The PS3 Review Thread

[JTK]

It's funny:

I read in the Wall Street Journal just the other day how Microsoft is trying to get something off of Novell and Linux, and the writer's exact phrase went into "FUD tactics" and the rest of it, and I just laughed out loud, literally.

Folks, this is how Microsoft has always done business. This is why they live in the courts around the world practically. FUD, smearing, lying, strongarming...this is what they're known for.

The home theater folks are getting a taste of this stuff that folks in the PC world have seen for the past 20 years!


I've said it a million times and I'll say it again: I've never seen any consumer product targeted so far in advance, so aggressively, with the kind of lying, FUD, and smear campaign like MS has directed against the PS3 for at least the past year, and rightfully so: It's a huge threat to them and it's going to loom large over them from this day forward.


A few comments about BD playback:

The Toshiba HD-DVD players can't tie this things shoes. It's so nice not to have a machine that's running off of 2002 laptop parts.

There's no lag. No waiting times. No 2 minutes load times. No audio drop outs. No hiccups. No AV synch. No nothing.

This thing runs like any well made home theater product/DVD player. Menu response times and lightning quick just as you would expect.

In fact, I'm kind of surprised and amazed just how clean and fast this thing responds and reacts.


I've seen a lot of hype from HD-DVD zealots about their poor man's laptops over the past 6 months and I'll tell you this: Some of that hype would more accurately fit this machine.

An A1 or an A2 for $599 or a PS3 for $599? It's not even close. It becomes laughably absurd when you talk about the Xa1 or the $999 Xa2.

The PS3 runs circles around all of them in every respect. No old laptop parts here!

I deliberately tried to duplicate situations that I knew would make the Xa1 I owned choke up.

Never happened. I fast forwarded, backward, switched audio during playback...hell, I tried to almost abuse the damned thing and it never missed a beat! And there was no delay! You press a button and it happens right away!

If the PS3 at this price point is really this well made and entropy doesn't set in for me (I'm very confident it won't) then you folks that own the Panasonic stand alone and the folks that are going to get the Sony or Pioneer Elite standalone players are really in for a big treat at this rate.

I'd be hard pressed to want more than what I have right now except I can't use any of the new audio codecs. My receiver only has multichannel analogs and the PS3 only does that high end audio through HDMI. That's the only thing missing. I'm gold otherwise.

[WriteSimply]

Here's what I bet will happen in three months or so.

Due to the fact that you can only get 5.1-7.1 LPCM/TrueHD via the HDMI, some wise engineers will make a splitter box. Inside is DACs for the 7.1 digital audio. So the box has for input one HDMI and for output 7.1 analog out and HDMI for just video.


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[Jim L]

Originally Posted by JTK

It's funny:

I read in the Wall Street Journal just the other day how Microsoft is trying to get something off of Novell and Linux, and the writer's exact phrase went into "FUD tactics" and the rest of it, and I just laughed out loud, literally.

Folks, this is how Microsoft has always done business. This is why they live in the courts around the world practically. FUD, smearing, lying, strongarming...this is what they're known for.

The home theater folks are getting a taste of this stuff that folks in the PC world have seen for the past 20 years!

Just to let you know where I'm coming from . . .

I'm a techie and a geek, which is why I like new technology and tend to be an early adopter. I'm no stanger to Microsoft either. I've been a developer for the last 10 years using their products and platforms in a corporate environment. In that arena they have some great products and have innovated and made some wonderful standards in the software world.

That being said, I do not like their corporate tactics in how they try to break into new markets (gaming, home entertainment) or working against competitors (Apple, Macromedia, Netscape, Sony, Quicken). They like to use their monopoly and oceans of cash to accomplish their goals.

• Netscape - when they made IE free and bundled it into Windows it virtually killed profitability and innovation in the browser market. IE languished for years as the worst browser for security and features compared to Firefox, Opera, and Safari
• Apple's OSX has made Windows XP look pretty poor in comparison for the last couple of years. Now there's a Windows upgrade called Vista, which has incorporated many of the design concepts of OSX into it.
• Quicken - they once tried to buy out Quicken, which is the only other major competitor in the consumer financial software market. I'm glad they didn't.
• Macromedia - at one time they were looking at buying out Macromedia as was IBM. That didn't go their way either.
• Gaming and Home Entertainment - They'd like to dominate in these arenas too which is why they're aligned against Sony and Apple.

I don't want Microsoft to dominate in these markets because I think that in the long run the consumer will suffer. Prices will go up and innovation will stop. That is why competition is good. I also think that Microsoft would like to implement their "leased software" model and become the source for media content distribution. Fortunately there are other players that can prevent that from happening. One of them is Blu-ray. As a consumer, I don't think I will ever prefer to pay for limited-time playback of music or movies as opposed to outright ownership of content on physical media.

[w241072]

Finally, I got my PS3 from the pre-order. As heard, there are only 160 units for online pre-order in HK. I was too lucky to be 1 of the 160 owners

I picked it up yesterday, and hooked it up with home theatre system w/o any problem. Frankly, I want to get a PS3 because of BD movies, gaming is my second priority.

I bought 4 BD's already, "S.W.A.T", "Underworld - Evolution", "MI 1-3 box set", and "Click". What can say is I never experienced any HD movies before. Even my Sharp TV cannot support 1080p, but 1080i is too good for me already!

I did an AB compare on "S.W.A.T" using the BD and the superbit DVD I bought in Japan last time. Frankly, there is no way to compare, I can see everything clear from the BD now!

Beside the movies, the online feature is really good, and I registered on the Playstation Store already.

Even I said gaming is my 2nd priority, I still played the all three games I have ("RR7", "Gundam", and "Genji"). I like "Genji" the most. Frankly, I am an action game idiot, but this is is not that hard to play and I do like the RPG feel of this game. Looking forward to some great RPG games

I've ordered more than 10 BD's from amazon.com, can't wait for more movies!

[Dave]

JTK, have you tried some old PS2 games? Do they work flawless? What is your opinion?

[hmurchison]

Originally Posted by w241072

Finally, I got my PS3 from the pre-order. As heard, there are only 160 units for online pre-order in HK. I was too lucky to be 1 of the 160 owners

I picked it up yesterday, and hooked it up with home theatre system w/o any problem. Frankly, I want to get a PS3 because of BD movies, gaming is my second priority.

I bought 4 BD's already, "S.W.A.T", "Underworld - Evolution", "MI 1-3 box set", and "Click". What can say is I never experienced any HD movies before. Even my Sharp TV cannot support 1080p, but 1080i is too good for me already!

I did an AB compare on "S.W.A.T" using the BD and the superbit DVD I bought in Japan last time. Frankly, there is no way to compare, I can see everything clear from the BD now!

I've ordered more than 10 BD's from amazon.com, can't wait for more movies!

Congratulations man! Get to buying movies so that we can shutup these idiot writers that keep telling us that DVDs are good enough.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by w241072

I've ordered more than 10 BD's from amazon.com, can't wait for more movies!

Great!
Please use only amazon.com so we can SHUT UP the thedvdwars.com site faster!

[JTK]

Yup, I've ordered about 10 BD's from Amazon myself here recently.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by Dave

JTK, have you tried some old PS2 games? Do they work flawless? What is your opinion?

I've been playing the hell out of both Final Fantasy 12 and Raw vs. Smackdown 2007 with ne'er a glitch or bug to be seen.

[dialog_gvf]

Originally Posted by JTK

The Toshiba HD-DVD players can't tie this things shoes. It's so nice not to have a machine that's running off of 2002 laptop parts.

There's no lag. No waiting times. No 2 minutes load times. No audio drop outs. No hiccups. No AV synch. No nothing.

This thing runs like any well made home theater product/DVD player. Menu response times and lightning quick just as you would expect.

In fact, I'm kind of surprised and amazed just how clean and fast this thing responds and reacts.

Considering what the PS/3 is, I would have considered it a success if it had been a bit better than the performance of the Toshiba players. That it seems to be blowing them away is an amazing accomplishment.

The unfortunate thing is they are impossible to get, and will be difficult to get for some time. So, a lot of people who would rush out and get one from the reviews, can't.

Gary

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by w241072

I've ordered more than 10 BD's from amazon.com, can't wait for more movies!

Originally Posted by JTK

Yup, I've ordered about 10 BD's from Amazon myself here recently.

Don't forget to use the rebate book!


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[partridge]

On the BBC News24 channel, their "Click" technology programme gave a very favourable review of the PS3 advising that Microsoft and Nintendo should be worried, despite the price.

The reviewer summarised by saying that if the Xbox360 was a tank, the PS3 would be a Ferrari.

[JTK]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

Don't forget to use the rebate book!


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Indeed I shall.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by JTK

I've been playing the hell out of both Final Fantasy 12 and Raw vs. Smackdown 2007 with ne'er a glitch or bug to be seen.

I knew it!

[Jodi]

Originally Posted by partridge

On the BBC News24 channel, their "Click" technology programme gave a very favourable review of the PS3 advising that Microsoft and Nintendo should be worried, despite the price.

The reviewer summarised by saying that if the Xbox360 was a tank, the PS3 would be a Ferrari.

Oooops! I mentioned earlier on this very thread that the PS3 is "slick, sexy and built like a friggin' tank". I'll correct myself......the PS3 is built like a Ferrari. NO!.....WAIT!.......how about an Aston-Martin!!

Vrrrrrrmmm!!

Jodi

[Dave]

Everything You Wanted to Know about the Playstation 3

http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=747

[w241072]

Originally Posted by hmurchison

Congratulations man! Get to buying movies so that we can shutup these idiot writers that keep telling us that DVDs are good enough.

You know what, I've used the Pixel Magic 1000 (http://www.pixelmagicsystems.com/pro...a_enhancer.htm) to do the DVD enhancement with point-to-point resolution (1366x768) for my Sharp TV. But still, it's nothing compared with play BD on PS3!

I think I will addict to it and I will never buy any DVD more, except renting those for which BD is not there yet

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

Don't forget to use the rebate book!


fuad

It's neat!

I just need to enter the code once and I will receive the 10% rebate everytime for a year!

[Kenshiro]

I picked up a PS3 I had on preorder from GameStop yesterday and I must admit that it was the best over $500 purchase I've ever made. Sony is really setting the bar here with quality and design for home consoles. Setup was a breeze, HDMI into the tv and toslink into the receiver. Power buttons are touch sensitve or it can be turned on with the controller remotely. Even without the PCM from the HDMI the sound was still great. No scaling issues for me as my tv does 720p and 1080i. I'm sure it must be a very small # of people that this ACTUALLY affects, even though it got blown out of proportion.

I played Resistance for several hours and the game friggin rocks, way better than any 360 launch game by far. I tried out Tears of the Sun on Blu Ray and the picture quality even had my wife, who normally cares less about HD broadcasts, saying "wow you can see all of Bruce Willis' wrinkles"...lol. As others have already confirmed, the Blu Ray player in hear is the real deal and it works FLAWLESSLY. I have about 8 movies now and I plan to order more in a short time.

Setting up the internet on the PS3 was also a breeze, it automatically scanned for my router and then I could surf the web or play resistance and RR7 online. I downloaded the demo for Motorstorm today and the graphics for that game are some of the best I've ever seen.

Tommorrow I'll start plugging things in to see what works and what doesn't. I have several Gigs of the Simpsons I plan on keeping on the PS3 and a few movies like Fist of the North Star. I'll probaly do like 15GB of Video 10GB of Music and 5GB of pictures for now and the rest I'll save for gaming purposes. I may get a 200GB SATA HDD next year or so depending on how much content I keep on it.

Having a PS3 yesterday made me extremely popular, almost everyone I know came over at some point to check it out. The system was running for damn near the whole day with no problems. Extra warm air does come out the side of it but it never overheated or anything. If my experience was this great without a 1080p TV and a HDMI receiver, I can only imagine how awsome it will be when I upgrade and unleash the full potential.

[56@Yamamoto]

I went for a walk this Sunday mornig. A PS3 box was put on a counter when I entered a video shop nearby. I asked a clerk, "Is it a display? Or abailable for purchase?" He said, "Oh, this is not a display. Would you intend to purchase this?"

So I went back home with this heavy package. Then I loaded it onto my car, I went to brought it into the audio proshop which I was friendly. Shopmaster and I hooked this PS3 to SONY VPL-VW100 projecter and played 'Fantastic Four' and 'Kingdom of Heaven'.

These really fantastic. KOH showed splendid picture quality. Sharp and great facial details. Sound quality on full-rate DTS was solid and impressive. Compared to KOH, Fantastic Four had silghtly soft image. but still I was very satisfied. And audio quality was also impressive.

During playing two movies, fan noise was very low, lower than the projecter. I am considerably happy today.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by 56@Yamamoto

I went for a walk this Sunday mornig. A PS3 box was put on a counter when I entered a video shop nearby. I asked a clerk, "Is it a display? Or abailable for purchase?" He said, "Oh, this is not a display. Would you intend to purchase this?"

So I went back home with this heavy package.

Just strolled in and got a PS3... Mr. Yamamoto RULEZ!


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