Testimonials
Average Buyer Rating:
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* Great blu-ray player and a whole lot more ...
I mainly use my PS3 as a blu-ray player but I am very happy with the games and the downloadable trailers and game demos.
Buyer Rating: 
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More Than I Expected...I Keep Finding Cool Features
I'm not a console gamer. I bought the PS3 strictly as a Blu-ray player. However, over the past three weeks, I've been discovering all kinds of cool things to use it for. I didn't know it had built in WiFi, and didn't care. But when it quickly found my wireless network, I used Nero MediaHome to stream video to it, which it played well, except the HD video, which was chopy. I actually ended up running an Ethernet cable to it because I am using my PC as a media server now. It plays Xvid and H.264 fine (after a 10 second demuxing process). The picture slideshow features are cool, too.
I've also enjoyed downloading free demos of games directly to the PS3 and playing with them. I can only squeeze in about 20 minutes of gaming per week if that, so the free demos have been enough. The UI is beautiful and fun to use.
Cons: I wish is would have come with a better manual. All I got was a quick setup type manual. It was fine to get me started but it didn't say anything about all the cool stuff it can do. Fortunately, I've jumped on lots of PS3 websites and stumbled upon stuff. The user community is good at explaining things like, you can only connect a USB HD formatted in Fat32 to the PS3. The PS3 is definitely not marketed to folks like my parents who rarely sit and read user forums.
Buyer Rating: -
Blu-Ray and Gaming System all in ONE
One of the best Gaming Unit out there. Comes with few great features of options you can do as a multimedia system for your TV.
I've added family photos, and use it as a music media for parties, chatted with my nephew. The Blu-Ray feature was EXCELLENT. The movie quality is extremely sharp. It's like watching a live Broadway show. There are tons of Demo Games that you can download right to the PS3.
As for the games, that speaks for itself. The PS3 is a powerful system with great integration of it's multimedia functions. A system the whole family could use if it's use to it's full function.
Buyer Rating: -
* Meet the Next Next-Gen ...
I've had my PS3 for a year now, and I have to say that while the price is still pretty high, this console finally seems to be coming into its own. Initial PS3 games that I'd played weren't particularly stunning, but now the titles are starting to justify the hardware.
If I had to compare the PS3 to the XBox 360, I'd say the beauty of it is that it doesn't brick itself with a Red Ring of Death. If I had to compare it to the Wii, I'd point out that it's far more of a media entertainment device. I'd originally written that backwards compatibility hasn't been a problem for me, but you should be aware that some models (apparently including this one) are NOT as backwards-compatible with older games as others. Whether this problem will be addressed in a system update remains to be seen at this time.
Apart from that, the only bad things I've encountered so far are that the Sixaxis controller's "tilt" functionality (slightly similar to the Wii's ability to physically move the controller in the air to play a game) is very shaky: it's difficult to control. Also, the fans on the PS3 are extremely loud, and run constantly: even playing a movie will create the roar of the unit trying to keep itself cool. I keep my PS3 away from dust and clean it regularly, but it still seems to need to run loud.
Buyer Rating: -
One great Blu-Ray player
First off, I have an Xbox 360 Elite, Nintendo Wii, and finally bought a PS3.
My Xbox 360 is strictly used for gaming and at times downloading TV shows and movies. Wii is used when my sisters friends come over and want to play Mario Party. I have a HD-DVD player with 35 HD-DVD titles but since HD-DVD is no more I wanted to get a Blu-Ray player. The purpose of me wanting to buy a PS3 was for only one thing, BLU-RAY! I spent $8000 on building my new home entertainment system and wanted the best. At the time I didn't get a PS3 because it didn't have BD-Live and the latest audio codecs.
Some Blu-Ray stand alone players were too expensive, had no ethernet port for firmware updates, didn't support the latest audio codecs, and had long boot up times. My HD-A35 took almost 30 seconds plus to boot up and that kind of got annoying so I didn't want a Blu-Ray player taking that long as well.
As soon as I found out that a firmware update was going to be released for the PS3 for BD-Live and latest audio codecs then I knew I had to get one. I bought a PS3 at Best Buy for only $330.00 (price after using gift certificates) and a $6.00 HDMI cable from Monoprice.com. I noticed that the Sixaxis controller felt really light. A complaint that I read from some reviewers but didn't bother me.
Setting up the wireless network was easy but downloading/installing the latest firmware did take a few minutes. I was very impressed in the boot up and loading times once the Blu-Ray disc was inserted.
Just like my HD-DVD movies I was impressed with the picture and audio quality on the Blu-Ray discs. I honestly can't tell the difference between the 2 unless I had the same movies in the different formats. Disney's "Cars" and "Ratatouille" are my best movies to watch in Blu-Ray.
A few things though that kind of bother me:
No IR port to allow use of universal remotes. I bought a Nyko Blu-Wave remote kit and programmed my Harmony One. It does work but not 100%. Still some quirks I have to solve.
Placed my hand behind the PS3 exhaust fan and felt very hot air coming out of it and it felt hotter than my Xbox 360 after 2hours of use. Never got an overheating warning though and my PS3 is well ventilated.
What I do like is that you can download 1080P trailers from Playstation store. On Xbox Live the HD trailers and movies are only in 720P. I hope that in the future Sony will offer downloadable High-Def movies on the PSN.
I like the PS3 a lot as a Blu-Ray player and highly recommend it.
