Sunday, May 17, 2020

Home entertrainment system heaven - Playstation3 (PS3) high definition DVD and Media Centre solution

Updated 17th May 2020 having just realised this article was unpublished in 2010.

These days in Australia you can pick up a Blu-ray DVD player from about AUD$400 - just pop into your local JB Hi-Fi store (a large Australian discount chain)  to see the range available.  For an extra few hundred dollars, you can get the Playstation3.  Is it worth it? I think so, based on the experience I've had this week.


Let me explain by starting with a scenario I believe many could relate to: 
  • you watch DVDs on your TV at home
  • you record or download shows and watch them later, most likely on a Personal Video Recorder (PVR)
  • you have a digital still and/or video camera and many photos and/or home videos stored on your PC: you occasionally share these on websites like Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Picasa Web Albums
  • you have broadband Internet at home
I'm mightily impressed with the Playstation3 (PS3) this week. Sony, no slouch when it comes to marketing, have been giving them away with the purchase of their Bravia televisions. When I was kindly offered an unwanted PS3 after a recent television purchase, I jumped at the chance to check it out. My mind was focused on the fact that it was a Blu-ray DVD player, as I've been keen to see for myself how much better high definition is for watching movies. Of course its also a leading gaming console, however we are very happy owners of the incredible Nintendo Wii so have no great interest in another gaming machine.

However, I was interested to see what all the fuss was about with high definition (HD) video, and Blu-ray being the now universal standard for HD video, promptly got me installing the PS3 at home. Well, I was blown away - the quality of the video was astounding - I was hooked. I highly recommend anyone who hasn't seen HD video in action, to head down to their local store and check it out. For me, it was like the move from video to DVD, or even black & white TV to colour. It was that good.

It's worth noting, that my screen at home only has a resolution of 1024 X 1024 (approximately 720p), whereas high definition video can run at 1920 X 1080 (or 1080p) - for a more detailed discussion about the various screen resolutions on the market, have a look at this Cnet article.


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