One-and-Only PS3 as Blu-Ray Player Thread - Page 500

We really don't know how well the lense in the PS3 will hold up over long periods of time, as the consoel really hasn't been out that long. The PS2 did have this problem with DVDs, as the laser was designed to read information in short bursts, as opposed to streaming the data constantly like a typical DVD player does...

Indeed, and a whole generation of Sony standalone DVD players used the same drive, and had the same problems.

I would be very surprised if Sony isn't using the same mechanism in all their BD players, although there are probably design updates for each manufacturing run. Standardization and economy of scale is how manufacturers make money.

There are some faulty BD drives out there in specific units. The initial batch of 60g's does have a BD issue. Sony extended the warranty on intial run 60's bought in Nov/Dec of 06 to Jan 15 of 08. Some 80g's and some 40's going back to Nov of 07 also have some BD failing issues. Mine went out at exactly one year. I watch DVD's and or BD's almost daily.

Even with that issue I bought another one. I now own a 60g that I got back refurbed I guess and the 80g I bought. Great machines. Overall I think the issue is not the BD player being cheap or inherently defective, or at least I hope it isn't. I think some bad batches got into production lines.

I must've missed this. Is there a link to discussion of this or an article detailing the warranty extension?

I have a 60GB unit from November; a launch unit. Like you, I watch DVDs/BDs almost daily. I'd say 4 times a week. I didn't know there was a recognized problem with them or that there was a warranty extension.

Brandon

The problem, as best as I know it, is that the drive just won't recognize any type of disc. Nobody knows why, but Sony will repair it pretty quickly for you. Also, it affects all models, but seems to mostly be affecting the older 60/20 GB's models.

When you say that the initial batch of 60GB PS3's have a BD issue, are you referring to the entire production run? Do you have some sort of reference or url that documents this? Or are you stating an opinion?

I have one of those 60GB units from the release, and I would be directly affected by this issue. Please reply back with the reference or quote from Sony or a reputable source, because I'd like to know if my unit is going to encounter problems with normal use.

If you are stating your opinion however, you should learn how to rephrase your statements to be more accurate. Implying that an entire product run has a defect from manufacturing isn't going to win you points unless you prove it.

That's the first I'm hearing of this as well. I'm interested in the link too, please.

Edit: I just did some quick searching using "faulty blu-ray drive" and "faulty blu-ray laser" and, aside from individuals posting about problems, didn't find anything. The closest I found were articles from '06 about production problems with the laser, but only in regards to not being able to produce enough.

I have had no problems with my 80g PS3.

BUT a techie friend, a network install boss who's been a technical techno for many years - and whose tech knowledge I respect - advised in January that these players should be kept well-ventilated if being "heavily" used as a disc playback unit as opposed to a gaming unit.

His point was that the drive is more continuously active when playing back movies rather than the "stop-and-go" action more typical while game playing, and that this continuous drive action can cause a heat build-up that the unit isn't really designed for and can harm the internal circuitry and/or drive. He stated that "gamers" (aka the "accursed") he knew advised him of this.

I only add this for what it's worth, but it doesn't sound wrong, off the top - watching BD movies 8 hours a day probably does work the drive mechanisms differently than playing 8 hours of games a day. I play no games (gave away the one that came with the machine unopened - video games are a curse and have been since Pong back in '76) and I don't watch more than one movie a day, so I'm not too worried. In fact I can't even confirm if the games do really use the drive in a "stop-and-go" fashion, so this is purely second-hand hearsay.

Perhaps though if you're going to use the PS3 as a continuously active dvd/blu-ray player you might want ensure adequate air-circulation around the unit. Which is, come to think of it, good advice for all electronic equipment regardless of use.

Hey all,
I've got a quick question. And yes, I've done my research, but I can't seem to find an exact answer to my question.

I recently bought a kds-55a3000 1080p television, the onkyo sr800 home theater in a box, and plan to purchase a ps3.

I know that I cannot get true HD audio through the sr800 receiver because it cannot decode HD audio signals. In order to get audio, I'll have to run an optical cable from the ps3 to the sr800, and only then I will have Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound.

But here's my question: What if I play a new Blu Ray movie, such as 30 Days of Night, that only has TrueHD Audio? Will the audio be downconverted to 5.1 Dolby Surround with my optical cable to sr800 setup, or will I not hear anything at all

Are the new audio HD formats backwards compatible?

Thanks,
Paul

Yes, it's part of the specs. You'll get DD 5.1. And no offense, but I don't think you researched very well at all. If you'd searched this thread for "truehd over optical" you'd have found your answer posted hundreds of times.

Thanks for the response. And no offense taken, though I did do quite a lot of research. I found answers hinting at my question, but nothing direct. It's not easy to determine exact phrases to search for with all this new technology.

But thanks again :-)

I went to my local BB and they had about 20 PS3s and 2 of the 20 still came with the Spiderman 3 Blu Ray. Is there any difference between the current PS3 which does not contain the Spiderman 3 movie and the slightly older one which contains Spiderman, especially re any firmware updates. The Spiderman 3 build date was early Feb 2008.

Thanks

You're welcome. This thread has over 500 pages of wholesome PS3 goodness in it and most likely an answer to every PS3 question that currently has an answer. Just search it and keep the keywords simple to start.

I noticed the user a few pages back whose PS3 died on hime; that coupled with the fact that the FS guy brought it up spurred me to ask around. If so many of you have little to no problems with the machine, I am not as worried. Plus, I would like to think that considering Sony has been using the PS3 as a catalyst to really push Blu-Ray they wouldn't cheap out on an integral component like the laser. However, stranger things have happened. I am not a heavy gamer, but if I had a PS3 I think I would definitely play a few, so the PS3 really is tempting. And I thought all the hard decisions were over when I decided (wrongly) to go with HD DVD. Ah well.

U.S. Air Force Wants 300 PlayStation 3's
http://www.switched.com/2008/03/05/u...laystation-3s/

Terra Soft
32 Node PS3 Cluster $42250
http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/st...solutions%5D=1

Hi,
I bought an 80 back on Dec.05,07 and it stopped reading my games about a week ago,it read the blu ray disc's just fine but not the blu ray games.
I called Sony and he said "thats weird,there all blu ray!"Anyway, they sent me a box prepaid with overnight shipping and now I'm waiting for my new(refurbished).From what I understand this isnt a wide problem so its "just my luck".Things happen in this business so I just have to hang in there.
dhenry5320

FTA: "Knowing that the PS3 is less a gaming machine and more a super computer in disguise, all we can say is we're glad it's the Air Force and not the NSA."

Maybe they shouldn't have said that.

So you could watch BD movies but not load the games? That is weird.

If we all recall, the PS2 was built as a gaming machine first, and as a bonus, happened to play DVD movies.

Where the PS3 was designed as a Blu-ray player first, and as a bonus, it happens to play video games.

It's unlikely the PS3 is going to have any "burn out" problems.

I am not here to win or lose points, but I am here to help relate info that I have acquired.

I can see where some would read into what I said or read what I said as "implied".

If you look at how I started off my post I said:

"There are some faulty BD drives out there in specific units. The initial batch of 60g's does have a BD issue".

I apologize if it seemed to imply all, but that was not my intention nor my opinion.


Believe me or not, I am probably ten times the Sony or should I say PS3 fan that most are and what I stated is NOT my opinion. No it isn't well documented, yet it is easily found.

Go to the PS forum on AVS and do a search for BD drive failures or PS3 stopped reading discs. AVS members should be frequenting the AVS PS forum on occassion anyway because there is useful info there as well that isn't discussed here. Go to the PSN network forum and you will find threads there with the same issue. The extension of warranty as far as I know was only being discussed if you called CS and they mentioned the extension.


Links:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=957251

http://boardsus.playstation.com/play...ead.id=2651701

http://boardsus.playstation.com/play...ead.id=1945666

http://boardsus.playstation.com/play...ead.id=2431913

If you go to the PSN forums and look under the PS3 general threads you will find a lot and yes I mean a lot of threads with hundreds of owners with BD failures. I couldn't figure out how to do a search for specific thread topics since I don't frequent it that much.

I don't think we need to over state or exagerrate the issue as being something more than it is, but it is an issue with some units, more than I would like to hear about considering it happened to me as well.



I still believe the overall fail rate for the PS3 is 1% or less and yes that is my opinion.

Considering I have NEVER had a DVD drive go out in ten years of owning about 12 of them I was a bit surprised that my BD drive failed.

Considering that there are 2-3 million PS3s out there (maybe more, I don't know for sure) and assuming that most PS3 owners are online it's not surprising to see that many reports of failures. IIRC I've seen reports that the failure rate is only around 1%. That's probably below the industry standard.

I think what some of us were replying to was this...

That made it sound like you'd read it in a confirmed news story somewhere.

My take is that the US Air Force wanted a quick way to evaluate pilot candidates. Set up a killer theatre, pop in the PS3 "Blazing Angels" game and time the students to each level.

More:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=697086

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=992845

http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...VIEWTMP=Branch

Yes, these are the lines that got my attention. I see Chris0 also saw what I saw, so I don't think it's just me.

I can see that Hughmc is clarifying his opinion now, but the links that he is providing does not lead me to believe that there is a widespread issue with PS3 drives.

I think he's picking and choosing his proof based on first hand accounts of unit failures, but I still don't see a widespread problem with the initial batch of 60GB units from the launch.

I can deal with 1%, as long as I'm not one of them (knocks on wood).

Edit - Actually, I do know of someone who had his 20GB PS3 fail about two months ago. He got a replacement refurbished unit, but the original unit did have a problem reading any sort of disc. I doubt that this makes it a rampant PS3 issue, however.

Okay, I've refrained myself from this PCM/Bitstream discussion so far, thinking that the topic is irrelevant.

However, I just want to get everything straightened up. I'm sure that the topic has been discussed, but going through the whole thread is a bit too much.

I have a Yamaha 1800 receiver, connected via hdmi to my 60gb Ps3. Here's what I'd like to get a confirmation to:



Source Ps3 PCM Ps3 bitstream

DVD, DD5.1 PCM 5.1, no loss DD5.1 no loss

DVD, DTS 5.1 PCM 5.1, no loss DTS 5.1, no loss

DVD, DTS ES 6.1 PCM 5.1, loss of rear ch. DTS ES 6.1

DVD, DDEX 5.1 PCM 5.1, no loss? DDEX 5.1

BD, PCM 5.1 PCM 5.1 PCM 5.1

BD, PCM 7.1 PCM 7.1 PCM 7.1

BD, DTS HD MA 5.1 PCM 5.1, loss of >1.5 DTS 5.1, loss of >1.5

BD, DTHD 5.1 PCM 5.1, no loss DD5.1, loss?

Is the above table correct? Technically there shouldn't be any loss of audio quality when the PS3 internally converts DD/DTS/DTSHD/DTHD to PCM, but I'm having some doubts. When I play a DVD with a DD/DTS track and switch between PCM/bitstream output, there is a definate change in audio. I'm not completely sure if it's only a change in volume, but at first bitstream does sound better; there seems to be more clarity, but I'm not sure...

Now, as no-one knows how a DTSHD/DTHD track sounds via bitstream from a PS3, do we know if we are losing something or not? Some players can do bitstream as well as pcm to the new codecs, but are they comparable to the ps3? Is there a difference in quality between the DTHD->PCM conversion between the Ps3 and e.g. a Panny BD30? any experience from BD30 users?

Currently I'm using the Ps3 with bitstream output with all but DTHD audio tracks. Furthermore, I'm applying 5.1->7.1 conversion with PLIIx movie to all 5.1 tracks.

Man, I hope bitstreaming and full DTS HD support is technically possible and really coming soon, so that we could forget about all this and just leave it at bitstream...

Sorry, I should have mentioned that it's a Euro/PAL version of the PS3.

To separate the men from the boys the US Air Force should combine PS3 gaming with Disney's Mission Space ride.

There is no source for the story. It could be anything, including fabricated. 300 PS3s would make for a sweet LAN party though.

How about this for a source?

There is an interesting article on how the PS3 is expected to become the top selling game console by the end of 2008. Here is the link. The article in Digital TV Design Line says that while the cost to manufacture the PS3 is still more than the selling price, that is expected to change by the 2nd half of 2008. Also it indicates there may be a price reduction later this year.

Ron Jones