The PS3 is still one of the best Blu-ray players around. When it comes to actual Blu-ray playback between the PS3, Panasonic, OPPO etc the differences are slim to none. Now the Panasonic and Oppo will have slightly better upconversion for DVD's over the PS3 - not a night and day difference. Load times are all very good, with a few seconds faster with the Oppo player.
The biggest differences in these players are the feature sets. The advantages of the PS3 is that it plays the newest console video games. The price alone for this is worth it if you are a gamer. The PS3 does not have analog inputs but this feature only matters if you have an old receiver without hdmi and will not be able to take advantage of the new audio codecs then. The fan noise with the PS3 will be louder over other Blu-ray players but when it comes to upconversion, load times, Blu-ray playback it is a great buy for the money- it does all this very well. The PS3 also supports netflix now which is a bonus.
If you don't play games and want a quality, quiet, reliable standalone player with not a lot of bells and wistles, the Panasonic models are terrific.
If you want a player with all the bell's and wistles (DVD, Blu-ray, SACD, DVD-A, analog inputs etc) the OPPO is for you.
In conclusion, there is no actual night and day differences between these quality players. It just depends on what features you are interested in.
