Toys Central

More than I asked for!
I originally bought the PS3 as a Blu-Ray player, as many people have done. Most reviews point out that the PS3 is the best player on the market, and it comes with a built in game system. I am a huge console person, as I already have a 360 and Wii. I have always been an N64/Xbox person, so this was the first playstation I have owned. I never really liked the design of the controller, since I have big hands, and wasn't a fan of the XOSquareTriangle, as weird as that seems. As far as Blu-Ray player goes, this thing is excellent. I have it hooked up to a Samsung 4665 LCD through HDMI, while optical goes to a yamaha receiver. Video is excellent, sound is excellent, the videos load quickly, and there is a lot of customization as far as A/V. The major flaw I have found, and the reason for (almost) four stars, is a lack of IR. How can this be a full fledged Blu-Ray player but no IR!! I use a harmony in every room of the house so this was unacceptable. I worked around it with the Bu-Wave fixed, though the lack of a power button is annoying on Sony's part. It seems a simple patch to make the USB port function off would be easy. This would also fix having to leave the console on the charge the controller. Since this thing is a serious game console, I decided to snag a game for it. MGS4 was the first one I got, and I was thoroughly impressed with graphics, gameplay and cinematics. Though loading between chapters was quite annoying. Not 30 seconds, but between 2 and 8 minutes. Rumble, which has come standard in every console since the N64, does not come with the PS3. It does now, and I own a DS3, but support for it is abysmal. No COD4, SCIV or LBP rumble support that I could find so far. Trophies need to be polished as well, as they should be available for pre-trophy games as well. When a game such as COD5 comes out for both consoles, I would rather buy it for the 360 because I can get the achievements. Enough with the negative, here are some more positives. Bluetooth is a great feature. I can use any bluetooth headset I want, a BT keyboard and mouse, very handy, Microsoft take note with your proprietary garbage. You can upgrade the hard drive with a non proprietary one. Very nice and keeps the price down. Looking at you, Microsoft. Though I have heard this thing sucks some power, it is whisper quiet. Okay, I am bashing the Xbox for the next few points. The brick is built in, which means I can leave a cheapo power cord and an HDMI plugged into my bedroom TV when the girlfriend kicks me out of the living room to play games. To move the xbox, I need to fish the brick out of the mess of wires, as well as set up a linksys wireless adapter, way too complicated. Overall, very impressed at this piece of machinery, Sony has impressed me very much. I will be buying the PS4, but it will have to compete with my Xbox 720 (1080?) even though we are seeing sub-0 BR players, the PS3 is a must if you are even toying with playing games on this thing.

Bought it for Blu-Ray, got my game on too...
I used to be a hardcore gamer back in the day starting with CelecoVision, NES, etc, etc. Played tons of games, and havent owned a game system in two years mainly to improve my life and do other things.

Bought this for BluRay only, and was blown away by the picture and sound! Connected this to a 40'-LCD with HDMI and to my stereo, subscribed to NetFlix and it is better than a theater (not just because my sofa isnt all sticky).

What makes THIS the BEST BluRay player is that they constantly update the firmware with improvements and will be compatible with future software needs. Some other BluRay players will also be updateable. I wont start to list all the devices I have that are updateable, but havent seen an update in two years. The PS3 actually has enough people using it that Sony patches it.

Also, some incredible games to play! I def recommend PixelJunk Monsters (PSN Store), Lego Star Wars: Complete, Devil May Cry 4, MetalGearsolid4 and Ratchet&Clank. There are others too, keep an eye on the forum for more.

Not just a gaming console!
I bought the PS3 as a Blu-ray player for my HDTV. 0 seemed to be the base price if you were getting a PS3 or virtually any other player out there. Picture quality is excellent, very easy to use. Combine with the Sony PlayStation 3 Blu-ray Disc Remote and you have a family friendly player.

Nice added features:

1. Jukebox - You can either stream music from your Windows XP/Vista machine as a media player, or transfer files to the local hard drive (I used a flash drive) and play them in a variety of ways. The PS3 even puts up 1 of 3 different screen savers while playing. In addition you can play MP4 (& now DIVX) video files and picture slideshows.

2. PS3 Store - Using my home wireless network, I am able to access the Sony Playstation Store. On the store, I can purchase and download games and game demos, AND recently purchase/download full length TV episodes and movies. Unlike my DVR with movie download functionality, I can start playing the video after only 1% is downloaded. Like that other DVR, the video is only good for 24hrs after I started watching it.

Negatives:
My biggest complaint is the games. This 40gb model does not play ANY of the PS2 games (like the now equally priced 80gb does). Of the games that are out there, only about 10 are kid oriented. My 6yo isn't really interested in playing sports games, and FPS are out of the question. Looks like a Wii is in our future.

Secondly, while I love the BlueTooth remote, it puts a crimp in using something like the Logitech Harmony remote.

Candidate for storage upgrade but better options are available
Necessary disclosure: I do not own this model but do I own the 60GB model, recently upgraded to 320MB. I am also very familiar with the latest 80GB model (which is basically this one with a larger disk) because one of my neighbors has one and I am the neighborhood's unofficial and unpaid 'computer' consultant :). I also did some research in anticipation of us purchasing a second unit because I promised the kids 'their own' if their grades were going to meet a certain standard.

As compared to the 60GB model (see this model's pluses and minuses and what all PS3s have in common):
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+ Less expensive (I paid [....] for my 60GB PS3)
+ Amazon Blu-ray movies promotion (buy 4 movies from list and get [...] off through end of 2008)
= Wireless Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet network connections
= Blue-tooth for controllers, keyboards, earpieces, etc.
= Controllers charged via USB wires
= Free, unlimited access to the PSN network, including online play
= Full PSOne compatibility
= Blu-ray/DVD/CD player
= HDMI, component video (component wire included)
= Surround sound
= Internet browser
= Allows for installation of third-party operating systems such as Linux
= Disk is easily upgradeable without voiding warranty
= Quiet operation
- 50% less storage
- No memory card interfaces
- 2 USB ports vs. 4 USB ports on the 60GB
- No PS2 compatibility
- No chrome trim
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STORAGE and STORAGE UPGRADE:
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This model comes with an 40GB drive. As crazy as this may sound, this is a pretty good buy IF you are planning to upgrade your storage. On the other hand, DO NOT buy this model if you do not consider upgrading the disk because 40GB won't take you very far. To give you an idea of the amount of storage you may need on your PS3, I recently checked the status of my 320GB disk and I found that I had 198GB free. That means that, less than one year after urchasing my (then) 60GB box I was using 122GB already. The space is taken by family pictures, a little music, lots of demos, many 'disk' games that to dump gigabytes of data to the disk to improve performance, many videos the kids are making with the 'Eye' camera, game saves. I suspect that 'Home', when it becomes available, may require a few more GB's for its own use so 320GB may be what you need if you don't want to constantly worry about managing your disk.

An extra [...] would buy you a 320GB drive. I used the Western Digital WD3200BEVT 320 GB Scorpio Sata 5400 Rpm 8MB 2.5 inch myself. 1TB drives are available these days for a few $$ more and you should try to get one of those if you are planning to store lots of videos. The nice thing about upgrading your disk is that you are also going to be left with a perfectly good 40GB drive which you can place into a cheap enclosure, and the StarTech AT2510U2 InfoSafe 2.5-Inch USB/SATA Hard Drive Enclosure worked for me. I'd be using the 40GB drive as a backup device for family photos. Digital, of course.

Upgrading the disk is (relatively) easy and you can find a lot of advice if you Google for it. Try first Googling "PlayStation 3 Hard Drive Upgrade (HOWTO)" for a nice video so you'll decide if you are comfortable. If upgrading is the first thing you do, everything becomes very easy because you need not worry about backups or restores. I upgraded my box in a couple of hours WITH the backup/restore steps.


MEMORY CARD INTERFACES:
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The lack of memory card interfaces is annoying but you can get around it. Copy your stuff to a USB drive or flash drive and... problem solved. You can then upload your things through the USB. It's somewhat inconvenient but it's no big deal.


USB PORTS:
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My old 60GB model has 4 USB ports and I am using all of them. One for the PS3 Eye (camera), a second has a wireless keyboard dongle, the third is where the racing wheel plugs in and the last one I use to charge controllers. Of course, you can and you WILL be able to live with 2 slots but it is likely that you will be doing some plugging/unplugging if you begin adding peripherals. One way around it is to get a USB port multiplexer. Another solution is seek Blue-tooth peripherals (wireless) if you can find them. Blue-tooth keyboards, for example, are available.


PS2 COMPATIBILITY:
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This model does not support PS2 software. Since the original PS2-compatible PS3's are hard to get, this has to be accepted as reality. I assume that Sony, after polling existing and future PS3 users, found that most users don't need PS2 compatibility. Soon after we upgraded to a PS3 my kids were playing Kingdom Hearts and Destroy All Humans but I haven't seen them doing so in quite a while. It is nice to have PS2 compatibility but its lacking would not stop me from buying a PS3.

PSOne GAMES:
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The PS3 has full PSOne compatilibity. Lots of them are available for download at the PSN store. They are quite inexpensive and some of them are still fun to play.


SUMMARY:
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- Buy this model if you consider upgrading to larger storage and, for whatever reason, you do not want the 40GB MSG4 bundle that comes with a DualShock controller.
- If you feel that you can live with 160GB AND then wait for a few more weeks for the 160GB bundle and you won't have to upgrade your storage.
- Get yourself a USB port multiplexer if you need more than 2 ports.
- Transfer your photos to flash drives to get around the missing memory card interfaces.
- Keep your PS2 if you have one and still wish to play PS2 games in the future.

Go with the 80GB
This is a good product but the 80Gb Metal Gear Solid 4 Package is the
way to go if you want to play your old PS2 games and have lots of room
for storage