It's been some time since CES 2009 and the requisite flood of brand new Blu-ray hardware flooding store shelves. Now that most of them are for sale, Scott has the same question I'm sure many of us are wondering - which one is the best?

"I'm finally ready to jump on the Blu-ray bandwagon and move up from DVDs, but I have no idea which player to buy. I'm not really looking for a universal player like the BDP-83, and I'm not sold on streaming services just yet and I'm not in need of discrete analog outs. I just want a high quality picture, support for all the audio codecs and fast load times. With a budget of around $300, where should I turn for the Blu-ray player that fits me, or should I just grab a PS3?"

You have your mission if you choose to accept it, now that many of us have some hands on time with the latest and greatest hardware so let him know which one you like.

Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.

It appears Warner has finally gotten around to this double dip, with the (re)release of 300: The Complete Experience. For fans (who will probably be in stores at launch July 21 picking up Zack Snyder's Watchmen: Director's Cut) there should be plenty to make up for the extras left out last time around. Besides the formerly HD DVD-only blue screen picture-in-picture video track, there's three new Blu-ray exclusive PiP features: Creating a Legend, Bringing the legend to Life and The History Behind the Myth. No word on price, but the three disc set will include a digital copy DVD, BD-Live My Community Screening and My WB Commentary support, all the old extras included with previous releases, a Dolby TrueHD soundtrack and 50 page collectible booklet. That enough to get you to buy again?

Blu-ray 300 fans should finally experience those HD DVD-exclusive bonus features, since Warner has announced a Limited Collector's Edition release of the best seller this fall, along with JFK and Casablanca. Also notched in the "confirmed" column is Band of Brothers, although there's no word if any/all of these flicks will be among those getting the BD-Live treatment. We'll keep an eye out for any new announcements, as much as we enjoy watching people getting booted into a bottomless pit, we're not sure if rehashed PiP and ringtones alone will have buyers reaching into their pockets again.

Earlier this summer, The Departed and 007: Casino Royale swept up the spotlight at the first Entertainment Merchants Association's Home Entertainment Awards to hand out honors for high-definition titles, and now the first ever High-Def Disc Awards have doled out their own laundry list of victors. Presented by Home Media Magazine in cooperation with The Hollywood Reporter and the EMA, the awards were decided upon by a panel of critics / bloggers, and 300 was the only film to take home more than one award. Notably, of the two it won, one (Title of the Year) was on Blu-ray and the other (Best Bonus Feature) was on HD DVD. Other winners included Ratatouille for Best Animated Film, Transformers for Best Audio Quality and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest for Best Picture Quality. Hit the read link for the full rundown, and don't be shy in voicing your support / outrage at the selections.

[Via FormatWarCentral]

Paramount couldn't wait for the Nielsen numbers to announce that Transformers has become the best selling day one and week one HD title on Blu-ray or HD DVD. Blu-ray or HD DVD is important, because it appears even its 190,000 HD DVDs sold in the first week is still behind 300's week one mark of 250k combined. Still, over 100,000 of those sold on the first day and definitely make this the biggest exclusive release since Sony's Casino Royale broke the 100k copies shipped barrier back in March. Two things appear to be confirmed, that the lack of lossless audio wasn't that big of a deal to many buyers, and that HD sales are still miniscule when compared to the 8.3 million Transformer DVDs that sold in the first week.

[Thanks, domerdel]

Here's an interesting one. Reportedly, the copy of 300 that comes bundled alongside the Bourne Identity in any of Toshiba's third-generation HD DVD players completely omits the DVD side found on the traditional combo disc. Granted, the content on the HD DVD side remains exactly the same, but since the vanilla DVD held exclusive audio commentary, it seems that this particular disc adds "its own exclusive picture-in-picture video commentary" to compensate.

If you thought the previous HD film records set by MI:III, The Departed, and 007: Casino Royale were impressive, 300 just raised the bar in a big way. According to sales figures from the title's first week on shelves, more than 250,000 copies were moved on HD DVD and Blu-ray. Moreover, this mark makes it the fastest selling high-definition disc to date, and enables Warner Home Video to claim six of the top ten selling HD flicks. Of course, the news we're truly interested in -- which format made up the majority of the sales -- was unsurprisingly omitted.

[Via MovieWeb]

300 is this month's highest profile DVD/Blu-ray/HD DVD Combo release, and it appears reviewers have already found it worthy of the crown. Frank Miller's previous effort Sin City was already well-received in HD with its highly stylized green screened special effects and 300 follows in the same vein. High-Def Digest didn't exactly love the "flat" look of the movie, but found the VC-1 transfer an "accurate representation of the theatrical experience", while IGN couldn't find enough superlatives to describe the video on its way to a 10 of 10 rating. The Blu-ray version includes a PCM soundtrack alongside standard and TrueHD versions, but it didn't seem to add or detract much from a highly rated aural experience. The HD DVD exclusive features include a PiP look at the film in preproduction, as well as an option to edit together favorite scenes and post them online for other fans to download via the player. 300's groundbreaking internet features are also tied to the anchor of Warner's ringtone and other paraphernalia advertisements, but in the end, all rated it a must-buy for your format of choice when released next week.

Read - 300 HD DVD review High-Def Digest
Read - 300 Blu-ray review High-Def Digest
Read - 300 HD DVD review IGN
Read - A Few Words About...300 HD & BD

The already nicely priced Xbox 360 HD DVD player just got slashed to $179. The new US-only, retail pricing also includes 5 free HD DVD flicks when purchasing the player between August 1st and September 30th -- you know, the same time period 300 and Heroes goes on sale in HD DVD format. Unfortunately, the free titles must be made from a selection of just 15 pre-selected films which Toshiba considers "popular." Nevertheless, the $20 price cut makes the Xbox 360 HD DVD player all the more enticing as an easily hacked, USB-player for HD flicks on your PC.

Update: Xbox 360 owners will be getting downloadable treats to promote the add-on, Microsoft announced that the movie 300 will be available on Xbox Live Video Marketplace in HD starting August 14th. In a repeat of the South Park promotion earlier this year, the first episode of Heroes will be made available for free prior to the release of the boxed set on HD DVD for a limited time.

[Thanks, Andrew and PacoDG]

Apparently, Warner Home Video has no problem doling out an HD DVD version of 300 that outshines the Blu-ray rendition, as that's exactly what will happen when it launches on July 31st. The $39.99 HD DVD / DVD combo disc will feature a bluescreen picture-in-picture version of the film with "pre-CGI" clips alongside the finished product, an exclusive game titled Vengeance and Valor, web-enabled downloads, and a nifty application that allows you to assemble your favorite clips and "create your own montage." These very features, however, are glaringly absent from the Blu-ray release, which sports a far thinner list of extras for a slightly lower price ($34.99). It's no secret that interactive features on high-definition flicks have been sorely missing on the whole, but giving preferential treatment to one format via on-disc extras is an interesting approach to differentiation.

[Via HighDefDigest]