I considered a PS3 but somewhere in the back of my mind I remebered hearinh here of good reasons not to do that? Anyone got more input here?

Mike

I finally bought a PS3 a couple of months ago. It's a GREAT multimedia machine.

I agree. Nothing else even comes close.

I have no first hand information on the BD-P1400 (I am a BD-P1200 owner), but you may want to see the BD-P1400 discussion thread here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=149

--Rob

PS3 - yes!

Not only is the Blu-Ray extraordinary, in side-by-side comparisons with my older Panasonic DVD deck, the PS3 yields a much finer SD DVD NTSC widescreen image. Same disc - better image.

the only drawback is yet another controller.

But you pick up a lot of other options which you don't even consider with a regular DVD deck - i.e. Video games and web browser.

v

If you can manage to get to the 80th page of the discussion, lol, most who have it really like it. I just got mine from CC yesterday.

Amazon has them on sale for 297.00 with free shipping. I'm bringing mine back to CC.

in side-by-side comparisons with my older Panasonic DVD deck, the PS3 yields a much finer SD DVD NTSC widescreen image. Same disc - better image.

Sounds like built-in uprezzing?

Anyone know where to get the best price on a PS3?

I'm trying to minimize my video gear as much as possible. My VHS deck that was also my analog NTSC tuner is on its last leg, and I don't like having three boxes (VCR, ATSC Tuner, and Uprezzing DVD Player) with separate remotes.

I just got a $99 (refurb w/new warranty) EyeTV USB stick that records NTSC, ATSC, and HDTV with very high quality, all controlled by a remote that to my great shock was good to use. It even has "Tivo" functionality for pausing live programming, etc. I can also play SD DVDs on the same box, so three iron boxes can now go to recycling.

But no BD, so that's where a PS3 would come in stage left. For watching Netflix disks of course, their selection is getting interesting now.

THANKS guys. I took the advice and ordered a PS3, but how the hell do I stop my kids taking it?

Assuming I get to keep it whats the best file type to put HDV into NOT having a Blu-Ray burner (yet)? Just 1080p m2t or something better with the PS3?

Mike

@Mike
Assuming I get to keep it whats the best file type to put HDV into NOT having a Blu-Ray burner (yet)? Just 1080p m2t or something better with the PS3?

PS3 plays HDV natively from:

1. Internal HDD
2. External HDD (must be FAT32)
3. Memory Stick
4. USB flash drive
5. DVD R/RW
6. Through the network from the media server
7. and, of course, BD-R/RE

I don't have any stand alone BD player, but I don't think any one will play HDV from anything other than BD-R/RE. You can get HDV onto DVD R/RW without re-encoding as AVCHD disk, but it requires some tweaking.

To add the the above,
The PS3 can playback dvd's with or without uprezzing (selectable in setup).
Update the firmware to the latest release via the internet.

PS3 easy playback methods:
FAT32 Usb Harddisks / Optical Media / Media Servers / SolidState Memory formatted fat16/fat32
Playback Video Formats = mpg, m2t, m2ts, MTS, mp4 (some others, maybe Divx soon to come)

Put your videos, pictures, music into these folders, easier to navigate.
This is the PS3's default folders it looks in for media ( these are the defined filters)
\VIDEO (put your video's here, .m2t, mpg, h264, mp4 etc )
\PICTURE ( your jpeg pictures etc)
\MUSIC ( Your music, mp3, wav, aac etc )
If you don't use these directories and cannot see your multi-media files you highlight the device, hit the triangle button (Options) and select "Show All", this will allow you to manually navigate external media.

To change default display setup when powering on hold the ON button continuously until the video selection screen appears. You may have to do this if you change from hdmi to component connections (depends).

Only a few tips, but enough to get started.
You can play music & a slideshow at the sametime, when viewing any media hit the PS button to activate an overlay screen, then navigate the overlay screen. So play the music, hit the PS button and start a slideshow or view photos.