If you’ve ever dared to delve into the darker nether-regions of geekdom known as AV message boards, then you know people can literally muster an argument over which is the best $500 HDMI cable.  Yes, they’ll quote random studies here and there (usually “studies” coming from a magazine article trying to sell magazines), but they’ll never come to a unanimous decision.  Well, that is except to tell you whatever equipment you own sucks.

The folks over at Criterion, on the other hand, are true lovers of film who pull out all the stops to transfer many forgotten classics to digital media for all to enjoy (at this point, some AV enthusiasts will probably want to point out how Laserdisc was not technically digital…).  So, when it comes time to choose a Blu-ray player for their new reference high-definition theatre what model do they choose?  The PS3, of course.

The folks over at CNET are not surprised by this fact, and they themselves use it as well.  Still, it’s a bit of an interesting revelation and goes toward making the point that the PS3 is quite a bargain for a piece of hardware, even at $400.