Author Topic: playstation 3 as a blu ray player - any good? (Read 9995 times)

muesli · « **on:** September 24, 2009, 07:27:10 PM »

hi guys,

i want to buy a blu ray player and noticed that the playstation 3 slim is not that much more expensive than a normal (cheap) player (~199€ vs. 299€...).

so i would like to know what you think about the playstation as a blu ray player?
also what are differences to a normal blu ray player? - like what cool things can you do with the playstation (except playing obviously

)? e.g. installing linux and then..?

i know that this is really a newbie question to blu ray players and playstation so i totally appreciate your help!

thank you

ant900 · « **Reply #1 on:** September 24, 2009, 07:34:49 PM »

well when it comes to BluRay play back it is just as good, if not better than the average BluRay player. As for additional functions the ps3 can of course play ps3 games. In addition to that you can download games and movies from the psn, you can surf the internet, you can use it as a media player (music, pictures, ect..), and you can also connect it to your pc to transfer media to and from it. However the ps3 slim DOES NOT have the ability to install linux, which sucks but I am sure Sony had a reason.

Tatsujin · « **Reply #2 on:** September 24, 2009, 08:02:09 PM »

Quote from: muesli on September 24, 2009, 07:27:10 PM

hi guys,

i want to buy a blu ray player and noticed that the playstation 3 slim is not that much more expensive than a normal (cheap) player (~199€ vs. 299€...).

so i would like to know what you think about the playstation as a blu ray player?
also what are differences to a normal blu ray player? - like what cool things can you do with the playstation (except playing obviously )? e.g. installing linux and then..?

i know that this is really a newbie question to blu ray players and playstation so i totally appreciate your help!

thank you

Blu-ray, and everything else of entertainment from playing music (very nice features to it), viewing the nice Earth while playing music, Browsing the Internet, pictures, online content (purchase/rent movies, games, etc) and it's free, of course. Reliable, 1.3v HDMI version which Blu-ray supports, ... too many things to list.

And about Linux, just who is going to install Linux on it and what're they going to use it for? ... Entertainment?! ...

vuzedome · « **Reply #3 on:** September 24, 2009, 08:28:08 PM »

Quote from: Tatsujin on September 24, 2009, 08:02:09 PM

And about Linux, just who is going to install Linux on it and what're they going to use it for? ... Entertainment?! ...

I did, for the fun of it.
But actually there wasn't really any fun, lots of hardware support problems.

kurandoinu · « **Reply #4 on:** September 24, 2009, 08:29:40 PM »

As far as I can see it makes a pretty good blu ray player.

The boyfriend however thinks its not good enough and wants a new blu ray player

muesli · « **Reply #5 on:** September 24, 2009, 08:47:44 PM »

yay thanks for the help so far!

looks like it is a good blu ray player after all - @ kurandoinu: do you know what your bf doesn't like about it..? is it something reasonable?

how about the controls? is it ok to control the player with the game pads?
also how about burned dvds..?

can they be played?
oh and can i plug in my external hard drive to play films over the ps?

thanks *tired*

kurandoinu · « **Reply #6 on:** September 24, 2009, 08:50:32 PM »

He says as its not just a blu ray player its not got the handling that a full one will have. I don't know, I watch DVDs on my monitor for the most part so doesn't matter much to me.

He's a video and sound boff though, so probably nothing too important

Tatsujin · « **Reply #7 on:** September 24, 2009, 08:54:09 PM »

Quote from: muesli on September 24, 2009, 08:47:44 PM

yay thanks for the help so far!

looks like it is a good blu ray player after all - @ kurandoinu: do you know what your bf doesn't like about it..? is it something reasonable?

how about the controls? is it ok to control the player with the game pads?
also how about burned dvds..? can they be played?
oh and can i plug in my external hard drive to play films over the ps?

thanks *tired*

Controls are easy. I don't recommend getting that PS3 remote controller. Not blue tooth and it's a piece of junk. Too many buttons. The DS3 Controller will be good enough.

PS3 doesn't burn anything for CDs, DVDs or Blu-rays.

You can plug in your external HDD and play films on there. PS3 does require some specific format (FAT32 was it? Or NTSF? I can't remember). Tho' the best thing to do is just get a DVI to HDMI cable and hook it up from your computer to your HDTV. Easier to play videos from your computer.

der richter · « **Reply #8 on:** September 24, 2009, 09:08:52 PM »

ntfs is microsoft only and no one can license it. so no. ps3 only read/writes fat32 formated hds.

in some earlier firmwares it could read burned s-vcd/vcds but not anymore.
but you could just copy h264 coded mp4 files to a memory stick (or what else) and play it. mkv (yet) aren't supported.
or you could just stream every media from your pc with TVersity for example.

video codecs which are supported are:
MPEG-1
AVI
MPEG-2 (PS,TS)
H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
Motion JPEG
partially DivX und Xvid (FW 2.10)
partially WMV (FW 2.10)
VC-1 (FW 2.10)

one big pro of the ps3 is that it is updatable. it is easy to add new feature like in the past BD-Live (bd-profile 2.0)(ps3 was the first player which supported bd-live). there is definitely more to come.

fohfoh · « **Reply #9 on:** September 24, 2009, 09:59:36 PM »

The older 65nm should be cheaper than the slim if you REALLY REALLY need to install linux on it for whatever reason.

Xtras · « **Reply #10 on:** September 24, 2009, 11:21:57 PM »

Sony Blu-Ray players are the best (it is their tech after all). The PS3 was once upon a time THE best blu-ray player on the market. Now, I'd have to say the sony BDP-S350 and its twin the BDP-S550 top it (speed and price) but do note all the fancy features the PS3 sports that keeps it the honorary first.

Lupin · « **Reply #11 on:** September 25, 2009, 12:05:20 AM »

Buy the PS3. Why? Because when a new bluray profile pops up, it's almost guaranteed to be supported by the PS3. Plus you can play games on it if you're a gamer.

Tatsujin · « **Reply #12 on:** September 25, 2009, 12:09:11 AM »

Quote from: Lupin on September 25, 2009, 12:05:20 AM

Buy the PS3. Why? Because when a new bluray profile pops up, it's almost guaranteed to be supported by the PS3. Plus you can play games on it if you're a gamer.

+1

Quote from: xtras on September 24, 2009, 11:21:57 PM

Sony Blu-Ray players are the best (it is their tech after all). The PS3 was once upon a time THE best blu-ray player on the market. Now, I'd have to say the sony BDP-S350 and its twin the BDP-S550 top it (speed and price) but do note all the fancy features the PS3 sports that keeps it the honorary first.

+1

Spanks · « **Reply #13 on:** September 25, 2009, 03:41:38 AM »

Tried several laptops, PC's and media players and the only way I can play all the 1080p anime from bakabt on my huge HDTV with good quality video and 5.1 DTS, AC3 etc sound is by streaming it from my PC across the network via wired connection to my PS3 using PS3 Media Server.(with hdmi to tv and optical to sound system from ps3). Though some formats are transcoded. So yer PS3 is a great media player/blu-ray player.

If anyone has any other idea of how I can do it with out any loss to sound or it being transcoded that would be great.

NaRu · « **Reply #14 on:** September 25, 2009, 05:28:55 AM »

I was thinking about getting a PS3. I wasn't going to get it for a blu ray player because my computer plays it already. It was cheaper to buy a rom drive for my desktop. Right now the PS3 is very cheap at my store. You get 2 games, an extra controller, and the PS3 80gig for $330. Now that is cheap.

TorturdChaos · « **Reply #15 on:** September 28, 2009, 03:50:32 PM »

I don't have a PS3 personally, but my friend does. Does a great job playing blu-rays on his nice 60" HD tv. /drools

muesli · « **Reply #16 on:** September 28, 2009, 07:36:49 PM »

i wanted to buy the playstation today in a bundle with ratchet & clank - but it was sould out.

so i will wait till the bundle is available again.. i hate waiting!

@ NaRu: that's unfair we don't have that good conditions. pff

330$ is about 225€ and i would pay 299€ for the bundle with just 1 game... *sighs* my bundle has the slim version though..

Sebur · « **Reply #17 on:** September 28, 2009, 08:14:14 PM »

You won't get a better blueray player for that amount of money. The cheaper players are lacking in features and can't be updated. Unlike most other players, with the PS3 your blueray movie will always work guaranteed, and that alone is worth it. Not to mention you can stream pretty much any file to it through ps3mediaserver.

Tatsujin · « **Reply #18 on:** September 28, 2009, 08:19:22 PM »

You all can fist fight over Slims and those 80GBs and what not. I've got the best PS3 version, the 60GB. 4x USB, plays all PS1 and 2 games. Heater in the winter. Ah forgot what else it can do.

Btw, PS3 is the best blu-ray player due to it's updates, and having CELL as the core processor. It's so pretty ...

muesli · « **Reply #19 on:** September 28, 2009, 08:56:41 PM »

thank you guys i will definitely buy it