I know poeple have been complaining about the price of the new Panny but the more I think about it why would I have my high end 2.0 player priced the same as Sony's high end 1.0 player. It make no sense to price it at $599.99 if the Sony BD550 is the same price. If Sony drops the 550 to $499.99 to help sell off to get to the 550 then if I'm Panasonic I would drop the BD50 to $599.99, then I would think about taking another price drop to $499.99 in October just before the Sony hits the stores to steal some of it thunder.

The bottom line to my point is if you want to get a very good player now go PS3. If you want a stand alone I would wait a few months to see how the pricing will shake out with Sony & Panasonic

[ganthc]

Originally Posted by Xerious

what theme is that? it's hot. can you give me a link??

I agree. That is an incredible theme!

[JadedRaverLA]

Originally Posted by un4gvn94538

if i remember correctly (this is the one im looking at) its only profile 2 with an update and a seperate memory card/usb (cant remember which) thats sold seperately

edit: im waiting to see some reviews and load times since the load times cant be beat yet compared to the ps3

True, but the S350 and S550 will load the vast majority of discs in under 10 seconds, and have very fast response times when navigating BD-J titles, so that's a moot point for the OP.

I think you will "officially" need a USB drive for BD-Live on the S350 (but not the s550), but really once the firmware update is out, you should have everything you need to connect on BD-Live titles, you just wouldn't have anywhere to store downloads without the USB drive.

Originally Posted by mr.hidef

I agree. Way to many gamers on this site, throwing the PS-3 down peoples throats.Come on?...............Do you really think women want to stare at a video game console in their living rooms?

I agree. Up until recently, though, the PS3 was far and away the best player out there in terms of specs, speed, and compatibility. It was inevitable and important that standlones catch up, but now that they have, all the PS3 pushing needs to stop. It's definitely a quality player (its the one I use) but if you want ir, multi-channel analog outputs, or a design that fits in better with other home theatre gear (and don't care about gaming) then the new standlones (especially the new Sony's) can give you the same experience without the "game system" stigma.

[Entertainment72]

Let the players come out first before we deemed them worthy of da OPG (original PS3 gansta )

[cawgijoe]

If you are in a hurry to get a player......buy the PS3.....whether you play games or not, it's a superb blu-ray player.

However, if you can wait for the two new Sony's and the Panasonic.....then you can read reviews and decide then which player may be right for you.

[x64Man]

Originally Posted by mr.hidef

I agree. Way to many gamers on this site, throwing the PS-3 down peoples throats.Come on?...............Do you really think women want to stare at a video game console in their living rooms? What about people in their 30's and 40's? Go to the PS-3 forums then. This is BLU-RAY.COM, we talk about blu-ra y

I own 2 PS3's, 44 years young, until the high end $1500 to $2000 players sell for $299 I will own nothing but PS3's or 4's. Yes the 4 will be out before a $2000 player will sell for $299. How quickly people forget what won the war, lets see I will enlighten you, the PS3 won the war so guess thats why you can still come to blu-ray.com and feed us this crap.

[navyman]

I would be more worried about the bad home theater system then the blu-ray player. Both the SS and the SF 2000 are only pass through hdmi. They do not pass the audio signal to the speakers you still need an optical cable for the sound and this prevents you from using the lossless sound avialable on the blu-rays. I would go with a onkyo 605 which is fast dropping in price because of the 606 and get a a speaker package for about 300 dollars. This will put you in the same price range as the sony HTIB systems you are looking at but provide a muh richer experiance.

[Entertainment72]

Originally Posted by x64Man

How quickly people forget what won the war, lets see I will enlighten you, the PS3 won the war so guess thats why you can still come to blu-ray.com and feed us this crap.

blu-ray.com could have been THIS

Thanks PS3.

shove shove down your throat as gently as can be.. maryly maryly maryly life is but a dream........