PS3 Impressions Yes Another One....

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:38 pm

Is there a VGA port or any way to connect a PS3 to a VGA monitor? Also, can you just use standard component cables to hook it up to a TV?

I think everyone here has the higher priced version, but I wonder how the other version can get firmware updates - can you get a CD from Sony?

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:41 pm

GameSeven wrote:I have zero interest in the pissing match PS3 threads become around here, yet I do follow them as I might be down with trying to get one down the road. But when you start your countdown for the thread going down the crapper, consider your own contribution to the process.

-G7

Apparently you too, are incapable of reading. Not my problem.

If you have zero interest, then why are you posting this horseshit after I already deaded it by apologizing to RandyM? If you're insecure about your 360, you'll have to deal with it in your own way. I can't help you with your problems. If you want to sermonize to me, put it in a PM. I already deaded that isssue.

backbreaker · Post by **backbreaker** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:41 pm

Badgun, have you had the chance to watch Kingdom of Heaven on Blu-Ray? Its probably the best hi-def movie I've seen yet when you talk audio and video. I Have a 250gb USB 2.0 external HDD hooked up to mine for Video. I've converted alot of my video from my PC to mpeg-4 for the PS3 watching them at in 720p. You can go to this site redkawa.com and download the converter for free or feel free to donate.

I'll be the first to admit that the games aren't their yet besides resistance, its an awesome game online and off. The PS3 as a movie player is unparalled.

I am of the belief, that sony wasn't really ready for this fall, and was looking forward to March 2007 for a proper release and this is when you'll see big firmware updates and a steady flow of A list titles.

One other thing, I like that you could put thumbnail pics of the album art in the music player, just like the PSP

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:48 pm

kevinpars wrote:Is there a VGA port or any way to connect a PS3 to a VGA monitor? Also, can you just use standard component cables to hook it up to a TV?

It comes with AV cables, you can use component cables if you want. The connector looks similar to the one used by the ps2 but I am not sure they are the same as I did not try. I also don't know if there is any sort of VGA adapter, but I know you could get a cheap converter and use that if you wanted to.

kevinpars wrote: I think everyone here has the higher priced version, but I wonder how the other version can get firmware updates - can you get a CD from Sony?

The lower priced version has ethernet(which is what I am using)... I prefer that to wireless. I have no idea if you can get a cd from sony. I would think newer games will come with new firmware.

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:52 pm

backbreaker,

Is there any way to stream movies from your PC? When I was watching TDN last night I noticed Blu-Ray was still using mpeg2 and the average bitrate was around 30Mbs while the audio I believe was 640kbs. It would be nice to stream these but damn, that would choke a 100Mbs network and you could forget about doing it on wireless.. Now if there was a way I could stream the smaller mpeg4 files it would be more reasonable over a 100Mb lan... and using the scaler would be sweet too.

I do have an external drive but thats for doing nightly backups of my work.

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:53 pm

bdunn13 wrote:
The lower priced version has ethernet(which is what I am using)... I prefer that to wireless. I have no idea if you can get a cd from sony. I would think newer games will come with new firmware.

Right, just like the PSP. You also have the option of downloading to your PC, and then transferring to your PS3 via USB mass storage device. Download available here:
http://www.us.playstation.com/ps3/network/updates

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 4:58 pm

RandyM wrote:

Anyway, I've yet to hear anyone tell me that games look substantially better than XBox 360 games, whether or not they are ports or originals. Maybe PS3 is more powerful, maybe it isn't. But the proof is in the games, and the proof is not there yet. By the time it is, the PS3 should be more widely available, and I'll re-evaluate then. But in the meantime, this longtime Sony Playstation fan is sitting on the sidelines....I'm just not feeling the urge to spend.

Randy

I wouldn't use the word "substantially", but I have tried 2 PS3 games that I also had or still have for the 360. Both Ridge Racer 7 and Madden 07 look noticeably better on PS3, at least in my opinion. There are some screenshot comparisons floating around somewhere where they take shots of a car in the exact same spot on a track on both systems and you'd have to be blind not to see that the PS3 version looks better.

My plan is buy all of my sports games in the future on PS3. I will also be buying all PS3 exclusives as well. Games like Eye of Judgement, Heavenly Sword, and MLB 07 The Show are a few examples of A list PS3 exclusives.

We all know that Sony is light years behind Microsoft in online play and I don't see that changing anytime soon, if ever. For the games like Rainbow 6, Ghost Recon, and others, I'll probably stick with the 360 for the more robust multiplayer features. Sports games don't really matter to me as I'm not one of those people that has to play with friends all the time. I figure you're going to wind up playing against tools no matter which system you play on so I'd rather play them on the system that looks better.

Maybe the 360 is as powerful as the PS3...if so, developers better get jumping and quit putting out garbage like Eragon and Superman because a lot of recent 360 titles look like Xbox titles to me.

So who wins the war? Don't matter to me, but as long as there is a war, it can only be good for me, in my opinion.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:07 pm

backbreaker wrote:Badgun, have you had the chance to watch Kingdom of Heaven on Blu-Ray? Its probably the best hi-def movie I've seen yet when you talk audio and video. I Have a 250gb USB 2.0 external HDD hooked up to mine for Video. I've converted alot of my video from my PC to mpeg-4 for the PS3 watching them at in 720p. You can go to this site redkawa.com and download the converter for free or feel free to donate.

I'll be the first to admit that the games aren't their yet besides resistance, its an awesome game online and off. The PS3 as a movie player is unparalled.

I am of the belief, that sony wasn't really ready for this fall, and was looking forward to March 2007 for a proper release and this is when you'll see big firmware updates and a steady flow of A list titles.

One other thing, I like that you could put thumbnail pics of the album art in the music player, just like the PSP

Good post, man. I think you hit the nail on the head in regards to spring. I thought all along that it was going to be a April 07 release, but Sony just had to get it out before Christmas. That's why the current release list looks so bad since it is mostly stuff that's been out for the 360. I love Resistence and I'm really liking Ridge Racer 7 the more I play it. I'll also be importing Motorstorm next week as it is region free and there is nothing on the 360 that even comes close to looking that good, not even Gears of War.

I'm going to put Kingdom of Heaven in my Netflix cue right now since I still haven't seen it. Thanks for the tip.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:10 pm

Badgun wrote:The name has nothing to do with it. I am just more impressed with Blue ray than I am HD DVD at this point. I own multiple titles of both formats and I have also been Netflixing both formats and EVERYTHING I have seen just looks sharper and more vibrant on Blu ray. That's not to say that HD DVD is bad or anything, I just happen to think Blu ray looks and sounds better.

Does this have anything to do with the cables HDMI vs Component?

I got the HD-DVD add-on and the picture looks great, but I saw Blue Ray at the store and it looked sharper.

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 5:21 pm

Danimal wrote:
Does this have anything to do with the cables HDMI vs Component?

I have been using component for directv for the past 2 years. However, when I got my new TV(old one did not have HDMI) I upgraded to HDMI(last week).... And I can't tell one bit of difference.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 6:19 pm

Danimal wrote:
Badgun wrote:The name has nothing to do with it. I am just more impressed with Blue ray than I am HD DVD at this point. I own multiple titles of both formats and I have also been Netflixing both formats and EVERYTHING I have seen just looks sharper and more vibrant on Blu ray. That's not to say that HD DVD is bad or anything, I just happen to think Blu ray looks and sounds better.
Does this have anything to do with the cables HDMI vs Component?

I got the HD-DVD add-on and the picture looks great, but I saw Blue Ray at the store and it looked sharper.

Actually, I have HDMI, but my PS3 and my HD DVD are both hooked up with component cables.

ExtremeGamer · Post by **ExtremeGamer** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:45 pm

Badgun wrote:
I wouldn't use the word "substantially", but I have tried 2 PS3 games that I also had or still have for the 360. Both Ridge Racer 7 and Madden 07 look noticeably better on PS3, at least in my opinion. There are some screenshot comparisons floating around somewhere where they take shots of a car in the exact same spot on a track on both systems and you'd have to be blind not to see that the PS3 version looks better.

My plan is buy all of my sports games in the future on PS3. I will also be buying all PS3 exclusives as well. Games like Eye of Judgement, Heavenly Sword, and MLB 07 The Show are a few examples of A list PS3 exclusives.

Are you kidding me? I borrowed Madden for the PS3 and played my 360 version, they look identical. I don't see how you or anyone can say you have to be blind to not see the difference.

Resistance is amazing, and Motorstorm looks amazing, I'll give you that. But the graphics are going to be marginally better, if better at all for the multiplatform games.

And why did you buy Madden for the PS3? You complained, and complained about how bad it was for the 360, why waste the money to get the PS3 version? Just to compare?

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:00 pm

I've heard that it uses the same Multi-Out connector in the back as the PS2.

So you should be able to use PS2 S-video or component cables. I plan to try the $8 Mad Catz Component cables as well as a cheap HDMI-to-DVI cable I ordered on Amazon for $10.

HDMI is digital so in theory should have the potential to be cleaner compared to component which will be downstream of DAC. But right now, it's mostly used to control DRM and copy protection for copyrighted content (including games, which is what Sony is doing).

If you got a digital display and it mapped a 1080p input signal 1:1 for every pixel with minimal processing in between (no scalers, no reverse pulldown, etc), in theory, you'd get the purest signal path. But few TVs will probably let you bypass all that.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:51 pm

ExtremeGamer wrote:
Badgun wrote:
I wouldn't use the word "substantially", but I have tried 2 PS3 games that I also had or still have for the 360. Both Ridge Racer 7 and Madden 07 look noticeably better on PS3, at least in my opinion. There are some screenshot comparisons floating around somewhere where they take shots of a car in the exact same spot on a track on both systems and you'd have to be blind not to see that the PS3 version looks better.

My plan is buy all of my sports games in the future on PS3. I will also be buying all PS3 exclusives as well. Games like Eye of Judgement, Heavenly Sword, and MLB 07 The Show are a few examples of A list PS3 exclusives.

Are you kidding me? I borrowed Madden for the PS3 and played my 360 version, they look identical. I don't see how you or anyone can say you have to be blind to not see the difference.

Resistance is amazing, and Motorstorm looks amazing, I'll give you that. But the graphics are going to be marginally better, if better at all for the multiplatform games.

And why did you buy Madden for the PS3? You complained, and complained about how bad it was for the 360, why waste the money to get the PS3 version? Just to compare?

Did I ever say I bought it? And I still stand bythe fact that it is a horrible representation of the game of football. The very first play from scrimmage was a pass near the sideline from Brunell to Randle El, I had Terrence Newman in perfect position to make the tackle so I pushed forward and hit the square button and at first glance it looked like he completely whiffed on the tackle. Randle El turns a 6 yard pass into a 78 yard TD. Wondering how in the world I missed the tackle I went back and watched the replay and not to my surprise, I didn't miss the tackle...my guy dove clean through Randle El. Right through the 82 on his back and out the front of his chest. It's good to see that EA's been hard at work fixing all the problems for the last three months.

I also stand by the fact that it looked noticeably better on the PS3. The grass looked a lot better and the colors were a lot more vibrant than the 360 version. IN the 360 version, the Cowboys' helmets look almost grey, but in the PS3 version they look silver as they should.

Why do you come in here and attack someone's opinion anyway? This is a PS3 impressions thread, not a "I must defend the 360's dignity" thread.

Badgun · Post by **Badgun** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:57 pm

backbreaker wrote:Badgun, have you had the chance to watch Kingdom of Heaven on Blu-Ray? Its probably the best hi-def movie I've seen yet when you talk audio and video. I Have a 250gb USB 2.0 external HDD hooked up to mine for Video. I've converted alot of my video from my PC to mpeg-4 for the PS3 watching them at in 720p. You can go to this site redkawa.com and download the converter for free or feel free to donate.

I'll be the first to admit that the games aren't their yet besides resistance, its an awesome game online and off. The PS3 as a movie player is unparalled.

I am of the belief, that sony wasn't really ready for this fall, and was looking forward to March 2007 for a proper release and this is when you'll see big firmware updates and a steady flow of A list titles.

One other thing, I like that you could put thumbnail pics of the album art in the music player, just like the PSP

What settings do you use on that converter?

ExtremeGamer · Post by **ExtremeGamer** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:18 pm

Badgun wrote:
ExtremeGamer wrote:
Badgun wrote:
I wouldn't use the word "substantially", but I have tried 2 PS3 games that I also had or still have for the 360. Both Ridge Racer 7 and Madden 07 look noticeably better on PS3, at least in my opinion. There are some screenshot comparisons floating around somewhere where they take shots of a car in the exact same spot on a track on both systems and you'd have to be blind not to see that the PS3 version looks better.

My plan is buy all of my sports games in the future on PS3. I will also be buying all PS3 exclusives as well. Games like Eye of Judgement, Heavenly Sword, and MLB 07 The Show are a few examples of A list PS3 exclusives.

Are you kidding me? I borrowed Madden for the PS3 and played my 360 version, they look identical. I don't see how you or anyone can say you have to be blind to not see the difference.

Resistance is amazing, and Motorstorm looks amazing, I'll give you that. But the graphics are going to be marginally better, if better at all for the multiplatform games.

And why did you buy Madden for the PS3? You complained, and complained about how bad it was for the 360, why waste the money to get the PS3 version? Just to compare?
Did I ever say I bought it? And I still stand bythe fact that it is a horrible representation of the game of football. The very first play from scrimmage was a pass near the sideline from Brunell to Randle El, I had Terrence Newman in perfect position to make the tackle so I pushed forward and hit the square button and at first glance it looked like he completely whiffed on the tackle. Randle El turns a 6 yard pass into a 78 yard TD. Wondering how in the world I missed the tackle I went back and watched the replay and not to my surprise, I didn't miss the tackle...my guy dove clean through Randle El. Right through the 82 on his back and out the front of his chest. It's good to see that EA's been hard at work fixing all the problems for the last three months.

I also stand by the fact that it looked noticeably better on the PS3. The grass looked a lot better and the colors were a lot more vibrant than the 360 version. IN the 360 version, the Cowboys' helmets look almost grey, but in the PS3 version they look silver as they should.

Why do you come in here and attack someone's opinion anyway? This is a PS3 impressions thread, not a "I must defend the 360's dignity" thread.

Attack your opinion? You said "You would have to be blind" that's a pretty bold statement. Defend the 360? I own a PS3...

I've played both Madden versions of the PS3 and 360, and I'm sure I gave them more time than you did, since you hated both so much, and they are virtually the same game. But you have the special PS3 version I guess. I have the 360 version of Madden up right now, the Cowboys helmets look silver to me. To each their own.

Wilk5280 · Post by **Wilk5280** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 11:28 pm

I can't comment on the PS3 version of Madden (other than what I've seen in the D. Clark commercial), but I can say for fact that the Cowboy's helmets are silver on my 360 version of the game.

Out

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:54 am

I downloaded the trailer last night for Blackhawk Down......

It looked very very good.

I got The Omen DVD in the mail yesterday from Netflix. However, instead of watching it, I sent it right back so I could get the Blu-Ray version..... hopefully it will come in on Saturday.

One thing thats very very annoying is you have to hook up your controller via USB to the ps3 every time you update the firmware. I hope they fix this. I would also like to be able watch a Blu-Ray and download something at the same time(like the 360). I am sure they will add this given time.

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:00 pm

Thanks for the info.

I did not know that the cheaper PS3 version came with Ethernet.

I have seen the comparison that 360 Premium + HD-DVD = $599 versus PS3 $599, but since the 599 PS3 has wireless wouldn't it mean that the comparison would be PS3 599 versus 399 360 + 99 wireless adapter + 199 HD-DVD? That would make the 360 $99 more for the same (generally speaking) features.

What about noise? My 360 sounds like something you would find behind the doors of our server room at work (when the DVD drive is spinning). And after an hour of gaming the DVD drive gets so hot that if i switch out discs, the drive reads 360 games as DVDs and I have to wait 10 minutes for the drive to cool down enough to read discs correctly. Is the PS3 quiet enough that it could be sitting on, for instance, a table and not bother you with the sound it makes?

bdunn13 · Post by **bdunn13** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:07 pm

Yeah, if you want wireless, online play and next gen HD movies then the PS3 is far cheaper.

As far as noise goes, I have not paid attention or noticed it... that would tell me things are pretty quiet. Last night I was going to watch a DVD on my ps3 as I was hoping it would upscale.. but it only was outputting at 480p and I don't have surround sound hooked up yet so I just used my 360.. Well, I thought I turned off the ps3 but I came back a couple of hours later it was still on but I could not tell.

I do hear my 360 when I power it up but after a few minutes I don't notice it anymore.

BD

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:30 pm

Here is a post summarizing a story in a Japanese site about the work going on at SCEI to improve audio and video features.

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showpost. ... ostcount=1

Note for instance that they are researching upscaling of DVDs (but haven't officially committed to it). They have committed to delivering 1080p24.

A lot of other technical details about what they're doing.

The downloading is something that has raised a lot of noise so hopefully Sony will work on getting it to download in the background.

Kazuya · Post by **Kazuya** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:44 pm

kevinpars wrote:What about noise? My 360 sounds like something you would find behind the doors of our server room at work (when the DVD drive is spinning). And after an hour of gaming the DVD drive gets so hot that if i switch out discs, the drive reads 360 games as DVDs and I have to wait 10 minutes for the drive to cool down enough to read discs correctly.

OT, but that is *not* normal. Sure my 360 sounds like the space shuttle taking off, and blows enough hot air to serve as a space heater, but the unit itself never gets past "warm" and I never have problems reading discs or with any kind of things like that. You might want to look into one of those coolers, or re-examine your setup.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:45 pm

PS3 owners. Any issues with the machine overheating, or being noisy at this point?

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 1:47 pm

Kazuya wrote:
kevinpars wrote:What about noise? My 360 sounds like something you would find behind the doors of our server room at work (when the DVD drive is spinning). And after an hour of gaming the DVD drive gets so hot that if i switch out discs, the drive reads 360 games as DVDs and I have to wait 10 minutes for the drive to cool down enough to read discs correctly.
OT, but that is *not* normal. Sure my 360 sounds like the space shuttle taking off, and blows enough hot air to serve as a space heater, but the unit itself never gets past "warm" and I never have problems reading discs or with any kind of things like that. You might want to look into one of those coolers, or re-examine your setup.

I was going to post the same thing about the heat. I have been one of the fortunate [knocks wood] launch unit owners without a failure so far, and I have never felt that sort of heat, even after multi-hour sessions. The most my disks ever feel after ejection (to this point, [knock wood again]) is slightly warm.

kevinpars · Post by **kevinpars** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:55 pm

OT, but that is *not* normal. Sure my 360 sounds like the space shuttle taking off, and blows enough hot air to serve as a space heater, but the unit itself never gets past "warm" and I never have problems reading discs or with any kind of things like that. You might want to look into one of those coolers, or re-examine your setup.

It is definitely not the setup. It is well ventilated in a cool room. I even have the unit vertical on the shelf sitting on 4 of the large pencil erasers that allows 3/4 an inch of air underneath the unit (a trick I learned on one of the 360 fan sites) I also have an issue where the 360 does not always start up when I press the button on my controller - or at least there is a 30-60 second delay before it starts up.

I think this particular console - my 3rd replacement - has some issues. But the damn thing works most of the time, so I am in no rush to go the support route again! I still have the intercooler, and may try that on this machine and see what happens - but it makes the 360 even louder than normal.