Playstation 3 Console As a Blu-ray Player

The PlayStation 3 is a graphical powerhouse, with a cutting-edge Cell processor and a customized Nvidia graphics chip that could melt most gaming PCs. But the console goes beyond gaming, doubling as a Blu-ray and DVD movie player. At the heart of the PlayStation 3 lies a CPU that will impress even the most hard-core PC gamer. This powerful, multicore Cell processor, jointly developed by Sony, Toshiba, and IBM, runs at 3.2 GHz. An RSX Reality Synthesizer graphics engine, based on NVidia's G70 architecture, delivers the graphics. Working alongside these chips are 256MB of high-performance XDR main memory (based on Rambus RDRAM) and 256MB of GDDR3 video memory.

It weighs about 11 pounds and measuring 12.8 inches wide by 3.86 inches high by 10.89 inches long, the PlayStation 3 is larger than the PlayStation 2. It can be oriented vertically or horizontally. Most new PS3 owners will fire up the console without looking at the manual and won't run into any trouble. It is just that easy to hook up the PlayStation 3.

Once turned on, the PS3 will ask you to choose a language and a time zone, and set the time and date. You then create a user account, sign in, and are presented with a navigation interface that Sony calls the Xross Media Bar, which closely resembles the interface employed by Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld.

Sony intended the PlayStation 3 to serve as an all-purpose entertainment console, with tendrils that extend well beyond the realm of game play. But can the PlayStation 3 hope to compete with stand-alone Blu-ray players from consumer electronics makers?

The short answer is yes. The PS3's movie playback experience is best if you start from scratch, inserting a disc into the front-loading slot just as you power up the unit. The unit took just 3 seconds to load the movie, followed almost immediately by the opening sounds of the PlayStation 3 start-up orchestra. The screen then blacked out and loaded the movie disc. The total disc load time, from insertion of disc to start of playback, was nearly 24 seconds.

Matched side-by-side with the Samsung BD-P1000 Blu-ray player, the game console delivered noticeably sharper and crisper image quality, with more depth and more detail than were visible on the Samsung.

The PlayStation 3 plays all games in High-Definition graphics with great audio. The PlayStation 3 console can connect to the PlayStation Portable, which is great. Every game I play runs silky smooth and the gaming experience is unparalleled. I think the PS3 console is priced very reasonably considering all the great features that it have. I have bought PlayStation 3 since last year. Now, I still think that it is an excellent gaming console that worth every of my penny. I would recommend PlayStation 3 console to everyone, for its superior gaming and Blu-ray movie experience.