cam_winter
New member
It's finally here.
PS3 Retail unit
Damn the composite cables!!
But everything else looks good!
PS3 Retail unit
Damn the composite cables!!
But everything else looks good!
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IGN gets a retail PS3 unit
- Thread starter cam_winter
- Start date
doublebubbles2003
New member
Does that mean there will only be 399,999 avalible on launch?
nettech963
New member
HELL YA IT DOES
shadrack kakui
New member
[No message]
harodude20
New member
Can someone post the text of the article. IGN is blocked at work for me.
There are literally quite a few as they broke them down into different ones.
Here's a couple:
PS3 Video Playback -- Open & Unrestricted
The PS3 has no multimedia restrictions on even 1080p video. BitTorrent, ye shall be crashed!
by Nix
November 10, 2006 - For those frustrated with the Xbox 360's limited video playback features (and for those of you angry at PS3 for not upscaling DVDs), here's something to smile about: video playback on Sony's new system seems to have no restrictions of any kind. Barring a lack of support for your chosen format (which of course will never make anybody happy since there are 5 zillion media formats out there and no media player can play back everything), the PS3 will play back videos without issue, even at full HD quality.
This is good news after the PlayStation Portable unfortunately delivered less-than-ideal video playback maxing out in consumer releases at 320x240 anamorphic instead of full 480x272 (although this PSP fault is likely due to support of outdated Memory Stick Video Format restrictions, some blame this on Sony's fear that UMD would not sell if users were allowed to make full-resolution video ... indeed, Sony's own Japanese P.TV site offers encrypted videos at full-res, but consumer compression applications can only make small-resolution PSP videos.) Here with PS3, we were able to play videos at 720p and even 1080p off of a Memory Stick after first compressing them to the AVC format. (Our tests used Sorensen Squeeze, but any AVC compressor should be able to do the job.)
We also tested PSP-sized AVC and MP4 files, which played back just fine. Some of these videos were odd-sized videos, and they also played back without issue. We have not yet been able to put the system through a stress-test to see if the PS3 is able to play videos that do not conform to standard broadcast or PSP-supported q-pel formats, but we will be testing this soon -- so far, this seems to not be an issue.
In addition to AVC, PS3 will also be able to play MPEG1, MPEG2, and standard-profile MP4 videos, all common formats and all formats easily found in consumer-level (and freeware/shareware) video compression applications. We were able to test MPEG2 and MP4-SP, and both formats worked just as any other video format on PS3, without issue. You cannot, however, reformat videos -- you can copy them from device to device, but unlike with music files, you can't re-encode them under a more preferred or tighter codec. We also loaded an AVI file into the PS3, and while it recognized that a file was loaded, it showed the AVI file as Corrupted Data, just as on PSP.
on the HDD:
According to the PlayStation 3's included Safety and Support manual, the system will accept any 2.5" Serial ATA hard disc drive, and not only officially licensed Sony products. This opens up the possibility of installing a much larger drive than what the system comes with. The manual does note that "Proper operation is not guaranteed for all models" of hard drives, but obviously this is Sony's "just in case" small print.
We're in the process of testing this ourselves and will keep you updated.
A bit on the XMB features:
PS3 Multitasks Music
The PS3 menu can rub its belly and pat its head at the same time ... technically speaking, of course.
by Nix
November 10, 2006 - Fixing an issue many had with the PlayStation Portable's media features, the PlayStation 3 version of XMB can multitask all of its features at a time -- you can leave a web page open or sort through pictures while playing back music with just a push of the PlayStation home button. The feature is very limited -- it seems to only work with music -- but having it there is a good thing.
Multitasking is a bit of a hidden feature on PS3, as the system tries to make everything as simple and idiot-proof as possible -- the XMB is designed largely to do one thing at a time. However, when doing any one task, a press of the PlayStation home button will background that feature and allow you to go do something else with your system. The PSP does this as well with its Home button, but once you choose another function of the system (say the Web Browser or Video folder), the PSP kicks the music off. With PS3, the music keeps rolling through your playlists.
The benefits of this are clear -- you can check out your pictures or browse the web while listening to your favorite K-Fed album. The feature puts a translucent, square halo around your screen when you have a backgrounded application, and with another press of the PlayStation button, you bounce back to whatever is backgrounded (usually the Music player itself, although you can background most media applications to go to the XMB itself and then bounce back.)
The limitations are that anything that uses similar functions of your currently-playing media switches off whatever is backgrounded -- you cannot browse the web and then check your photos without quitting the web browser in the current PS3 v1.10 software -- a disappointing limitation since going back into Browser mode goes to the Home page rather than to whatever page you left off on last. You also cannot or play some music and then play a video at the same time -- it's a smart backgrounder in that way (it'd be annoying if music kept playing while you tried to listen to music), but it's also frustrating in that it doesn't kick back to your tunes after play. You also cannot copy music or videos or folders while in background mode -- the "Copy" menu selection actually grays itself out if you're playing music, which could be a bummer if you're transferring 4GB video files from your Memory Stick to your PS3 HDD and want to keep playing tunes. We're a little nervous about what this means for the PlayStation Store as well, but we'll have to see when the PS3 network goes up whether you'll be able to browse photos or listen to music while downloading demos and video files from Sony. Finally, you cannot play a game -- neither a PS3 game or a backwards-compatible PS2/PS1 game -- and have music or a web browser open at the same time.
Although the backgrounder is capable of a few uses, for all intents and purposes, it's probably going to be valuable to you only as a music player background feature. Still, it's handy that it works, and Sony may add some more features to its ability set sometime down the line.
Here's a couple:
PS3 Video Playback -- Open & Unrestricted
The PS3 has no multimedia restrictions on even 1080p video. BitTorrent, ye shall be crashed!
by Nix
November 10, 2006 - For those frustrated with the Xbox 360's limited video playback features (and for those of you angry at PS3 for not upscaling DVDs), here's something to smile about: video playback on Sony's new system seems to have no restrictions of any kind. Barring a lack of support for your chosen format (which of course will never make anybody happy since there are 5 zillion media formats out there and no media player can play back everything), the PS3 will play back videos without issue, even at full HD quality.
This is good news after the PlayStation Portable unfortunately delivered less-than-ideal video playback maxing out in consumer releases at 320x240 anamorphic instead of full 480x272 (although this PSP fault is likely due to support of outdated Memory Stick Video Format restrictions, some blame this on Sony's fear that UMD would not sell if users were allowed to make full-resolution video ... indeed, Sony's own Japanese P.TV site offers encrypted videos at full-res, but consumer compression applications can only make small-resolution PSP videos.) Here with PS3, we were able to play videos at 720p and even 1080p off of a Memory Stick after first compressing them to the AVC format. (Our tests used Sorensen Squeeze, but any AVC compressor should be able to do the job.)
We also tested PSP-sized AVC and MP4 files, which played back just fine. Some of these videos were odd-sized videos, and they also played back without issue. We have not yet been able to put the system through a stress-test to see if the PS3 is able to play videos that do not conform to standard broadcast or PSP-supported q-pel formats, but we will be testing this soon -- so far, this seems to not be an issue.
In addition to AVC, PS3 will also be able to play MPEG1, MPEG2, and standard-profile MP4 videos, all common formats and all formats easily found in consumer-level (and freeware/shareware) video compression applications. We were able to test MPEG2 and MP4-SP, and both formats worked just as any other video format on PS3, without issue. You cannot, however, reformat videos -- you can copy them from device to device, but unlike with music files, you can't re-encode them under a more preferred or tighter codec. We also loaded an AVI file into the PS3, and while it recognized that a file was loaded, it showed the AVI file as Corrupted Data, just as on PSP.
on the HDD:
According to the PlayStation 3's included Safety and Support manual, the system will accept any 2.5" Serial ATA hard disc drive, and not only officially licensed Sony products. This opens up the possibility of installing a much larger drive than what the system comes with. The manual does note that "Proper operation is not guaranteed for all models" of hard drives, but obviously this is Sony's "just in case" small print.
We're in the process of testing this ourselves and will keep you updated.
A bit on the XMB features:
PS3 Multitasks Music
The PS3 menu can rub its belly and pat its head at the same time ... technically speaking, of course.
by Nix
November 10, 2006 - Fixing an issue many had with the PlayStation Portable's media features, the PlayStation 3 version of XMB can multitask all of its features at a time -- you can leave a web page open or sort through pictures while playing back music with just a push of the PlayStation home button. The feature is very limited -- it seems to only work with music -- but having it there is a good thing.
Multitasking is a bit of a hidden feature on PS3, as the system tries to make everything as simple and idiot-proof as possible -- the XMB is designed largely to do one thing at a time. However, when doing any one task, a press of the PlayStation home button will background that feature and allow you to go do something else with your system. The PSP does this as well with its Home button, but once you choose another function of the system (say the Web Browser or Video folder), the PSP kicks the music off. With PS3, the music keeps rolling through your playlists.
The benefits of this are clear -- you can check out your pictures or browse the web while listening to your favorite K-Fed album. The feature puts a translucent, square halo around your screen when you have a backgrounded application, and with another press of the PlayStation button, you bounce back to whatever is backgrounded (usually the Music player itself, although you can background most media applications to go to the XMB itself and then bounce back.)
The limitations are that anything that uses similar functions of your currently-playing media switches off whatever is backgrounded -- you cannot browse the web and then check your photos without quitting the web browser in the current PS3 v1.10 software -- a disappointing limitation since going back into Browser mode goes to the Home page rather than to whatever page you left off on last. You also cannot or play some music and then play a video at the same time -- it's a smart backgrounder in that way (it'd be annoying if music kept playing while you tried to listen to music), but it's also frustrating in that it doesn't kick back to your tunes after play. You also cannot copy music or videos or folders while in background mode -- the "Copy" menu selection actually grays itself out if you're playing music, which could be a bummer if you're transferring 4GB video files from your Memory Stick to your PS3 HDD and want to keep playing tunes. We're a little nervous about what this means for the PlayStation Store as well, but we'll have to see when the PS3 network goes up whether you'll be able to browse photos or listen to music while downloading demos and video files from Sony. Finally, you cannot play a game -- neither a PS3 game or a backwards-compatible PS2/PS1 game -- and have music or a web browser open at the same time.
Although the backgrounder is capable of a few uses, for all intents and purposes, it's probably going to be valuable to you only as a music player background feature. Still, it's handy that it works, and Sony may add some more features to its ability set sometime down the line.
A bit more:
What's in the most recent PS3 version? Find out before you get your own system.
by Nix
November 10, 2006 - System Menu fans have already probably crapped either their pants or somebody else's pants once over our previous PS3 Menu Examination, but for those curious of what else is new, we have a run-down of what's been added to the latest version of the PS3 operating system, v1.10.
First off, because these are retail versions of the PS3 (our last look at the system was on debug units, which did not have Web Browser or any type of multimedia functionality), there are now fully-featured media playback functions, including USB/Memory Stick readers and playback for Music, Video and Photos -- plus the Web Browser. We have detailed all of these features in our PS3 Retail Unit Round-Up, so check out those sections for more detailed descriptions of features. RSS and Sony LocationFree player support is also not on PS3 at this time, although SCE has indicated that it may not ever add these features to the console (depending on how the system develops over time) even though they're standard for PSP.
In the Settings menu, we now have a few extra options. The BD/DVD setting allows you to customize a number of features of movie playback on Blu-Ray or DVD videos -- default menu language (BD or DVD), default audio language (BD or DVD), default subtitles (BD or DVD), DVD widescreen settings (letterbox or pan-and-scan, for 4:3 TVs), BD HDMI Audio Output (Bitstream or Linear PCM), BD Optical Audio Output (again Bitsream or L-PCM), and finally something called "Cinema Conversion" (with settings for "Automatic" or "Video")
Again in Settings, we have Music Settings. First is the Audio CD Import setting, which is how you customize your music rips -- you can choose whether you want to rip MP3, ATRAC or AAC, and at what quality setting. After that is a nice Crossfade Playback setting (of up to 10 seconds) for mixing your tracks together in playback if you'd rather have them blend than run out before loading the next track. And finally, there is an Audio CD Frequency setting, where you can set 44.1k or 48k ... why, we're not sure, since CDs have set audio formats and "upscaling" audio CDs is unlikely to make you happy in our experience.
In the Display setting, there is now a Screen Saver for use when your PS3 is not active (which, exactly like the Xbox 360, simply dims the screen brightness down low). You can set the length of time it takes before the Screen Saver kicks in, but you can't choose a set of Screen Savers yet.
Settings now also include Chat setting (where you can set whether your online profile sends your User Image or User Avatar while connected to players in the PlayStation Network). There's an additional Format Utility (for Memory Stick, SD Card, or Compact Flash, plus a full installer for the PS3's HDD), a pair of Restore Default and Restore PS3 System settings for rolling back your OS (if need be), and an Install Other OS function (to be used by the upcoming Linux OS -- there is now, curiously, a setting for booting to that alternate OS.)
One last feature added to the PS3 menu is on the Network menu -- there is now an Online Manual section where you can hit a hidden website for detailed manuals for operating your PlayStation 3 and its many features. The PS3 itself comes with only a Starter Manual, so for more detailed info on the system's use, check back online for info.
On the side of things not added in the latest update, PS3 version 1.10 still lacks a few features of the PSP menu. Chiefly, there is no Themes setting for customizing your background wallpaper or color. The Users section also only allows you to set an Avatar instead of taking a picture from your Photo gallery or from your EyeToy for uniquely identifying yourself when you start up the system -- this may be changed when the PlayStation Network goes fully live (or in a future update), but for now, there is that limitation.
As far as PS3 version 1.10, the only changes we've noticed in functionality is the addition of a Cross Color Reduction Filter to the display settings, which has yet to do anything interesting in our tests. Sony has launched a PS3 v1.10 website for more detailed descriptions of what has been added to this latest update. There are also obviously a number of tweaks to the OS and its stability, but this is mostly under-the-hood stuff. As with PSP (and Xbox 360, in a way), owners will be required to update their systems at various points along the line, adding new features and increasing stability and security -- unlike with PSP (where a big security hole allowed owners to play unlicensed games, thus holding back many PSP owners from wanting to update their systems), there doesn't seem to be any PS3 feature that is adversely affected by updating the system.
What's in the most recent PS3 version? Find out before you get your own system.
by Nix
November 10, 2006 - System Menu fans have already probably crapped either their pants or somebody else's pants once over our previous PS3 Menu Examination, but for those curious of what else is new, we have a run-down of what's been added to the latest version of the PS3 operating system, v1.10.
First off, because these are retail versions of the PS3 (our last look at the system was on debug units, which did not have Web Browser or any type of multimedia functionality), there are now fully-featured media playback functions, including USB/Memory Stick readers and playback for Music, Video and Photos -- plus the Web Browser. We have detailed all of these features in our PS3 Retail Unit Round-Up, so check out those sections for more detailed descriptions of features. RSS and Sony LocationFree player support is also not on PS3 at this time, although SCE has indicated that it may not ever add these features to the console (depending on how the system develops over time) even though they're standard for PSP.
In the Settings menu, we now have a few extra options. The BD/DVD setting allows you to customize a number of features of movie playback on Blu-Ray or DVD videos -- default menu language (BD or DVD), default audio language (BD or DVD), default subtitles (BD or DVD), DVD widescreen settings (letterbox or pan-and-scan, for 4:3 TVs), BD HDMI Audio Output (Bitstream or Linear PCM), BD Optical Audio Output (again Bitsream or L-PCM), and finally something called "Cinema Conversion" (with settings for "Automatic" or "Video")
Again in Settings, we have Music Settings. First is the Audio CD Import setting, which is how you customize your music rips -- you can choose whether you want to rip MP3, ATRAC or AAC, and at what quality setting. After that is a nice Crossfade Playback setting (of up to 10 seconds) for mixing your tracks together in playback if you'd rather have them blend than run out before loading the next track. And finally, there is an Audio CD Frequency setting, where you can set 44.1k or 48k ... why, we're not sure, since CDs have set audio formats and "upscaling" audio CDs is unlikely to make you happy in our experience.
In the Display setting, there is now a Screen Saver for use when your PS3 is not active (which, exactly like the Xbox 360, simply dims the screen brightness down low). You can set the length of time it takes before the Screen Saver kicks in, but you can't choose a set of Screen Savers yet.
Settings now also include Chat setting (where you can set whether your online profile sends your User Image or User Avatar while connected to players in the PlayStation Network). There's an additional Format Utility (for Memory Stick, SD Card, or Compact Flash, plus a full installer for the PS3's HDD), a pair of Restore Default and Restore PS3 System settings for rolling back your OS (if need be), and an Install Other OS function (to be used by the upcoming Linux OS -- there is now, curiously, a setting for booting to that alternate OS.)
One last feature added to the PS3 menu is on the Network menu -- there is now an Online Manual section where you can hit a hidden website for detailed manuals for operating your PlayStation 3 and its many features. The PS3 itself comes with only a Starter Manual, so for more detailed info on the system's use, check back online for info.
On the side of things not added in the latest update, PS3 version 1.10 still lacks a few features of the PSP menu. Chiefly, there is no Themes setting for customizing your background wallpaper or color. The Users section also only allows you to set an Avatar instead of taking a picture from your Photo gallery or from your EyeToy for uniquely identifying yourself when you start up the system -- this may be changed when the PlayStation Network goes fully live (or in a future update), but for now, there is that limitation.
As far as PS3 version 1.10, the only changes we've noticed in functionality is the addition of a Cross Color Reduction Filter to the display settings, which has yet to do anything interesting in our tests. Sony has launched a PS3 v1.10 website for more detailed descriptions of what has been added to this latest update. There are also obviously a number of tweaks to the OS and its stability, but this is mostly under-the-hood stuff. As with PSP (and Xbox 360, in a way), owners will be required to update their systems at various points along the line, adding new features and increasing stability and security -- unlike with PSP (where a big security hole allowed owners to play unlicensed games, thus holding back many PSP owners from wanting to update their systems), there doesn't seem to be any PS3 feature that is adversely affected by updating the system.
bandgeekgirl
New member
box size dimensions? for shipping
Bastian Iramasius
New member
I could be wrong but it sure looks like the size of an original PS2 box.
Chrome Medley
New member
lol, we got the non 60gb model boxes at work for display, there exactly the same just without the big white blue ray spot.
Hehe...I happened to be at Best Buy today looking for a component vid cable for my PS2 (for Final Fantasy XII and also on the hope that they'd be a bit cheaper given the closeness of PS3 release date time). Had checked online beforehand and saw one there for $15. So, imagine my shock at seeing the $60 price tag on the only component vid cable available. Upon asking what the hell was up with that, he said other than the one Sony makes (which looked suspiciously inferior) the one that I had was the best deal...and that it would work for the PS3.
So, that means that if you already have one for your PS2, don't freak, just unplug it and use it when you get your PS3.
Granted, this is based on "trusting" a salesperson, and you're welcome to be as suspicious as you want about this--but if you want to save $60 at release time--and the frustration of not being able to find a cable in stock--try the one you have first.
So, that means that if you already have one for your PS2, don't freak, just unplug it and use it when you get your PS3.
Granted, this is based on "trusting" a salesperson, and you're welcome to be as suspicious as you want about this--but if you want to save $60 at release time--and the frustration of not being able to find a cable in stock--try the one you have first.