Gaming with the PS3 has been great fun so far and over the past few months I had actually forgotten that it was also a fully functioning Blue-ray movie player. Yeah that's how bad my memory is. :? I can't even remember what my own high-tech toys can do. Along with forgeting about having a Blue-ray player I had also forgotten about the five free Blue-ray movies that were supposed to be coming six to eight weeks after having sent in the free offer form. The very day I had remembered I had sent off for them nearly 8 weeks ago, and was assuming the form had gotten lost in the mail, I came home to find the little buggers waiting for me on the desk. Fortunately my wife did not open it up and thus commence with a new bodily orifice creation technique in the thought that I had just blown $100 or more on movies. :shock: When I told her they were the free Blue-ray movies she was actually quite interested in seeing the selections. I myself was shocked to find out that she wanted to watch the movie SWAT which I myself had eagerly wanted to watch. So the HDTV and Dolby Digital surround sound system were put to the HD movie test this weekend. At first I didn't notice any noticable difference in the picture; we already invested in an upconverting DVD player and I thought the picture quality looked about the same. Then I remembered that I had been purposely nerfing the HDTV contrast quality and brightness to help save on screen life and power comsumption (whether it really does help add life to the TV I don't know, but I figured the reduced power consumption, especially from brightness, was helping ease the impact on the old wallet). With the full Dynamic settings turned on (or full Hi-Def functions for non-Samsung owners) the difference became crystal clear. Not even the upconverting DVD player was displaying picture quality with the HDTV placed on this setting. I just might have to go back and play Assassin's Creed for a few hours on this setting just to see what I was missing; I realized all ten hours of my HDTV play sessions were on the power saving setting. DOH! So as for Blue-ray picture quality vs standard, or even upconverting, DVD quality the Blue-ray definitely shows an amazing improvement even on my 1080i HDTV. 1080p owners are certainly getting a great deal with their PS3s. ;) The sound quality sounded a tad better too. I was able to play the movie at lower volumes and still hear the dialogue very well. There was a lot less reverb on the back and front speakers, but I've been attributing that problem to the speakers being nearly 10 years old now. :lol: Since my age old surround system isn't DTS HD compatible, let alone standard DTS, I was stuck watching one movie in standard stereo. :cry: But even that sounded great despite a slight problem hearing some of the conversation parts that were a tad too quiet. What was really surprising was how well the Sixaxis controller acted as a controller. For those with enough spare money laying around I'm sure having the PS3 movie controller would be nice so you actually know what the buttons do. But for those looking to spare some cash the Sixaxis controller controls the movie well by just using the X button for play and pause. The triangle button brings up an on screen menu for further play options. As for the other buttons, I think my wife found the rewind button by accident but I have no idea which one it was. :lol: There's probably some other button functions but I have yet to play with them. One thing to watch for is the controller does have to stay ON during the whole movie play. After three movies my controller went from two bars to one bar. :? Pressing the PS button only allows you to stop or continue playback (which is what the circle button does too from what I remember). So for those who have been wondering "is Blue-ray, or even a PS3 really worth it for better picture and sound quality?" just from my experience on a 1080 HDTV and a nearly 10 year old Dolby Digital surround sound system I can say the difference is certainly noticable. While I'll probably still stick with standard DVDs for the next few years, it's nice to know that if I run across any clearance Blue-ray discs of decent movies I can actually pick them up and enjoy them with my family. At least the ones rated PG and under. ;)