How good is the PS3 as a DVD player?

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dclegg

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#74203 27-Dec-2010 11:58

My big score in the Boxing Day sales was a box containing the official PS3 Blu-Ray remote and two Blu-Ray movies for $39. Now that I have a fully functional Blu-Ray/DVD remote, I'm wondering whether it would be feasible to use my PS3 as our full-time DVD player. We currently have a Pioneer DVD/HDD recorder (DVR-540H) which is our usual DVD player. Since getting MySky, we now only use the Pioneer player when watching DVDs.

How well does the PS3 function as a DVD player? Is it region-free, or region locked to NZ? Does anyone here have any experience in this area, and have any tips to offer or pitfalls to watch out for?

The main pitfall I've thought of so far (theoretical, but not yet tested) is that we won't be able to resume from the current position on a DVD if it is removed so I can play a PS3 game. My wife has a few TV shows on DVD (and got two more for Christmas), and likes to be able to easily resume from the last watched episode, and this can be done without having to remember the next ep to select in the Pioneer, provided we don't remove the disc. My first DVD player (also a Pioneer) had the ability to remember the position of the last 5 DVDs played, so would allow us to resume from the last position even after the DVD was removed. Is this possible with the PS3 player?

NZCoderGuy

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#421838 27-Dec-2010 12:04

the best and most obvious option here is to try it yourself! it shouldnt take you more than 5 minutes to test.

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dclegg

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#421847 27-Dec-2010 12:41

NZCoderGuy: the best and most obvious option here is to try it yourself! it shouldnt take you more than 5 minutes to test.

Sure, but thats 5 minutes that cuts into my scarse and precious gaming time :-)

I've taken DVD playback for a test run already, so I know that on the surface it seems like a feasible plan. But there may be some pitfalls I've not considered (e.g "its mostly region-free, but sometimes it may not work", or "sometimes it stutters on DTS soundtracks"). This is why I'm asking for experience stories from others who may have gone down this route.

As for the resume functionality I mentioned, on my old Pioneer that had to be invoked manually. So if the same functionality is available on the PS3 player, invoking it may once again be a manual (and not necessarily obvious) process. I may have to take that for a spin tonight to see how I fare

dontpanic42

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#421855 27-Dec-2010 14:27

The PS3 is an excellent DVD player. It is an even better Blu-ray player though!! ;)

The PS3 is region locked, so you will only be able to play DVDs with the same region as your PS3.
Same goes for Blu-ray.

It does excellent up-scaling on most DVDs, so if you are running your PS3 to your TV using HDMI you should get a good picture.

The resume feature seems to work well for all the DVDs I have played, but it seems a bit hit and miss when it comes to Blu-ray.

i.e. You could stop a DVD and take it out, put it back in later and it should automatically start playing from where you left off.

I'm not sure how many discs the PS3 remembers the position for, but I would say it is at least 5.

dclegg

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#421861 27-Dec-2010 14:42

dontpanic42:
The PS3 is region locked, so you will only be able to play DVDs with the same region as your PS3.
Same goes for Blu-ray.

K. So that means we need to keep the old player, as we do have some out of region DVDs.

It does excellent up-scaling on most DVDs, so if you are running your PS3 to your TV using HDMI you should get a good picture.

Cool! I was hoping it would. Couldn't tell from my test run yesterday (The Big Bang Theory season 1) whether it was doing that :-)

The resume feature seems to work well for all the DVDs I have played, but it seems a bit hit and miss when it comes to Blu-ray.

i.e. You could stop a DVD and take it out, put it back in later and it should automatically start playing from where you left off.

Excellent! And you don't have to initiate this process manually at all?

I'm not sure how many discs the PS3 remembers the position for, but I would say it is at least 5.

In reality, we only really need a count of 1 or 2 discs :-)

dontpanic42

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#421863 27-Dec-2010 14:55

dclegg:

The resume feature seems to work well for all the DVDs I have played, but it seems a bit hit and miss when it comes to Blu-ray.

i.e. You could stop a DVD and take it out, put it back in later and it should automatically start playing from where you left off.

Excellent! And you don't have to initiate this process manually at all?

I don't believe so. Although I think there is an option somewhere that allows you to turn the resume feature off if you needed.

e.g.
If the PS3 is off with no disc in the drive, and then you insert a disc you have previously watched, it should automatically start the disc from where you left off.

If the PS3 is on (just sitting at the XMB) and you insert a disc it will automatically start playing the DVD from where you left off.

Note: The DVD insert-auto-play feature is also an option you can toggle if you find it annoying.

timmmay

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#421993 27-Dec-2010 23:07

The PS3 seems like a good DVD/Blu Ray player. I have a free Samsung DVD player turning up some time, but I don't know if i'll even bother plugging it in.

Jaxson

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#422106 28-Dec-2010 13:52

Plus the PS3 does a stunning and very configurable job of upscalling to make your standard def dvd's look better on the tv. As mentioned above though surely you'd opt for bluray discs for any new movie you watch rather than the old dvd technology.

Get a bluray remote of some sort to controll it nicely though.

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dclegg

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#422114 28-Dec-2010 14:09

Jaxson: Plus the PS3 does a stunning and very configurable job of upscalling to make your standard def dvd's look better on the tv. As mentioned above though surely you'd opt for bluray discs for any new movie you watch rather than the old dvd technology.

I'm starting to bolster my collection of BluRays, especially now that they are coming down in price (not difficult to get $15 movies). But I still have a large collection of DVDs.

Get a bluray remote of some sort to controll it nicely though.

BTDTGTTS :-)

As my original post stated, that was the major motivator for starting this thread in the first place. Prior to last weekend, I had an el-cheapo remote I had purchased, which was only marginally better than using the Dualshock controller. The Stop button actually meant Play, and I never figured out just what the Play button did :-)

But now I have the official BluRay/DVD remote, and due to its sheer awesomeness I've been wondering whether my stand-alone DVD player is now redundant. As it turns out, it isn't as the PS3 is region locked, and I have a few out of region DVDs in my collection. But I will be investigating whether the PS3 upscaling support makes it worthwhile using that as our primary DVD player going forward.

For any others in a similar boat, I highly recommend heading down to JB Hi-Fi. They have box sets with the official remote and two BluRay titles (300/10,000 BC, True Blood, The Blind Side/Benjamin Button were the selections they had at the Sylvia Park store) from as little as $35 (incl. the current 30% discount on all BluRays & DVDs)

wreck90

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#422119 28-Dec-2010 14:34

You could use something like dvd decrypter to remove the region locks from those dvd's.

Then, you also save the original discs . I think you are allowed to legally make backup copies of discs you own.

The studios really need to make it easier for those who still actually pay for content.

Jaxson

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#422319 29-Dec-2010 08:07

dclegg:
Jaxson: Get a bluray remote of some sort to controll it nicely though.

BTDTGTTS :-)

Ha I don't even want to know what that means, but yeah my bad, didn't read ahead.

Yes, the PS3 is actually an excellant main video source and I'd recommend that easily over many other DVD players most people are likely to have. It works very well for Blurays too as far as load times etc are concerned. A standalone 3D bluray player is likely to be better now adays but for most instances the PS3 is fine, especially if you already have it.

dclegg

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#422321 29-Dec-2010 08:12

Jaxson:
dclegg:
BTDTGTTS :-)

Ha I don't even want to know what that means, but yeah my bad, didn't read ahead.

Been There Done That Got The Tee Shirt :-)