I don't have any interest in the PS3 as a gaming machine, but the Blu-Ray thing does intrigue me. But it's only worth it for me if I can get rid of my old legacy DVD player, as I don't feel like having even more boxes sitting under the TV. (I've already got an HD-DVD player, but unfortunately, its ease-of-use with legacy DVD is lacking, so I have to keep the old DVD player around.) So:

1. Does the PS3 remember your position on legacy DVD discs? That is, if you're watching a movie and you turn it off but leave it in, will it start up from that point when you turn it back on? If so, does it have a cache of remembered positions, such that you can take a movie out, watch a different one, put the first one back in and still have its position remembered?

(If that sounds like a weird request, our son usually watches movies in the morning before going off to school; if we watch them at night, we put his back in and he doesn't lose his place with our current player.)

2. Is the legacy DVD picture quality good? I don't care about upscaling, as the TV's scaler is perfectly good, but how are the basics?

3. How's the overall experience of using the PS3 as a DVD player? Are there any weird things that make it worse than a typical $50 player? I know that the remote can't work with my universal remote, which is a pretty big negative, but anything else? Start-up time? Loud fans/drives?

I personally found the picture quality good enough to pack up my Panasonic S97 upconverting player. Along with the PS3 Blu Ray remote (purchased separately for around $25US) I find this to be a very competent DVD player.

PS3 does a poor job of playing normal DVD movies! It is what it is if I must say so myself. Still if you use hdmi and allow your set to do the job then it is very good at that. Nothing to good and nothing to bad!

There are a lot of comments that range from poor to great as far as the PS3 is concerned for playing DVD's. For me personally, it plays them well. In fact it does a better job than my pc that upscales with theater tek etc. I have a Sony RPLCD that does a good job, so much so that some dvd's on the PS3 through HDMI look upscaled.

I will continue to use my current Sony upscaling dvd player for dvd's. I just think it is better. To me though, it is not a hassle. Less wear and tear on the PS3. If you are happing with the PS3's picture, then go for it.

I don't have any interest in the PS3 as a gaming machine, but the Blu-Ray thing does intrigue me. But it's only worth it for me if I can get rid of my old legacy DVD player, as I don't feel like having even more boxes sitting under the TV. (I've already got an HD-DVD player, but unfortunately, its ease-of-use with legacy DVD is lacking, so I have to keep the old DVD player around.) So:

1. Does the PS3 remember your position on legacy DVD discs? That is, if you're watching a movie and you turn it off but leave it in, will it start up from that point when you turn it back on? If so, does it have a cache of remembered positions, such that you can take a movie out, watch a different one, put the first one back in and still have its position remembered?

(If that sounds like a weird request, our son usually watches movies in the morning before going off to school; if we watch them at night, we put his back in and he doesn't lose his place with our current player.)

2. Is the legacy DVD picture quality good? I don't care about upscaling, as the TV's scaler is perfectly good, but how are the basics?

3. How's the overall experience of using the PS3 as a DVD player? Are there any weird things that make it worse than a typical $50 player? I know that the remote can't work with my universal remote, which is a pretty big negative, but anything else? Start-up time? Loud fans/drives?

1- The ps3 does not have auto-resume as of right now! Hopefully in a future update!

2- Good quality

3- Start up times normal-Fan/drive noise quiet.

1- The ps3 does not have auto-resume as of right now! Hopefully in a future update!


1. From my experiences, the PS3 resumes playback where it left off, if I you don't eject the disc. I'll need to double check to see if this applies to DVDs and BDs, and under what conditions, but I'm fairly sure it does.

Don't forget the layer change, some discs have a longer pause than others.

I am using it as my dvd player, it also replaced an upsampling htpc.

If your TV scales well then you should be fine, it not it will be noticeable, but tolerable.

Mine does not scale, but mainly I just notice problems with text.



Supposedly the 'march update' will add upconverting, and we should know for sure within 3 weeks.

Don't forget the layer change, some discs have a longer pause than others.

I wish Sony would add seamless layer changes to the PS3. I've pulled out my older DVD's that had pretty noticeable layer changes and tried them on the PS3. The layer changes were still just as noticeable.

I thought the PS3 does an incredible job of playing DVD's. I returned a Sony ns75h, Oppo 971hd, and a Denon upscale players. None of them had better pq better than the ps3.

I thought the PS3 does an incredible job of playing DVD's. I returned a Sony ns75h, Oppo 971hd, and a Denon upscale players. None of them had better pq better than the ps3.

That means you either had the other players set up wrong or you've never let your TV do the upconverting for you, since the PS3 only displays a 480P signal when playing dvds.

That means you either had the other players set up wrong or you've never let your TV do the upconverting for you, since the PS3 only displays a 480P signal when playing dvds.

All the players were through hdmi, and calibrated w/ avia. 480p on the ps3 looked just as good as 720p and even 1080i with the other players. Only thing I can think of was that my tv has an awesome scaler.

I was playing my DVD's on a PS2, so now playing them on the PS3 is much better. It's not better than some of the good standalone upscalers but it's a hell of a lot better than a PS2.

That means you either had the other players set up wrong or you've never let your TV do the upconverting for you, since the PS3 only displays a 480P signal when playing dvds.

And since a DVD's native resolution is 480, this means what?

Nothing.

My experience with the ps3 dvd player has been mixed. I enjoy the video with great upscaling on the console itself. However as with the ps2 dvd player, I find the the audio is quite soft. When I play games the audio is excellent, but with movies I have to crank the audio to 2-3x louder than with the games.
anybody dealt with this as well?

My experience with the ps3 dvd player has been mixed. I enjoy the video with great upscaling on the console itself. However as with the ps2 dvd player, I find the the audio is quite soft. When I play games the audio is excellent, but with movies I have to crank the audio to 2-3x louder than with the games.
anybody dealt with this as well?

Make sure Dynamic Range Control is set to OFF and not AUTO under the BD/DVD settings menu.

They need to describe what these options do. You look up Dynamic Range Control in the manual and it says, "Set to On, Off, or Auto." :rolleyes:

I had no idea what that setting was for.