Both liked that the system loaded and began playing Blu-ray movies considerably faster than other players, and had nothing but good things to say about the picture quality -- with the exception of the included movie, even on a 50GB disc Talladega Nights looked "flat" and "compressed" -- despite still leaning towards HD DVD in overall sharpness.

ENGADGET: PlayStation 3 as Blu-ray player, how does it rate? HD

"You can say anything you want about me, as long as you agree to morph my picture in the direction of Gregory Peck, age 22, " he advised us, tongue-in-cheek, during the interview.

FORBES: Larry Ellison