One of the PS3's most appealing features is its support for the Blu-ray Disc format, which lets you play HD (high-definition) movies. But can the console compete with standalone Blu-ray players from consumer electronics makers?

The short answer is yes. In our initial hands-on tests, the PS3's playback was very good - even better than we'd anticipated.

There are niggles. If the machine’s turned on, it won’t automatically start film discs, and you'd be well advised to buy a video remote rather than struggling with the game controller.

But the PS3's Blu-ray Disc movie player proved highly satisfactory in other ways. It loaded and navigated through discs rapidly, and the pop-up info display was elegantly designed - unobtrusive, yet easily readable. Compared with the Samsung BD-P1000, the PS3's picture appeared noticeably sharper and crisper, producing more depth and detail than the Samsung unit. Blu-ray’s potential for image clarity was immediately apparent.

Standalone Blu-ray players aimed at home theatre enthusiasts will feature dedicated video chipsets that are optimised solely for decoding video (as opposed to gaming), and the PS3 is unlikely to match them. But it’s a reasonably agile player, despite its rough navigational edges. And you’d be spending hundreds less than you would for a basic player - with the ability to play games too.

While usability is critical to any consumer electronics device, the quality of the output remains paramount. Having the PS3 finally allowed me to compare the first-to-market Samsung BD-P1000 (with the original, factory-installed firmware) side by side with another Blu-ray Disc player, and the results highlighted a video-quality shortcoming in the original release of the Samsung player that shipped in the summer.

I tested both players with a 50-inch high-definition plasma screen, the Pioneer Elite PRO-FHD1, running the output over HDMI at 1080p. I could see that the images from the PlayStation 3 appeared noticeably sharper and crisper, with more depth and detail than the Samsung unit produced. That's probably because the BD-P1000 was released with noise reduction enabled by default and offered no way to disable it. Samsung's misstep on this setting goes far to account for the flat-looking image, and for the generally lower picture quality that I and other reviewers noted on the BD-P1000 during the summer. (The company says this problem has been fixed via a firmware update released at the end of October; all players shipped since then have the new firmware.)

Earlier, with no other Blu-ray player to compare against the Samsung, I had found its output of HD films on Blu-ray definitely better-looking than the same movies on standard-definition DVD. However, when I watched the same Blu-ray movies on the PlayStation 3, I could better appreciate Blu-ray's potential for image clarity. I also found the overall image quality more comparable to that of HD DVD films I've seen displayed on Toshiba's HD DVD players, in terms of sharpness, detail, and color.

Though my first impressions of the PlayStation 3's Blu-ray video playback quality were positive, videophiles should take note: The PS3 has two technical limitations that set it apart from stand-alone Blu-ray players. First, unlike stand-alone Blu-ray players, the PS3 does not have a dedicated video chip set optimized for decoding Blu-ray video, instead relying on the Cell processor and its software to do the job. This may turn out to be a plus, however, as Sony's improvements to the player software can be more easily distributed to existing users than a hardware upgrade.

got one on friday as well

played resistance and motorstorm

both are very nice... i especially like the difficulty level of motorstorm

the ps3 itself... well easy to use, quick load... what else do you need really? its about the games right?

however my **** router decided that i wasnt going to get on the internet via my ps3 lol... gotta work that out, DNS error or something

whats ur ps3 network name.. let me guess...


mine.. suprisingly.. is Tongeh.. you'll find jell0r around too