Sony Can't Beat Their Own PS3

For a while now, folks have figured out that the best bargain Blu-ray player is Sony's PlayStation 3.  It would seem obvious in these cost conscious times that someone would come out with an even more affordable Blu-ray player that would keep the best features, give up the gaming functionality, and come in at a lower price tag.  Sony made an attempt to do that with their BDP-S350, but they missed the mark by pushing the price tag up by another Franklin note to $400.  In the process they created a decent player, but it surely doesn't beat the good ol' PS3.  Here's what CNET had to say on their testing:

Blu-ray playback performance from all Blu-ray players is generally excellent, providing a far superior image to DVD when viewed on a large HDTV in darkroom environment. We have, however, seen some flaws on less-expensive Blu-ray players--particularly when the players are set to output 1080p signals at 60 frames per second--so we were interested to see how the BDP-S350 measured up.

We began our high-definition tests with Silicon Optix's HQV test suite on Blu-ray. During the Film Resolution Loss Test, the BDP-S350 looked good on both the test pattern and the slow pan across Raymond James Stadium, showing none of the moire or jaggies that we often see on cheaper players.

Next were some video-based tests, which are considerably less important, as the number of video-based Blu-ray Discs is pretty small. We looked at the Video Resolution Loss Test, and the BDP-S350 was not able to correctly display this test pattern, as the most detailed resolution box had a strobelike effect. Next up were a pair of jaggies tests, and the BDP-S350 handled them with ease, clearly rendering both three pivoting lines and a rotating white line without excessive jaggies.

Switching from test patterns to program material, we popped in "Ghost Rider" on Blu-ray, and the BDP-S350 had no issues rendering the end of Chapter 6, as the grille of the RV remained perfectly detailed as the camera pulled away. We also looked at the beginning of Chapter 8 of "Mission Impossible: III," and we saw no moire in the stairs in the background, which confirms what we saw in the test patterns--the BDP-S350 handles film material well.

Next up we tried "Tony Bennett: American Classic," and at the beginning of Chapter 7--which includes some video-based footage--we did see some minor jaggies on the clapperboard, but not quite as many as we saw on the BD-P1500.

All I can say is that I'd expect the video quality to be closer to perfect for a $400 player.  For the budget conscious, they can stick with their PS3 for now.  Still, it's just a matter of time before someone gets the formula right and edges out the PS3.

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