The number one reason: it works so much better than any other player I’ve worked with (and I’ve worked with a lot).  It boots immediately and it’s responsive to button presses.  It’s grossly overpowered for a Blu-Ray player (its processor is marketed elsewhere as a supercomputing chip).

Cumulatively I’ve wasted weeks of my life waiting for lesser players to boot and discs to load.  Most frustrating is booting a player just to remove the disc and the player refuses to open the tray until after it’s done loading the disc.  Equally frustrating is pushing a button on the remote, nothing happening, then pushing it again and both presses register at the same time and the player does something you don’t want.  Then you hit cancel seven times and they all register a minute later and ARGHHHH!

Anyway, the PS3 doesn’t do that.  It’s great. 

(Fair disclosure: I’ve never had to try to get it working with IR.  Anyone care to weigh in?)

You forgot about fan noise and heat. Unfortunately, the PS3 has both in abundant quantities. The BDP-S2000ES has neither, and though it may lack Profile 2.0, I don’t think it matters.

Profile 2.0 merely adds the ability to wait 20 minutes to download a scene that deservedly wound up on the cutting room floor after both the theatrical edit and the extended DVD edit. Profile 2.0 is a feature that will grow old quickly and will be like PIP was a few years ago. It had to be on the spec sheet to sell a TV, but only 1 in 1,000 customers actually used it. Does anyone really watch the bonus features that are already on the disc? Nope.

So why would adding a wait time to download something that wasn’t even good enough to be in the movie or on the disc in the first place be an important feature? They’re never going to watch it anyway, so why should it matter? Go for the best picture and sound quality. That’s what Blu-Ray is all about, and just like the quality difference between a $1,000 TV and a $5,000 TV, there is a difference in Blu-Ray players, too.

If reference to the article 10 Reasons the PlayStation 3 Should Be Your Blu-ray Player”

It Plays Games, Too!
Need a run-down on some popular games? Here are 8 games you need to know about any why.

Nice research there Jason! Your article about the PS3 links to 8 games you need to know. Well several of the games on that list are for xbox360 only! How does that help make the PS3 the better choice?

My PS3 40GB is essentially silent. I think there’s some sample variation, but mostly I think people don’t understand that its ventilation needs are the same as ano other computer CPU.

My biggest problem with the PS3 is that it will output only one video and one audio stream at a time. This makes simple signal distribution difficult. For pro installations where there’s money for higher-end HDMI splitters this is not so much of an issue. For individual consumers just trying to get a signal to the TV in the kitchen, it can be.

Quote: rdclark - “My biggest problem with the PS3 is that it will output only one video and one audio stream at a time. This makes simple signal distribution difficult. For pro installations where there’s money for higher-end HDMI splitters this is not so much of an issue. For individual consumers just trying to get a signal to the TV in the kitchen, it can be.”

How is this different from any other HDMI-equipped device?

<How is this different from any other HDMI-equipped device?>

Other devices can output analog video at the same time. Both of my HD-DVD players can, and so can my Moto HD cable box.

I can get a composite signal (at least) from every source device I own, in addition to whatever its “premium” output might be. Perfectly adequate for a 13” analog TV so everybody in the room doesn’t have to pause while you run to the kitchen. Only the PS3 cannot do this.

um, yeah. 3 of the “8 games you need to know about and why” are xbox 360 exclusives…

There are also integrated wired IR solutions.  The solution provided by ps3toothfairy is one of them.  It incorporates a baseband / modulated IR decoder and relays the signals through a sony remote module.

I can think of one other reason not to install a PS3 as your BD player. The mechanism uses a pinch roller setup to pull the disk into the drive. If those rollers become dirty, then it can embed the dirt into the surface of the disk. I seriously doubt that you will get a refund on damaged disks from Sony.

The PS3 is a nice all around solution, but if you want Dolby-HD you are out of luck.  I also have a Panasonic HD-30 and the picture quality is better.  In the beginning the PS3 had the edge for future expandability/compatibility, but for a true enthusiast looking for optimal picture and sound, a dedicated Blu-ray player is the way to go. Keep in mind you would need a HDMI/ Dolby true HD compatible receiver to take full advantages of the differences.

Sorry Panasonic BD-30

No,no no, please do NOT listen to this article. I am a hardcore gamer and have had all 3 consoles since their respective launches.
Now while the 360 was supposed to have all the early hardware issues, it’s my PS3 that gives me the most trouble. One of the most annoying problems is the random disconnection of the bluetooth controllers and BD remote. Apparently if there are a lot of bluetooth devices in your house and area, it interferes with the PS3 and shuts the controller off after 45 min to an hour, this wouldn’t be so bad if you could just start it right back up and continue watching your movie, but you can’t, it won’t pair back up, you need to shut it off from the back and start it back up. It got so bad here that I had to go buy a logitech USB controller so I could enjoy movies…..Now if you don’t have a bunch of bluetooth keyboards and mice and phones and headsets, this SHOULD NOT be an issue, but if you go to the official PSN forums you will see that it is an issue for many.
I won’t even get into the FREEZING issues the PS3 has, again just go look on their official forums and see for yourself. Sony was a little too ambitious with the PS3 and it’s coming back to bite em’. If you need a blu-ray player, get a really good free standing one
TRUST ME.

So, to sum up:
1. There is no margin in a PS3. Remember this is a pro-oriented website and we all need to make at least a few dollars to stay in business.
2. There is no automation interface built in. (The PS3toothfairy product one reader mentioned has never shipped even one production unit, so you can’t expect that to be your savior).
3. The PS3 absolutely runs hotter than any standalone player I have ever seen.
4. The PS3 fan may occasionally be quiet, depending on which unit you have, but it is never going to be as quiet as the fanless designs of every standalone player.
5. It is not interference-friendly. If it has to be rebooted even once in a while, that is not going to make any of our customers happy.
6. The picture and sound quality is not as good as the best standalone players. Isn’t the main draw of Blu-Ray the improved picture and sound? Why skimp?
7. Profile 2.0 is irrelevant. The average person will use at most one time.
8. The pinch roller loading mechanism potentially causes additional wear on an already sensitive disc.
9. It’s an odd size. There may be a Middle Atlantic face kit for it, but it is hardly a standard size or shape and not easily stackable with other equipment in a cabinet-type of installation.
10. There is no margin in a PS3. Remember this is a pro-oriented website and we all need to make at least a few dollars to stay in business.

That’s just my take. I have a PS3 and a standalone player, and I think our clients should too.

Well, I’d love some sort of link to support the PS3 picture quality not being as good as some stand alones. Given it is all digital, perhaps one player may have some filters activated when the other does not and gives the illusion of a better picture.

I have never had the PS3 crash yet and have had it several months and it gets a lot of use!

I agree profile 2.0 is not important but try telling that to all the left over HD-DVD trols hehe

Its funny that the article didnt mention its superior ways of showing pix from its internal memory or from reading various different memory cards. (not just Sony’s)
It’s amazing ability to store 100’s of CD’s and show some fun screensavers or your own photos while listening to your music.
Its one hell of a fun way to view basic internet too. Watching Youtube on a 52inch TV is lots of fun and the pic is amazing (depending on source).
All this for $400.00 is a deal!! I doubt anyone could point to another CE product that is as much bang for buck.
Instalers can bump up the cost of teaching their clients how to use the system to make up for $$$ lost on how cheap it is.

Of course, if all they want is a HD disc player, perhaps get a stand alone with from what I have read, has the SAME pic quality.

The PS3 can decode dolby-hd/dts-hd over hdmi, but not send it unencoded.

jbrown, much of what you say is true only if you listen to the commenters in this thread, many of whom have their own agendas.

Specifically, your points 4, 5, 6 & 8 are all erroneous based on my personal experience:

4) I can hear the hard drive in my DVR more clearly than I can hear the fan in my PS3. In other words, it is essentially silent.

5) I’ve never, ever had to reboot my PS3 for this reason. I’ve been using it since Jan ‘07, pretty much daily. Sometimes I leave it running for weeks at a time.

6) I can’t directly comment on this, but would like to see a source better than a random commenter before I believe it.

8) Pure FUD. Has anyone here ever seen or heard of an instance of this happening? This belongs with the stories of the little old lady drying her poodle in the microwave

I am *not* arguing that a PS3 is a better choice than a stand alone for custom installers (the odd shape and the margin issues both argue against that). I just hate to see people start accepting comments as gospel.

I do think it is an excellent choice for consumers since you get so much for so little money, but as you point out, this isn’t a consumer site.

Erm, ok #6 isn’t based on my personal experience. But I would like to see stronger data before I believe it.

Apologies for the error on my part.

Mr. Smith:
#4 - This was directed at other Blu-Ray players being quieter, because they are. Period. This article is about Blu-Ray players, not noisy DirecTV DVRs. My DVR is louder than my PS3 too, until the PS3 starts to get hot and kicks the fan into high gear after being left on for 5 or 6 hours. My PS3 is in a 6” x 20” x 22” open-front compartment all by itself, so when it gets hot, it is due to only it’s own heat. By the way, the DVR noise is resonant, not emitted, some sorbothane feet and a little bit of Dynamat should help you out a lot.

#5 - I have had to reboot my PS3 only twice, in the past 5 months. Neither time was for any known reason. It still sucked both times, and if it had been mounted in a Middle Atlantic rack (like it would in a client’s home), with no access to the rear switch, I would have been quite peeved.

#6 - I am an ISF-certified technician, and have been actively calibrating displays for 8 years now. I’d like to think I can tell when one source outperforms another, but if you need verification, you can call Joel Silver and ask him how well my eyes work. My BDP-S2000ES looks better than my PS3 on both my current KDS-50A3000 and my previous KDSR-60XBR2. It also outperformed the PS3 recently on a Digital Projection Titan 1080p-250 we installed with a Lumagen Radiance XD. But that was just simple A/B tests, I will be bringing the DVE disc home this weekend and hopefully will have time to try that as well, but it is Mother’s Day, so no promises.

#8 - This is simple. You have contact on a disc that you wouldn’t otherwise have as a result of the loading mechanism. Classe uses the same crappy design on their CD and DVD players and to be frank, it sucks. The PS3 works better than the Classe, but it’s still contact and there’s still friction on the first 1/2” of the disc as you slide it in between the rollers before they begin to draw it into the machine. Any dust or dirt on the disc or rollers will cause a scratch, even if it is microscopic. I’m sure that there are only a few out of every million that experience problems, but for the OCD folks out there who treasure their discs, it’s an annoyance.

For the average guy who already has 5 remote controls and a bargain $999.00 flat-panel TV, the PS3 is a great choice, especially since he can’t play GTA IV in a BDP-S2000ES. But for the guy who has $100k or more to spend, the PS3 should be relegated to gaming and a true high-end player should be the primary Blu-Ray source.

*sigh* Why so defensive? (if you need verification, call…) I was just relating my experiences, because your post *seemed* to be just aggregating what other commenters had posted (to sum up). I see now that your list is from your own experiences.

I am an ISF-certified technician, and have been actively calibrating displays for 8 years now. Until you share your credentials (which you’ve now done, in more ways than one), no one can discern jbrown the ISF-certified technician from “jim” who posted above you. If you’d put that line in your original comment I wouldn’t have questioned the point, but I might have asked for more about your experiences with this topic.

Let me quote myself:

I am *not* arguing that a PS3 is a better choice than a stand alone for custom installers

We’re not on opposite sides here.

My post was just to illustrate that the points I was refuting are not major issues to most end users. Although you are a professional installer, many people who read this site (I work here) fall closer to the ‘prosumer’ end of the spectrum (read enough comments and that should become clear to you as well), and for people on a smaller budget, the PS3 is an excellent, reliable piece of equipment that offers a lot of functionality for its price.

I do appreciate you offering more data on the picture comparison, though. As I said, I have no personal experience there. I’ll have to think about replacing the PS3 with a stand-alone for movie watching, once my budget supports doing so.

This is one of the most ridiculous articles I’ve seen in this magazine.  The reasons to not use a PS3 as the sole BD player in a clients home far out way any reasons why you should.  We (CI’s) know this and this article does nothing to sway our opinion. 

I’d sooner buy into an article titled “10 Reasons Why Vizio Should Be Your Panel of Choice for Your Custom Installs”.

Clearly some Sony ad dollars were behind the article…did I miss the “advertisement” warning at the top of the page?