Benefits of PS3 vs Standalone Bluray?

[Rhino Chaser]

Had someone ask, he isn't a gamer.

I told him that the features and capabilities of the ps3 would blow away a standalone, but since he has a full fledged media pc, some of those features were pretty redundant.

[GoatMother]

He has a full fledged media PC, why not buy a blu-ray drive for it? Or would he need to upgrade the audio and video specs as well making it too costly of an upgrade?

Are there any stand alones that match the PS3's abilities at the same price point yet or coming any time soon?

Lossless codes on the PS3 sound amazing however it can't bitstream the codecs. Maybe Jon can compare his stand alone with his PS3 and let us know if there are differences in his opinion. Some have said bitstreaming (Basically decoding in the receiver instead of PS3) even sounds better depending on the gear used.

Some want components shaped like a shoe box, the PS3 doesn't fit that standard measurement.

For me the pro's outweight the cons as I love having all the extra's the PS3 has that the stand alones don't and that is before the top of the line gaming factored in.

[Rhino Chaser]

Yeah, that was the question he had.

He could add a drive for about $147....which is what he was planning on doing.

[GoatMother]

Well $147 isn't bad at all if he can send the lossless audio out to his receiver somehow, unless he doesn't care about going next gen sound as well.

IMO the stand alones are just too expensive right now for the ones with the features I care about for audio quality. Connecting them online and all that doesn't matter aside for firmware updates. That brings up another point about the PS3, it has built in Wifi on all the new models I believe. Plus Sony has been providing firmware updates and will probably continue to do so adding more value.

I'd probably be on the sideline still if it weren't for the PS3 packing in blu and Toshiba dumping inventory at ridiculous prices. That sad, I can't go back to DVD now as I'm thoroughly hooked on blu-ray

[GoatMother]

Probably the drive he is talking about. Lite on at fry's for $150:

San Jose Mercury News | San Jose Shopping - Computers & Electronics - Fry's Electronics

You still need to buy additional software to play blu-ray movies, right? Do they offer upgrades for older PC's to output a 1980x1080 image over VGA?

edit: I have to say I wonder how many firmware updates stand alones will get. I just don't expect them to constantly improve them with updates. Even if Toshiba was still in it I doubt I ever would have received updates for my A3 to enable 24p one day or DTS-MA one day. That in itself is a huge bonus for the PS3.

[Rhino Chaser]

He is new to HD...I keep telling him that he will get hooked.