How good is a PlayStation 3 as a DVD player? (1 Viewer)

[Eric Meske]

If your 12% off coupon is the same as mine, it explicitly excludes new videogame hardware and Blu-ray players. :frowning:

 

[Brent M]

Well, I guess it pays to read the fine print on these coupons. I just checked the back of mine and sure enough it excludes those categories. Guess I won't be buying myself a new PS3 this weekend after all. :frowning:

 

[Mark Murphy]

I was thinking of playing stupid and trying to us my 12% off coupon this weekend.

 

[Brent M]

If you do decide to give it a shot, please report back in this thread to let us know if it worked. The coupon is good through Monday so if they honor it for you I may give it a shot at my local BB.

 

[Jordan_E]

The SACD playback on this thing, via HDMI, is fantastic! I've more than gotten my money's worth outta this machine since last December.

 

[Jari K]

The "problem" here is, that people expect to get a very easy and quick answers. Often, this is not possible. Like I said earlier, this upscaling has gotten almost an mythical meaning ( ) in the forums. People think that some players just make the SD DVD look perfect or "close to HD". I remember when people first spoke about the very expensive scalers, then expensive high-end DVD-players, then Oppo DVD-player, then about Toshiba HD DVD, then PS3.. etc. All with the same meaning: They´re great for upscaling. My question could be, that "what is the difference with expensive scaler vs e.g. Oppo - when it comes to upscaling?". How about "Toshiba vs high-end DVD-player?". How about "PS3 vs Oppo?" etc etc. Easy to find answers? No way.

I personally believe that the differences with the SD DVD upscaling with e.g. these mentioned sources are not *hugely significant* at least with the smaller screens and plenty is indeed depending from the player/TV/etc set-up, connections, calibration, source material etc etc. Hell, you can be tired and just because of that miss something..

Every review - whether it´s about the DVD/HD-film or some A/V equipment, is eventually just one "opinion". Eventually, they´re never purely "fact". There can be plenty of facts within that review, but always - also many "opinions". Sadly some times, also mistakes and false assumptions.

I guess my point just is, that you can´t find an definitive answer to the question like "How good is a PlayStation 3 as a DVD player?" in the forums (that doesn´t mean that you can´t ask! ). Some say that it´s great. Some say that it´s great since some other people have said that it´s great. Some people say that it´s great since one review said that it´s great. Some people say that it´s not as good as his current DVD player. Some say that it´s sharper than Toshiba ( ), some say that it´s lacking, etc etc etc. Best bet is always to read many different reviews, views and discussions. This goes for the DVD/HD-reviews also. Too many times people quote one review and based on that make some bigger decisions. You should always look for several sources.

My advice for the people looking for a new DVD-player would be, that buy a HD-player (e.g. Toshiba, PS3, etc) - it plays them too. I personally (here we go: IMO) don´t see why you should pay 1000$ just to get that new "high end" DVD-player (which is probably missing MP3, JPEG and stuff like that), that probably won´t even upscale to full 1080p or something. The time of these "high end" DVD-players is over. Move away geezers - shiny HD-players are coming and they play/upscale/etc anything!

 

[Dave H]

The PS3 does a very good job with SD DVDs and Sony engineers said they expect to make more improvements with it. Compared to my HD-A2, I'd say the PS3 is slightly better (both calibrated and upscaled to 1080i). The PS3 seems a bit cleaner with slightly better color rendition. The A2 is a bit sharper, but the PS3 just looks more natural.

 

[DaViD Boulet]

I've seen the Scaling on the A1Tosh and it was fantastic (the best DVD scaling I've seen outside of $$$ processors). The PS3 comes very close IMO... and is noticably better than my Oppo which I always loved.

 

[Chris Bardon]

I was wondering about this, so I tried a little A/B comparison with Ep 3. The hardware
-Ps3 over HDMI (1080i)
-Pioneer progressive (non scaling) DVD player over component (480p)
-Sony 50" SXRD (XBR1)

I got the 2 sources as close to in sync with each other as I could, and then started flipping. The goal here was to compare the ps3 scaler to the internal one on the TV, and what I found was that there really wasn't as dramatic a difference as I thought. Both pictures looked great, but could I really tell which was the better image? Not knowing which source was which, I think I might have been hard pressed to. Is there anything in particular that I should be checking for? The DVD scaler on the PS3 was set to the defaults.

 

[Dan_Ohio]

I think the PS3 works great as a DVD player. Also, the PS3 has USB ports which allows me to hook up a an extrnal harddrive to load my favorite music or play my ipod music.

 

[42nd Street Freak]

I have a Denon 2930 upscaling DVD player but have not made any moves to a High Def format as it is of little interest at the moment (the same old popular/new titles i already have or don't want).

I do have a full HD 1080p TV though.

So if (as it seems to be doing) Blu-ray wins out, how easy is it to get the PS3 to upscale normal DVD's?
What exactly do you have to do? I live in the UK and will (IF I DO) purchase a UK PS3.

Thanks.

 

[Doug Otte]

Dave, it's very easy. With the v1.9 firmware installed, you select 1080p as one of the video output resolutions, and the PS3 automatically upscales. I think it looks fantastic. Check the official PS3 as Blu-Ray Player thread here for more info and opinions.

Regards,
Doug

 

[42nd Street Freak]

Thanks.

 

[EricW]

i would say the only knock on the PS3 as an upconverter is after a while (like half way through a movie) the fans turn on (running hot?) and it gets a bit loud. a dedicated DVD/BR/HDDVD player probably wouldn't do this.

 

[John Garcia]

It depends on how well ventilated your PS3 is and where it is located. Mine is rarely audible. A friend has his in an enclosed rack and he says his fans go into high a lot. Mine is in an enclosed rack, but the sides are perforated and the back is removed and mine has never switched to high even after hours.

 

[Doug Otte]

Sorry, John, but this is a myth that a lot of people are posting. I've tried mine in an open rack, as well as completely open sitting vertically. The noise is the same. I have exchanged mine, and the 2nd one is not as noisy (doesn't seem to go into 3rd gear like the first one), but it's still audible from about 12 feet away. So, there seem to be some units that are noisier than others.

I'm considering exchanging it for an 80GB model. Some people think they're quieter, but I don't think anyone has done a comparison.

Regards,
Doug

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Have you tried it completely open but sitting horizontally? The orientation might very well affect the fan noise.

So far I've only used mine sitting horizontally in the open, and I've never noticed any especially loud fan noise.

 

[Doug Otte]

I realized my wording was a bit rude, and I want to apologize to John. Environmental factors are not a "myth," but it's true that some units are noisier than others. John's a very knowledgeable and helpful guy, and he gave me some good tips a year or two ago about my Marantz receiver.

Anyway, I did exchange my 60 for an 80 yesterday. So far, I haven't had much chance to test it, but I'll report back.

Regards,
Doug

 

[Doug Otte]

Thanks, Aaron, but the noise is the same, whether the unit is horizontal or vertical.

Doug

 

[BrianShort]

I've never noticed the fan noise from my PS3, but my room isn't exactly the quietest either. My PC is closer to my couch than my PS3, and is considerable louder (though nothing annoying), and my projection TV also has a fan that I can hear. Both of these could be covering up any sound the PS3 is making.

I also read the 20 gig model, which I have, is quieter than the larger models, but I don't really believe that.