HOW TO: First Starting of a PS3

This is a guide for people that just bought a PS3 and are setting it up for the first time. The process is quite straight forward, but in some places there are a few options to take which some people don't know which is the best way to go from there.

First thing is to pick a good location. The PS3 is a very hot machine and needs a lot of space, the best amount of space would be 1-2 cubic metres and having the unit standing vertical. Standing vertical means the PS3 can breathe better since when standing this way there are a massive amount of cooling holes up the top, and we all know that hot air rises. There are 2 fans in the PS3, one is out the back where the internal power supply is, and the other is a large fan on the heat sink that covers the CELL, RSX, and RAM.

Once the best place has been located, it's time to start cabling. There are a lot of ways to cable the PS3 up for video and audio:

• Multi AV - This interface has normal composite, component, and the stereo audio. This method is best used for SD TVs, but the component can be used for HD TV as well.
• Optical - This is for audio only. Not as limiting as composite audio, but most of the time the PS3 uses Linear PCM audio which Optical can only handle 2 channels of this type of audio, plus Optical can't handle the HD DTS audio on some Bluray movies.
• HDMI - This is the best way the PS3 can be connected. HDMI is for HD TV or AV Receivers that have the interface. HDMI uses at a max 1080p video and 7.1 Linear PCM or HD DTS audio in one cable. Not many audio devices have HDMI interfaces yet, but most HD TV do. The HDMI interface on the TV must have HDCP in it or the resolution of the image will be downgraded to SD. HDMI can also be easily converted to DVI through a simple converter plug or cable.

The PS3 can handle a mixture of different connections like HDMI for video and Optical for audio, or composite for video and HDMI for audio.

After the AV cables have been sorted out, it's time to lay and connect the LAN cable if going for a wired network. The power can also be connected. The power cable for the PS3 is a standard power cable used in modern PCs, and the power supply for the PS3 is internal so it makes carrying it around easier.

Once the power switch on the back is in the ON position, a red light should appear on the front of the PS3 and is ready to be turned on. You may notice the the PS3 doesn't have any switches on the front of the console, instead all you have to do is lightly touch the ON icon in front on the drive slot and the red light should turn green and make a BEEP sound.

The PS3 will start the initial set-up guide where you choose the system options best for you. These include:

• Video - What interface to use and what resolution (SD, 720p, 1080i, 1080p).
• Audio - What interface to use and compression method the receiver can use.

After all that you must choose a local username for the PS3. This has nothing to do with your online gaming and only just to keep local users apart. The XMB should be present now, and to make a online user profile move along the XMB to FRIENDS and sign up for a username. This will be used for online gaming, messaging, and Remote Play over the internet.

And that's it, next should be the tweaking of the system settings and make the PS3 working perfectly. Remember, the PS button and Triangle button on the controller play a major role in the PS3, the PS button lets you switch from feature to feature, like from playing music to XMB so you can load the web browser all along keeping the music playing, and the Triangle button is to open up the Options Menu for the selected item.

NOTE: If you change the video interface, and turn the PS3 on and can't see an image, turn the PS3 off again and then hold down the power icon for about 10 seconds, there should be 3 beeps and the PS3 will reset the video options.

Remote Play

Remote Play is the ability to use the PS3 remotely on the PSP across local WiFi or using a WiFi hotspot anywhere around the world. At present time Remote Play has to be manually started and the PS3 on.

To start using the Remote Play feature, the PSP needs to be registered to a PS3, so connect the PSP to the PS3 via a USB cable. Once the PSP is connected and in USB mode, scroll down in the SYSTEM menu on the PS3 XMB and select REMOTE PLAY SETTINGS. In there you'll be able to register a new PSP or look at currently registered PSPs. Once the PSP is registered to a PS3, the PSP name will pop up in the registered list on the PS3 and a new connection called PLAYSTATION3 in the PSP will be added.

Remote Play on the PS3 is launched from the XMB in the NETWORK menu. From there all is needed is to leave it alone and grab your PSP. From the PSP select Remote Play under the NETWORK menu in the XMB and there are 2 options, Local or Infrastructure. In Local mode all is needed is to select the PLAYSTATION3 connection in the list and it will use the PS3's WiFi to make a connection. Using a WiFi AP in the house can also be done. In Infrastructure mode, select the connection in the list to the WiFi hotspot. Once a connection is made to the PSN (Playstation Network) it will ask for a Username and Password, which is the same username and password to connect the PS3 to the PSN Friends List.

Remote Play is limited at the current time, but does have a good list of features:

• Playing music, photos, or videos that are on the PS3 or from a PC using DLNA.
• Web browsing.
• Messaging friends.
• Using Folding@Home.
• Using a Remote Play feature in a game.

More features for Remote Play are set to come out over time, like Remote Playing while the PS3 is in standby mode, and the ability to connect multiple PSPs to a PS3 so all PSPs can play a multiplayer game.

PS3 Hardware and Technical:

The PS3 is full of new technology and some only found on Computers before. Classified as almost a mini-supercomputer, the PS3 has a huge amount of power behind it due to it's unique processor.

Internal Hardware:
CPU - CELL BE. The CELL CPU is a Power processor at first glance. It's made up of 2 different types of processing bodies, the PPU is a dual threaded 64bit Power PC processor which acts as boss of the CELL. Below the PPU are 8 SPUs, each running at 3.2GHz. Each SPU is basically a mini CPU that can process data by itself or can work with other SPUs to complete complex instructions. The CELL in the PS3 only has 7 SPUs, the 8th is disabled and in most cases it doesn't work.

RAM - The RAM is made up of a small amount of XDR RAM. Only 256MB of XDR RAM is in the PS3 but it runs at 3.2GHz, the same speed as the SPUs in the CELL CPU.

Video Card - The RSX video card is modelled after the nVidia 7900. It has 256MB of GDDR3 RAM onboard.


Storage Hardware:
HDD - By default in the Australian release of the PS3, there is a 60GB HDD in it. The HDD itself is just a 2.5" SATA Seagate drive and it is fully upgradeable. There are even adapters out there to can make the PS3 use an external 3.5" HDD as it's main drive, giving up to 1TB of space.

Bluray - The main storage media of the PS3. Uses discs the same physical size as CDs and DVDs, but each dual layer disc can hold 50GB of data. Some games like Motorstorm use about 40GB of this space so it's not being wasted. DVDs and CDs can also be used in the drive, as well as mini versions of the discs. The drive is also slot loading.

Flash Cards - The PS3 can use 3 types of flash cards; CF, SD, and Memory Stick. Once the cards have been inserted an icon on the XMB pops up and you can browse the cards. By default there are 3 folders the PS3 looks in; MUSIC, PHOTOS, and VIDEOS. To view files outside these folders you have to press the Triangle button on the controller and select DISPLAY ALL under the media type you want. The PS3 can also use flash cards to hold system backups, system update files, and save games.


Other Hardware:
Network - PS3 can use 2 different types of network interface, WiFi and LAN. The LAN is a gigabit interface that can be connected to a switch, or directly to the modem/router. The WiFi is a standard 54Mb/s interface to connect to WiFi APs. The WiFi can also be used for Remote Play with the PSP in Local mode, but more about Remote Play another time.

USB - There are 4 USB ports on the front of the PS3, and the have many different types of functions:

• To recharge the controllers via a standard USB(A) to Mini-USB cable.
• External Media, like USB HDDs as long as they are formatted in FAT32 format.
• Keyboards and mice. Even a wireless mouse's USB dongle can be connected.
• PSP, to transfer data like photos, music, videos, and PS games.
• Controllers like PS2 Dual Shock2 controllers (With adapter), steering wheels, and 3rd party controllers.

The USB ports are fully powered, are of Version 2.0, and support Plug'n'Play.

Bluetooth - This is how PS3 SIXAXIS controllers connect to the console. Other devices include the Remote Control, keyboards and mice, and headsets. The Bluetooth hardware are of Version 2.0.

PS3 System Software: > 1.93 (part1)

I'm playing a little catch up with the System Software features, and there is a lot to catch up on. This post is to detail the features of the PS3 from the beginning up to V1.93.


VIDEO:
Highlight features of the VIDEO area:

• Ability to play MP4, DVD (MPEG2), Bluray (MPEG4).
• Videos on the HDD can have a moving thumbnail of 15seconds displaying on the XMB.
• Bookmarks for DVD and Bluray.
• Upscaling of DVDs to 1080p.
• Playing HDD videos while messaging to friends.

MUSIC:
Highlight features of the MUSIC area:

• Ability to play MP3, WAVE, WMA, ATRAC files.
• CDs can be ripped to the HDD.
• Limited folder support.
• Playing music while in the web browser, viewing photos and messaging to friends.
• Limited visualisations (2).

PHOTO:
Highlight features of the PHOTO area:

• Crop and edit photos.
• Ability to make photos the wallpaper for the XMB.
• Zooming

GAMES:

• PS/PS2 games can be upscaled to 1080p max.
• PS/PS2 games can be smoothed.
• Virtual memory cards for PS/PS2 games.
• Ability to swap PS/PS2 save games from the PS3 HDD to external PS/PS2 memory cards (adapter needed), can also copy save games to PSP.
• Faster loading of PS3 HDD games.

DLNA:
DLNA is a Media Server protocol that allows a PC to supply video, music, and photos to the PS3 across the network. There are many different media servers for the PC all offering different features. Some servers can transcode media to the type the PS3 accepts, like from XVID AVI to MPEG2, all on the fly.