Should I buy a ps3 in the US

bobzee

Hi ,

I am travelling to the US soon and thinking about buying a PS3..is there anything I need to be aware of regarding compatibility etc...I am interested in the ps3 as a home entertainment centre as well a games machine i.e. to use it to stream media from my pc to my tv.

Thanks in advance

PS3 games are region free, so no problem there.
Some blu rays are region locked, but most are not.
DVD's that you got here will not pay on it, same goes for PS1/PS2 games.
I wouldn't buy one from the states, but thats just my opinion.

Niall0

This question comes up an awful lot.

The main reason id buy one here is in case something went wrong with it though. Any problems you'll be able to bring it back to the shop usually.

Seely Booth

Definately do not buy one in the states. Blu Rays here dnt work on it and if there is any type of trouble with it its a hell of a commute 2 get it fixed. I was gonna do the same and buy one in the states but to be honest it aint worth the hassle. Hmv and xavvi have good deals on Ps3s at mo however game is 40 euro dearer just to let you knw. Also im not sure about linking an ntsc playstaion three to a european tv?

Mossy Monk

If you plan on buying lots of Bluray discs online then do. The money you will save will pay for the PS3.

Super Sidious

I had an American PS3, the 80GB version. It worked fine for me, the only problem I had was connecting to my irish friends through Tiger Woods & Pro Evo 2008. For some reason i could never connect to them even after exhausting all avenues and ringing sony who didnt have a clue... if your not worried bout playing other Irish people then go for it.

Another thing Ive recently bought a ps3 40gb & have been able to connect to my laptop for streaming videos, music etc. I previously couldnt do that with the American PS3...

Better off sticking with an Irish PS3 as it has a DVD upscaler too, an American PS3 could only play Pal Dvds...

Mayshine

To be honest I cannot agree with most of the comments. The only one that makes sense is the guarantee and maybe if you watch a lot of region 2 dvd that you want the up-scaler for.

If you like blu-ray a US machine is much better. The blu-ray prices are half the price over there and amazon.com are always doing good deals. You will get the releases earlier and cheaper than over here. I'm typically paying $15-$20 (€9-€13) for my discs + €2.50 shipping

And unless your TV is from the 80's NTSC is not an issue either.

Games all play.

And my US machine happily connects to my DNLA server, so thats not an issue either

and at $1.55 to the €, its 35% cheaper too.

If you want to be price gouged by Sony Europe and retailers over here buy a Euro console, otherwise I cannot see why you wouldn't want a US one

yayamark

true i got mine in dubai for €310

Steal.

TheDonMan

If i buy a US PS3 can i but stuff off American store or only Europe one? Also if i buy the American version of lets say warhawk will i be able to use the dlc from the European store?

meckbah

Quick question for those with a US bought PS3.

I got mine in the States last week but I am concnerned about plugging it in without a transformer.

Is a voltage transformer the only thing I need to worry about? I bought a PV70 about 6 months ago so I believe I'm covered on the NTSC issue.

Any advice would be appreciated.

TheDonMan

meckbah wrote: »

Quick question for those with a US bought PS3.

I got mine in the States last week but I am concnerned about plugging it in without a transformer.

Is a voltage transformer the only thing I need to worry about? I bought a PV70 about 6 months ago so I believe I'm covered on the NTSC issue.

Any advice would be appreciated.

No need for a transformer, there is one built into the machine. All you need is a standard kettle plug with a 3-6amp fuse and you should be fine.

IronWolf

So there's no compatibility issues with the import PS3's PSN working over here?

What I'm particularly keen to know is if say, a US PS3 is tied to the US PS Store?

Cheers!

K.O.Kiki

IronWolf wrote: »

So there's no compatibility issues with the import PS3's PSN working over here?

What I'm particularly keen to know is if say, a US PS3 is tied to the US PS Store?

Cheers!

You can create seperate PSN accounts for all 3 regions.

I use a Japanese account to download demos & videos before they reach our shores (like Battle Fantasia).

Snake Plisken

I have one from each region imported Region A from videogamesplus.ca, US one is fine as long as you don't mind the lack of warrenty in fairness to videogameplus they will help you with the warrenty but you will have to send it back to them at your own cost. Also just buy a kettle lead and stick a 5amp fuse in the plug and you'll be fine as the power supply is auto-switching.
If your into Blu-Rays the US titles that are region locked have more features then some of the Euro versions for example you cannot get Die Hard with a Vengence in Europe yet and the Prestige doesn't have 5.1 PCM soundtrack. And with the value of the Euro so strong your going to make a saving on the purchase of discs from the US.

ball ox

its worth noting though that an american/jap ps3 will not play certain games on anything but a HD tv.i.e. GTA IV & The latest Time Crisis

noodler

ball ox wrote: »

its worth noting though that an american/jap ps3 will not play certain games on anything but a HD tv.i.e. GTA IV & The latest Time Crisis

Jesus, thats a bit of a big deal ain't it? I still don't have a HDTV or PS3. Also I would rent more than I buy dvd/bluray wise so it wouldn;t bother me with regards cheapers blu rays.

vanman99

[Hi ,

I am travelling to the US soon and thinking about buying a PS3..is there anything I need to be aware of regarding compatibility etc...I am interested in the ps3 as a home entertainment centre as well a games machine i.e. to use it to stream media from my pc to my tv.

Thanks in advance]

For Bobsee - I would recommend you buy one in the US if you get a chance for simple finance reasons, I bought an 80GB just before Christmas and haven't had any problems (the only problem even i'd bought it here is eircom and there crappy broadband speeds). The power supply, although labeled that it is US mhz only it is actually multi region so no transformers needed. PS3 games are multi region so no problems there. The only issue is that it will only support Region 1 Blu Ray and bog standard DVDs, i got round that by ordering any blu ray dvds i wanted from US amazon, you'll have to pay a customs fee on top of the cost of the items and delivery but if you order enough items it still works out cheaper than buying the items in ireland. One work around is if you copy any DVD via your PC onto a blank DVD it will play those. One other issue that you may want to be aware of, if you manage to get an 80gb or 60gb they are both backward compatible with 99% PS1 and PS2 games but these need to be US NTSC region coded, but once you get playing with a PS3 game it will be a long time before you look at a PS2 game again, the gaming and quality is light years ahead of the PS2.

noodler

Okay I will ask this here so I don't make a new topic about it.

A few years back I was under the impression Blu-Rays were region free. Now this is not the case?

Or is mostly not the case?

Do some USA dvds etc still work on our players? How can you tell which can.

Cheers.

vanman99

Hi Noodler,

Not sure if this answers your question but the issue i found in owning a US PS3 is that the blu ray dvd needs to be NTSC if it's multi region or not, i've gone out and bought a blu ray dvd in Ireland with multi region labeled on the box but because it was PAL format it wouldn't play on the PS3. So although blu rays are mostly region free they need to be the correct display format to work on a PS3 (pal/ntsc). Don't know if that's the case with stand alone Blu Ray DVD players and whether they can differentiate between the two, I've a normal DVD player and this will play NTSC or PAL no problem so not sure if the wholc NTSC/PAL thing is just a PS3 issue. Or maybe i'm doing something wrong, if any one has managed to play a PAL multi region dvd on there PS3 will you let me know.

noodler

So essentially... we no longer have to worry only about regions but about pal/ntsc

I was under th impression any tv with a scrat scoket could handle a ntsc pic (or is this not the issue)

So Blu-Rays are region-free, but US Blu Rays still won't on our machines as they are ntsc?

ongarite

Vanzan is wrong.
PAL/NTSC is all in the past, they were SD standards and resolutions.

Blu-Ray is HD resolution and that is standard free. 1080p in US is the same as 1080p in EU.
Blu-Ray discs are region-coded though like DVD were, so US Region 1 Blu-Ray won't play in EU Region 2 Blu-Ray like PAL PS3.

As mentioned, depending on film studio, some releases will be region-free so will play in any region PS3 from US, EU, Asia, etc..

noodler

Ugh, what shame. Thanks for the clarification.

They were "suppossed" to be region free back in their conception, weren't they?

vanman99

Thanks for the clarification Ongarite, however that leaves me with a problem, i have a multi region Blu Ray DVD - Planet Earth - The complete BBC series, on the box it says Region:All Regions. I put it in my US PS3 and it tells me DVD is PAL and can't play. Any suggestions?

Snake Plisken

vanman99 wrote: »

Thanks for the clarification Ongarite, however that leaves me with a problem, i have a multi region Blu Ray DVD - Planet Earth - The complete BBC series, on the box it says Region:All Regions. I put it in my US PS3 and it tells me DVD is PAL and can't play. Any suggestions?

How is your PS3 connected to your tv? Are u sure that the discs in your set are Blu-rays not DVD's? There was a mix up on the planet earth series where some hd-dvd's shipped in blu-ray boxes. If u have tv connected via HDMI then u shouldn't be getting that error, if your connected by Scart or component then you might have this error as its downscaling to normal std def tv, to get around that I think there is a setting in the ps3 settings menu to output to pal or ntsc.

vanman99

Hi Snake, linked via HDMI, disc says blu ray, box says blu ray, i'm pretty confident these are blu ray. Not to worry, when they didn't work i ordered another set from US amazon and these work perfect, but they came as region 1 only, so i'm thinking that the box i got here may be marked wrong, or at least the dvds in the box weren't the multi region ones.

Snake Plisken

vanman99 wrote: »

Hi Snake, linked via HDMI, disc says blu ray, box says blu ray, i'm pretty confident these are blu ray. Not to worry, when they didn't work i ordered another set from US amazon and these work perfect, but they came as region 1 only, so i'm thinking that the box i got here may be marked wrong, or at least the dvds in the box weren't the multi region ones.

Strange Vanman both the Region A and Region B release of Planet Earth Blu-Ray are region free as listed on http://bluray.lindsite.dk/, still think they might have got the Blu-ray's mixed up with DVD's did you try and play the offending discs in a normal dvd player? If they play or you get wrong region then you have DVD's and these need to be returned to where you bought them or contact the distributer directly.

DHFrame

How the hell do you get a PS3 back to Ireland. IPhone is one thing but the PS3 is one hell of a lump to explain.

vanman99

Well i would assume that getting through US security is no problem, they couldn't care less where it's going if it's leaving the country. If you're coming straight back to Dublin and that's your final destination then you take your chances with customs, who unless you're seriously taking the p and have 46 suitcases or something like that then i would assume they tend not to give you too much attention, if however you're landing in Dublin but your final destination is say for example Shannon, then you would have to bypass customs in Dublin as you're continuing you're journey, so when you land at shannon they assume they have a domestic flight and no customs around at that end to check. Also, you'd probably need to put it in your check in luggage so again you take your chances that you're bag makes it plus you'll probably spend the whole flight worried sick that it gets damaged after shelling out all that money. That's probably what i would do.....:cool:

noodler

Can you not just order it online?
Do you see the way they throw bags about at airports? I wouldnt put a PS3 in the hold.

vanman99

Only problem there is, if you manage to find an online source willing to ship these you will get stung by customs for the import charges. If you get from Ebay you might be ok but no warranty or guarantee and a lot of money to send someone you don't know without proper backup. Plus a lot of online ordeing companies such as Amazon won't allow you to order these type of items from out side the country they are in so ordering online wouldn't really be an option.

noodler

I see. Ouch.

DHFrame

Yeah Customs would definatly get ya. I find for electronics that its worth buying in the UK. I get all my PC equipment from www.scan.co.uk and I think the PS3's are cheaper there too. I dont often buy stuff here in Ireland, it's always that bit more expensive. We're gonna go up north to Currys sonn and save a fortune on a TV.

Snake Plisken

Well I bought mine from http://www.videogamesplus.ca/ and had no problems with customs and it was shipped in from canada via dhl arrived within 3 days I was amazed ordered it on a Tuesday night and it arrived on Friday lunchtime. Lots of folks happy with their service if you check out AVforums theres a couple of threads about them also they are good to answer and queries you might have I rang them and emailed them and they were very helpful. If anyone needs any further info on them let me know.

BArra

how did u avoid dhl customs..? did they undervalue the ps3? how much did it cost u in the end if u dont mind me asking, i dont see any ps3 hardware bundles on VG+ at the mo

Snake Plisken

BArra wrote: »

how did u avoid dhl customs..? did they undervalue the ps3? how much did it cost u in the end if u dont mind me asking, i dont see any ps3 hardware bundles on VG+ at the mo

it cost me around 350 euros including shipping, forget how they did it but package was insured upto $2000, maybe they listed it as repaired. All I know is I bought it around easter and waited for a delayed dhl bill but it never materialized.
They are currently out of stock I think they are doing the Metal Gear Solid version so thats probably why, if you check back everyday and keep an eye on the blog you'll see when they hit stock again.

Pangea

If u buy ps3 in the states then u will have to change the plug once u take it home , usa is 2 socket plugs

vanman99

True, but it's a simple kettle lead so i wouldn't let that stop you. The power supply itself is universal so you won't need to worry about transformers, etc (although the US version is labeled as US mhz only, i think that's to put people off trying to buy these outside there region)

deemy

a quick question cause i'm totally confused I'm looking at buying some region 1 dvds on tinternet. will they play on my otherhalves ps3???
Ta

giggsy664

It' Blu-Ray region free, so it might do DVD's/CD's.

Snake Plisken

giggsy664 wrote: »

It' Blu-Ray region free, so it might do DVD's/CD's.

if your other halves PS3 is european then it won't PS3's are region locked for DVD's. Blu-Rays on the otherhand some are region locked but a lot aren't, but if its region 1 DVD's then your better off buying a cheap dvd player that you can hack to play region 1 dvd's

barnesd

I'm currently in the US and got a really good deal on ebay, a 40GB PS3 for $270 which is about 180euro.

I'm only worried about bringing it home, because I'm going to Costa Rica and back and I really don't know what to do with it. If I keep it in my case I'm pretty sure I'll be over the allowed weight limit for the plane. I might get a second back to check in which would solve the problem.