It looks like I should have added additional clarification / rational to my pick earlier today.

The PS3 is by far the most robust machine I own. I love this thing and I DO NOT play games. However, it has one serious shortcoming; it will not decode DTS-Master. There are, and have been rumors that it will receive a firmware update to add this functionality, but many others are speculating it is hardware limited and it will not ever be able to decode DTS-Master. It is for this reason I bought the Pany BD 30.

The BD 30 is a great machine as well, but it has two shortcomings. One: its LFE channel output for user selected PCM audio streams on BR disks is 4-5 DB low. No one knows for certain if Panasonic will ever address this, or for that matter, even publicly admit it’s an issue needing resolution. The Pany BD10 and Denon 2500 [which utilizes some of the same hardware as the BD 30] also have the same PCM LFE problem. NOTE: this is ONLY for PCM Lossless audio tracks and ALL other formats work just fine.

The second BD30 shortcoming is; it WILL NOT internally decode DTS-M or DD-TruHD. It will NEVER internally decode them because it does not have the hardware to do this. The BD 30 sends DTS-M and DD-TruHD to the audio processor in BITSTREAM format. In other words, you will need an HDMI 1.3 audio processor that will decode DTS-M and DD-TruHD in order to hear these tracks.

The Panasonic BD 50, according to cut sheets, will internally decode ALL formats and send them to the audio processor in three different formats. 1) Raw Bitstream - via HDMI 1.3 2) Decoded multi channel digital PCM - via HDMI 1.1/1.2/1.3 3) Decoded Multi Channel Analogue - via analogue outputs (I do not know if that will be 5.1 or 7.1).

It is not known if the BD 50 will exhibit the same PCM / LFE bug that its sibling share. It is for that reason that I would wait until users report back.

Currently, I’m using a PS3 for BR disks with PCM audio formats and the BD 30 for DTS-M.