When my launch 60gb PS3 finally gave up the ghost last year, I searched for a good replacement blu ray player that would not cost more than a new PS3 would anyway. I went through Amazon's top rated blu ray players, owning (and returning) the LG BD670, Panasonic BD75, and finally the Samsung D5500. All of them had various problems refusing to play certain discs (Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a particular problem for the LG and the Panasonic...and it was a brand new disc), having issues with BD Live, being terrible at media streaming, etc. Even adding a 2gb thumb drive to these machines didn't help.
Eventually, my wife got fed up with wasting time on slow players that would glitch and freeze when we were trying to relax for the evening. She implored me to buy another PS3 since the old PS3 never had any of these issues. That alone should tell you something. When your wife is begging you to buy a new gaming console because it plays movies and media better than anything else on the market, that says a lot. A few weeks later, I picked up a 160gb slim PS3 for $130...and we haven't had a single problem since. So, in my opinion, the convenience and compatibility of the PS3 is easily worth any extra cost.