Sony PlayStation 3 (40GB)

Pros: it's a bluray player, and a ps3!

Cons: a bit pricey

Summary: the ps3 is a mighty fine piece of hardware. i purchased this after a recent trip to bestbuy in search of a sony BD player. the model i wanted was sold out, sigh, so i picked this up with the remote instead.

the ps3 performs very well as a BD player. the sold separately blue-tooth remote goes a long way toward making viewing movies on your ps3 a more enjoyable experience. i don't understand why the remote hasn't been included in any of the ps3 sku's so far, but do yourself a favor and pick that up too. only 25 bucks.

performance:
the ps3 outputs 1080p movies at 24p, the same frame rate as the source material, right out of the box. there is little or no artifacting as a result. motion blur and contrast will all vary depending on what model tv you're using, but on my sony bravia everything looks beautiful. it's likely that on any 1080p lcd, dlp, or plasma hdtv images will be equally good. navigating menus is easy and responsive (when using the remote) as the ps3 reacts very quickly to any issued commands. the slot loader worries me a bit, i just wonder how the longevity of discs will be affected by that design.

gaming: ?
gaming on the ps3 is still a big question mark for me, as i've yet to find any games that have that "wow" factor. this coming year promises to be a good one for sony, releases like GTA:IV and devil may cry 4 give me something to look forward too, as well as all of the sony exclusives such as the new final fantasy.

bottom line
if you really want a blu ray player, and like video games, the ps3 is your best option. from a BD player standpoint this is one of the better units available right now. a growing library of games will help make this a better gaming system, but right a selection of diverse game offerings is sadly lacking.