I'm looking for a good DVD player that also plays Blu Ray for a reasonable price. That's been a bit difficult so far.
Unfortunately, the best "do it all" HD DVD player that seems to upscale standard DVD's well and, as a bonus, also play Blu Ray, seems to be the Playstation 3. It is also one of the few (only?) DVD players that can handle firmware upgrades and save films to the HD. Even worse, it appears that films do not start right away, but take just under a minute to start up. This is all a bit disappointing as it looks like the PS3 is more like a simplified version of a media PC than a dedicated DVD player.
I'm not really too keen on buying a games machine just to play HD even if it is the best value for money. And if most of the dedicated blu ray players get beaten by a games machine which appears to be a simplified, compromise media PC with a tiny hard drive, I'm wondering if I should simply go down the media PC route. Specifically, get a decent cheap PC, stick in a cheap Blu Ray player for around £80, put in a cheap 500 GIG HD with 10 times the storage of a PS3 for £90, load it up with the very latest codecs and DVD software and have a more powerful machine that upscales better than most players out there.
So far I'm thinking that a modern media PC would handle upscaling better, can always be kept up to date with the latest firmware, and, in the slim chance that HD-DVD wins, I could throw out the £80 Blu Ray player and replace it with a £70 HD-DVD player (or just get both players to begin with). And, although I would never condone this unless legally allowed, region free software fixes would be far easier to install, hypothetically of course.
Other than the effort of having to set it up yourself, is there any advantage to getting a compromise media PC like the PS3 or a dedicated Blu Ray player verses getting a real media PC to handle Blu Ray and DVD's?
Unfortunately, the best "do it all" HD DVD player that seems to upscale standard DVD's well and, as a bonus, also play Blu Ray, seems to be the Playstation 3. It is also one of the few (only?) DVD players that can handle firmware upgrades and save films to the HD. Even worse, it appears that films do not start right away, but take just under a minute to start up. This is all a bit disappointing as it looks like the PS3 is more like a simplified version of a media PC than a dedicated DVD player.
I'm not really too keen on buying a games machine just to play HD even if it is the best value for money. And if most of the dedicated blu ray players get beaten by a games machine which appears to be a simplified, compromise media PC with a tiny hard drive, I'm wondering if I should simply go down the media PC route. Specifically, get a decent cheap PC, stick in a cheap Blu Ray player for around £80, put in a cheap 500 GIG HD with 10 times the storage of a PS3 for £90, load it up with the very latest codecs and DVD software and have a more powerful machine that upscales better than most players out there.
So far I'm thinking that a modern media PC would handle upscaling better, can always be kept up to date with the latest firmware, and, in the slim chance that HD-DVD wins, I could throw out the £80 Blu Ray player and replace it with a £70 HD-DVD player (or just get both players to begin with). And, although I would never condone this unless legally allowed, region free software fixes would be far easier to install, hypothetically of course.
Other than the effort of having to set it up yourself, is there any advantage to getting a compromise media PC like the PS3 or a dedicated Blu Ray player verses getting a real media PC to handle Blu Ray and DVD's?
