Playstation 3 vs. Blu-ray Player

Weeks ago, we bought a new HDTV. Since that time, I’ve been in the throws of PS3 and Blu-ray envy. I have been disappointed in the quality of my DVD collection on our eight-year-old DVD player. I’ve read about more modern “upconverting” DVD players that blow up an image from 480 to 1080 resolution, in order to mimic an HD presentation. I’ve wanted one.

In considering how to upgrade my player, I considered three options:

1. A relatively inexpensive DVD upconverting player
2. A Blu-ray player that upconverts traditional DVDs
3. A Playstation 3, which does upconverting, Blu-ray movies, and plays PS3 games.

The PS3 seemed like the obvious choice. However, my research has shown it to have too many drawbacks for me to consider purchasing one. For starters, despite common belief, the new PS3 systems DO NOT play old PS2 games. That was only true for a short time in the first generation PS3 player, which was ridiculously expensive. That fact alone was a deal-breaker for me.

Second, the Blu-ray players I’ve been eying included YouTube and Netflix streaming, via an Ethernet connection. It turns out that the PS3 DOES NOT stream Netflix movies. Another deal breaker for me! I know that the XBOX 360 streams Netflix movies, but it doesn’t have a Blu-ray drive, so that is out, too. The XBOX 360 is a great, affordable gaming console, but as a double for movies, HD-DVD is dead.

I’m upset at the two deal-breakers I found in the Playstation 3. The PS3 was released for sale in November of 2006. We are coming up on three years that it has been on the market. Despite that length of time, the game titles are still very limited, and still very expensive. Considering that, and more, I think Sony is simply asking too much for the system itself. I have a large catalog of PS2 games that I am not willing to part with. I’m not willing to shell out $60 a pop for PS3 game titles. I’d sure love to play GTA IV (PS3 only), but I can’t bring myself to pay $400 for the PS3 hardware without PS2 backward compatibility and Netflix streaming.

In conclusion, I decided to pass on the PS3. Instead, I bought a sweet standalone Blu-ray player that not only plays Blu-ray discs, it also upconverts standard DVDs, and streams Netflix and YouTube, right out of the box. For nearly half the cost of a PS3, I thought this purchase was a no-brainer. I’ll happily continue playing my old PS2 game titles on my capable Playstation 2. Considering the still small library of PS3 game titles, Sony needs to offer a bit more than games for me to want to shell out the kind of money that they are asking for the PS3 console.