I didn’t buy the machine to leave it connected to my 42″ TV anyway. I only hooked it up there first because it was easy. It was going to be moved into my dedicated media room with a 120″ HD projector and 7.1 surround system.

ADOPT ME!!!!

Dedicated media room with 120″ HD – you got the perfect setup there for sure :)

Kim:)

I bought my PS3 back in July or August, after the $100 price drop. I saw that it only came with an A/V connection standard, so I bought an HDMI cable online for about $3 to connect it to my 46″ 1080p HDTV. Like you I primarily bought it as a Blu-Ray player and was pretty exicted about the 5 Free Blu Ray promotion that came with it this summer, however I was also excited to have a game console since I haven’t really played one since my Nintendo and Super Nintendo like 10 or 15 years ago. I am still waiting on the 5 free Blu Rays, but I went out and bought a couple titles to check out the Blu Ray in the meantime and I can sure tell the difference. I also have an upconverting DVD player and it looks decent, but I can still tell the difference between Blu Ray. When you can see blemishes on an actor’s face or the faces of fans in the stadium of a sports movie, it kind of makes me go “wow.”

I agree that the controller can be a bit sensitive during movie play. I have learned to leave it on my endtable so I dont bump it and it takes me a little longer than I’d like to carefully reach for it when I need to pause. I have seen some PS3 “movie remotes” advertized online which I imagine are a little easier to use, but I’m cheap so I deal with the sensitive controller.

I only have a couple PS3 games so far (Rainbow Six: Vegas and Warhawk) but I am extremely pleased with the graphics and gameplay on both of them. I am looking forward to SOCOM3 :D

Also, I stumbled across a link to download the Folding@Home Client. I downloaded it in a few minutes and ran it one night without much issue. I haven’t used it since then because I just didn’t want to leave my PS3 on and waste electricity (again, I’m cheap.) I have also been able to get online and google up a few custom background images for my PS3 without any problem. My computer isnt far away so I rarely use the browser on the PS3 for anything else, but I didn’t have any problem getting online.

The one connection problem I do have that bugs me is in trying to connect to the Media Center server on my computer to watch videos. It always seems to disconnect half way through…I am hoping Sony will resolve this issue soon, but that’s really my only complaint.

Overall I’ve been very pleased with my PS3. As far as I know, it’s still one of the cheapest Blu Ray options available and you get a high-end gaming console to go with it. The on-screen web browser and ability to access media from your computer (in theory) were both nice perks for me. Add it all up and I still think it’s a decent value.

Ok. I guess I’ll just get you a Gameboy and a Betamax player for Christmas this year! ;-)

John

I’m sure your assessment is correct. It may indeed be a bit unfair to judge a gaming system in the same way as I would another piece of home entertainment gear. But it seems to me that Sony was really billing this thing as an all-in-one gaming and multimedia platform.

And for $800 I just plain expected more.

I recognize that might not seem fair to some people, but for this kind of price my expectation was much, much higher than just getting a video game machine. It is good to know that they put out a simpler remote. Too bad they didn’t bundle it with the machine or I might have kept it.

Of course none of this excuses the lack of necessary cables, poor “wireless” controller support during setup, poor 802.11 support, extremely long setup time or the failure during setup.

Anyway, I keep procrastinating on the purchase of a BR player because I was waiting to see if HDDVD or BR was going to win out… but I think I’ll probably end up with a BR player by Christmas. My 120″ screen is just begging for one. :-)

John

And for all of you people that do spend hours sitting in dark rooms, playing video games, and excercising nothing more than your thumbs—get a life!!!!!

You can’t make judgements on a gaming system developed primarily for gaming based on your experiences with your home entertainment system expertise. You’re comparing apples to oranges.

Most people I know who have purchased the PS3 for watching Blu-ray and for use as a media center were aware of the usability issues and that they were developed primarily for gaming. The added benefits were designed around that. These people adapted perfectly to the console knowing this before they bought it. Maybe you should have just spent more and bought a dedicated BR player and a computer for Folding@Home cycles.

1. If you compare the PS3 controller to a remote control where every button is labeled it is quite easy to state unequivocally that a PS3 controller is as far from “intuitive”. Furthermore, during the setup process when people have their first ever exposure to the system it gives you ZERO instruction as to which button does what. For example, when it asks you to enter a name it doesn’t say to use the arrow buttons to scroll through letters and the X button to move forward, etc. You just have to guess. No one on earth would consider that “intuitive”.
2. I’m not saying that the system takes “a while” to set up. I’m saying it took an hour or more to set up. That is at least twice as long as it takes to set up a brand new PC, and that is a pain in the ass. Most people probably expect that with a gaming system you’ll be able to just plug it in, pop a game in and play. In the case of the PS3 they would be sorely mistaken.
3. A 42″ 1080p display comes with higher grade electronics throughout and renders a better picture in every resolution vs. the lower end 720p panels. Furthermore, if it is hooked to a media center PC it will display sharper images when viewing high resolution photos and videos even in smaller panel sizes such as 37″-42″.
4. I didn’t buy the machine to leave it connected to my 42″ TV anyway. I only hooked it up there first because it was easy. It was going to be moved into my dedicated media room with a 120″ HD projector and 7.1 surround system.

By the way, why is it that people who want to take pot shots do so anonymously? I believe it’s because it’s easier to shoot off at the mouth and walk away than to think hard about what they want to say in order to avoid the embarrassment of being proven wrong publicly.

John

and a male hdmi to male dvi-d cable to come out of the ps3. i plugged it in to the infocus ls110 projector and could not make the hdcp handshake even though the projector is hdcp complient. i had the video output configured to output hdmi as per the plasma but it was a no go. i have a ps3 av multi cable to component and that works on the projector but only gives me up to 720p:( the funny thing is i didn;t get the “ps3 has identified an hdmi input”message when i first plugged into the projector so i can only assume that the hdcp handshake is not being made:( try telling this to people at the sony shop. they just give you a blank look:)

That is awesome! I’m glad you love it. It just wasn’t a good purchase for me because I’m not a gamer to start with. I really wanted it for things other than the gaming graphics so I was trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. ;-)

John