Using a Playstation 3 as a Home Entertainment System

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Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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Hi,

Currently revamping my home entertainment.

I am going from using an XBox as a DVD player and a 20" Samsung CRT to a PS3 and a Panasonic 37" plasma screen (Just won a fantastic looking solid oak TV stand on auction so am getting excited by it all coming together :D).

Sound is provided by a pair of JMLab Colbalt 816S speakers hooked up to an Audiolab 8000S and 8000P.

Few questions:

  • I have a WD HD with both ethernet and USB connections... am I right in thinking if I USB the HD to the PS3 and the HD to a router, I have a lovely little system where I can load up the HD with my DVD collection ripped to disk over ethernet and instantly get at them via the PS3?
  • The AudioLab has no optical in. If I want to use HDMI into the TV, is there any way to get the sound into the Audiolab without using the crappy onboard sound processor on the TV? Or do I have to get hold of an amp with optical in and pipe the PS3 to this via optical cable to do this?

    Thanks
 
external DAC, run a lightpipe from the PS3 to a beresford DAC maybe?

Edit:
Maybe the TV has a digi output, then you can run Freeview etc through your stereo as well?
 
Well Freeview is handled using my Humax PVR- so that's not a problem.

How much is a Beresford DAC?

Thanks
 
google? :)

109.99
or the USB version!!! 149.99

Highly rated for DAC duties on avforums

never heard one myself. But I think using something like this may solve your problem.
 
Overall it's a good plan. The PS3 is a pretty good DVD/BD player and can happily stream either from a PC, or from USB external drive. Spend a little extra for a PlayTV and you have a PVR too.

The only downside is that the PS3 cannot output audio via both HDMI and optical SPDIF at the same time. So you'd need to go into settings to switch between the two options. I'd suggest you simply ignore the speakers on your TV and get your missus used to using the stereo.
 
You should be able to use the L+R phono outputs from the PS3's analogue video output on the supplied composite cable at the same time as the HDMI.
 
vila said:
You should be able to use the L+R phono outputs from the PS3's analogue video output on the supplied composite cable at the same time as the HDMI.
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Ah really? Does this definately work?

That is by far the cheapest and simplest option!

Thanks
 
zhx said:
yeah i know but if you have a lot of files and use a mac it becomes a bit problamatic
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If they're all on an external drive formatted with FAT32 or NTFS then find a friend with a PC as you can just provide mkv2vob with a directory to process and it'll chug through them all :)
 
probedb said:
If they're all on an external drive formatted with FAT32 or NTFS then find a friend with a PC as you can just provide mkv2vob with a directory to process and it'll chug through them all :)
Click to expand...

yeah i know man and thanks for being helpful. sometimes tho you just want things to work without having to go through other tasks :)
 
zhx said:
yeah i know man and thanks for being helpful. sometimes tho you just want things to work without having to go through other tasks :)
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It is annoying that they can't just make it recognise another container format. Also the PS3 won't send DTS streams from files on a HDD or streamed, they have to be converted to AC3. Though if you make a DVD with BR disc format with a DTS track it'll play that fine without trouble....it's really odd that it doesn't send the DTS track out when it can quite clearly do it.
 
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