PS3?

[The Monkey]

Is the PS3 a useful device if you don't do much gaming? I remember reading about it being a "great" blu-ray player and SACD capable. Whaddya say?

[Salt Peanuts]

FYI, current production PS3 doesn't play SACD. While I like mine, I also use it for gaming as well as streaming video from my iMac. The consistent firmware updates helped it be one of the best BD players early as it had less issues compared to the competitors - I don't know how much of this is still the case with the format settling down a bit. If you use universal remotes, it won't work with PS3 unless you add a 3rd-party accessory since its remote works via Bluetooth.

[tkam]

It's still one of the best blu-ray players around.

[Dusty Chalk]

I bought one and I'm not a gamer at all. But I should explain to you that I have very specific plans for it (hack a linux partition onto it, etc.). And 's'truth about current gen not playing SACD.

[XXII]

You can do this with a PS3 that plays SACDs:

Ripping SACDs via SPDIF at 176.4 with a PS3 - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

Then you can play a 176.4 downsample of DSD on one of your DACs. A PS3 is probably the cheapest way to do this.

[aardvark baguette]

I bought one and I game like once every 6 months for about 15 minutes.

I have an older Samsung bluray that took forever to load movies, and the PS3 slim loads them in about 8 seconds.

[nattonrice]

Indeed~ My friends one loads bluray disks very quickly.

Also if you don't already have something like it then the ps3 makes a decent music/video streaming device which is cool for parties ect.

[n_maher]

Actually one of my mine gripes with the PS3 is how awful it is at handling audio. It sorts tracks alphabetically, wtf is up with that? I've looked and can't find a way to change this in any setting and somewhat surprisingly see very few references to it online.

[Salt Peanuts]

Didn't know about that about audio, as I just use SB3 for streaming audio since PS3 doesn't handle lossless.

[nattonrice]

Yeah that is a bit of a pita. I didn't find a way to fix it either.

[kpeezy]

Use PS3 Media Server (if you're streaming from PC; if you have songs on the hdd then I'm not sure (move them )). The program shows up in the main list under Video, Audio, etc. You select it and it takes you into whatever folder structure you have setup on the PC. Perfect as long as you keep your folders organized like I do.

It has really good codec support too... better than any other software I've tried.

edit: Only problem I've run into is that it has to buffer each song before it plays. I usually have a 2 or 3 second gap between songs. So, no gapless playback. It might be better if you're not on wireless.

I bought one and I'm not a gamer at all. But I should explain to you that I have very specific plans for it (hack a linux partition onto it, etc.). And 's'truth about current gen not playing SACD.

Did you get a slim?

[n_maher]

I've started looking at what it'll take to hardwire my PS3 since wireless performance in my house seems to be not so great and I really do hope to try the Netflix streaming option soon. So when I playback music it's usually off of a thumb drive and that's where the annoying alphabetical syndrome comes from.

[Dreadhead]

I've started looking at what it'll take to hardwire my PS3 since wireless performance in my house seems to be not so great and I really do hope to try the Netflix streaming option soon. So when I playback music it's usually off of a thumb drive and that's where the annoying alphabetical syndrome comes from.

I have a pair of those things that sends the network over the power lines and I find it works very well. YMMV

[Dusty Chalk]

Did you get a slim?

Pfff, I have no idea. It would say, "slim", wouldn't it? I don't think the ad said slim, but I don't remember correctly all the time.

[Salt Peanuts]

Dusty, if it's shiny, it's not slim version (i.e., the current production). Also, I hope you didn't get the slim version as you can't load Linux onto that version.

[aardvark baguette]

if its all black, (and you'd know that) then its the slim.

[Dusty Chalk]

It's in a box tucked away until I get some time to myself. It'd be easier if I could find the ad...hold on...this one.

Why wouldn't I be able to load linux onto it? It's a computer, it's just a matter of hitting it with the right hammer, innit?

(wanders off to do some research -- helpful links would not go ignored)

Edited December 3, 2009 by Dusty Chalk

[The Monkey]

I guess a question I have is whether there are similarly-priced Blu-Ray players that can do all the things that the "fat" PS3 can do with the exception of games of course.

[n_maher]

The Oppo BDP-83 is probably the only other player I'd consider and it's 1.5x the cost of the PS3.

[Salt Peanuts]

It's in a box tucked away until I get some time to myself. It'd be easier if I could find the ad...hold on...this one.

Why wouldn't I be able to load linux onto it? It's a computer, it's just a matter of hitting it with the right hammer, innit?

(wanders off to do some research -- helpful links would not go ignored)

Oh, that is a good model - before they took out SACD capability and PS2 hardware.

On that model, you can load Linux on it. It's the current production models (i.e., Slims) that you can no longer load Linux.

[manaox2]

I love my blu-ray player, but these days I would definitely go for the PS3 on a budget at their current pricing.

[Dusty Chalk]

Oh, okay, (wipes brow...which ends up looking just like...)

It was shiny and black, so I just thought...I made sure it had the SACD compatability, but wasn't aware that not all PS3's could have linux loaded onto it, so did not check that at all.

Dinny -- the honest answer is, "I'm not sure". It's a computer, so the possibilities are endless, but I don't know what non-game utilities are available via standard deployment options other than streaming, which, as has already been said, is certainly available elsewhere.

EDIT: Well, apparently you can do Folding@home if that interests you at all. (The CPU inside this thing is unholy powerful. Folding@home is that technology that allows your computer to utilize idol clock cycles contributing to searching for the cure for cancer.)

[kpeezy]

Ah that is the absolute best version of the PS3. BTW - PS3 Media Server lets you stream FLAC to the PS3 as well. I'm not sure about the how of it though so I don't know if it's degrading it.

[Chekhonte]

check your local craigslist for a 60gb original version if you have the time. I picked one up for 250 dollars but it took over a month of constant checking to find a deal like that.

[en480c4]

Yeah, I was pretty disappointed when they removed PS2 game support from the PS3, shortly before I got mine