not to flog a dead horse but...
I picked up my PS3 Slim from Incredible Corruption for R3k. While it clearly is not the best media player out there it does a very fine job (streaming through my wired/wireless lan via PS3 Mediaserver). And is a very passable Blu-Ray player, especially for someone who bought it primarily as a gaming console.
You really can't find anything else on the market which rivals it in all those departments, or even comes close at that price point. If I want to play games, voila; I want to watch my DVDs/Blu-ray, voila; I want to stream my media which is all kept snuggly on my internal hard drive so it can be streamed to more than one device, voila.
Yes I'm sure there are better media centres, and Blu-ray players (although I'm shocked you would pay R10k for it?) on a budget as an all in one - it really is the smart choice. Not interested in gaming/blu-ray/media then get separate components if you so wish, but for Joe public, your non-audiophile non video-phile PS3 must surely be the sensible recommendation.
Wash, rinse, repeat ... been there done that.
However, look at the average Joe that buys a Xbox 360 My first next-gen purchase 2 years back.
Owned 400 DVD titles (yes been collecting since 1999) now 600+. Had a standard TV (bought HDTV a year ago). Price of PS3 R5000+, price of Xbox R3000+ ... I plumped for a Xbox 360.
I now own a PS3 but not one BR movie because replacing my DVD collection with BR would be bordering on the insane. It has streaming and all that but I simply put files I want to watch on my TV on USB flash drive or watch off an external HDD ... which can be done on the Xbox 360.
Blah blah blah, console war, Xbox 360 vs PS3, Wii sales vs Sony/Microsoft ... at the end of the day the price point of the PS3 now is within many peoples reach ... very late into the next-gen cycle.
But, if you want to play all the great titles -- it's being a fanboi only owning one console. Hardcore gaming dictates that a Xbox 360 and PS3 must be in your living/TV room. Plain and simple!
So yes ... once again all the soldiers from 'both' camps will mention BR, RROD, exclusives being better on 360 -- exclusives being better on the PS3, 2009/10 being the comeback of the PS3 ... yadda yadda yadda ...
but its stupid
and that is my final say on the matter.
Buy what you can afford or the features you need and don't crucify others for the choice they made ...