I finally caved and bought my first Blu-ray disk ...well, set of disks... they had Star Wars on Blu-ray for reasonably cheap, and since I don't own a DVD copy of it, I picked it up.

This now means I'll be needing a Blu-ray player. It'd be nice to get something that could handle 3D in the even that I get around to getting a 3D TV in the future.

Is the PS3 still only the really decent Blu-ray player out there that won't be terribly outdated/deprecated, or is your average unit decent enough these days? I remember all the kerfuffle that happened when Blu-ray was coming out with regards to network compatibility and copy protection - certain cheaper Blu-ray players were not able to receive updates and thus wouldn't play newer disks (or something like that). Is this still an issue?

I was hoping to get something reasonably priced, and the PS3 is still a bit more than what I'd like to pay. If it is the only decent machine, I'll wait another few months then pick one up. I don't really care that it is a gaming machine, but it does seem to be one of the better options out there as a decent Blu-ray player.

I have one of these and love it: http://www.amazon.com/Sony-NSZ-GT1-Wi-Fi-Enabled-Blu-ray-Featuring/dp/B004D4917W/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1333603851&sr=8-3

It's a Google TV box, so it does all the Internet-related stuff you'd expect, plus it has Chrome for a little emergency web-browsing, etc. I mostly use it for Netflix and a DLNA streaming media box (from a media server in my home), though, so probably a PS3 would do just as well for me. And a PS3 is less than $100 more.

I'm pretty sure all Blu-ray players can play 3D movies, including those made before the standard exists. I have an "average" one that's at least 3 years old and so far I haven't had any problems with it.

I have one of these and love it: http://www.amazon.co...33603851&sr=8-3

It's a Google TV box, so it does all the Internet-related stuff you'd expect, plus it has Chrome for a little emergency web-browsing, etc. I mostly use it for Netflix and a DLNA streaming media box (from a media server in my home), though, so probably a PS3 would do just as well for me. And a PS3 is less than $100 more.

I will be honest - I much prefer devices to do just one thing but do it well. If I want to watch something on youtube, I'll generally watch it on my computer. That, and being up in Canada there seems to be a lot more restrictions on streaming video because of copyright laws.

I'm pretty sure all Blu-ray players can play 3D movies, including those made before the standard exists. I have an "average" one that's at least 3 years old and so far I haven't had any problems with it.

Interesting. That would quite surprise me if that was the case.

Interesting. That would quite surprise me if that was the case.

A lot of things I read seem to suggest otherwise so I may have just heard it from an exceptionally incompetent salesperson (who told me not to buy a new player while I was in the store).

From what I understand, almost all players support 3D - but there is also a feature that supposedly "converts" 2D video to 3D, which is a newer feature and not widely supported.

You could try and look here for other advice and info: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33199_7-57327896-221/blu-ray-player-holiday-buying-guide/

If your PC is near your TV you could always add a BD-ROM drive to your computer. I bought a Sony drive several years ago and it's served me very well, though I do now need to buy new software as the version of PowerDVD it came with (7.3) doesn't support Blu-ray 3D (from a hardware perspective all you need for 3D is at least 2x speed drive). This assumes the rest of your hardware is capable of supporting Blu-ray (HDCP-compliant video card with hardware accelerated video decoding and a HDCP-compliant monitor or TV); Cyberlink offer a "BD advisor" that can be used to check.

Unfortunately, whilst a drive is cheaper than a standalone player there is little software support - you're pretty much limited to Cyberlink PowerDVD, Corel WinDVD (cheap and lightweight but no 3D support on Vista) or Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre (probably the best all-rounder but much more expensive than the other two). Drives should come with software, but if it's an older drive you may end up with software that doesn't support 3D.