Blu Ray

[Dragitoff]

I can't believe I'm asking this because I used to be so tech savy, but I'm about to purchase my first HD LCD TV. I've gotten many years from my Sony Wega Flat Screen over the years, but I'm finally upgrading. I'll be upgrading my DirecTv to HD as well. I've currently got a Nintendo Wii. I haven't invested in a PS3 or anything else yet, but may do it now because of the use of Blu Ray. Here's my question.

I know PS3 play Blu Ray, but what about an XBox 360? Either way, are their pros and cons for using the game system as a primary Blu Ray player? I used to be an avid gamer, but don't have as much time for it anymore so I'm a little out of the loop on this.

Thanks

[Eddielives]

Xbox doesn't have a blu-ray player but has netflix streaming. So does the ps3 now for that matter. But the blu-ray players in the ps3 is actually considered one of the better players on the market. I'd go that direction if I were you.

[ATLJA316]

I've had both the PS3 and 360

I've been through two 360's - it was my first 'next-gen' console. It was awesome...'till it broke. Then I got another one, which broke as well. I wanna say that at the time, Xbox 360's had a 37% failure rate - not acceptable if you ask me.

I finally got smart and got a PS3 a year and a half ago, and wow - it's awesome. It runs flawlessly, and not having to pay to play games online is a major plus for me. The Blu-Ray player is great too.

I got 'Star Trek' and 'Transformers 2' on Blu-Ray this past week and they look AMAZING!

I've read that on Black Friday, Walmart will be offering the PS3 Slim + Batman: Arkham Asylum (awesome game) + Prototype + The Dark Knight Blu-Ray for $299. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me!

[Dsinner]

Given what you're interested in I'd go PS3 all the way. XBox DOES NOT play Blu Ray movies. Be warned though the "slim" PS3 does not have the same "top notch" BR player as the regular PS3. Not sure exactly what the differences are but there are some. Knowing what I know now I would have never purchased my 360 over the PS3. Odds are you can count on going through 2-3 360's.

[Dragitoff]

I would rather have a PS3 anyways since I had PS1, PS2, and a PSP. I'm more comfortable with the PS controls anyways. My brothers had an Xbox and I wasn't as familiar with the button locations. Even my PC game controllers were just like the PS2 controllers. I was mainly looking for the Blu Ray player. I didn't think the Xbox had one, but someone had told me they did. I've been working so much, I hadn't played any games lately other than a few games of Mario Kart for the Wii with my 8 yr. old.

[jy23]

Given what you're interested in I'd go PS3 all the way. XBox DOES NOT play Blu Ray movies. Be warned though the "slim" PS3 does not have the same "top notch" BR player as the regular PS3. Not sure exactly what the differences are but there are some. Knowing what I know now I would have never purchased my 360 over the PS3. Odds are you can count on going through 2-3 360's.

guess I'm lucky, got mine off of ebay bout 3 years ago and haven't had ONE problem out of it!

[Admin]

guess I'm lucky, got mine off of ebay bout 3 years ago and haven't had ONE problem out of it!

I've had mine since the 1st Christmas they came out since mine was the 1st batch and it worked flawlessly until about 3 months ago and I started getting problems with it freezing and now I have to do the "towel trick" on it about every 2 weeks and sadly I know this thing is about dead but I think that was 2005 or was it 2006 that they came out so it's had a good run. They only reasons I wouldn't want the PS3 over the 360 are that Xbox Live is significantly better than the online Playstation service (from what I've heard) and also you can't hack the Playstation.

If I really wanted a Blu Ray player I'd probably buy a stand alone unit since I'm not a big fan of playing movies on a game system and there's no way that the Playstation Blu Ray player is advanced and has as many options as a decent stand alone version.

[chillzatl]

If you want a blu-ray player, get a blu-ray player. You'll be able to find full featured blu-ray players for $100 this holiday season and you won't run the risk of wearing out your $300 blu-ray player (ps3) playing movies.

If you want a game console, I'd still recommend the 360 over the ps3. It has more games, better online service, more features and in the case of games that are made for both, they are consistently better on the 360. You will have no reliability issues with a newer 360.

[Dragitoff]

If you want a blu-ray player, get a blu-ray player. You'll be able to find full featured blu-ray players for $100 this holiday season and you won't run the risk of wearing out your $300 blu-ray player (ps3) playing movies.

If you want a game console, I'd still recommend the 360 over the ps3. It has more games, better online service, more features and in the case of games that are made for both, they are consistently better on the 360. You will have no reliability issues with a newer 360.

In a related question, what's everyone's opinions on Plasma vs. LCD? I'll get a LED TV in a few years when the price is 1/2 what it is now. I know the big concern with Plasma TV's was screen burn. From what I understand, they've corrected that on most of the newer models and there are also things to do to correct this problem.

Plasmas seem to be a little cheaper. My living room has alot of natural light in it so I was even strongly considering a DLP TV, but they're so hard to find anywhere.

[Dsinner]

If I really wanted a Blu Ray player I'd probably buy a stand alone unit since I'm not a big fan of playing movies on a game system and there's no way that the Playstation Blu Ray player is advanced and has as many options as a decent stand alone version.

Actually the PS3 Blu Ray player (not the new cheap one) is better than most stand alone players an has all the options as it has it's own HD and can therefore download any updates for free. BTW there aren't a lot of "options" with BR players. While there still isn't a definite format yet the only true option outside of formatting is BR Live which requires your BR player to be hooked up to the internet (something a console should already be doing). Bottom line is that a stand alone BR player equal to PS's would cost the same, if not more, than a PS3. I can't understand anyone's logic that wouldn't spend that money and get a free next gen system. Even if you're not a gamer you are able to use PS's free network for Netflix and internet radio which makes it a complete no brainer for anyone looking to spend their money wisely.

[Wurider05]

I have both systems as well. The Ps3 is only used as a blu-ray player. But you can now stream 1080p movies on the 360 from the market place. If you play online then the 360 can't be touched.

[Dsinner]

If. You will have no reliability issues with a newer 360.

I really wish you'd stop posting such utter crap. I love the console but the problems are still there BIG time. Do some research before purposely (I say purposely because I've already shown you PROOF) being disingenuous with other people's money.

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn't read my post in the 360 thread. Here is the info that is readily available for everyone. Please provide some info about your claim that the problem is "fixed." I doubt there is even one article that comes even close to saying that.

Chillz you say you are a professional gamer so I must ask if you are sponsered by MIcrosoft in some form or fashion? Just wondering because for the past 3 or so years you've been in complete denial about the 360's failure rate. At it's highest peak it was above 50% and most considered that too gracious. While it's improved temendously the latest reports (and there are plenty with a wide array of numbers) have it listed at around 10%. (as of earlier this year). That is remarkable progress and proves that the new chips are working better but lets put it into perspective shall we...The PS3 and the Wii both hover around a 1% failure rate. That means that the 360 is STILL 10X more likely to fail on you than the PS3. On the other end of the spectrum a readers survey listed ¥ Xbox 360 has a 54.2 percent failure rate ¥ PS3 has a 10.6 percent failure rate ¥ Wii has a 6.8 percent failure rate. None of these numbers are from any of the manufacturers themselves but even Square trade put out their findings and, while not as drastic, it listed the 360 as only twice as likely to die. Better but still risky. Not sure how you're coming up with your claims but perhaps you should research it before giving out misleading info. Microsoft simply puts out an inferior product in terms of reliability.

Here is the latest article I've seen on the matter. This is a compressed version of a Game Informer article from Sept of '09. These numbers are from actual gamers NOT from any company.

http://consumerist.com/2009/08/xbox-360-failure-rate-is-542-percent-game-informer-finds.html#comments-content

Edited December 16, 2009 by Dsinner