It’s finally over! No, not that war. The High Def, format war has come to an end. Toshiba has announced that they will stop making HD-DVD players clearing the path for Sony with Blu-ray. Although I did buy a cheap Toshiba HD-DVD player (so that I could have BOTH formats), that I will now be getting rid of, I couldn’t be happier with the news! I have only bought one HD-DVD movie that is still in the shrink wrap. So no big loss there either. Now I can focus my attention clearly on Blu-ray and later in the year start outfitting the rest of my HDTV’s with Blu-ray players. At the moment the Sony Playstation 3 is still the best bet for a Blu-ray player. You not only get a good gaming machine, but you also get the only Blu-ray player that is upgradeble via firmware updates to the new Blu-ray features slated for release later in the year. Newer players could be released that are just as upgradeable, but if you’re looking to finally get on board with a Blu-ray player now, I would strongly suggest looking at the PS3.
I would have ordered that PS3 by now it it weren’t for Sony dropping IR control for it? This would be the only device requiring it’s own remote. I’m so happy with my Harmony Remote that I might just have to consider an alternative… Besides, Sony probably makes their money on the software, rather than the hardware, which is I’m sure they’ve done this. We’ll see how things pan out. I’m so glad the wars are over! =)
Brett,
You’re RIGHT! That is one thing that ticks me off about the PS3. I’m all for Bluetooth for the game controllers. However, the DVD-Blu-ray functions should be able to be controlled via IR. I’m also not thrilled about the Sony DVD remote which doesn’t light up! Duh – it’s BLACK which makes it impossible to see with the lights off.
Brett, Terry,
There are a couple of IR remote for PS3 in the market. Here’s one on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/PlayStation-3-Blu-Wave-Remote/dp/B000R5H7KE/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1203487495&sr=8-2
I’ve been thinking about ordering one of these and use the USB part of it only, pairing it with my Logitech Harmony 880. Not sure if it’ll work, but at $14, I might just give it a try.
By the way, I also was a dual format junkie… bought the Toshiba XA2 for over $500! Ouch! 🙁
Mehdi,
I am so ordering one of these to test it with my Sony Universal remote! I’ll report back here if it works! Thanks for the lead.
Sorry about the $500 – ouch!