BDP-S360 vs PS3

[rtbug]

BDP-S360 or Playstation 3 for playing BD movies and upscaling DVD's. Pro's, cons? Thanks!

[bigbossbmb]

I have a PS3 and have been considering some standalone players lately.

PS3:
media streaming
consistent firmware upgrades (with possible new features)
fast BD loading

BDP-S360:
low power consumption
lower noise
IR remote sensor
HD audio bitstreaming
profile 2.0
don't know what possible upgrades it could get in future
approx $175 cheaper (not taking into account a BT remote or IR sensor purchase for PS3)

[rtbug]

Is there any known comparison between the quality of the upscaling of DVDs and rendering of BD between the PS3 and the S360?

I was actually planning on buying an S360 and replacing my 480 DVD player, but them a stroke of luck occurred and I won a PS3 in a give away. So I'm now trying to decide if using the PS3 in place of my DVD player and not buying an S360 is a good idea or not at least in terms of quality/support.

[bigbossbmb]

The PS3 has very good upscaling. I haven't seen any direct comparisons between it and the S360. But getting the PS3 for free, the only downside would be power consumption, fan noise, and no HD audio bitstreaming. If you can live without those, you're good to go.

[mic]

But getting the PS3 for free, the only downside would be power consumption, fan noise, and no HD audio bitstreaming.

The PS3 does HD audio, just not through bitstream.

[rtbug]

Is the HD Audio for movies (DVD or BD)? I see in the DVD playback Audio Output Format options of Linear PCM and Bitstream. Is this the same or something different?

[bigbossbmb]

The PS3 does HD audio, just not through bitstream.

That is exactly what I said.

rtbug:
HD audio would only be on BD discs (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD/DTS-MA). The audio option you are referring to determines how the audio will be decoded. Choosing Linear PCM will tell the PS3 to decode your audio and send it uncompressed to your receiver. Choosing Bitstream will tell it to not touch the audio and send it to the receiver exactly as it is read from the disc.

However, the PS3 cannot bitstream the HD audio codecs. This means if you choose bitstream, the best audio your receiver will get is standard Dolby/DTS 5.1.

Technically there shouldn't be a difference in sound. Some people claim otherwise. I just listed it as a feature that differentiates the two players.

[mic]

I was clarifying it. Basically, the only difference is that the logo on the receiver won't light up.

[rtbug]

Thanks for the advice guys!

[bigbossbmb]

I was clarifying it. Basically, the only difference is that the logo on the receiver won't light up.

I thought that was the only thing too... until I tried to do the Audyssey setup on my Denon receiver.

My Denon avr-988 will not apply the Audyssey EQ settings to Mulit-channel Direct Input (5.1/7.1 LPCM). So using the the PS3 as my BD player, I cannot use this feature. The Audyssey setup will apply to Dolby/DTS input (don't have a bitstreaming BD player to test TrueHD/DTS-MA).

Something to consider depending on your receiver features.

[mic]

Interesting. Hmm, I don't know if my Denon AVR-3808CI would work the same way, I presume it would. In the beginning I tried using AEQ and found I didn't like the way it sounded, so I ended up setting up everything manually, including EQ, and have left it that way ever since.

[sembazuru]

While the OP's PS3 in question is a free unit (gotta love that price), for those of us/you currently in the market, be advised that the recently announced PS3 slim adds bitstreaming of the HD audio codecs. http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/21/ps3-slim-bitsreams-dolby-truehd-and-dts-hd-ma-audio-at-last/ Apparently Sony put in an upgraded HDMI chip that actually supports bitstream of the higher formats, so those of us/you who have a PS3 phat don't expect that feature to arrive in a firmware upgrade.

I honestly don't know what the BDP-S360's power requirements are, but the PS3 slim doesn't require as much power as the PS3 phat, and the price for both is/will be about $300 (vs. current Amazon price of $213.11 for the BDP-S360).

Mebby in a couple months Patrick and Roger should do a side-by-side comparison of the PS3 Slim against other comparibly priced BD-players on the market from the standpoint of someone uninterested in games. (I haven't watched the market recently enough to know how the PS3 (phat or slim) stacks up against stand-alone BD players at and under the $300 mark.)

[bigbossbmb]

wow, i go to Vegas for the weekend and I come back to the new PS3's bitsreaming...sigh... now i kinda want one.

The original PS3's use 175w/hr which is approx 10x the power consumption of a BDP-S360. The Slim uses 1/3 less than the original, so it's still 6-7x the power.