Holy Moly Blu-Ray Disc Players below $300

If you're looking at BluRay, the way to go is the PS3, even if, like me, you have no interest in games. The brain of the PS3 is much more powerful than any standalone machine, be it HD DVD or Blu Ray, and the architecture permits Sony to upgrade the machine's features, which Sony does on its website about once a month or so. The PS3 also plays CDs and SACDs. In a recent upgrade, it permits double and quadruple oversampling of CD playback. It will soon be upgraded, I've read, to internally decode the lossless Dolby and STS soundtracks found on many Blu Ray discs. In my 18-month ownership, I've watched dozens of Blu Ray movies rented from NetFlix and have encountered not a single freeze-up, which I attribute to the extremely fast cell processor. The picture quality, as you might imagine, is superb. If you're not a gamer, you can buy the 40GB version, since you don't really need the extra capacity found in the units with 60 or 80 GB hard drives. Frankly, I can't imagine why someone interested in HD disc playback would be looking at anything else. It is by far the most bang for the buck of any CE product I've ever purchased, and I don't even use it for its main function.

Interesting point there Pzuckerman..........is the PS3 also an upsampling player with respect to std DVD?

If by "upsampling" you mean can the PS3 upscale a standard DVD image to 720p or 1080i or 1080p, the answer is yes. When originally introduced, it could not; but this capability was part of an update sometime ago. I should also point out that the PS3 from its introduction was an HDMI 1.3 device, meaning if and when HDMI 1.3 deep color HDTVs are ever introduced, this player will be able to deliver the goods from such blu ray discs. You have it exactly right: the ps3 is a computer with the fastest commercially available processor available to consumer, even faster than processors in "real" computers. It has built in wireless and an ethernet ports, turning your TV into a web browser. One caveat: it has no multi-channel analogue outputs, only a Toslink digital and HDMI output in the digital domain. For SACD, you have to use the HDMI output, since Toslink does not transmit the SACD bitstream. Otherwise, I haven't begun to list all the features. Go to Sony.com, click on PS3, then Support, then Manuals. Read the Manual on line. You'll learn what this machine can do. I guarantee you you'll want one.