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Latest PS3 model to be Slightly Lighter and Greener
Tue Jun 21, 2011 at 02:00 PM ETTags: Sony, PlayStation 3, PS3, High-Def Retailing, Industry Trends (all tags)
Continuing its evolution in the form of model number "CECH-3000B," an updated version of the PlayStation 3 will start shipping as soon as the current sock is depleted (according to Sony, beginning as early as this month). Though pricing should remain unchanged, the charcoal black, 320 Gb CECH-3000B will see a reduction in both power consumption (230W to 200W) and weight (3.0kg to 2.6kg).
Though detailed pictures have yet to surface, there have been rumors that there could be some minor exterior modifications as well to this updated PS3 Slim. Those include removing LED lamps and adjustments to certain external buttons such as Power and Eject. We'll have to keep our eyes peeled so see if these changes are actually noticeable. If any of you find yourselves with a CECH-3000B (or later) model PS3 in the next few months, hit up the forums and let us know what you think!
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Sources: Sony, Andriasang
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Sony's PlayStation 3 Hits 50 Million in Worldwide Sales
Wed Apr 20, 2011 at 02:00 PM ETTags: PlayStation 3, 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray Players, High-Def Retailing, Industry Trends, 3D, PS3 (all tags)
The Move controller has done well too, coming in at a surprising 8 million.
When the PS3 first launched, sales were slow, systems sat on shelves and people balked at the high price. Now, a few price drops later and after the release of a new slimmer model, the PS3 is neck-and-neck with the Xbox 360 to be the most popular HD console on the market.
Part of the reason for the popularity of the system, and the primary reason for many buyers, is that the PS3 can act as not just a Blu-ray player, but a 3D Blu-ray player. It's updated regularly, it has Wi-Fi capabilities and access to streaming video sources. Oh, and it plays PS3 games too.
50 million PS3s sold means that there are 50 million Blu-ray players in houses that might otherwise not have upgraded. Possibly more significant in the coming years, it also means 50 million 3D capable Blu-ray players.
Source: PR Newswire
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Don’t Turn On Your Old PS3!! – Warns Sony
Mon Mar 01, 2010 at 06:10 PM ETTags: Sony, PS3, PlayStation 3 (all tags)
If you’ve got an older – non-slim – PlayStation 3, an internal clock error may kill your system.
Let me get this out of the way. I absolutely love the PlayStation 3. I own one and use it as my primary Blu-ray player and my secondary game system. I’m addicted to PSN download titles like Flower and Mushroom Wars and I play more Burnout Paradise than I’d care to admit. Unfortunately, it’s been having a lot of problems recently.
Reports of the recent firmware update bricking systems were spotty, relatively isolated incidents. There wasn’t much in the way of a response from Sony, and issues were worked out individually. This one’s different.
Sony has put out word officially that older systems are having trouble dealing with March 1st. Apparently, due to an internal clock error, fat PS3s are freaking out. Clock times are being reset, data isn’t being saved, saved data isn’t being recovered, and trophies aren’t being given out.
If you use your PS3 as a Blu-ray player and nothing else, you might be in the clear. Blu-rays still play and the loss of trophies won’t affect you. Regardless, Sony is urging owners of older PS3 systems to keep their consoles off until the issue is cleared up.
A post on the official PlayStation blog says that the problem should be resolved within 24 hours.
Source: PlayStation Blog
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PS3 Operating System Slims Down – New Features Could Come Soon (UPDATED)
Thu Feb 25, 2010 at 11:00 AM ETTags: PS3, PlayStation 3, Industry Trends (all tags)
The formerly bloated operating system used by PlayStation 3 consoles has been getting some stealth reductions in recent firmware updates. The PS3’s OS now takes up 70MB less of the main system RAM.
You may have heard of the PS3’s impressive Cell processing. It’s being used in all sorts of fields including Toshiba’s CELL TV. It’s a great processor and it still hasn’t truly reached its full potential. But games can still run slow, Blu-rays can still load slowly, and the Xross Media Bar still gets unresponsive every now and then.
One of the main chokepoints for the PS3 is the incredibly small amount of RAM used in the system. The graphics processor has 256MB and the main system processor has 256MB. The Xbox 360 has the same 512MB of ram, but it's shared between the two, which means when it's not needed for one process, it can be used for another. Combine this with the obscene amount of RAM taken up by the operating system – originally a 120MB footprint – and you’ve got a recipe for system slowdown.
Sony knows that the limited RAM is a problem and they’ve been addressing it by slimming down their operating system over the last few firmware updates. The formerly chunky 120MB footprint has been cut by more than half. It’s now down to 50MB.
This should result in a slight improvement in system performance, though nothing’s been announced at this point. At the very least, the extra 70MB should help to avoid some system bottlenecks. It’s more likely though, that this space was freed up to add more in demand features.
Source: Joystiq
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Latest Playstation Update Causing Blu-ray Problems
Tue Feb 16, 2010 at 04:45 PM ETTags: Sony, PS3, PlayStation 3 (all tags)
The latest firmware update from Sony brings a few new features, but might be causing Blu-ray playback problems in a number of PS3s.
Just a few months ago we ran a story about firmware update 3.0 which seemed to be causing a lot of trouble for owners. It seems that the newest firmware, 3.15, is doing much of the same.
Many PS3 owners are reporting that after upgrading to 3.15, their systems won’t play Blu-ray movies or PS3 games. According to the reports, the problem will crop up during a game. The system will freeze and then when it is restarted, it will not recognize the discs.
There are two patterns emerging from the reports. The first is that most people are playing Modern Warfare 2 when the freeze happens. It’s not clear whether that particular game is part of the problem though. It’s one of the most popular games for the system, so it could just be coincidental.
The second is that the issue doesn’t seem to be affecting newer systems like the PS3 slim. The most common models being reported appear to be the 40GB, 60GB, and 80GB models. Sony has not yet commented on the problem.
Source: Official Playsation Forums
(Thanks for the tip Polux06!)
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Review: Netflix Streaming on Sony’s PlayStation 3
Wed Nov 11, 2009 at 05:20 PM ETTags: Netflix, PS3, PlayStation 3, Sony, Michael S. Palmer (all tags)
Michael Palmer got his hands on a Netflix Streaming Disc for the PS3 and gave it a whirl. Here's what he thought of it...
By Michael S. Palmer
Following Sony’s new marketing campaign (“It Only Does Everything”), Netflix Streaming has finally arrived on the PS3. When announcements were made last month that we’d finally be joining the ranks of the Xbox 360 as well as various LG, Samsung, and Insignia networked Blu-ray Disc players, I immediately signed up for my free Netflix “Instant Streaming Disc.” I wasn’t exactly sure why they were sending me a disc, thinking that it would be some type of firmware update. But it turns out (or, if I had read the announcement further than “go here to sign up for your free disc”) the Instant Streaming Disc is actually a Blu-ray, which uses BD-Live to stream movies and television episodes from the Netflix server. Meaning, every time you want to stream content, the Instant Streaming Disc must first be inserted into the PS3.
Setting It Up.
Netflix Streaming on the PS3 rquires: a Netflix membership subscription plan with unlimited viewing included (1-at-a-time DVDs with unlimited streaming is $8.99/month, and $10.99/month for a 1-at-a-time with Blu-ray Disc access), the free Netflix Instant Streaming disc, and a broadband internet connection (hard wired or wireless).
For installation and title selection, you’ll at first need both a computer and your PS3 (in the future, one could use the PS3’s internal internet browser). First, insert the Instant Streaming Disc into the PS3. An unlocking code will show up on your TV’s screen. From there hop over to your Netflix account, in the “Watch Instantly” tab, where it will ask you for that code. Once entered, the PS3 will sync up your Instant Queue. Selected titles can be arranged as you see fit, just like your DVD Queue. It’s handy to pick carefully here, because if you have a lot of titles, scrolling over to the last one can be a bit time consuming.
Daily Use.
Running the disc brings you to your Instant Queue. Clicking to the right (using either a remote, or a PS3 game controller – I personally am using a Harmony 880 via the Nyko PS2 USB adapter. Logitech now makes a PS3 adapter for their remotes) scrolls you through your Queue. Click UP and then to the right to access other categories, such as Recently Watched, New Arrivals: Movies, New Arrivals: TV, Comedy, Drama, Action, and a myriad of other genres.
Click (or press down) on any title to “play,” give the title a star rating, or “remove from Instant Queue.” Once a movie is started, options will change to “resume playing” or “play from the beginning.” TV shows are organized by season, so play options include “Play Episode 1” or “Choose Episode.” “Play,” “pause,” “fast forward” and “rewind” buttons work as they should (though fast forward and rewinding require 10 or so seconds to buffer). But pressing stop will exit you out streaming all together (taking you back to the PS3’s menu); to go back to your Instant Queue, simply press “menu” and then click “up.”
Movies and TV episodes are available in “HD” (AVC encodes oscillating between 1.5 and 5 Mbps) and SD (running just under 600 kbps), with all audio in two-channel, stereo Dolby Digital. There are over 17,000 movie and TV titles. TV shows are a mix of old and new; movies are generally older, given contracts movie studios have in place with pay cable outlets which streaming would violate. “Starz Play” titles are newer releases (anything that’s currently playing on the Starz network), but they don’t appear to be in “HD.”
Impressions.
For anyone savvy enough to have a Netflix account and a PS3 already, this is a no brainer. It’s free (well, included in your subscription), and easy for those of us who have no trouble surfing the web. For folks less technically savy, this service is more difficult than using cable or satellite On Demand services because you can’t manage your account from one location.
Quality-wise, Netflix Streaming certainly isn’t a Blu-ray killer, let alone even competitor, but I suppose that’s not really the point. This is an added feature to allow subscribers more content and added value. Quote-unquote HD content is “serviceable.” Not as good as HD cable/satellite, but a bit more resolution than DVD. I checked out ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (a fantastic Blu-ray, btw) and the opening sequence of ‘Scorpion King 2’. These two features weren’t as clear as the Vudu HDX titles I’ve seen, nor as good as Quicktime HD movie trailers. They suffered from banding, blocking, and digital artifacts. Once my expectations were in the proper place, I was generally pleased. This would be a good way to see a title when you didn’t want to wait for Netflix to send out your next disc. The one thing to mention here is that my Internet connection did drop out once, and so ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ paused, and started replaying in SD, which was no comparison. To get it back up to “HD”, I hit “menu”, and “resumed playing” which re-buffered the feed, and brought it back in “HD.”
On my 52” Sony LCD, the SD streaming content was subpar (but truthfully, most SD content doesn’t look great). It’s like watching a non-anamorphic widescreen DVD, and “zooming in” your TV to make it fill more of the screen. Images and text are hazy, fuzzy, and colors are muddy. Here I checked out ‘Armageddon’ (which was in anamorphic widescreen), ‘Dead Space: Downfall’ (non-anamorphic widescreen) and ‘Big Bry’s Western Style BBQ’ (1.33:1). Each title had its own disappointment. ‘Armageddon’ was blocky, and less engaging without its 5.1 mix; ‘Dead Space’ looked clear, but it had letterboxing and pillar boxing happening at the same time; and ‘Big Bry’s’ audio was out of sync for the entire presentation (though, this might not be the fault of the service).
Despite its ease of use, and the fact that it’s free (Xbox 360 owners have to pay over $50/year for Xbox Live Gold service), my biggest complaint is the necessary Instant Streaming Disc. Sure it’s a nifty use of BD-Live, and no doubt there’s a specific, genius-computer-programmer reason as to why it had to be designed this way, but frankly, it’s cumbersome. Is it really THAT hard to get up off the couch and insert a disc, like when playing any Blu-ray or DVD? Of course not, but like the PlayStation Store or Network, streaming content seems better served for when you can exit out of a movie or game, and then click over to something else. Now streaming is forced to be a conscious choice, and given the quality of the service, it might be a better value to pop in another Blu-ray or in some cases, a DVD. At least with many DVDs, you’re getting a discreet surround sound mix.
Bottom Line.
Though Netflix Streaming may have its uses (digging back in to childhood classics like ‘Voltron’!), and it’s great to bring another feature to the PS3, video/audiophiles need not apply. The current lack of quality will be bothersome. Hopefully, with time, the streaming / video encoding quality will grow along with the selection of “HD” content. For now, enjoy what you can.
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Netflix Discs for PS3 are Shipping Now
Tue Nov 10, 2009 at 10:00 AM ETTags: Netflix, PS3, Industry Trends (all tags)
Assuming you’ve requested your Netflix disc, it’s on its way now. If not, get on it!
The much anticipated availability of Netflix on PS3 is soon to be a reality for customers that ordered their discs from the company. The massively popular video streaming service has started shipping discs.
The initial availability of the service relies on the BD Live feature of a complimentary disc from Netflix. Sony has announced that a firmware update in early 2010 will enable users to access Netflix directly from the Xross Media Bar without the need for the disc.
The addition of Netflix streaming to the PS3 is being seen as quite the coup in the ongoing war between the PS3 and Xbox 360. Sources say that Netflix streaming could soon be coming to the Wii as well as soon as early 2010.
PS3 owners who haven’t yet ordered their disc need only to jump over to Netflix.com/PS3 and log into their account.
Source: Kotaku
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