Hi guys,
just wanted to post to let you know how i'm getting on with the ps3. Picked it up Thursday evening and to be honest i havent had a whole lot of time with it as was away from Friday morning to Monday evening and shopping with the missus all day yesterday!
Anyhow first impressions...
connected up no problem and went through the setup questions.. i bought Open season and Monster house on blue ray and Open season was the first thing in..
our little guy is 4 and he sat on the couch in awe watching the film, he's never actually watched a film for the first time and not lost interest (it usually takes two or three viewings before he will sit through a film) It was so funny to watch him.... the picture quality is amazing to be fair. ps3 is connected to a 32v2000 bravia lcd running @ 1080i. The little guys reaction to the film and my wife chipping in and saying the picture was awesome was really satisfying. I had a hard time convincing herself that the ps3 was a worthwhile purchase but she's defintetly enjoying it.
So that was our first blue ray film, very impressed with the picture quality and sound was as good as can be with my 5.1 amp. Blue ray really is a big step up from dvd.. so i'm happy.. its the first time i'd seen a HD movie so well impressed..
after i got the place to myself, i set up the connection to our wireless network, have WEP so had to enter the WEP key (painful) and couldnt get a connection. Then i remembered i'm also using MAC filtering on the router so once i put the ps3's address in, away she went. Downloaded the 1.6 update and downloaded a few things from the playstation store. Super Rub a dub is a major hit in our house.. my wife is taking over the ps3! its a cool game in fairness and the simplicity is great, i only have the one controller but id say two player would be great fun, i really hope sony keep putting out titles like this.. at 4.99 euro.. they really are good value.. i also downloaded flow,, i wish they had a demo i could have downloaded first as i dont think we'll get into it.. its nice but just dont find it that appealing
i also love being able to download demo's and try games before you buy, have downloaded ridge racer, gran turismo hd, and the other small demo's like lemings etc, i have bought so many games in the past where a demo would have made me avoid them..
have to say ridge racer looks pretty ace.. i remember playing ridge racer on the ps1 and things have certainly improved since then!
i tried motorstorm and while it looked amazing, i just couldnt see myself getting into it, so i've traded it for nhl hockey.. i think i'll enjoy the hockey as i used to love it on the megadrive all those years ago..
have downloaded the casino royale trailer, that looks pretty ace, so hopefully i will get a free copy from sony.
have also watched a few dvds, i'm happy with the quality.. ok it may not be the best in the world, but certainly more than watchable.... i used happy feet as reference and its fine.. i have sold on my Oppo 981 so cant do a direct comparison.. but i wouldnt say i noticed any considerable change in going from the oppo to the ps3... there may well be but its not dramatic enough for me to warrant having a separate dvd player..
imported a musi cd last night.. track information was found, but for some reason the image art wasnt, looks like i might have to manually copy on the album art and assign it, bit of a nuisance... but the cd imported quickly (faster than my pc) and plays back grand
also popped in the flash card from our camera, had taken lots of pictures over the weekend and it picked them up straight away, copied them on to the ps3 and created a slideshow.. my wife was well impressed with this feature.. and wants to have all our pictures on it now, for easy access... and safe keeping (no harm to have an extra backup i guess)
have tried a bit of internet browsing, checked the avforums and my yahoo email, the plugin message is anoying. Also the text size was very small from our couch. i downsized the resolution on the browser to -2 and that made things much more usable. Cant see myself using it much, but maybe if i got a keyboard with built in tracker and they sorted out the message about embedded etc, would be an option
so thats pretty much it.. i didnt buy the blue ray remote.. they didnt have it in stock, but to be honest the controller is fine for the moment.. its cool to be able to put the ps3 in standby and power on with the controller.. and the wireless aspect is great, wires wouldnt be workable in our living room with people crossing out to the kitchen
so have i any complaints? well just one.. and its fan noise.. i have the ps3 on the flat on a shelf under the tv with the sky plus box to the left, i had the sky box on the right of the ps3 but it was going to melt! there comes some heat out of those vents..
fan noise can be a bit distracting when they are in full flow.. i've noticed that if you start downloading something, then maybe play a game they kick in, and stay on even if you switch to a movie, but if you start watching a film from power on they dont seem to kick in as often.. i think its something sony could probably sort in a firmware update, the fans are probably just a little too eager.. when in full flow, they are easilly as loud as my brothers xbox 360.. which brings me to another point.. we stayed in my parents for the weekend so had some time with the 360...
they dont have broadband or a HD telly and its really does limit the experience.. to get the most from the ps3 or 360, i think a hd telly and broadband are essential...
i'm biased so i'm going to say i wouldnt have the 360 instead of my ps3.. the ps3 to me, is just a sexier machine.. it does everything.. HD movies are important to me.. and while i acknowledge the 360 can do everything else just as well as the ps3, it just doesnt look as nice..
ok, post over... no one will probably bother to read.. but so far so good.. a happy ps3 family
Cheers,
Mick
