PS3: Good Blu-ray Player Under $600, or Best?

[montanabay]

I don't own a PS3, but I watch Blu Ray movies at my buddies on one. One thing that I found extremely annoying was how hot the PS3 got and how loud the cooling fan is...is this typical of the PS3?

 

[StriderRyu]

I have the 60GB version of the PS3 which includes the remote, front panel media card readers and the best backwards compatibility for older PS2 and PS games (which is the main reason I chose this model). I've slapped in a 120GB SSD hard drive which marginally decreases load times for games. I would say that with the replacement of the hard drive, I have a PS3 that is about as capable and advanced as they can be, at this time, short of some kind of unsupported, warranty-voiding mods. Unfortunately, this model is no longer in production.

I purchased a 40GB version for a friend of mine while I was visiting for two weeks so you could say I have experience with the "high" and "low" end versions of this device. The 60GB model I bought came with a remote. The 40GB did not. I agree with the other poster's that making any mention of the lack of remote as a drawback is relatively unnecessary. This review would be better suited for a Maxim magazine. For this site, I think, generally you're dealing with readers that would be considered enthusiasts and over-simplifying the comparsion, as you have done here, is inappropriate. Also anyone that makes use of any of the connectors other than the HDMI or MAYBE the composite is completely missing the point of Blu-Ray and wasting their money on a BD player to begin with.

A few final thoughts: the remote control is bluetooth so it does not need line-of-sight to the console (the remote could use glow in the dark or light-up buttons however); the only reason I would bother using anything other than an HDMI cable was if I were to bring the unit somewhere that didn't have an HDCP display (HDCP compliance on the display is required for the HDMI to function at all); finally, I'm kind of missing the point of this article, even if it were in Maxim or a similar "mainstream user" kind of forum, you're basically comparing apples with applepie.

 

[Guest]

@montanabay:

My PS3 doesn't get very hot at all... your friend should check airflow around his unit. For comparison... not only does my 360 get much hotter than the PS3 in normal use, the external brick power supply for the 360 does too (the PS3 has an internal PS).

Noise is a problem with ANY system that has active cooling. I built a custom HTPC with as much passive cooling as possible... it's about as noisy as the PS3 (which is to say... the PS3 is pretty good). If you have the unit close to your seating position and you can't change it for whatever reason... you either need to put it in an enclosure (just don't forget to ventilate the enclosure) or just live with it.

In our living room the PS3 is below the LCD, we bought an enclosure that had doors so we could shut the doors when watching movies (it's open in the back for ventilation.

In our bar the PS3 is WAY in the front next to the Screen... you can hear from seating distance it if the room is silent... BARELY. The projector fan makes more noise.

 

[Stardude82]

I wonder how much of the much commented image issues are intentional by Sony? After all, the only real difference between the 60 Gb and the 40 Gb is 20 Gb of space and a couple ports. To justify the $100 price difference they felt the need to cut PS2 compatibility, a software difference which costs them nothing. (I honestly only bit on the $400 version because of a $100 gift card incentive.)

That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if in the future video integrity is degraded further by software "upgrades" to boost sales of stand alone players.

As for the review, the ports are knocked for an odd reasons and the remote is not a big deal. A bigger deal might be a lack of IR port or coax digital than the fact a composite cable is not included.

Generally, my PS3 automatically plays whatever I stick in it, I rarely need to navigate anything.

Also, what about the ability of the players to handle "extra features" like games and fancy menus?

 

[Guest]

Dark screen on PS3, I beleive that the tester didn't have the correct settings, if you use a tv that doesn't support full RGB then don't enable it on PS# otherwise it will become dark.

 

[StriderRyu]

stardude82, the (US) 60GB model comes with 4 USB ports (which are a big help in games like Rock Band because the USB hubs tend to be under-powered and don't always pick up every instrument), flash card readers (for uploading media or backing up the PS3), support for Super Audio CDs (which admittedly most people don't even know about), and almost 100% backwards compatibility with PS/PS2 games. The 60GB model has the Emotion Engine hardware from the PS2 BUILT IN. The lack of this hardware (and any software emulation like on the 80GB model), with the additions I mentioned above, is where the price difference comes from. It is NOT simply the removal of software.

The idea that Sony would purposefully degrade the capabilities of the PS3 to boost standalone player sales is ludicrous. They'd face class action lawsuits from every country they've sold the PS3. I will concede that the lack of IR audio is a nuisance, but if you go HDMI throughout your home theatre, you won't notice a differnce I don't think (someone should correct me on this if that's not the case, I don't have a ton of audio knowledge).

 

[Guest]

Like everyone above me already mentioned the fact that you could pickup a $20 PS3 remote that works very well, which doesn't need to be aimed at the ps3 itself or even used in the same room. So the remote is really better in terms of functionality IMO.

That one redeeming factor also brings a negative one. The lack of an IR port means the PS3 can't use a traditional universal remote or a logitech harmony. A $50 IR2BT 3rd party device must be used as a bridge. Not a huge problem yet again but that brings the total cost of the PS3 up $70. Depending on where you live that still makes the 40gb PS3 cheaper than the 2 alternatives above.

If you move beyond bluray and video playback into music, pictures, games, and all kinds of network sharing possibilities the PS3 clearly stands out above the rest for a cheaper price.

I haven't read many reviews at tomshardware lately but this guide really turned me away from this site... Don't think I'll be back in a while... Please do your research before publishing these articles.

 

[Guest]

"Personally, the lack of a digital coax output"

It's got optical digital out. You don't really want to use digital coax for the vgery good reason of earth loops, something optical does not suffer from.

 

[Guest]

His setup was surely flawed, rendering is flawless on the PS3, my guess would be an setting in the PS3 menu on fps, the default is higher than most 60hz tvs at 120hz. If your setting are turned up higher than your tv's max setting you will get rendering issues. It's kind of funny my little brother easily figured that out when he had the same issue watching IRON MAN on Blu ray(he is 7 years old). This guy tom is supposed to be a expert, maybe he should let his kids show him how to modify the settings so he doesn't have a messed up image. My image is flawless and I do mean flawless. Personally I think 120hz makes movies look like day time drama it's almost too real. Great for sports though so settings are kind of a big deal TOM!