It is my understanding that all PS3's are HDMI 1.3a compliant, however I don't believe any of them are capable of sending the HD codecs via bitstream. According to the HDMI requirements, output of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio streams for external decoding by AV receivers is optional.

It would be interesting if the chipset of the 40 GB is capable of this feat. I am sure that owners of the 60 GB and 80 GB PS3's would not be happy if the lower cost unit was the only one able to do this. My guess is that Sony will implement a software DTS MA decoder as you mentioned. Actually I don't mind the player decoding the codecs. Of course I don't have an HDMI 1.3 compliant receiver either.

Definitely let us know how you like it. I am still on the sidelines considering the 60 GB PS3. I would go for the 40 GB but PS2 bc is necessary for the kids.

Hey Sleath... Where did you pick up your PS3??? and approx. $$$

Future Shop $399 CAN.

in a nutshell, its a pretty awesome unit. it's much sleeker than the Elite 360, and MUCH quiter, in fact its almost silent!

i can't really do a fair comparison from BD to HD-DVD till i can get a movie that is in both formats. so far i've only seen Spidey3 on BD, but was very impressed.

the PQ was the same as the best PQ i've seen from HD-DVD, no better, no worse.
the sound was also top notch, i would say on par (maybe even a little better) with the sound i got from Transformers on HD-DVD which is probably the best HD-DVD sound i've heard yet. that being said i actually found i didnt have to turn the volume as high with BD to achieve the same volume level.

the menu sound options were either DD HD (it was either that or DD Plus-cant remember off the top of my head) or uncompressed PCM 5.1. i tried both and MUCH prefered the sound from DD Plus.

also i thought BD didnt allow you to access menu's with a pop up screen while watching a movie, when in fact you can, just like HD-DVD. the only thing i did was switch sound options mind you, but again i was able to do this without stopping or pausing the movie.

these are just initial impressions, i'll let you know when i get a chance to compare the same movie.

i was looking forward to comparing games too, but with the flimsy little piece of garbage they call a controller for PS3, i'm not in a rush to play ANY games on it. i've heard of a hack to allow use of the 360 controller.... not to eager to "hack" my new BD player though!