CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

**AnalogRocks** · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:06 am Post subject:

Costco changed their warenty recently. You should look into that.

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

There must be something feature-wise the BDP-S300/301 must offer in terms of video adjustment, etc., that was neglected on the PS3, no? Smile

On the other half ... is the HD-A20 actually worth the money to get the 1080P output over the HD-A2? Is this nothing more than firmware, or did they actually put a deinterlacer chip [set] in the A20?

I need to order the HD DVD tonight. I'll be buying both versions of 300 today. And then probably get the BD player either this weekend, or next week.

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Quote "I need to order the HD DVD tonight."

Trust me, you don't.

Whatever you heard,.. HD DVD players will likely still be available for a few more months. Mr. Green

emdawgz1 · Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 7949

**kal** · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 3:07 pm Post subject:

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

The PS3 can play Cd's and SACD's and I don't think any of the other Blu Ray players can do that (not sure about more recent models.)

It can also play MP3's and MP4's and all kinds of stuff really, it's more like a HTPC in some respects then the stand alone players.

Stand Alone players may have analog audio output but you really want to get with HDMI audio for newer surround sound formats anyway. (I haven't upgraded on the audio side but I want too, I understand lossless sound is really nice.)

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Kal, is the "can't turn it on/off" problem a limitation of the $15 cheapo remote, or is it a fundamental limitation of the PS3? That would be *really* dumb.

**kal** · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 4:14 pm Post subject:

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

You can turn on and off the ps3 on the front panel or with the game controller or optional bluetooth remote.

I generally turn mine on by putting in the Blu Ray or DVD I'm going to watch and turn it off when I take said disc out, so it's not an issue for me.

One other thing to condider maybe is energy. I think PS3 uses a consider-ably higher amount of energy then a stand alone. I replaced my HTPC with my PS3 so the energy use-age remains about the same but a stand alone Blu Ray player may be more wattage wise.

-Brian

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 12088 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Hm. And you couldn't even plug the IR dongle into some other USB that was powered, because I imagine that's how it controls the PS3.

Turning on the PS3 by sticking in a disk is OK, except that means you have no signal going to your projector until it starts up. Not quite as nice for selecting the right memory &etc.

But liveable. If/when I decide to go Blu, it'll be a PS3.

**kal** · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:50 pm Post subject:

Z-Photo · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 8:58 pm Post subject:

yeah - but when it(PS3) is playing movies the wattt use is fairly low (according to the heat generation quotant.

E=MC2

**kal** · Posted: Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:08 pm Post subject:

I'll give you guys some real numbers tonight....

I bought a new one of these Kill A Watt devices off ebay for $15 a couple of weeks ago:

Measures real watt usage.

Kal

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Wow,

maybe I'll get one of those.

I would like to know how the ps3 compares to the stand alone players. (May be worthwhile to get a stand alone and regulate the ps3 to video games.)

**kal** · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 1:30 am Post subject:

Ok, so I used the "Kill A Watt" to measured the energy consumption of the PS3 doing 3 different things:

(1) Sitting idle in the main menu.
(2) Playing Elder Scrolls Oblivion (intensive graphics game)
(3) Playing a BluRay movie (Casino Royale)

All 3 cases the wattage used ranged between 200-210 W. It really made no difference what I did. Games at 720p/60 or movies at 1080i, everthing was around 200W.

So about 4-5 times higher than a simple typical standalone BluRay player. Some players with advanced scalers may score higher. The first generation Toshiba HD-DVD players like the HD-A1 would likely score close to what the PS3 does since they're also really just PC's in a set-top case.

Kal

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 10270

Being that the native remote system for the PS3 is Bluetooth I wonder if one could control it through USB-to-bluetooth extension on an IR base station (like the one my Home Theater Master is based upon. Still, its a minor point I suppose.

Brian Hampton · Joined: 22 Apr 2006 Posts: 1173

Hey,

I wonder what the real power consumption of the blu ray stand alone players is. They have to have some advanced processing and therefore by somewhat compare-able to computers.

Anyway,.. 200 Watts seems ok. I've got 120 Watt light bulbs that aren't 3% as much fun as the PS3.

Smile

MYoung · Joined: 24 Feb 2007 Posts: 369 Location: Madison, WI

I tested power usage in my HT a while ago with a Kill a Watt...

1292Q
powered off: 6W
powered on projecting white: 730W
powered on projecting black: 539W

HTPC
powered off: 5W
powered on playing a DVD: 115W

Toshiba HD-A1
powered off: 5W
powered on playing a HD DVD: 51W

Lumagen VisionHDP:
powered on processing 1080p: 5W

Receiver
powered on with average 5.1 content playing: 105W

**kal** · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:50 pm Post subject:

redcorvette_85 · Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:51 pm Post subject:

For the previous comment that costco has changed their return policy, that is only for tvs, computers, projectors, cameras, ipods and cell phones. I checked and made sure that the PS3 and the HD-D2 where covered under the normal costco warranty and they are. I checked both online and in the store at customer service.