PS3 power consumption playing Blu-Ray movies?

[krisztoforo]

The only reason I'm hesitant in buying a PS3 for Blu-Ray movies is the power consumption. The max consumption seems to be 360W with full processing/GPU/hard drive, etc. I'm wondering if there is a (practical) way to measure power consumption while playing movies. I read somewhere that for example SACD decoding is done entirely in software meaning it is consuming (much) more power than a standalone SACD player. I wonder how the movie playback is done.
Any ideas/suggestions on this?

[GasCat]

I don't really understand your fear. It was designed to play movies. The number of watts consumed is limited by a resisitor on the unit isn't it?

[Iceman_II]

If his home/apartment is older, he may only have one circuit in his listening room, and it may be as low as 15 amps... on a 15 amp circuit the most he can load is 1650 watts, throw in a TV, Stereo, maybe a lamp or two... and it gets pretty high pretty quick.

Trust me, its worth running an extension cord from the kitchen


Edit:
And I forgot, most breakers will get "weaker" if they are tripped a lot.... so this theoretical 15 amp circuit may actually blow at closer to 10

[krisztoforo]

Originally Posted by oneaaron

well the ps3 runs 180 watts just in the main menu, and 185 watts playing a blu-ray movie.

Great! Thank you for your help!!!

[krisztoforo]

Originally Posted by GasCat

I don't really understand your fear. It was designed to play movies. The number of watts consumed is limited by a resisitor on the unit isn't it?

Well, current draw is limited to the 3.2A (in the US) which is the rating of the power supply, but it does not have to draw that much at all times, so my question was to see how much current it actually draws while playing blu-ray movies. The PS3 acts more like a computer than a dedicated blu-ray player, and it consumes different amount of power depending on CPU utilization, whether it uses the GPU (another CPU-like chip designed for graphical operations/calculations) extensively, whether it uses the hard-drive, etc.
As I mentioned I read somewhere that SACD decoding is done in software meaning it does not have a dedicated chip for that, it uses the CPU and a software written for this purpose, as opposed to a dedicated chip that SACD players have and this approach results in higher power consumption. I wasn't sure how blu-ray playback is performed in this unit, that's why I posted this question.

[DaDane]

Originally Posted by krisztoforo

The only reason I'm hesitant in buying a PS3 for Blu-Ray movies is the power consumption. The max consumption seems to be 360W with full processing/GPU/hard drive, etc. I'm wondering if there is a (practical) way to measure power consumption while playing movies. I read somewhere that for example SACD decoding is done entirely in software meaning it is consuming (much) more power than a standalone SACD player. I wonder how the movie playback is done.
Any ideas/suggestions on this?

I don't know how it is where you live. But here (in Denmark) you can go to your local power-dealer-company and borrow a powermeter. It will measure how much power (in Watt) and how much energy (in Watt/hours) an apparatus uses. So it might tell something like, - right now you are using 100 Watt, and since you started you have used 1300 Watt/hours.
Quite practical.

Here the problem is not just heat and noice. One Watt/hour would translate to approximately 35 cents, - So using the 185 Watt given by oneaaron and assuming a length of the movie to be 2 hours 13 cents. Not that bad, - but that's just for the PS3. The TV/projector would be extra.

Also, - remember to turn it off when you don't use it. Here a PS3 in main menu 24/7/365 would be a little more than 500$ (and yes I know, no one would live their PS3 all alone playing the main menu for a year!)

Originally Posted by krisztoforo

Well, current draw is limited to the 3.2A (in the US) which is the rating of the power supply, but it does not have to draw that much at all times, so my question was to see how much current it actually draws while playing blu-ray movies. The PS3 acts more like a computer than a dedicated blu-ray player, and it consumes different amount of power depending on CPU utilization, whether it uses the GPU (another CPU-like chip designed for graphical operations/calculations) extensively, whether it uses the hard-drive, etc.
As I mentioned I read somewhere that SACD decoding is done in software meaning it does not have a dedicated chip for that, it uses the CPU and a software written for this purpose, as opposed to a dedicated chip that SACD players have and this approach results in higher power consumption. I wasn't sure how blu-ray playback is performed in this unit, that's why I posted this question.

I think your question has been answered already:

Originally Posted by oneaaron

well the ps3 runs 180 watts just in the main menu, and 185 watts playing a blu-ray movie.

[Iceman_II]

DaDane: I assume from your calculations, you meant $.35 per kWh, not per watt hour?

Even still, I have been complaining about my electric bill, paying all of $.131 per kWh... I guess I just need to shut up and count my blessings!

[jorg]

wow ice man u should i live in canada and my bill just came back for 73kws and it was 500$

[Iceman_II]

But that was $500 Canadian right, so thats what? $125 US?








Just kidding, just kidding

[Don Blish]

I had purchased a "Kill-A-Watt" meter before installing solar panels on the roof in 2002 here in California. Here are some power consumption figures

Motorola HD cable box 25W
Yahama HTR5740,PolkRTi8,Sub,satelites 45W
Sharp Aquos LC-52D62U 52"LCD 200W
Sony BDP-S1 Blu-Ray, playing HDMI 28W

The only supprise is that with all "off", the draw was 24W....so the cable box is always on in background getting schedules and receiving unwanted messages. However at 11 cents per KWH, thats less than 7 cents a day.

[Blackraven]

Visit the wikipedia article on the PS3.

You should be able to find a link on the PS3 power consumption (from Watch Impress Japan).

Out of the total 380W of the power supply, it only reached a peak of 200W even (based on their actual tests).

100W on the usual XMB browser and around 150W for MPEG2/VC1 movies. The 200W even peak figure was for movies using h.264 MPEG-4 AVC

It hasn't gone past the 200W figure....yet (I hope it doesn't )