I can't speak to whether or not it's the best, or even among the top choices out there, but every PS3 sold from the first one off the assembly line until now, has a bluray player built into the firmware.
Personally, I'd never use a game console as a movie player as well, unless I didn't play games. There are plenty of bluray players out there now, but the drive in the PS3 is unique in that it's the only one that can also read PS3 game discs. That drive has a finite lifespan, so why waste it watching movies when stand alone bluray players are cheaper to replace?
Is the blu-ray in an original PS3 sold separately and is it still considered one of the best? thanks

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