w00t! This should be fun 😀

I can’t wait until you try the bag-of-hurt that is ‘Home’. That ought to give you some rant fodder for several weeks 😀

Now…things to see:

1) Menu settings – the PS3 has about a gazillion menu settings and many many people get confused as to what they ought to be! Tom’s a pro, so he might have no trouble, but even Tom may need a hand with some of them so we could probably have a whole discussion topic just about that!

2) Network streaming content – the PS3 has a ton of different capabilities for grabbing content off of your network for display on your TV screen. I really haven’t delved into this functionality much at all, so it’d be cool to see what Tom can make of it!

3) Netflix streaming comparison – it isn’t natively supported as it is on Xbox360. But I know that you can do it via PlayOn and there may be other ways. Again, I haven’t delved into it and I’m in Canada anyway, so no Netflix up here, but since Tom’s done it on Xbox360, it’d be cool to know how the PS3 compares!

4) Comparison of internal TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding (output as PCM via HDMI from the PS3) with internal decoding and bitstream output from stand-alone players – if Tom ever gets another stand-alone Blu-ray player in for review, it’d be really cool to get a pro’s opinion as to whether there is any audible difference! There are some people out there claiming that the PS3 isn’t really doing TrueHD and DTS-HD decoding and it’s just saying that it’s playing the TrueHD track, but really only outputting DD quality. I say that is bunk because I can hear the difference myself and the people making those claims are probably using $200 HtiB setups with wireless speakers, but just the same, it’d be great to get Tom’s view!

5) My list of recommended games:

– LittleBigPlanet
– Killzone 2

Those two are exclusive and absolute MUST HAVE games. They are also multi-player online (and no fee! Suck on that Xbox Live!)

– Heavenly Sword
– Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
– Resistance: Fall of Man
– Resistance 2
– Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Those are all exclusive.

– Dead Space
– Fallout 3
– Resident Evil 5
– Rock Band 2
– Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
– Street Fighter IV
– X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Uncaged

Those are all on Xbox360 as well, but now you can play them on a system that won’t break! :p

– Echochrome
– The Last Guy
– WipEout HD

Those are some stand-out games on the Playstation Store that you can download!

– InFamous
– Prototype
– Batman: Arkham Asylum
– Fat Princess
– Modern Warfare 2
– God of War 3

Those are some of my most anticipated games for the future!

Orange Box is killer, so that’s totally worth picking up! It’s on Xbox360 too, but if you can play online with friends, that’s the way to go!

Metal Gear Solid 4 is also cool, but Tom already said that the 45 minute cut scenes would drive him bonkers, so I left it off the list 😉

This post is way too long, so I’ll stop…now

So…if UPS is correct, Tom, you may be receiving your PS3 today! Here are some helpful hints and some of the settings that I think are worth mentioning:

1) Throughout the meny system, you can often press the ‘triangle’ button to bring up additional options – so give it a try!

2) Before doing anything else (other than creating your user profile) go to “Settings” and scroll way down to the very bottom for “Network Settings”. Enable your wireless internet connection! Almost everything else that you will want to do requires you to have your internet connection ready to go!

3) Scroll way back up to the top and do the “System Update”. The latest firmware is “Version 2.70”. Updates can take quite a long time on the PS3, so maybe grab a sandwich while it does its thing 😉

4) I really think it’s worth while to pick up a PlayStation3 Eye USB camera and 4-point microphone. I paid $40 Can. for mine – not sure for how cheap you might find one in the USA. What’s awesome about the PS3 Eye is that it works very well for online and in-game chat! Most people think of using a headset or a BlueTooth headset for in-game chat, but the PS3 Eye is cheaper and it doesn’t block one of your ears, which allows you to still hear your surround sound effects properly! The other people’s voices just come through your speakers and the 4-point mic in the PS3 Eye does a remarkably good job of isolating just your voice and blocking out ambient noise. It really is a great little device and you can video chat and edit together pictures, movies and audio with the free EyeCreate software! (You download the software in the PlayStation Online Store).

Now we delve into the meat…

5) In “Game Settings”, I set the “Upscaler” to “Full Screen”. On a 16:9 HDTV, that stretches the image to fill the full width. If you want to maintain the original 4:3 aspect ratio, you can use your TV’s aspect ratio controls. The reason I recommend “Full Screen” is because some PS/PS2 games had a “widescreen mode”, but it wasn’t anamorphic.

6) “Video Settings” – lots here, but I’ll point out:

a) BD/DVD Cinema Conversion – set to “Automatic”. There aren’t too many situations where you’d want to force video mode (which is the only other option).

b) Upscaler – here, I use “Normal” so that anamorphic DVDs come out looking correct on a 16:9 display

c) Video Output Format (HDMI) – very important to set this to “Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr”. RGB mode uses full 0-255 values rather than the 16-238 values that a video display device is expecting and “automatic” defaults to RGB, so for proper video display from Blu-ray and DVD, it’s very important to use the Y Pb Pr option.

d) Audio Output Format (HDMI) – very important to set this to “Linear PCM” so that the PS3 will use its internal TrueHD and DTS-HD decoders. If you set it to “bitstream” you limit Blu-ray audio to Dolby Digital or regular DTS only!

7) Display Settings:

a) Cross Color Reduction Filter only applies to composite or S-Video, so it shouldn’t matter 😉

b) RGB Full Range (HDMI) – very important to set this to “Limited” unless you are using a computer monitor or you have a display that can be set to expect the full 0-255 values and you know how to change that menu setting in your display. For any normal TV, the TV will be expecting the 16-238 “video” settings, which is what the “Limited” setting here delivers.

c) Y Pb/Cb Pr/Cr Super-White (HDMI) – this turns on your Above White and Below Black output, so you definitely want it “ON” so that you can do proper contrast and brightness calibrations.

8) Sound Settings – don’t rely on the “Automatic” setup. Use the “Manual” instead, which will let you put a check beside every output that your receiver or TV can support.

In my case, I made sure to check mark everything except AAC and all of the various 176.4 kHz or 192 kHz settings. I left those uncheck marked because while my Onkyo receiver can playback those higher sampling frequency formats, it isn’t able to perform proper bass management on anything over a 96 kHz sampling frequency. Check your receiver’s manual to make sure that you are only feeding it signals that it can accept and process!

Those are the really important settings. The rest you can check out and play around with on your own 🙂

9) Slide on over to the Network and PlayStation Network Tabs next to see all of the cool stuff that the PS3 can do online!

Life with PlayStation is an interactive globe with news updates. It also runs the “Folding at Home” program, which is kind of cool as you take part in genetic research by allowing chunks of processor work to be “farmed out” to your PS3 🙂

PlayStation Home is, as I said, a bag of hurt! :p But I’m eager for you to check it out because I’m sure you’ll be ranting about it for weeks to come! (Good Golly it sucks! 😀 )

10) Finally, hit the Friends tab and Add a Friend!

I actually just created a new profile so that I can play with folks from AVRant!

I’m FirstReflect

and that profile will be as shiny and new as whatever name Tom selects!

Hope to see you online! 😀

Ordered from Dell, eh? I guess you got that coupon code I sent you. I know, it’s not real money to help, but it was money off… Did you get the 80gb or the 160gb unit with Drake’s Fortune?

I actually think Tom should open the Xbox360 first! That way, it can break right away again, giving Tom plenty of time to acquaint himself with his new PS3 😉

Grand Theft Auto’s open world + Comic Book Super Hero + Star Wars Force Lightning = inFAMOUS!

http://tinyurl.com/qoraeb

This game is talking to you, Tom! And it is saying, “BUY ME!”

😀

I also think that your wife might really enjoy LittleBigPlanet. Being an engineer, I think she might really get a kick out of building and playing! Maybe she won’t mind the PS3 so much if there is something on it for her to play and enjoy. 😉

So this is awesome:

http://tinyurl.com/oghhcq

Too bad I can’t get it in Canada!

Arrrgghhh :_(

I just finished “Portal” (part of “The Orange Box”). Best. Game. Evah!

Creepy, hilarious, mind-bending and just plain awesome in every way!

A shame it’s so short, but that’s what sequels are for! And since it’s part of a 5 game package, I don’t mind the short length in the least!

$20 from Amazon, Tom! You gotta buy this! Post haste!

😀

You should definitely be able to find Orange Box for cheap. Resistance: Fall of Man (the first one) too. I’ve seen LittleBigPlanet for about $35-$40, but not under $20 like those two. And Killzone 2 is still more expensive at most places.

If you wanna get something that the wife might enjoy and is good for the kids too, then LittleBigPlanet would be worth paying a bit more.

Don’t forget to keep an eye out for the PlayStation Eye camera as well! For one thing, you can use it in LittleBigPlanet to capture images that you can use as stickers and character costumes and such. But more importantly, it works really well for chat – in-game, video or just regular voice – plus you can scream at people in ‘Home’ 😀 Definitely more versatile than just a headset. Although, if you already have a bluetooth headset, it will probably work.

One advantage of the games being on Blu-ray discs is that they are rarely scratched – unlike DVDs. That super hard coating really does seem to work quite well and someone really has to make an effort in order to scratch a disc. I feel more comfortable buying used PS3 games as a result – so even if it’s only $5 or $10 difference, that’s still a savings and I don’t really worry about used vs. new so much 🙂