PS3 General Discussion

[Touring Mars]

Or I stop running F@H, which is probably doing it...

I've already stopped running it for prolonged periods of time. For one thing, I reckon that the cost in higher electricity bills makes it a bit of a one-sided deal in my book. Also, although I reckon the PS3 has a very long shelf life, I don't want 80% of that shelf-life wasted on something like F@H alone... it's a shame it doesn't run in the background while you do other things, like watching DVD's or listening to music. I reckon atleast 50% of my PS3 on-time is spent watching DVD's, ~30% playing games, and the rest surfing the web or listening to music... the current PS3 set-up doesn't seem to like the idea of multi-tasking much - like being able to play mp3's while surfing the web...

 

[Omnis]

I don't really believe in those dust filters. There's no way they can cycle all the unwanted dust out of the air. We don't have one anyway. I've never known anyone to have them...

I think I'll just have to brush it over more often. Or I stop running F@H, which is probably doing it...

LOL! Are you serious? Zounds! No wonder your crap is so dusty. Dude, go buy one and put it in your air conditioner. The filters only cost 25 cents. The dust that they collect is astounding; how can you live with all of that garbage being recirculated into your house? Of course, they won't filter out ALL of anything, but they get most of it and really help with dust reduction.

 

[Touring Mars]

LOL! Are you serious? Zounds! No wonder your crap is so dusty. Dude, go buy one and put it in your air conditioner.

It's almost unheard of to have air-conditioning in a house in the UK. Infact, I have never seen one in a UK private residence in my life...

 

[Omnis]

It's almost unheard of to have air-conditioning in a house in the UK. Infact, I have never seen one in a UK private residence in my life...

Right, but he made it sound like he had one. If you're going to have one, at least put a filter in there.

And, of course, I keed, although my advice is serious.

 

[G.T]

What I thought as a "dust filter" is a unit you buy which just filters the air. It makes more sense now that it's in an air conditioner.

And yes - it's unheard of to have an air conditioner in a household over here.


Edit: BTW, the Blast Factor works now.

 

[Omnis]

What I thought as a "dust filter" is a unit you buy which just filters the air. It makes more sense now that it's in an air conditioner.

And yes - it's unheard of to have an air conditioner in a household over here.


Edit: BTW, the Blast Factor works now.

Ahhh, I see. Well, I did say change it and not get one. So, houses across the pond cost almost a million bucks and don't have a/c. I think I'll stay in America, hahahaha. I agree with you on the filtration units, though. They suck. I guess you'll just have to be cleaning your PS3 more often.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

I've already stopped running it for prolonged periods of time. For one thing, I reckon that the cost in higher electricity bills makes it a bit of a one-sided deal in my book.

About two pennies an hour in most regions in the States.

Also, although I reckon the PS3 has a very long shelf life, I don't want 80% of that shelf-life wasted on something like F@H alone...

Where did you read that running F@H cuts 80% of a PS3's shelf life? Stanford alone is running F@H on several PS3 24/7 and have showed no signs of any wear. Long term, PC's have been running F@H for several years now without any sign or reports of them "wearing out". If you have some scientific evidence that shows that running F@H on the PS3, which only uses about 200 watts an hour, and dissipates all the heat immediately from the unit, is somehow wearing out the PS3 five times faster than under normal use I think we would all be very grateful to know this. Personally, I don’t think you’ll find any such evidence though.

There is no need justify why you personally may not want to run F@H as much or at all, I doubt anyone would think any less of you. However, its irresponsible to post unsubstantiated scare tactics which unsuspecting readers may read as being truthful and thus mislead people into thinking that it is costing a lot to run F@H and that it is going to cut 80% of the PS3’s shelf life. 👎

it's a shame it doesn't run in the background while you do other things, like watching DVD's or listening to music. I reckon atleast 50% of my PS3 on-time is spent watching DVD's, ~30% playing games, and the rest surfing the web or listening to music... the current PS3 set-up doesn't seem to like the idea of multi-tasking much - like being able to play mp3's while surfing the web...

Agreed, but it appears they did that for our convenience, so there would be no chance that F@H would interfere with other applications running at the same time... although you can browse the web while running F@H.

What I thought as a "dust filter" is a unit you buy which just filters the air. It makes more sense now that it's in an air conditioner.

And yes - it's unheard of to have an air conditioner in a household over here.

That would be an even greater reason to install an air filtering system... not just to keep the dust down, but for your own health. 👍

Yes, some air filtering systems are a joke, but others are certainly not. A good resource for reading, comparing, and getting unbiased analysis of these types of systems is Consumer Reports.

 

[Touring Mars]

Where did you read that running F@H cuts 80% of a PS3's shelf life?

What I meant by that is that I will commonly only use the PS3 for a couple of hours a day at the most, and that running F@H consumes far more time than I use for all other PS3 activities combined... running F@H involves leaving the unit on for much longer than I would normally run it... for example, I switch the unit on after dinner at ~7pm and turn it off at 11pm - max. daily usage = 4 hours. But if I leave it on so I can run F@H, that would mean running from 11pm-7pm (20 hours, or 83% of my total PS3 usage)... I am only assuming here, but I reckon that any console has a certain expected shelf-life, say 5 years of normal running time before certain components start to become susceptible to wear, like fans etc. If by leaving the console running overnight when I'd normally have it switched off, surely I'm shortening the amount of time that I can expect my console to work for normal activities, like playing games? For me it seems like a bit of a waste. I reckon the PS3 is a resilient piece of kit, but I don't want to leave my PS3 running all day and all night for a year only to discover that I was wrong...

The electricity bill argument is slightly lame (although I am Scottish ), but the problem I have with F@H on the PS3 is that it encourages you to leave the unit on when you normally wouldn't otherwise, unlike a screensaver or running F@H on a computer at work, for example...

 

[DuckRacer]

About two pennies an hour in most regions in the States.

...And assuming you're running F@h 24 hours a day, for 30 days, at the rate DN mentioned, it would cost you $14.40. Now, being realistic, let's say you ran F@h 4 hours a day for 30 days. It'd cost you $2.40 a month, or half the price of Mortal Kombat.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

I am only assuming here, but I reckon that any console has a certain expected shelf-life, say 5 years of normal running time before certain components start to become susceptible to wear, like fans etc.

I suspect it's a lot longer than that, after all, when running F@H, the ONLY moving part is a $10 fan. If, and that's a big if, it stops working in a couple years, replacing it would be extraordinarily easy and inexpensive. If anything, the moving part that "might" wear out before anything else is the disc drive mechanism, but then that would be an argument to not use it to play movies and games.

The point I guess I'm making is that not only is there no evidence that running F@H on your PS3 is shortening its life span, certainly by any significant amount, but that unlike playing games and watching movies off a disc, the only moving part is an inexpensive fan, and due to the engineering of the PS3, the circuit boards are not being worn down by excessive heat.

To really put things in perspective, check out some of the team websites who are among the top 100 F@H teams. Many of them have been running F@H in far more extreme environments running over clocked processors non-stop for months at a time with little or no signs of shortening the lifespan of their PCs.

After all, we are talking about electronic circuits, not the complexity of thousands of moving parts like on a car, which do have real life spans that can be drastically affected by how and where they are used and maintained.

If by leaving the console running overnight when I'd normally have it switched off, surely I'm shortening the amount of time that I can expect my console to work for normal activities, like playing games?

No evidence that that would be true.


Any way, as I said, I don't think anyone would think less of you if you chose not to run F@H.

Personally, for two cents an hour, and the fan being the only moving part, running F@H and possibly help play a role in curing some of the world's most deadly diseases makes it easily worth it to me, and judging by the F@H memberships, hundreds of thousands of others agree - but I also respect the choice of others who do not wish to participate.

 

[opendriver]

http://technabob.com/blog/2007/04/14/ben-hecks-ps360-sixaxis-controller/

 

[DuckRacer]

http://technabob.com/blog/2007/04/14/ben-hecks-ps360-sixaxis-controller/

I'd buy that.

 

[Tornado]

I wonder if he can sell one with the D-Pad moved. Though I would still buy it as it stands, at the very least as a conversation piece.

 

[icelt]

http://technabob.com/blog/2007/04/14/ben-hecks-ps360-sixaxis-controller/

IMHO, and for my hands, the 360 controller is the superior design. I'd buy one too.

 

[G.T]

I would buy that too. I find trigger control on the Six-Axis a little awkward... It's perfect on the 360's controller.

 

[OZZYGT]

Change the color to black, and the D-Pad, and I'll be buying that in a heartbeat.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Change the color to black, and the D-Pad, and I'll be buying that in a heartbeat.

I agree, black is much better, and the switched D-pad and L3 stick positions makes no sense. It's just MS's way of not copying all of Sony's button placements, at the cost of ergonomics.

On the other hand, the XB controller does have a better ergonomic chasis design than Sony, at least for adult hands. The Sony controller is ergonomically better for those with smaller hands, like many women and children.

The best thing about the XB controller for me is the much better L1 & R1 triggers, but not enough for me to swich controller design.

However, I really like the mini keyboard module that Microsoft recently announced that attaches to the headset connector on the controller:

• Keyboard Attachment for Controller
  
  
• Detailed Pics

So if that keyboard worked for the PS3 mod, the D-pad & L3 were switched, and both were available in black, I'd buy it! 👍

For now, the current Sony controller and my USB wireless keyboard is the best combo for me.

 

[DuckRacer]

I agree, black is much better, and the switched D-pad and L3 stick positions makes no sense. It's just MS's way of not copying all of Sony's button placements, at the cost of ergonomics.

Really? I find it's the opposite – having the analog stick where the D-pad is on the Sixaxis makes things a lot more comfortable, not less. Of course, if you ever want to use the D-pad for Arcade games, it's not going to feel as good, but people generally use the stick a lot more than the D-pad.

EDIT: Here's a mental comparison of the Killzone E3 '05 trailer and the Killzone EDGE tech demo from GDC.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Really? I find it's the opposite – having the analog stick where the D-pad is on the Sixaxis makes things a lot more comfortable, not less. Of course, if you ever want to use the D-pad for Arcade games, it's not going to feel as good, but people generally use the stick a lot more than the D-pad.

Exactly the reason why I don't like the D-pad where the L3 stick should be, as I use the L3 much more than the D-pad (GT, Ace Combat, GTA, F1CE, MotorStorm, etc, etc, etc)

Having the stick positioned higher as it is with the XB controller, not only forces you to bend your left thumb knuckle at an awkward angle, but for games where you use both sticks at the same time, it adds an even more unnatural feel having one thumb bent in one direction, the other in a different one. So besides thumb fatigue, yes I find the XB controller’s position of the L3 stick to be very much an ergonomic mess. 👎

 

[FoolKiller]

What I thought as a "dust filter" is a unit you buy which just filters the air. It makes more sense now that it's in an air conditioner.QUOTE]
The unit that just filters the air works, if you get a decent one. The problem is that large ones can become expensive. I have a Honeywell that is rated for 700 sq. feet that I got for my birthday last year and I sit it directly in front of the intake on my central air/heat unit. I figurethat helps circulate the air over it more.

As for how well it works; when I change the carbon prefilter (haven't had to do the HEPA yet) it looks like I shaved my cat and pasted the fur to it. It also has a good couple of millimeter thick layer of dust. And that doesn't even include the stuff caught in the HEPA filter. There are noticable effects as I have to take allergy medicine whenever I am at work, but on the weekends I am fine without any as long as I stay inside.

My best friends has a small one he just keeps next to his cat litterbox and all signs of cat smells are gone.

I agree with you on the filtration units, though. They suck. I guess you'll just have to be cleaning your PS3 more often.

Just don't use the Ionic Breeze type. In my opinion they don't seem to do as well. My asthmatic brother has one and it helped, but not a lot. He ended up buying the same model as my Honeywell HEPA filter. The ionic breeze just doesn't move the air enough, whereas my HEPA on high sounds like a jet taking off and blows enough air to create a chill, like a fan.

That would be an even greater reason to install an air filtering system... not just to keep the dust down, but for your own health. 👍

Yes, some air filtering systems are a joke, but others are certainly not. A good resource for reading, comparing, and getting unbiased analysis of these types of systems is Consumer Reports.

See, DN knows what he's talking about.


Anyway, to pull this on topic, since getting the air purifier we don't have dust building up on things nearly as much and I hardly notice the floating cat hair that can become common in a cat owner's home. I rarely have any dust problems with any of my electrical devices and I would bet money that the use of one would help with the PS3. My PC has a flap over my memory card and USB slots and once I got a camera that actually used an XD card I found the slots full of dust. I cleaned them out and haven't had any build up since.

 

[land sea air]

So the slide show saturday went brilliantly , the12 foot s video cable made for the ps2 worked fine on the ps3 and was a noticeable improvement side by side with standard composite cables, just so you know the sixaxis controller seems to have a linear range of about half a city block, with only one major wall in between thats how far I was able to walk away before it stopped working. Also, the ps3 automatically picked up the wireless internet that the building had and I even downloaded some stuff for my nephews PSP at a pretty good speed.

 

[godzilla_GTR]

lol nice, i don't think i'd be able to see my tv from half a block away though...

 

[land sea air]

nah I had my girlfriend watch the tv while I walked down the street on the phone with her.

 

[godzilla_GTR]

lol nice, that's there for after all j/k

 

[land sea air]

So if I hook up my new HDMI cable I shouldn't even have to change the settings correct? the ps3 should automatically detect HDMI?

 

[icelt]

So if I hook up my new HDMI cable I shouldn't even have to change the settings correct? the ps3 should automatically detect HDMI?

Should, yes. Admittedly I don't know all the ins and outs of HDCP through HDMI but on my Sony 34XBR960 the 1st time hooking up the PS3 through the HDMI didn't go so smooth. Initially the TV would not display the PS3 signal. I know I cycled the TV a couple of times and the PS3 at least once, but they just didn't get along. Then I went to another city to visit a friend, came back home and decided to try it again as a "what the heck." Low and behold it worked. What I did different I have no earthly clue. However I did read in the PS3 documentation that Sony recommends turning the PS3 off and back on if the HDMI signal does not initially display. Unfortunately they do not elaborate on the apparent magic behind the suggestion.

 

[land sea air]

well I imagine I will find out for sure since I think my HDMI will be waiting for me when I get home, if it doesn't work then I can just manually change the settings from the XMB

 

[G.T]

Perfect. The HDTV cloth couldn't have fit on top better even if they tried, so it's now on there all the time. It even hangs off the front a bit to cover up the green light at night time.

 

[godzilla_GTR]

lol nice

 

[Scaff]

Should, yes. Admittedly I don't know all the ins and outs of HDCP through HDMI but on my Sony 34XBR960 the 1st time hooking up the PS3 through the HDMI didn't go so smooth. Initially the TV would not display the PS3 signal. I know I cycled the TV a couple of times and the PS3 at least once, but they just didn't get along. Then I went to another city to visit a friend, came back home and decided to try it again as a "what the heck." Low and behold it worked. What I did different I have no earthly clue. However I did read in the PS3 documentation that Sony recommends turning the PS3 off and back on if the HDMI signal does not initially display. Unfortunately they do not elaborate on the apparent magic behind the suggestion.

Turning the power off and then holding the power button down for five seconds will 'reset' the system settings and it may then be picking up the HDMI cable, the UK PAL manual does cover it, but to be honest its not exactly spelt out in clear terms.

Regards

Scaff