Blu-Ray Player VS. A second PS3

[crunchMONKY78]

I've been thinking about picking up a stand alone Blu Ray player to use in another room, while I already have a PS3 in the living room.

Are the players worth looking into? Does anyone on here have one? Should I just buy a second PS3 to use? Are the extra features as easy to use as on the PS3 (Netflix,Hulu,etc) ?

 

[Max_DC]

Well, regarding picture quality (Blu-ray) even cheap (100$ +/-) standalone players offer great performance. Good DVD upscaling, internet/network features, 3D etc that can match the PS3 often cost extra, closing the price gap.

I think as a 2nd device a standalone player does the job just fine, I bought a Toshiba fur around 100 EUR including 5 Blu-rays last year. But then again I only use it for Blu-rays, not DVDs, no 3D, no streaming, no recording etc.
If you plan on using other features a lot you can't go wrong with the PS3, you'll never get better firmware support (especially longterm).

 

[Grayfox]

A PS3, then you can the built in folding@home software and do some folding.

 

[Robin]

I would say go with a standalone BR player, models are pretty cheap now starting at under $100. Many offer the same or even better functionality of the PS3 in terms of apps and features plus they don't drink energy and run much cooler and quieter.

 

[Grayfox]

Plus with another PS3, you have a backup if your current one dies.

 

[crunchMONKY78]

Do stand alone players have firmware updates?

 

[cjmpe]

I bought my PS3 to get the Blue Ray player when Sony released the Move controller. Since then I have fallen into the GT5 trap, but that is another story. At any rate, I bought a stand alone Sony Blue Ray player at Christmas for CDN $ 79 at Walmart and it works really well. It has had 1 firmware update - immediately when I unpacked it.

My understanding is that it is sometimes required to either update the other stuff that comes packaged with the player (Netflix, etc) or add features that weren't ready when marketing said that they needed the player in the shops. Occasionally the movie studios make a change to the Blue Ray disks themselves, again adding "features" and access to those features may require an update.

 

[Robin]

Do stand alone players have firmware updates?

Most do, yes. But you don't need to update it if you don't want to unlike the PS3 which is mandatory.

 

[Grayfox]

Most do, yes. But you don't need to update it if you don't want to unlike the PS3 which is mandatory.

But you still should do it.

I work in a PC tech department of a store that sells PC, TV, Set top boxes, BD players, ect.

Where I work also happens to be customer service so we deal with the send away to the service agents for the DB players and set top boxes.

about half come back with no fault found besides the firmware being buggy.
And the Tech report just says "Re-imaged firmware to latest".

These days it is not hard, just follow the manual and plug the USB in and do the rest.