Blu-Ray playback devices

[HDCake]

Howdy all,

There currently is a BR player thread but I would like to start another getting into the technical side of players and capabilities, present and future.

I work as a media specialists specifically codecs, transcoding and live streaming. I am a digital mediaphile by all points of the definition.

My goal is to find the "Swiss Army Knife" of all blue ray players. Players that support all kinds of formats, codecs and other advanced features such as network capability and built in NetFlix instant play support.

Please post any experiences you have with players, good and bad.

Edited 2/28/09

XBOX 360 (I only mention because of future BR drive rumors)
--------
Currently NO BLUE RAY DRIVE SUPPORT
Does support
-WMV HD With WMA 10 Pro for 5.1
-DIVX
-WMA
-MP3
-DVD

PS3
---
Blu-Ray Disk Playback
Plays
-WMV HD ( No WMA 10 pro support for 5.1 )
-MP3
-WMA
-DIVX
-MP4

[Spindaddydad]

I have the PS3 and love it. I have not yet received a disc from Netflix that wouldn't play so I can't attest to the persnicketyness or lack thereof of the PS3 other than to say it's played everything I've thrown at it in the 6 mos. or so that I've had it.

I always download the updates and they are easy to install and work as expected.

It is always seamlessly sniffs out my wi-fi network and experiences very few if any online hiccups.

I have not tried to play any MP3s or anything else on it. I have loaded some digital photos, and the display interface was very cool.

[HDCake]

I really wish the PS3 had more codec support. My services for BR conversion for Media servers uses WMV HD using the advanced codec and WMA 10 Pro for 5.1 audio. PS3's do not supprt WMA 10 PRo. I have some friends at Sony and they tell me it is a business/political issue and the don't think the support will be added =[. There are other ways of making the higher quality audio work on the PS3 but because WMV HD with WMA10 has the best quality at the smallest file size and a broader acceptance across other platforms I won't be changing any time soon.

Which also makes me think when Sony starts playing with network capability on BR players I may run into the same issue.

~HDC

[Spindaddydad]

Panasonic has announced that their upcoming Blu-ray players - the Panasonic DMP-BD60 and DMP-BD80 - are set to be released in April. Both players will feature Panasonic's new Viera Cast technology which allows the players to stream video from Amazon, YouTube, Bloomberg, and many others... What! No Netflix?

[Spindaddydad]

Saw this blog-post that addresses the rumors about the PS3 dropping its blu-ray drives:

This is a quote from Kim Nguyen, Sony's Marketing Manager, in response to the recent rumours the PlayStation 3 was about to loose its Blu-ray drive. Kim was speaking to the Business Insider concerning this and the possibility of a PS3 price cut, however both were shot down both as pure speculation and he re-affirmed what many pointed out; that PS3 games are on Blu-ray and to be without it would destroy the brand.

Seeing as a PS3 without the Blu-ray drive would pretty much make it a PS2, this seems sensible, however the lack of any price cut for the console will continue to hurt sales. Sony have also denied they will release a console without online capabilities, or to introduce a fee-based system for online play, in a similar vein to Microsoft's Xbox business model. This is considerable dedication to the PS3 and we love the fact Sony say online gaming is a 'first amendment right'!

With this denial coming directly from Sony, it should mark the end of such rumours, however as with everything consumer electronics related these days, nothing would surprise us!

[HDCake]

It makes sense, BR drive costs have dropped so much that the difference between DVD and BR is small. If I can buy a PC drive for $69 Sony can produce them for $15. Plus taking away the BR drive would be like taking the crutch from a one legged man in an a$$ kicking contest =]

~HDC