Freelance technology writer and reviewer John Archer reportson the hottest products and issues to catch his eye this week.

It's fair to say that Blu-ray has a few problems right now.

Not in sales terms, mind. It appears to be generally outperforming its HDDVD rival if all the various facts and figures that filter through to us are tobe believed.

No, rather Blu-ray's problems seem to lie in the technologyitself. And in the simple existence of Sony's PlayStation3...

Blu-ray spec isn't finished

Bringing these thoughts to the forefront of my mind thisweek are two things. Problems encountered while spending time with Sony'shigh-spec BDP-S1E Blu-ray player, and the arrival at my home of a PS3 console.Yes, with no long-term loan sample in the offing, the recent PS3 price cutshave finally tempted me into buying one!

Starting with the S1E, I can honestly say that the sample I've been using is soriddled with operating bugs that it's barely usable. Discs crashing during bootup; strange picture glitches; problems getting the right aspect ratio whilewatching standard definition discs; trouble getting the deck's HDMI output tohandshake properly with various TVs, even though my Toshiba HD DVD deck has nosuch problems; absolutely enormous disc loading and menu access times...

Honestly, it's reached the point where I dread having to use it, even thoughwhen it works right, its pictures are just about the most exquisite things I'veever clapped eyes on.

Profile 1.1 support? Er, no

And all this without even mentioning the S1E'sincompatibility with the new Blu-ray Profile 1.1 specification that's becomemandatory on all players launched from the end of last month.

What this means is that the S1E cannot be guaranteed to playall the special features on future Blu-ray discs. Most particularly featuresthat use picture-in-picture technology, like onscreen director's commentaries.For me this just isn't good enough when you've spent £700.

In the end, the S1E just reinforces a vague sense I can'tshake that Blu-ray doesn't feel quite 'finished' as a technology. And let's notforget that this deck is a £700 flagship model from Sony, one of Blu-ray'sfounders, and arguably the format's most vocal supporter.

Is the PS3 the best Blu-ray player?

Then there's the PS3. To say that this machine isbattle-scarred, thanks to some poor marketing and what was perceived as aninitially way too high price, would be an understatement.

The fact remainsthat it's yet to have a single really high quality exclusive game of the sortnow available for the Xbox 360 by the dozen. Sorry Sony fanboys, but that'sjust a fact.

Where the PS3 certainly does hit the jackpot, though, is asa Blu-ray player. For starters, while its pictures might not be as good asthose of the S1E, they're still remarkably good for a machine now available forunder £300. Next, it goes about its Blu-ray business way faster in terms ofaccess times than the clunky S1E. Third, it seems far, far less 'buggy', nevercrashing out during my time with it so far.

And fourth and most importantly, it'sthe only Blu-ray player in the UK to date that can be easily upgraded to meet the Profile 1.1 specification.

Yes, the PS3 is a steal

In other words, despite coming out way before the S1E andcosting way less than the S1E, the PS3 is comfortably the more complete Sonymachine.

In fact, I'd go further and suggest that thanks to its stability andProfile 1.1 upgradeability, the PS3 is the only Blu-ray player out there worthbuying right now.

Which is great news for PS3 owners struggling to justifytheir purchase. But very scary news indeed for brands - including Sony itself! -trying to make an impact on the Blu-ray marketplace with standalone playersthat currently cost more and deliver less.