PS3 versatility makes me impatient

[Blaser]

My only problem is I have an older A/V receiver (RX-V2500), no HDMI , I do not expect to replace it any time soon either. I wanted to wait for the S550, but there are many things I would be missing compared to PS3:
- firmware support/adoptability
- Ability to be used as a media/movies server (I think I have to go for the 60 GB for this feature)
- immediate upgrade

The benefit in return of waiting for the S550 is only decoding audio codecs

My question is: how does PS3 sound over toslinlk/optical out? Is the audio itself considered an upgrade
(higher bit rate) on BD?
Will I be missing much in audio, or is the main upgrade in PQ?

Thanks for helping ... your replies might encourage me pull the trigger tomorrow.

Ps: Can it read DVD+ DL burned DVDs?

[John Simpson]

I'm in the same boat, Ahmed -- no HDMI inputs on our plasma, so all connections have to be analogue.

If the PS3 is set to "bitstream" output over optical, you can get full Dolby Digital from Blu-ray discs, when available. However, if the BD only has DTS Master Audio or Dolby True, the receiver will output as Dolby ProLogic II (or "Plus").

Case in point is "The Golden Compass", which we watched last night. The BD disc only has a DTS Master Audio track, so our receiver played it in ProLogic. Still sounds pretty good -- but not ideal.

[Blaser]

Think I'll be getting impatient to upgrade the A/V receiver too if I get the PS3 now...So, it might be wise to wait for the S550. But I still have no clue about BM.

[Sonnie]

I am not jumping up and down over mine. I can't get the remote to learn all the functions and things just don't always seem to go flawlessly. It is just a tad aggravating... not terrible, but I think I'd rather have a regular player.

[MatrixDweller]

John Simpson wrote:

If the PS3 is set to "bitstream" output over optical, you can get full Dolby Digital from Blu-ray discs, when available. However, if the BD only has DTS Master Audio or Dolby True, the receiver will output as Dolby ProLogic II (or "Plus").

Not true. DTS Master will pass through as DTS to the receiver. DTS was designed that way to be backward compatible. That's why many movies just have a DTS Master Audio track. You may have to check your audio settings in your PS3 to make sure that it will output correctly.

Blaser wrote:

- Ability to be used as a media/movies server (I think I have to go for the 60 GB for this feature)

The 40GB model will stream also. The 60GB version's forte is it's ability to natively play PS2 games. The 80GB will play them through software emulation but the 40GB will not play PS2 games.

80GB vs 40GB compared for drive size for being a media server isn't much of a factor. You're better off getting the 40GB and upgrading the drive to 250GB or using network attached storage if the other features of the 80GB version are not necessary to you (ie: extra USB ports, P2 game play).

[Blaser]

I pulled the trigger...What a powerful m/c this is, it is also a computer with 3.2 Ghz processor, plays everything really fast. It doesn't play AVI though.

I didn't buy this player to be a reference ** player in my system, but I bought it for everything and the flexibility it has...just a good machine to be there in my rack.

Zip, you know very well about the PS3. I looked hard and founf the PS3 60 gb. It has additional GPU for PS2 conpatinility as well as additional USD slots. I believe it is the most versatile model PS3 has to offer till date.

I tried to use it as a movies server and it works great, but VOB files larger than 2 Gb will have some problems for displaying the correct movie length, and PS3 will freeze if 30X fast forward or more is performed. I don't know how to fix it and it is a bit annoying as I need every bit of the 4 Gb limit for best stored DVD PQ.

It is possible that I buy an additional dedicated BD player for DTS mA, but I am already very pleased with the downgraded DTS 1.5 Kbps rate, and I don't think it is worth adding any BD player. Upconverting is not excellent but very good so that it eliominates the need of an Oppo...

I am extremely happy with this machine!

[Blaser]

John Simpson wrote:

If the PS3 is set to "bitstream" output over optical, you can get full Dolby Digital from Blu-ray discs, when available. However, if the BD only has DTS Master Audio or Dolby True, the receiver will output as Dolby ProLogic II (or "Plus").

You need to bitstream through optical out for the sound and not HDMI, DTS MA will be downgraded to a wooping DTS 1500 Kbs multi-channel!

[MatrixDweller]

blaser wrote:

I tried to use it as a movies server and it works great, but VOB files larger than 2 Gb will have some problems for displaying the correct movie length, and PS3 will freeze if 30X fast forward or more is performed. I don't know how to fix it and it is a bit annoying as I need every bit of the 4 Gb limit for best stored DVD PQ.

I thought the last firmware update (2.3) fixed the large file problem. It was also the one that enabled DTS MA decoding internally (was just core before).

If you have your PS3 connected to the internet I'd recommend updating to the most recent firmware. If it's not connected I think you can put it onto a flash drive and do it that way.

I like my PS3 so far also. As a Bluray player it has a lot of other nice features and it plays some fantastic games also. I'm pretty sure there is no profit made on the system so that's why the 40GB retails for only $399 and a comparable BD Player is a few hundred more. It's made up 10X over on the games though.

The 60GB version is pretty sweet but hard to find. Did you get yours used or new? Even used ones seem to go for a premium around where I live.

Sorry John Simpson: You're right that the PS3 does not support playback of DTS-ES and DTS 96/24 for DVD-Video or DTS-ES Matrix for Blu-ray Discs. That was posted on their update site. I believe it will dump the DTS MA core (5.1) though via bitstream.

[Blaser]

Yes, I updated to the last firmware (2.3), but it does not support NTFS, and larger files have made some trouble if you wanna play with rewinding and FF... Yeah, I got mine brand new here in Egypt, 1 year garantee, 7 days return. It is a fantastic unit. I was very lucky to find it but I looked pretty hard (6 hours in the shops), it was about 100 bucks more than the 40 Gb unit, but I like the versatility of the 60 Gb model.

I noted also subtitles cannot be displayed. Very weird that what it reads on DVD cannot be read from a hard disk and lots of process have to be performed.

I am now thinking of splitting movies into multiples of 2.5 Gb, have a drink and smoke a cigarette outside HT in between