Best Blu-ray Player - Home AV - CNET Asia Readers' Choice Awards 2008/09

And the winners for Home AV are:

Sony PlayStation 3

The good: Swanky design; all games in HD; PSP-like user-friendly interface; plays Blu-ray and upscales DVDs to 1080p; built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; 80GB hard drive; wireless and optional force feedback controllers; backward-compatible with PS2 and PS1 titles; built-in memory card readers; online play is free; onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD decoder.

The bad: A USB port on the back would've been nice; glossy black finish is a fingerprint magnet; runs hot and noisy; power guzzler.

The bottom line: The Sony PlayStation 3 features a swanky design and bevy of features making it one of the most versalite console for gaming and home enterainment.

» Read full review of the Sony PlayStation 3

Sony BDP-S350

The good: Excellent Blu-ray image quality; very good DVD upscaling; compact size; onboard decoding for Dolby TrueHD; unformatted (bitstream) output for all high-resolution audio formats; network port for firmware updates; Blu-ray Profile 2.0 compatibility pending future upgrade.

The bad: Recessed USB port can be difficult to access; no onboard DTS-HD Master Audio decoding; quick-start option uses power even when player is off.

The bottom line: If you're dead set on a standalone Blu-ray player, the BDP-S350 has a small form factor, solid feature set, and relatively low price--but the PlayStation 3 is still better value.

» Read full review of the Sony BDP-S350

Samsung HT-BD2

The good: 7.1-channel Blu-ray home cinema; built-in Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding; elegant styling, with four tallboy speakers; full-size subwoofer; upscales DVDs to 1080p.

The bad: Very expensive; only Blu-ray Profile 1.0-compliant; few jacks for connecting external sources; slow disc loading; no auto speaker calibration.

The bottom line: The Samsung HT-BD2 delivers the sort of top-notch video quality you'd expect from the world's first HTIB with built-in Blu-ray--but its high price, average audio quality, and lack of extras make it tough to recommend.

» Read full review of the Samsung HT-BD2