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All posts tagged "ps3"


Saturday, January 14, 2012

Aging Consoles Finding New Life as Video Streaming Devices

Posted by Jason Dunn in "Digital Home News" @ 11:00 AM

http://hothardware.com/News/Aging-C...eaming-Devices/

"Microsoft's Xbox 360 console is six years old. The Nintendo Wii is five years old, and so is the Sony PlayStation 3. All three are due for an overhaul (can you imagine gaming on a PC that's half a decade old, or more?), and while they're still popular gaming platforms, consoles are really starting to shine as streaming media centers."

Makes sense to me - I have an Xbox 360 and I'm using it for more video streaming that I ever could have guessed a few years ago. Of course, part of that is me living in the USA now, but if I were back in Canada I'd be streaming Netflix off it for sure. Now I also have the option to stream Hulu Plus, among others. If there were only a way to get my Xbox 360 to play ISO or MKV files...then I'd really be a happy guy! Until then, my Boxee Box performs those tasks quite well.

Do you game on your console more than use it for other reasons? Or vice-versa?


Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Streaming Netflix On the PS3 Without a Disk

Posted by Jon Childs in "Digital Home News" @ 05:00 AM

http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/19/...headaches-vide/

"Take Netflix's widely adored streaming service, subtract the disc, add 1080p video and 5.1 audio and you should have something everyone's happy with right? Not exactly, as we've discovered a day after the updated Netflix app launched for the PlayStation 3 with a bunch of new features and unfortunately, a few new issues to go along with them including the app not working at all on imported systems, needing a new PSN user ID and the confusion of certain users seeing very different interfaces than what was promised."

I finally got around to downloading the Netflix app for my PS3 this weekend. Everything went smoothly for me, I ran into no issues with my old 60GB PS3. I think the interface is much nicer than the disk based version. The video quality is noticeably improved from what I was getting. Previously I never found anything that was better than a good DVD transfer. Now it seems to be somewhere between DVD and BluRay in my non videophile opinion. Since I don't stream too much stuff, it is really nice to not have to search around for the disk anymore. Now if Netflix can improve their catalogue I will be all set. Anyone try this on the Wii yet? I can't imagine the quality is any good, but it might be nice to have something my kids can stream their animated movies on without using my home theater setup.


Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Cringely's Thoughts on Blu-ray

Posted by Chris Gohlke in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 03:00 AM

http://www.cringely.com/2009/06/is-...-ray-a-failure/

"There is growing sentiment in the industry that Blu-Ray, as it was originally intended, is a failure. How can that be? Wasn’t it just a year ago that Blu-Ray, with its greater data capacity, triumphed over the opposing HD-DVD standard? Well promises were made to achieve that victory and now it appears promises may have been broken. Understand that the success or failure of Blu-Ray has little to do with games and everything to do with movies. Two historical events informed the battle between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. First was the epic and costly 1980‘s competition between the BetaMax and VHS tape cassette standards. Second was the triumphant succession of DVD over VHS, when we all replaced our tape libraries with disks, gladly paying anew for what we already owned, buying every Hollywood exec a new Mercedes in the process."

Cringley argues that the reason Activision is putting pressure on Sony has more to do with a failure of Blu-ray than game sales. Although I was hoping HD-DVD would win, I think the perceived failure of Blu-ray is really a matter of falsely defining the definition of success. Expecting Blu-ray to replicate the success of DVD was not reasonable. Neither HD format offered the kind of upgrade that DVD offered over VHS. Plus, people have lots of DVD players, so unless they want to restrict their viewing to just one TV, they've got to replace all their players, which is not exactly cheap. One of the great features of HD-DVD was the combo disk, which eliminated this problem. Eventually, Blu-ray players will achieve penetration through a slow war of attrition as old DVD players get replace and Blu-ray players reach a price that DVD players will no longer be produced.


Sunday, March 22, 2009

Logitech Fesses Up on PS3 Adapter

Posted by Chris Gohlke in "Digital Home Hardware & Accessories" @ 07:30 AM

http://blog.logitech.com/2009/03/20...lu-ray-control/

"Yesterday, an Engadget reporter did some digging on an FCC Web site and uncovered our plans to manufacture an adapter that allows our Harmony remotes to control the PS3. We can’t give you all the details just yet, but we can say that this adapter will, when used with any Harmony remote, give you complete control of your movie-watching experience on PS3. It will also turn the PS3 on and off – and allow you to set up your Harmony activities to include the PS3 just as you would any other device. You also won’t need to dedicate any of your valuable USB ports to get that control."

Not owning a PS3, I did not realize that this was a problem. If Sony wanted to position the PS3 as your central media hub, I think leaving out built-in IR support was a big mistake. But, if you own a PS3 and a Harmony brand remote, it seems the good people at Logitech have remedied the situation.


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