Ah, as I've read through this whole thread (which has been great by the way) a couple of items seem to be recurring. The main two seem to be that the PS3, and by default BD, seems to be aimed squarely at the soul of serious gamers. Hence the complaints about the price of the console. Face it, we as a group have spent many times the cost of a PS3 console upgrading things like speaker wires and interconnects! If this product was aimed at us at a $600 price point (and it did everything that we wanted it to do), we would heartily embrace the PS3. Are the serious gamers, even though they have the capability to play BD's, going to go out and drop $35-37US on a first release movie that they might watch once, when for $60US they can purchase the latest video game that could keep them busy for weeks and maybe even months?

It is my opinion that the HDDVD camp seems to have marketed their format and products to us, the ones who takes the HD format for what it was intended, a significant advancement it the quality of audio and video playback. Then they did it at a reasonable price point which also makes it easier to embrace.

My boys play video games, I do not. The only reason that I would even remotely consider purchasing a game console to watch BD, would be for the ability for them to play games. But that, in and of itself, could come with unintended consequences, i.e. losing the use of the home theaterwhile they play their games! I was intending to purchase a stand-alone BD player over Christmas, until I went to Sound Advice to see the Sony machine in operation. They had Fifth Element playing on a 60" Sony SXRD display and the picture was awful. I kow I've read that the Fifth Element is not a good transfer, but I've watch that movie so many times that I just could not overlook the video noise and artifacts that I saw, especially on the very white scenes. I will stay on the sidelines until they can get their act together.

Just my two cents!

Rudy

G68ADV, DSP5500's, DSP5500HC, DSP5000's, Sony Ruby, DVDO, VP-30