Audio Video News

The Playstation 3 is one of the most popular Blu-ray Disc players on the market, mostly because it pulls double-duty as a game console. However, it still lacks a few key aspects that make it a really good home theater device. Mainly, it doesn't bitstream Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio codecs, and its internal decoding was prone to distortion and garbling the audio of those codecs. If you want to watch your Blu-ray Discs with the most advanced audio tracks available, you're out of luck if you have a PS3.

Sony's new PS3 Slim, the smaller Playstation 3 the company announced this week, corrects that oversight. According to EngadgetHD, the new console can bitstream Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio tracks straight to a receiver. It's a small addition, but one that should be welcome among home theater enthusiasts. Since the PS3 Slim will have the same $299 price tag as the PS3, it could become the newest most-popular-Blu-ray-player.

— Will Greenwald