After Just An Hour With My New PS3, I Already Want To Toss It Out The Window

[FortNinety]

Here's the deal...

1. Upon connecting the system with my PS2's component wires, I got a nasty hum coming from my TV's speakers... for those who don't know and make fun of me already for it, I have a big ass CRT set, but it's fairly new and I've had zero interference with any of my other nine hundred consoles. Also, the component cable was going through a non-powered switch box, which has also served me well up till this point.

2. When I tried connecting the ethernet wire, same thing. At least it connected to my wireless network fine... I had actually expected problems, since Dave mentioned that PS3s had issues with Linksys routers. But would ultimately prefer a wired connection, for perhaps obvious reasons.

3. Back to video, I then hooked it up via the stock composite wires, and wouldn't you know, the buzz went away. I guess its also worth noting that I attached it into the port on the front side of the television.... in the back, there's a gigantic nest of wires. Including the two 360 power bricks I have (one for my own system, the other for the debug unit).

4. Then went through the trouble of removing the component wire from the back and with most of cable laying up front, the buzz is again gone. Again, I'm confused as to this issue... do I absolutely have to get the gold plated PS3 wires? BTW, anyone know if they're backwards compatible with the PS2? I would imagine that they are, but you never know, right? I also directly hooked them to the television, removing them from the aforementioned switch box.

5. But even with the lack of buzz, I still notice slightly green bars going down horizontally. They're pretty feint... and only seem to be present during the menu. While playing a game, they were gone... the black seems very black. Again, do I need to get the fancy component wires? Is it my system?

6. Oh, and my credit card kept getting rejected by the PlayStation Store. To the point that I had to call my bank and make sure that my card wasn't stolen since they sometimes view that as a red flag, constant attempts to use a card for some nefarious purpose.

... So I called Sony's tech support, expecting a helli-ish nightmare similar to my phone call with MS yesterday, and was pleasantly surprised by what I received instead. At the risk of sounding racist, I was ecstatic that the person was a native English speaker, and was able to help my credit card situation with relative ease (still think it's silly how spelling everything in all caps somehow fixed that problem).

Regarding all the humming and buzzing, the guy noted how it was perhaps interference from all my devices, at least when it came to the video signal. Admitted to being very shocked by hearing the same problem happened with ethernet port. He also noted that the new fancy component cords aren't THAT much better than what I already have, so kudos for honestly.

I'm now going to go through the hassle of removing the two power bricks and see what happens. I guess I might have to replace the switch box... this all such an incredible pain in the fucking ass. I was really hoping to just hook the damn thing up and be on my merry way, since the PS3 has always seemed the least troublesome to hook up.

Oh, I tried watching the dumb BR disc that comes with the system, and it just seems like such a god damn waste, since there's like four three minute trailers, plus the text was so small I couldn't make heads or tails. SD for the win! lol

[isfet]

very weird, man. the PS3 was pretty routine for me and that was even after hooking it up via HDMI through my AV receiver. 

as for playing BRD on a standard definition TV, well, yea I'd expect that to be pretty
ripe with issues.

let's play Wipeout Fury when you finish :/

[dhex]

re: hum - make sure any audio cables you have aren't running parallel with power cables, since unshielded or poorly shielded cables can cause the 60 cycle shitty. run them perpendicular if you have to cross them.

[FortNinety]

Thing is, I don't have any dedicated audio wires. There's no receiver of any kind, just using standard composite (red, yellow,white) and component (red, blue, and green, plus red and white) wires.

[The Drunken Samurai]

so hows MGS4

[FortNinety]

I love the beginning, it's all art house bullshit. Though I was never a fan of the controls, and that still holds today. It's also a bit overwhelming for the senses, so I'm basically gonna take my time.

[FortNinety]

So yeah, after doing some research, it would seem that I will basically have to re-do my entire entertainment set-up to get the PS3 to proper functionally, and sorry but that just ain't fucking happening. There's no reason why I have to mess up everything else up for just one stupid console, which I am quickly realizing, aside from a few albeit neat downloadable titles and 2 actual full-sized games (3 once Persona 5 gets announced), there is NOTHING worth playing on this console.

I downloaded WipeOut HD Joe and to be honest, after ten minutes, I don't think I'll ever play it again. It's just super boring.

Gonna get the newest version of the PS3 component plugs, and if that doesn't work, gonna put it on eBay. Fuck this shit.

[FortNinety]

I guess the most sensible solution is to finally pony up to a modern television set. But my long-standing fear is that old shit, like my Saturn and Dreamcast games, will look like shit.

But it's now 2009, so what's the deal? Is there a problem, or does shit looks fairly decent? I would have to imagine that things have gotten better. But I keep hearing stuff like lag and the like. A thing of the past?

[dhex]

composite cables are just rca connections with a yellow vid connection. the red and white cables are right and left audio respectively. a lot of times you can fix the hum by checking the shielding and slowly rotating the connection right and left while pushing forward.

[FortNinety]

On a related note, I'm seriously thinking of cutting myself loose from technology. Which in this day and age, is almost impossible, and rather crazy given what I generally do. Then again, I have thought about some kind of drastic career change...

But tech is fully ingrained in every facet of our lives at this point. And a career in farming just ain't feasible for a variety of reasons. Though I'd say a massive portion of my frustrations these days is directly related to technology, a basic fact that I just can't ignore.

There's also plenty of added benefits from shutting one's self off from the technological world at large. Time to make a list!

1. Will severely diminish my exposure to Micheal Cera.

[FortNinety]

Well, thanks to the fine folks at NeoGAF, I was able to fix the problem (though I also had to put up with a bunch of fucking morons, but that's just how that place rolls): the problem was, believe it or not, my coax cable. It was causing interference, and without it, the green and purple is totally gone, even with the component wires hooked into the switch box.

Now my new problem is how I'm gonna watch television?

[dmauro]

I downloaded WipeOut HD Joe and to be honest, after ten minutes, I don't think I'll ever play it again. It's just super boring.

Wanna come over and play F-Zero GX in 480p?

[FortNinety]

Yes.

So an update I guess: it's funny how a 50 cent piece from a hardware store, that being a three prong to two AC adapter, solved all my problems. I was going absolutely bat-shit insane there for a moment, coming pretty close to just breaking down and buying an HD set (though I have learned that, despite any advances thus far, my Saturn games are still gonna look like shit, for forget that) and getting cable, as an alternative means of delivering a signal to the television. Though I still might, since Katie and I are jonesing for NY1.

The worst apart about this all is how, aside from MGS4 and all the neat downloadable stuff, there is like NOTHING I want to get for the system. I also have Ridge Racer 7, which is not much different from 6, as well as both Persona 5 and Last Guardian to look forward to. That is it.

I might pick up LBP, even though I still think it sucks, but feel I should have it anyway, due to the creation tools alone. I'm downloading a demo of inFamous, which that looked sorta neat in the preview vids. Or will Katie and I continue to goof on people in PlayStation Home, which to be honest, has been tons of fun. Any suggestion?

[FortNinety]

I should also cull choice quotes from my exchange with NeoGAFfers, who aside from being too wise-ass for their own good (which can be pretty entertaining, at least when one remembers that half their jokes are just shit recycled from Something Awful and 4chan), prove that Sony fanboys these days are the angriest fanboys on the face of the video game spectrum.

[dhex]

so the coax signal was interfering with the composite cables?

if your set isn't completely against the wall, you can just plug in the coax when you want to watch tv.