H2H: Sony BDP-S1E vs Sony PS3 Blu-ray players

Yes, as the HD DVD people argue, most of these PS3 buyers are doubtless getting the console predominantly for its talents as a gaming machine. But that doesn't alter the fact that these same people are also getting a Blu-ray player, and once they've fallen in love with high definition they'll surely eventually start to buy the odd HD movie as well.

However, while the PS3 might very well be turning into Blu-ray's saviour in terms of getting the format out there, we also think it currently represents a bit of a problem for the Blu-ray industry as a whole. And to show you why, we've decided to put its talents as a Blu-ray player up against a Sony standalone Blu-ray player. And not just any standalone player at that, but Sony's high end BDP-S1E. Surely the PS3 can't really hope to compete with such a mighty player as that?

Overview Price: £700 More info: Sony Size: 430(w) x 106(h) x 355(d)mm Weight: 7.5kg HD upscaling: Yes, to 1080p Super Audio CD/DVD-Audio playback: No/No HDMI version: 1.2 Blu-ray Profile 1.1 compatible: No Connections: HDMI output, component video output, S-video output, composite video output, wide pitch audio outputs, Optical and coaxial digital audio outputs, 5.1ch analogue audio output, analogue stereo output. Sony BDP-S1E The most important thing you need to know about the S1E right away is that it costs £700. That's a whole £400 more than the PS3 for a machine that does not add console gaming to its Blu-ray talents. So it had better make sure that those Blu-ray talents are truly prodigious… Hopes that they will be are raised by the machine's formidable build quality, which may lack the pizzazz of the PS3 but certainly feels muscular and as if it has used only the highest grade components. It scores highly on connections too, for the most part, with two digital audio outputs, and, significantly, a 5.1-channel analogue audio output that can be used for shipping out HD audio formats including Dolby True HD, DTS-HD and 5.1-channel PCM. Excellent. The only surprising disappointment is that the player's HDMI jack is only a v1.2 affair, not the newer v1.3 one with its more flexible audio carriage, auto lip-synching and Deep Colour capabilities. In terms of features, the deck allows you to choose the picture format you want to output your pictures at, with the best-quality 1080p/24fps format being among the options. Plus you can adjust elements of the output picture to suit your display type, and there's all manner of fancy audio processing going on too. However, for a deck with presumably quite hi-fi as well as strong home cinema ambitions, it's a real surprise to find that the S1E doesn't play Super Audio CDs. Now that we've started moaning, Video CDs and Super Video CDs also won't play, and perhaps most troubling of all, the deck is not compliant with the new Blu-ray Profile 1.1 standard. This means it won't be able to play some of the features that might appear on future Blu-ray discs; features such as picture-in-picture director's commentaries or some interactive games. Hardly an ideal situation on a £700 machine, we think you'll agree. To be fair, the S1E does try and make you forget its rather key HDMI and Profile 1.1 failings with its performance, which really is sublime. Pictures are jaw-droppingly good, with amazing amounts of detail, colours so rich they make your eyes bleed, wonderfully fluid motion, a vast dynamic range as equally adept with peak whites as it is with profound blacks, and outstanding video noise suppression. Its sound is exceptional too, with crystal clear, beautifully expressive CD playback. But sadly we've got one more bum note we have to finish on - the deck's operating system. First, the S1E does everything incredibly slowly. Discs, for instance, take north of a minute to boot at times. But even worse is how many bugs there seem to be in the deck's firmware. During our relatively short time with the deck we experienced weird picture glitches, bizarre issues with aspect ratios, problems in getting the HDMI to handshake with our screens, and even a few complete PC-like crashes. Blimey! It's enough to make you wonder if it's running on Windows 95… Overview Price: £299 More info: Sony Size: 274(d) x 98(h) x 325(w)mm Weight: 5kg HD upscaling: Yes, to 1080p Super Audio CD/DVD-Audio playback: Yes/No HDMI version: 1.3 Blu-ray Profile 1.1 compatible: Yes, via downloaded firmware upgrade Connections: HDMI output (v1.3); Ethernet jack, optical digital audio output, USB joystick ports (2 or 4 depending on whether you get the 40GB or 60GB version), AV multi output, Memory card slot on 60GB version Sony PS3 Squeezing a Blu-ray player into its latest games console caused Sony more than a few headaches. The Blu-ray format took forever to get finalised, delaying the console's launch, and then its inclusion meant the PS3 couldn't hit a price point even close to being competitive with Microsoft's Xbox 360 rival console. But now, following the launch of the recent £299 40GB model, the PS3 is finally getting close to its Xbox rival on price. But also, more importantly for the purposes of this feature, it's also one of the cheapest Blu-ray players around. Which surely means it can't be any good, right? Wrong. Very wrong. For starters, far from only carrying a totally basic Blu-ray spec, it puts the S1E to shame in two key areas. First, its HDMI output is a v1.3 affair, making it compatible with the picture-boosting properties of Deep Colour; HDMI 1.3's automatic lip synchronisation capabilities; and HDMI 1.3's ability to ship HD audio formats as well as high quality video. Even better, unlike any other Blu-ray player out there right now, the PS3 can be easily upgraded to meet the key new Profile 1.1 specification. How come it can be upgraded when other Blu-ray players can't? Because it has an Ethernet port for downloadable firmware updates, because it has a large built-in HDD for storing the new firmware, and because it has the necessary video processing power to meet the dual video stream standard that's part of the Profile 1.1 spec. This really is all pretty major stuff, and in this reviewer's opinion by default makes the PS3 currently the only Blu-ray player actually worth buying. But the PS3's Blu-ray talents aren't merely restricted to its upgradability and impressive features. It's also a far better performer than you've any right to expect. Blu-ray films are played back with stunning amounts of detail and clarity, and remarkably little video noise, really doing the high definition format proud. It sounds perfectly respectable too, and, unlike the S1E, can play higher quality SACD discs. Okay, yes, its motion reproduction is a little less fluid than that of the S1E, and its colours aren't quite as vivid. But for a £300 deck with the best Blu-ray feature count around right now, plus the small matter of a top-line games console and full-blown multimedia portal thrown in for good measure, its overall performance standards have to be considered nothing short of miraculous. Final verdict If you've read through the review (and didn't just skip down here to the verdict - shame on you), you'll have started to get an inkling about why we think the PS3 is both a blessing and a curse to the Blu-ray brigade. The fact is that it offers easily the most comprehensive, future-proof, and versatile Blu-ray solution around, at a loss-leading price lower than practically all of its rivals. And then it even has the temerity to produce an excellent HD performance as well. In other words, despite its relatively puny price, the PS3 is the only current Blu-ray player that's actually not going to feel like yesterday's news a few months down the line, shooting down even a premium deck like the BDP-S1E. Which begs the question of precisely why anyone but the most die-hard videophile would want to buy any other Blu-ray player than the PS3. And it's here that the PS3's potential damage to the Blu-ray market might come. For if no other brands can manage to sell any Blu-ray players because the market is so stitched up by the PS3, they'll quickly decide there's no point trying to sell such players at all. And a market essentially propped up by a single product, even when that product is as potentially powerful as the PS3, is not a healthy market by any stretch of the imagination. AVR Glossary