PS3 as a BRD player - predictions - Technology Forum - Home Theater, Computer, Televisions, Personal Electronics and more!

redford · 08-08-2006, 11:10 AM

Due to cost reasons, as well as to prevent it from completely canibilising sales of dedicated BRD players, it's obvious that the PS3 will have to drop some aspects of the Blu-Ray format. But which ones will they be?

I personally think that for BR movies it will only support up to 1080i, it won't have support for the new Dolby/DTS formats, and I also think that it won't do things such as scaling standard DVDs.

Admitteldy I haven't been following PS3 news too closely, so some of the above may have already been officially confirmed or denied. But I'd still be interested in hearing your thoughts on the issue. Remember, the PS3 - when it comes to Blu-Ray - is a budget player coming sometime after dedicated players, and as a result it won't do everything you'd hope for.

Nimbus · 08-08-2006, 11:11 AM

Well, there was a sign on the CES PS3 display that said it would output at 1080/60p, so we're okay on that one. Upscalling to HD will probably be there as well - remember, that was one of the big presentation points of the Cell. It probably won't have BD-J, is my guess. And obviously, it won't have any onboard hardware decoders for Dolby or DTS.

You must realize that all producers of Blu-Ray are counting on the PS3 to take the budget Blu-Ray player spot (have you heard of another Blu-Ray player for less than $1000?). These companies will allow Sony to be the loss leader and get the machines into people's homes quickly. Once the format war is settled, people will start buying stand-alone Blu-Ray players which will be of a better quality than the PS3

Augustes · 08-08-2006, 11:11 AM

No, but admittedly, most Blu-Ray hardware manufacturers didn't announce prices with their products at CES.

redford · 08-08-2006, 11:11 AM

question: what is the release date for the PS3 slated for?

Nero · 08-08-2006, 11:11 AM

It seems like this would severly limit the player... all the fancy menu and interactive content I've been seeing would appear not to be available without BD-J...

While looking around for information on BD-J, I found this 1/7/06 article saying that first gen players may not be "full profile" which means BD-J won't be fully supported. Weird because on the digital bits interview (posted in this thread), Pioneer says that BD-J is ready. If this article is true, it really muddies the waters.

Augustes · 08-08-2006, 11:12 AM

Blu-Ray really seems like it's not ready for prime time. BD-J not available on first-gen players, initial discs mastered using only MPEG2 compression...

redford · 08-08-2006, 11:12 AM

Why would it be any worse than a standalone? It's got the hardware (3.2 GHz Cell, 550MHz Nvidia graphics chip, BR drive, HDMI, etc.) and any software problems can be fixed through updated firmware.

Nimbus · 08-08-2006, 11:12 AM

I think it will be about like the PS2. A good player, but not great. Will get people by until the price of the others come down.

Nero · 08-08-2006, 11:12 AM

It should be BC because BC with PS2 games is a selling point of the system. In order to read those discs, the player will need to read DVDs and CDs. Wether it upconverts is anyone's guess, but I doubt it.

redford · 08-08-2006, 11:13 AM

If one is looking at PS3 for the Blu-ray only, I'd rather spend a couple or few hundred dollars more and buy a much better Blu-ray player than rely on the PS3...which will surely be of same quality as the DVD player in PS2.

But, that's just me. I'm sure many couldn't care less.