Comments on: Six reasons you shouldn't use the PS3 as your Blu-ray player

The PlayStation 3 is still the best Blu-ray player, but there are some legitimate reasons why you should opt for a standalone player instead.

[Tec Consumer]

For the price you can't go wrong -- you get a Blu-Ray player and free game system. It seems to work great for movies (n picture and sound). But, like all multipurpose machines, it has many flaws.

[Tegus13]

In another words, you have to buy a stand alone BD Player if you want to really enjoy Hi-def , that is to spend another 400 or more bucks.
Brilliant !!

Hey !! Blu-ray won rigth ??

Hooray !!!

Sony set you up very well he hehehehe

Why do you think Sony lost the Betamax vrs. VHS "war" years ago ??
It's not about technology , it's about money

our money

buying a stand alone BD player ?? yeah, the hell will freeze over first

suckers !

[karthikveeramani]

First of all, I'm not a PS3 fanboy. I don't know what you have against PS3 but you seem to be trying too hard to find faults with PS3. Are you saying that these reasons justify the extra hundreds one would spend on a new blu-ray player? If all one needs is this kind of reasons to not use a product, I can find half a dozen for any product you name. I used to have great respect for CNET blogs, but looking at the series of posts on PS3, I feel that you guys need to have an objective eye when you review. I agree with the previous poster, this is just plain nitpicking.

[karthikveeramani]

"I agree with the previous poster, this is just plain nitpicking."

Sorry, I meant another poster on the first page.

[cndlg]

Seem kinda lame reasons, and all very subjective. The only reason not to use the PS3 is personal preference OR (and only IF) it could damage the PS3 in some way. Who would drop another $400 minimum on a stand a lone for any of the reasons listed here? Answer yes to this question and you obviously have too much money to burn.

[rcarpent67]

An excellent Blu Ray player, with online updates, easy to use, configuring with my Harmony remote-no problem with Nyco dongle, works well my Onkyo-criticisms in this article are a load of bunk

[Xboxmann]

This article is the worst POS I have ever read. Only an Xbox 360 Fanboy could have wrote something as bad as this. This gets old really fast. I have both systems and they both have their good and bads but this article just blows my mind at how desperate the 360 fanboys are now that the PS3 is on top and with games like MGS4, Killzone 2, and Resistance 2 coming the 360 fanyboys are crying their little eyes out because they can't have these games.

But lets take a look at this FALSE article.

1) Umm YES it does work with universal remotes idiot. That is just a flat out lie. If it didn't then how does my PS3 work with one? Explain that to me.

2) Oh look, this fanboy is grasping for straws. It's not loud at all and in fact my 360 makes more noise than my PS3. But who cares? You can't hear either one of them if you have your volume on your TV anywhere above Mute.

3) Interface isn't easy to use? LOL!!! What is so hard about putting a movie in the PS3 and it AUTOMATICALLY playing?

4) Another lame attempt that don't even need a comment.

5) This just gets better and better! It's not going to have that much of an effect idiot. OMG MY PS3 AND 360 ARE SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF THE CITY HELPS! HELPS!

6) Best for last, just when you thought it couldn't get any worse. You need to see this? Really? even though you're still getting the FULL audio quality?

Sorry fanboy, everyone can see your a complete tool and EVERY SINGLE one of these "issues" as you call it are not issues at all. They have no effect at all. None. Zip. Zilch. I'm happy to say that I use my PS3 for all my Blu-Ray needs as that was the main reason I purchased it and to me the gaming is just an added bonus. At the moment however, I do favor my 360 for the gaming end of it but when MGS4 and Resistance 2 hits i'm pretty certain my 360 is going to start collecting dust.

Wow! I'm still amazed at just how stupid this article is.

[dpi5004]

I remember reading on CNET a little while ago about waiting to buy a Blu-Ray player 'cause the early models aren't that great, with the exception of the PS3. Now I'm confused. Blu-Ray looks freakin' sweet, but are we not supposed to buy any of the players available. :-P

[jockey69_70]

Getting a BluWave remote and learning it's commands (with your universal IR remote) is one way. Another way could be that, Sony may be planning to make their 'PS3 blue tooth remote' a universal remote as well, by providing the IR functionality in the remote (instead of in PS3).

Anyway, I feel that the best feature of PS3 seems to be discounted by many. That is the flexibility of firmware upgrades, which makes this a 'future-proof' system compared to all other standalone BD players (including Sony's own).

I personally feel it would be more appropriate to title this article as "why you *may not* like it to use PS3..." and remove the "should not use" verbiage.

[DarkStar98]

I am in no way hating on the PS3. I work at an electronics retailer and have to deal with this just about everyday. Which BR player do I get? Well, I ask a couple of questions to get what they are looking for now and in the future. In the end, if they just want a BR player I always recommend the Panasonic b/c for the value and what you get, it does perform well. The only thing the PS3 has better is the Wifi and playing games. Now as far as some of these responses towards the original post/article, I am pretty sure the guy knew about the IR dongle, and the PS3 is pretty loud regardless of the model. From a personal standpoint, I am not satisfied with the performance of the PS3 as a BR player. Granted it is foremost a game console, which it does well in. There are a couple of BR players that when compared to the PS3 do fall short, especially the Sony BR players. That kind of confuses me b/c doesn't Sony build the PS3. The PS3 out of the box now does a good job at upscaling and gives the option to run optical to a non-hdmi AV receiver. Has quick load and power up times. The only downsides in my opinion is the loud fan, which you can hear in any sound environment; I'm sorry but it can be heard regardless what others say, they just might have slight hearing issue with certain frequencies. The last is the DolbyTRUE HD and DTS-HD MA, the PS3 cannot bitstream these formats to capable AV receiver. I borrowed my brothers PS3 and it has the latest update, my Pioneer Elite receiver doesn't receive the signal from the PS3. My Toshiba HD-DVD player on the other hand does. All connected thru the HDMI connection. I know the format is dead, but I think it did have some better aspects compared to BR. That's another argument, though. Now the Panasonic BR player does have the best video output up to twice its cost, similar BR players around 1k just fall short and there price tag is the downfall. The upscaling in the Panasonic is the best I have seen, there are only two other units that upscale equally or better. The Toshiba HD-XA2 and the new Denon BR player that costs 2k. Now not that they're worth it. So for people that want a quick, versatile and just want the better picture BR player with adequate surround sound, go for the the PS3. If your an audiophile and audio purist (like me), go for a Panasonic, Denon, Pioneer Elite or Samsung BR player. I plan on getting a PS3 and separate BR player. PS3 only for 2 games (which are exclusive, ended up being the same reason for my Xbox360, but not my Nintendo Wii, now that is an innovative console, just unfortunate for HD resolution) and a separate BR player for the shortcomings of the PS3, now this is for me.

[ek00]

I'm a non-techie who doesn't want to wait a year or more before replacing his old DVD player with a BR player, and I have a functional question: will the PS3 upcode DVDs as do the stand alone players? I've got a lot of old DVDs...

[Earthanoid]

@ek00: Yes, the PS3 upconverts DVDs.

As for the article, the interface isn't hard to use. As a default, it is set to automatically start playing a movie once a disc is inserted. A neophyte doesn't need to know how to navigate the UI at all, but just needs to know how to eject and insert discs.

[etjatm]

I agree with rfelgueiras...my wife would hate it if she couldn't use our universal remote to control any part of our system. Thank God for macros.

[robd11]

Three reasons I do not want PS3:
1. That hard drive will go **** up in a year and my player will be useless
2. I just don't want a game console. Simple player please, simple IR programming for my cable box remote
3. The friggin thing still costs $400. 400 bills for an slight improvement in video quality? My upconverting home theatre DVD players works just fine thanks.

[OTE55]

Just setup PS3-80gb unit to 52" Samsung 1080P/120 hz and Denon 1909 receiver using all hdmi cables, Boston Acoustics towers, center & SW in front and B&W speakers for rear surround. Sleek look, outstanding picture quality, wireless remote helps, love the MGS4 game and wireless controller............now for the con: during playback of any movie....the fan motor is loud enuf to be quite irritating during the entire movie, especially when it icks into "turbo" speed......I don't know about you.... but if you are expecting playback that is without extraneous noise during quieter moments and not a 747 flying in the room.....then this unit is not for you. Have to say .....dissapointed. My wife is now pushing for an additional blu-ray that is 2.0 and QUIET. Does anyone have a solution to the loud fan noise.....it will save me forking out more $$$$$.

[victor_cc]

Excellent Article that points out important features.
My question is regarding the audio output of the PS3.
My Receiver / Amplifier has Dolby Digital and DTS decoders, and it accepts digital audio inputs over coax or FiberOptic cable. But it does not have HDMI inputs, and I do not feel like replacing a perfectly good receiver at this time. Is there any way to connect the audio output of the PS3 to my Receiver? Are there any splitters that would convert HDMI into DVI plus Digital Audio (Coax)?? I would appreciate your comments.

[conchchowder]

You forgot one, obvious reason NOT to use the PS3.

YOU DON'T PLAY VIDEOGAMES!

Like buying his and hers bathrobes when you're a priest.

[kd9]

You forgot the MOST important reason NOT to buy a PS3. THEY DON'T LAST LONGER THAN A MONTH!!!!!! This is my second PS3. It died 1 hour and 33 minutes into Iron Man. I will NOT be getting another one and I will encourage EVERYONE else to skip this piece of junk. And I can't get it fixed locally, but have to SHIP IT? What kind of stupid, stupid, stupid, non-customer service is THAT?

[dirty55409]

they're all good reasons, not everyone wants to have a videogame system as a blu-ray player. Remember when you were in highschool and used your PS2 as a DVD player? those were the days.

I like the PS3 as my blu ray player but mine does get loud about 45 minutes into the film. Whereas decently compressed HD content streaming from Netflix on my Xbox 360 is silent.

[epross]

None of these are real reasons not to get a PS3 if you want to be able to play games AND watch BD movies. If you don't play games then its a non-issue.

I have to say (and I already own a stand alone BD player) I didn't think I'd want to play games on my TV. Then my wife got me a PS3 for my birthday. Playing games on the big screen in Dolby 5.1 is truly amazing.

If you like movies and games - get a PS3 'nuff said.

However, I'd like to address your other points:

1) Sony should have included a IR remote, however, Blu-ray has its advantages in that it doesn't require line of sight and there are work-around options out there. Minor issue or annoyance for some. Others like myself could care less. What they should have done is included the remote in the box, but I guess Sony's profit margin on these units is still too slim (if any) to justify this.

2) Yes, somewhat noisier than most, but this is an over exaggerated issue. Place the unit in a well ventilated area away from the direct line of your hearing and you won't even notice it unless its badly overheating and/or vent holes are filled with dust.

3) Interface isn't easy to use? Ok, does your VCR still flash 12:00 ? After 30 minutes or so I was completely fine and comfortable with the interface. The learning curve for the XMB is quite shallow, so I don't get this. If you can check your email and breathe at the same time you can operate a PS3. You are grasping at straws here. Especially considering that the PS3 can be set up for automatic playback of discs - then you never have to use the XMB at all once the system is configured.

4) Granted the PS3 doesn't behave with older receivers needing analog outputs, but odds are an older receiver wouldn't have 7.1 inputs anyway. I have an optical to coaxial adapter for my cable-box to accommodate the sound output from that. I'm sure there are other adapters out there that would convert optical to analog. However, new receivers with HDMI input are fairly cheap these days. I'll give this one to you, but I have a non-HDMI receiver and use the optical input and it sounds just fine. So this may annoy a small segment of the market, but its not a deal breaker for most. Probably more annoying that they give you stupid cables and have to go out and get an optical and or HDMI cable to begin with.

5) 25W to 170W - did you measure this with a amp-meter? I can't believe that the PS3 uses that much more juice unless it doesn't power down non-essential components such as the hard drive during playback. Maybe this is something Sony can address via a future firmware update. But regardless, its irrelevant next to the 1000W amplifier you have powering a 7.1 system (you do have that right? if not then point #4 and #6 are moot aren't they?) The cost of 145W/Hr of electricity is pennies. Are you watching movies 24 hours a day? Weak.

6) As long as you get the TrueHD or MasterDTS coming out of your speakers do you really care if it lights up on your receiver? The last firmware allows an option Bitstream or PCM? I've heard that if you send PCM and let your receiver do the decoding that you will lose the second audio track (commentaries etc.) and that this happens on stand-alone systems as well so if bitstream achieves the desired results (sans light) then who cares? Also, if you care about #4 then you can't have #6 as older analog only amps wouldn't have a Dolby HD or Master Audio light anyway, they lack the processing capability. This is really grasping at straws.

If you play games (or want to) why wouldn't you get a PS3? The cheapest blu-ray is around $250. The cheapest console Wii or Xbox Arcade is about $199. So together they are $450. Last I checked you could get a PS3 for $399 so you already are saving about $50 which is close to the price of a game or a couple of movies.

Of course as BD players come down in price (and if PS3 continues to stay the same) the price tipping point at where it becomes more economical to purchase separates gets closer.

A HUGE bonus over stand-alone players is that the PS3 is way quicker at loading and playing discs. I also have a BDPS300 and it is slow. It takes almost 2 minutes to power on and load BD Spider Man 2. When I turn on my PS3 it is about 15 seconds to power up and another 10-20 seconds to load the same disc. If you have kids you'll appreciate the speed of the PS3 over the stand alone unit.

Either way, people would buy more Blu Ray players if the discs were cheaper regardless of the playback device used.

[itsthtguy]

i never hear the fan and it does auto play blue ray.