Slim PS3 Vs Oppo BD83

[j_garcia]

True, but the PS 3 sucks as a web browser. If I have to click "yes" on that dumb-***, "Do you want to run the plug-in?" prompt one more time...

Yep, that's why I don't browse on it. The browser is really bad. It has a few nice features here and there, but overall it is a pain to use.

Having both the Oppo and the PS3, I can say for certain that the PS3 does not upscale as well as the Oppo. The PS3 does a very good job, but it not quite as good.

 

[murthyvs]

Yep, that's why I don't browse on it. The browser is really bad. It has a few nice features here and there, but overall it is a pain to use.

Having both the Oppo and the PS3, I can say for certain that the PS3 does not upscale as well as the Oppo. The PS3 does a very good job, but it not quite as good.

I was feeling the same and installed Ubuntu and quickly realized that it cant do even the normal browsing tasks. PS3 freaks out when you open 2-3 windows. But hey it is meant to be used as a gaming machine, right? There are numerous rumors saying that Sony is bringing Firefox to PS3. Hope that is true and satisfy some of our browsing needs.

 

[Seth=L]

The PS3 simply doesn't have enough RAM to browse the web effectively with Ubuntu or the default browser. If Firefox does come to PS3 it had better be tailored specifically to work with the PS3 in an optimal way. PS3 is great for calculation, not for memory.

 

[PENG]

On a similar note I've really been unhappy with the PQ on my older DVD's when played via the PS3 and have been wondering how much of a difference a separate DVD player with better upscaling would make. Some of them really look awful (I've been buying DVD's since they first came out, so some are older and poorly mastered versions). The PS3 is fine for BD, how much of a difference would I notice with another player dedicated for better DVD PQ?

This is strange. My PS3 slim upscales practially as good as my other 3 players including the Pioneer that apparently upscales almost as good as the Oppo. I wonder if the slim upscales better than the FAT. Is yours a slim?

I also don't think all DVDs look good upscaled, I mean even the Oppo could not make all DVDs look good right?

 

[PENG]

if the cash was burning my pocket ...

i'd keep the 60gb ps3 for games
buy the oppo for playing BD's

i like having one specialized component for each type of format (why i still keep a DVD player on all my systems)

Me too, but in that case I would go for the 83 SE.

 

[Ares]

This is strange. My PS3 slim upscales practially as good as my other 3 players including the Pioneer that apparently upscales almost as good as the Oppo. I wonder if the slim upscales better than the FAT. Is yours a slim?

I also don't think all DVDs look good upscaled, I mean even the Oppo could not make all DVDs look good right?

I recently have had the chance to get my hands on a Slim (friend had overheating issues) and since I own a Fat I did a comparison between them, in terms of upscaling the PQ is the same no difference that I could see.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Just hit the "x" twice and it skips the prompt and shows the chick

True, but the PS 3 sucks as a web browser. If I have to click "yes" on that dumb-***, "Do you want to run the plug-in?" prompt one more time...

 

[supervij]

I used to date a chick who's son had a PS3 (fat) and I watched a couple DVDs on it. I was appalled at how bad it looked. This after watching the same DVDs at home on my Oppo 83. I have no interest in gaming or web browsing, just BDs and DVDs (and DivX, DVD-A and SACD). For that reason, the Oppo is a better choice. If it's gaming and web browsing you want, then of course the PS3 is the best choice.

cheers,
supervij

EDIT: Okay, the PS3 upscaling wasn't all that bad, but the Oppo is simply in a different class when it comes to DVD upscaling.

 

[Seth=L]

This is strange. My PS3 slim upscales practially as good as my other 3 players including the Pioneer that apparently upscales almost as good as the Oppo. I wonder if the slim upscales better than the FAT. Is yours a slim?

I also don't think all DVDs look good upscaled, I mean even the Oppo could not make all DVDs look good right?

The slim and fat PS3 systems do not scale any differently. Both systems use a firmware based scaler powered by the back end GPU. If Sony wanted to they could use the utilize the entire cell processor with firmware to outgun everyone in terms of scaling. By using firmware the scaler is almost infinitely upgradeable, there's just no money in it for Sony at this time. It's hard enough to convince people that the PS3 is every bit as good of a stand alone Blu-ray player that costs the same or sometimes more, why would Sony spend time and money with something like a scaler that wipes the floor with with current scaling offerings when people will remain skeptical of whether it is true or now.

If Sony allowed third party developement of firmware that people could buy and could place the liability on those third parties for developing and selling firmware to PS3 users these kinds of things could work there way into the market.

 

[j_garcia]

This is strange. My PS3 slim upscales practially as good as my other 3 players including the Pioneer that apparently upscales almost as good as the Oppo. I wonder if the slim upscales better than the FAT. Is yours a slim?

I also don't think all DVDs look good upscaled, I mean even the Oppo could not make all DVDs look good right?

I have the fat and slim and there is no difference between them in terms of upscaling. It isn't to say that the PS3's upscaling isn't good, it is just that the Oppo is better.

There are some discs that are just poorly mastered and no level of upscaling will make a difference there. Some discs look great upscaled, like Kill Bill, and others just look really bad; usually b-movies, old non/remastered movies, etc...

 

[murthyvs]

The slim and fat PS3 systems do not scale any differently. Both systems use a firmware based scaler powered by the back end GPU. If Sony wanted to they could use the utilize the entire cell processor with firmware to outgun everyone in terms of scaling. By using firmware the scaler is almost infinitely upgradeable, there's just no money in it for Sony at this time. It's hard enough to convince people that the PS3 is every bit as good of a stand alone Blu-ray player that costs the same or sometimes more, why would Sony spend time and money with something like a scaler that wipes the floor with with current scaling offerings when people will remain skeptical of whether it is true or now.

If Sony allowed third party developement of firmware that people could buy and could place the liability on those third parties for developing and selling firmware to PS3 users these kinds of things could work there way into the market.

Some one should probably mod PS3 and get awesome infinite scaling ... I will give $100

 

[Jack Hammer]

This is strange. My PS3 slim upscales practially as good as my other 3 players including the Pioneer that apparently upscales almost as good as the Oppo. I wonder if the slim upscales better than the FAT. Is yours a slim?

I also don't think all DVDs look good upscaled, I mean even the Oppo could not make all DVDs look good right?

Mines the FAT old 80gb model that does everything. I've got a Denon 2910 that'll upscale to 720p, but the hdmi doesn't seem to want to send a signal and IIRC, the PS3 upscales about the same as it did. As I mentioned earlier, I've been buying DVD since the format came out and I've got a lot that were the original release, some of these have very poor masters compared to what was re-released a few years later. I've upgraded some of my favorites to BD, but there are many I still watch and like, just not enough to double dip.

 

[PENG]

I used to date a chick who's son had a PS3 (fat) and I watched a couple DVDs on it. I was appalled at how bad it looked. This after watching the same DVDs at home on my Oppo 83. I have no interest in gaming or web browsing, just BDs and DVDs (and DivX, DVD-A and SACD). For that reason, the Oppo is a better choice. If it's gaming and web browsing you want, then of course the PS3 is the best choice.

cheers,
supervij

EDIT: Okay, the PS3 upscaling wasn't all that bad, but the Oppo is simply in a different class when it comes to DVD upscaling.

I have never watched a DVD on a PS3 FAT but I have watched it played BR many times in my nephew's place. The PQ was no better than any of my upscalers playing DVD. I assume most kids don't know pay attention to adjusting their TV sets. This kid (my nephew) has a Sharp and I have a Kuro. So until I can compare a FAT and my slim side by side using my own display, I am not going to say the slim is better just because the FAT's poor performance on my young nephew's inferior display in torch mode.

I don't doubt your 83 upscales better than the PS3 but I have even less doubt that the HTM reviewer is right, that the 83 beats the PS3 but not by much. You may be seeing much better PQ at home not only because of the superior OPPO but also you superior display and/or its adjusted/calibrated properly.

 

[PENG]

The slim and fat PS3 systems do not scale any differently. Both systems use a firmware based scaler powered by the back end GPU. If Sony wanted to they could use the utilize the entire cell processor with firmware to outgun everyone in terms of scaling. By using firmware the scaler is almost infinitely upgradeable, there's just no money in it for Sony at this time. It's hard enough to convince people that the PS3 is every bit as good of a stand alone Blu-ray player that costs the same or sometimes more, why would Sony spend time and money with something like a scaler that wipes the floor with with current scaling offerings when people will remain skeptical of whether it is true or now.

If Sony allowed third party developement of firmware that people could buy and could place the liability on those third parties for developing and selling firmware to PS3 users these kinds of things could work there way into the market.

I think they have in fact improved on DVD PQ in general through previous fw updates. I used to think my XDE500 was the best but now I use the slim exclusively just for convenience, one player does everything including streaming. I can definitely say the slim does a better job than my HDDVD player that supposely has the ABT processor for upscaling. I can also say subjectively my Pioneer BDP-320 upscales better, but just slightly better than the PS3. I wish I had the 83 to compare to but I don't have the extra cash, and WAF (lack of) is the real show stopper.

 

[Ares]

I have never watched a DVD on a PS3 FAT but I have watched it played BR many times in my nephew's place. The PQ was no better than any of my upscalers playing DVD. I assume most kids don't know pay attention to adjusting their TV sets. This kid (my nephew) has a Sharp and I have a Kuro. So until I can compare a FAT and my slim side by side using my own display, I am not going to say the slim is better just because the FAT's poor performance on my young nephew's inferior display in torch mode.

I don't doubt your 83 upscales better than the PS3 but I have even less doubt that the HTM reviewer is right, that the 83 beats the PS3 but not by much. You may be seeing much better PQ at home not only because of the superior OPPO but also you superior display and/or its adjusted/calibrated properly.

It's funny that you say that, my buddy comes over to pick-up his Slim while I am running some test to make sure I took care of the overheating issue, I am watching Finding Nemo with my daughter and he says man the PQ looks great and what did I do to his PS3 I told him nothing besides replacing thermal paste. He takes his Slim home and about 2 hours later he calls me and says the PQ does not look the same as it did at my house and he asks why? Okay before I continue here this guy doesn't have a clue when it comes to HT, I told him because first off your TV is not on par with mine your using an SDTV and mine is an HDTV,second you use composite cables I use HDMI and third my TV is calibrated and yours is not. But he still insists on saying that what ever mod I did to his PS3 it isn't working any more and if I can do it again, maybe someone should write an HT Guide for Dummies.

 

[supervij]

I don't doubt your 83 upscales better than the PS3 but I have even less doubt that the HTM reviewer is right, that the 83 beats the PS3 but not by much. You may be seeing much better PQ at home not only because of the superior OPPO but also you superior display and/or its adjusted/calibrated properly.

You're absolutely right, PENG, I forgot that while I did offer to calibrate her TV (which is the Sony 50A2020, essentially the same as my 50A2000), I never actually got around to it. That might account for the difference.

So okay, my one experience with PS3 DVD upscaling doesn't count anymore! Still, from everything I've read online, it's still true: it's good but not great.

cheers,
supervij

 

[j_garcia]

My comparisons are on the same set with calibration.

 

[PENG]

My comparisons are on the same set with calibration.

In that case I hope on a scale of 10, if the 83 gets a 10 the PS3 would get a 7, no?

 

[Seth=L]

I think they have in fact improved on DVD PQ in general through previous fw updates. I used to think my XDE500 was the best but now I use the slim exclusively just for convenience, one player does everything including streaming. I can definitely say the slim does a better job than my HDDVD player that supposely has the ABT processor for upscaling. I can also say subjectively my Pioneer BDP-320 upscales better, but just slightly better than the PS3. I wish I had the 83 to compare to but I don't have the extra cash, and WAF (lack of) is the real show stopper.

I remember the old scaling firmware, and it was nothing to write home about.

 

[Seth=L]

Some one should probably mod PS3 and get awesome infinite scaling ... I will give $100

I think it would take more than $100 to get that done for you personally. I imagine such a venture would be time consuming and perhaps costly. You would have to make it worthwhile to someone for them to want to do it.