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New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available... - Page 14

post #391 of 727
6/20/08 at 2:04am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

I just ordered a 40GB PS3 from Amazon.

Can I use it on a 240V power supply here in Fiji?

What I've read is though it is labelled as 120V, the actual PS inside is universal.

Or is it a case of different batches have different voltage power supply?
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post #392 of 727
6/20/08 at 8:04am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Rumor has it another firmware was just released?
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post #393 of 727
6/20/08 at 8:16am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

yesterdya.
i havernt dl'd it yet.

PS3 Firmware 2.3x - Master Thread [FIRMWARE TALK ONLY PLEASE] - Page 26 - AVS Forum
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post #394 of 727
6/20/08 at 8:49am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Firmware v2.36 update.
Quote:
• New for 2.36: System stability during use of some PlayStation® format software has been improved.

Other new or revised features in version 2.36 (with 2.30 / 2.35):

  • New for 2.35: System stability during use of some PLAYSTATION®3 format software has been improved.
Video
  • Blu-ray Disc playback now supports DTS-HD Master Audio™ and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio™ output.*
    * The PS3™ system does not support playback of DTS-ES and DTS 96/24 for DVD-Video or DTS-ES Matrix for Blu-ray Discs.

Paul
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post #395 of 727
6/20/08 at 3:38pm

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Hi guys,

Thought I understood audio back in the day. Not now.
Can you point me in the direction of proper audio settings....

Equipment :
PS3 connected via HDMI to Onkyo TX-SR705. Onkyo out to Oulaw Amp to 5.1 setup speakers.

I want the best/highest resolution audio output naturally.

PS3 setting - Should HDMI Audio Output format be on Linear PCM or Bitstream?

It shouldnt' matter the optical digital setting since that is not connected right?

Any other PS3 settings I should worry about?

For the Onkyo....
Which 'Listening Mode' is purest? There seem to be different ones available depending on what is sent to it.

And lastly, on Blueray's... can someone rank the order of fidelity from best to worst given multitudes of what my blueray's allow (i.e. what should I pick)?

-Dolby Digital Surround
-Dolby TrueHD 5.1
-5.1 Uncompressed (48kHz/24 bit)
-DTS HD 5.1
-PCM 5.1 (uncompressed) [is this the same as 2 up?]
-DTS HD High Resolution ES Audio
-5.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX Audio

And so, on my Onkyo, should those symbols light up? and once again, the 'listening mode' to choose?

Thanks for a simple explanation to all this

Chris
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post #396 of 727
6/20/08 at 8:35pm

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

It should be Linear PCM. This will allow the PS3 to do the decoding of the advanced codecs and it will then send the audio as Multichannel audio to the Onkyo (which is what it will say on the display). The PS3 can't send the advanced codecs via bitstream to the receiver though I've never really understood why. It can send garden variety DD and DTS via bitstream, of course, as well as PCM 5.1.

In terms of the three best codecs, they'd have to be:

uncompressed PCM 5.1
DTS-HD Master Audio
Dolby TrueHD

The latter two are lossless codecs, always preferred to the lossy ones.
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post #397 of 727
6/26/08 at 9:33am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Souders
Hi guys,

Thought I understood audio back in the day. Not now.
Can you point me in the direction of proper audio settings....

Equipment :
PS3 connected via HDMI to Onkyo TX-SR705. Onkyo out to Oulaw Amp to 5.1 setup speakers.

I want the best/highest resolution audio output naturally.

PS3 setting - Should HDMI Audio Output format be on Linear PCM or Bitstream?

It shouldnt' matter the optical digital setting since that is not connected right?

Any other PS3 settings I should worry about?

For the Onkyo....
Which 'Listening Mode' is purest? There seem to be different ones available depending on what is sent to it.

And lastly, on Blueray's... can someone rank the order of fidelity from best to worst given multitudes of what my blueray's allow (i.e. what should I pick)?

-Dolby Digital Surround
-Dolby TrueHD 5.1
-5.1 Uncompressed (48kHz/24 bit)
-DTS HD 5.1
-PCM 5.1 (uncompressed) [is this the same as 2 up?]
-DTS HD High Resolution ES Audio
-5.1 Dolby Digital Surround EX Audio

And so, on my Onkyo, should those symbols light up? and once again, the 'listening mode' to choose?

Thanks for a simple explanation to all this

Chris

PCM, DTS HD MA and Dolby TrueHD are all lossless and all equivalent. They can only be output by the PS3 as linear PCM and will show on your receiver as multichannel PCM. Most new Blu-rays have one of these, and if present, should be selected as the audio. If one of these isn't present then pick the DD or DTS track of your choice. DD and DTS tracks other than the above can be output by bitstream to your receiver. Then your receiver can do whatever processing it wants. Many receivers are limited on the processing they can do to PCM vs bitstream, so you may want to select bitstream output for these lesser tracks. For my pioneer it really doesn't make any difference, but I don't think the Onkyo can apply PLIIx post processing to a PCM signal in which case bitstreaming would be prefferable (that's assuming you have a 7.1 setup)

I'm not really familiar with what listening modes your Onkyo has. Having said that for PCM you likely won't have many if any options to choose from. When bitstreaming DD or DTS you can apply PLIIx processsing and THX processing to the signal. THX processing can tame an overly bright disc and does some other things as well. I believe it also creates a 7 channel mix from 5 channels. PLIIx is the best way to create a 7 channel output from a 5 channel source. I don't believe the Onkyo's can apply this to PCM, but can apply it to bitstream.

I hope that helps.
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post #398 of 727
6/26/08 at 8:06pm

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

I created a thread for this, but I thought you guys might find this interesting.

Sony has lost over $3 billion on the PS3 - Video Game Feature - Yahoo! Video Games

Doug
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post #399 of 727
6/27/08 at 11:54am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Chris Souders:

I have a PS3 and an Onkyo 705. Set your PS3 to linear PCM output and use the THX listening mode on 705. Sounds great!
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post #400 of 727
6/30/08 at 3:05am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Hi folks

The Postman showed up this morning to my delight with the PS 3.

Absolutely fantastic news indeed.

What's the first Blu Ray disc I should buy ?

Will I be able to play my regular dvds ?

Any info appreciated ?
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post #401 of 727
6/30/08 at 4:16am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Congratulations, Oscar!

It depends of course on your personal taste what to buy first.
Casino Royale? BBC Complete Planet Earth Box Set? Batman?

Amazon/UK has some sales: look here for a start!

(Oh, and mind the region. Several US releases are region-A, some European releases are region-B. I guess you have a reg-B machine?).


Cees
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post #402 of 727
6/30/08 at 4:27am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cees Alons
Congratulations, Oscar!

It depends of course on your personal taste what to buy first.
Casino Royale? BBC Complete Planet Earth Box Set? Batman?

Amazon/UK has some sales: look here for a start!

(Oh, and mind the region. Several US releases are region-A, some European releases are region-B. I guess you have a reg-B machine?).


Cees

Hi Cees

Yep I have got a UK player.

Is it possible to go multi region as well ?

Cheers

Oscar
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post #403 of 727
6/30/08 at 4:41am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

I don't think there's a safe mod for the PS3. I even don't know if there's one (a safe one, that is) for any other player.

The good news is: many releases are region-free. And you can play all European BDs, of course.
There's a site (I just can't find the URL at the moment) publishing the region coding of BD releases.
BTW: sometimes the print on the back is in error.


Cees
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post #404 of 727
6/30/08 at 5:52am
Thread Starter 

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Oppo will be coming out with a Blu-ray player (hopefully this year)... that should be a stellar upscaling machine as well as region free.
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post #405 of 727
6/30/08 at 6:16am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Oscar, if you like Blade Runner, you may want to place an order for this item at Amazon.com. They are currently out of stock, but the price is worth a small wait.

It's a Warner release and non-region coded, I ordered the same item a while back although I'm still looking for a good deal on a Blu-Ray deck.
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post #406 of 727
6/30/08 at 8:25am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Hi,

Our PS3 should also be showing up this afternoon from the US.
The SHARP demo player we have is modded for all regions for BR, DVD is still R3.

Go here for a decent guide for region coding:

Blu-Ray Region Code Info
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post #407 of 727
6/30/08 at 9:15am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yumbo

Go here for a decent guide for region coding:

Blu-Ray Region Code Info

Thanks for the link

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post #408 of 727
6/30/08 at 9:39am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

I heard Sony is trying to get a new update out later today.. but still no word on it...

I'd post the URL but it won't let me till i make more posts.... so go to psextreme and look up news, rumors, firmware 2.40 upgrade.

It is just a rumor, but it is a good sing that the new update will be out sooner than expected.
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post #409 of 727
7/1/08 at 9:34am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Firmware 2.4 will be out tomorrow. This is probably the biggest update the PS3 has seen so far, though it looks to be mostly game related to me. (I'm still looking forward to it.)

News: SCEE officially announces date for Firmware 2.40 - Strategy Informer
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post #410 of 727
7/1/08 at 12:47pm

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zack Gibbs
Firmware 2.4 will be out tomorrow. This is probably the biggest update the PS3 has seen so far, though it looks to be mostly game related to me. (I'm still looking forward to it.)

News: SCEE officially announces date for Firmware 2.40 - Strategy Informer[/url]
According to the PS blog on their website blog...
profile 2.4 is due out within the next 2 days. So tomorrow is not out of the question, but for sure by Thursday.

Either way, this looks really exciting for gamers, but not so much for movie watchers. I am not sure there are any updates for movies on this upgrade but it shows that Sony IS listening to their customers, who have been asking for an in-game XMB for a long time.
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post #411 of 727
7/1/08 at 2:01pm

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

"2.40 also delivers trophies to recognise players’ achievements in the online arena."

Ah, those "trophies".. Well, I guess they´re fun for the certain group of players. PS3 keeps evolving, which is the main thing.

Edit:

FAQ now here:
PlayStation.Blog » Firmware v2.40 FAQ

One site here: PS3Trophies.org
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post #412 of 727
7/2/08 at 11:50am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Quote:
Originally Posted by gobrigavitch
PCM, DTS HD MA and Dolby TrueHD are all lossless and all equivalent. They can only be output by the PS3 as linear PCM and will show on your receiver as multichannel PCM. Most new Blu-rays have one of these, and if present, should be selected as the audio. If one of these isn't present then pick the DD or DTS track of your choice. DD and DTS tracks other than the above can be output by bitstream to your receiver. Then your receiver can do whatever processing it wants. Many receivers are limited on the processing they can do to PCM vs bitstream, so you may want to select bitstream output for these lesser tracks. For my pioneer it really doesn't make any difference, but I don't think the Onkyo can apply PLIIx post processing to a PCM signal in which case bitstreaming would be prefferable (that's assuming you have a 7.1 setup)

For some years I've had a Denon DD amp with a separate Millennium DTS decoder. I'm on the verge of HD audio with probably the Onkyo 606.

My question - if you select linear PCM as a default for the PS3's output, will you have to manually reset the output to bitstream for playing regular DD or DTS, or can it be passed naturally via the PCM anyway?
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post #413 of 727
7/2/08 at 8:47pm

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Hi,

I just picked up the 40gig Ps3 and downloaded the latest firmware. I just noticed this line in the quick reference guide though:

*2 This system does not support output from the DTS-HD 7.1 Ch. DTS-HD 7.1 Ch. audio is output from a 5.1 or lower channel.

That sounds scary. What does this mean with regards to DTS-MA? Is this warning in the 80gig and other versions of the PS3? I was aware of the lack of PS2 support and 2 usb ports, and lack of media card slots but I never heard of the lack of DTS-HD 7.1. Can anyone with a non-40gig PS3 verify if this is the case for their PS3 as well? I'd like to use the PS3 as my main BD player and so far it's been awesome but I'm hoping that DTS-HD thing is the same for all models. Thanks in advance! )I've been out of the loop with regards to the latest audio codecs!)

EDIT***OK I just downloaded the support manual for the 80 gig PS3 from the US Playstation website. The same line appears there as well. I'm guessing these were printed before the DTS-MA firmware upgrade was released right?
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post #414 of 727
7/2/08 at 9:03pm

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Wow, something must have gone horribly wrong with 2.40 for them to have pulled it that quickly. I have it on my work PC, but I don't dare update it because I don't want to turn my PS3 into a doorstop.

(PS - I know I have the 2.40 file on my work PC because it was 130MB and 2.36 is 125MB which is the current file size)
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post #415 of 727
7/2/08 at 9:16pm

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Carlo Medina
Wow, something must have gone horribly wrong with 2.40 for them to have pulled it that quickly. I have it on my work PC, but I don't dare update it because I don't want to turn my PS3 into a doorstop.

(PS - I know I have the 2.40 file on my work PC because it was 130MB and 2.36 is 125MB which is the current file size)

Even though I installed the 2.4 perfectly on my 40GB unit, I have read of people bricking the 40GB model. 60GB & 80GB units are affected also.

It is hit or miss with the upgrade. I downloaded mine at 11:45pm EST on 7/1/08.

The problems from what I hear is, and you would know it right away is this........

If you see icons on the main screen after the install:

If you don't see icons on the main screens:
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post #416 of 727
7/2/08 at 9:21pm

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Icons?
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post #417 of 727
7/2/08 at 9:34pm

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Quote:
Originally Posted by Yumbo
Icons?

If you get a blank screen instead of what you see in the image provided you have a problem. Those things in the pic, I call them icons. Sort of like Desktop icons.

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post #418 of 727
7/2/08 at 10:00pm

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

I see icons!

Still trying to determine whether I need to use a voltage transformer on the US model here in Fiji at 240V.
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post #419 of 727
7/4/08 at 11:43am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

I just joined the club. Been trying to figure out what to do about a Blu-ray player and finally decided that the PS3 made more sense -- with all its functionality -- than just another disc player. Found the MGS4 bundle in a store yesterday (stunned to see that had about 8 on the floor!) so I popped for it.

Quite impressed so far. Got streaming uPnP going and the sound of my MP3s seems noticeably superior to the streaming from my XBMC setup. Streaming video is also upscaled very nicely; however, the media player appears not to support subtitle files, so I may have to watch foreign content on my old Xbox. Anyone have a better PS3 solution?

UPDATE: So I see that subtitle support may be possible by transcoding in TVersity. If I have any luck with it, I'll post my results/method here.

UPDATE 2: It IS possible. Got it working reliably, as well as streaming video formats not specifically supported by the PS3, by transcoding everything in TVersity. And my PC isn't even a powerhouse, just a nice dual core AMD system. I like my PS3 and its media center capabilities.
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post #420 of 727
7/7/08 at 2:01am

Re: New to Blu? Buy a PS3: the most featured BD hardware available...

Just checked, and firmware v2.40 is not available yet. Or was it at some point?
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