Need advice - buying a used PS3
 

Howdy.

I'll start by saying that I've never owned a PlayStation before, ever. I've always been a PC gamer, although time really hasn't allowed for much gaming for a while.

I'm not new to flashing custom firmware, roms, etc on consumer electronics, rooting/romming/jailbreaking/custom recovery on android phones and iphones, crap like that.

What I'm looking for is a little advice. I hate my current blu-ray player, and I'm thinking about buying a PS3 because it seems like I should be able to shove a bigass hard drive in it, and use it to store my movie collection. I've got young twins, and they can be hard on blu ray discs.

Any suggestions for what model (used) PS3 I should be looking for? Anything I should keep in mind when buying a used PS3? Will I need to use custom firmware to do what I want? Keep in mind that I'll likely never play a game on the machine.

A PS3 system can only support 2 TB in HDD size. When you want to store your movie collection, you have to consider the data size of your "movie collections". Of course there is also the option to buy an external HDD and plug it in via USB port.

For your "movie collection", I am thinking there could be various file formats, avi,mkv,mpeg4 etc etc.. And for each file formats there could be underlying different types of codecs for the videos/audios. This meant that certain files might not be support in your PS3. Thou, I believe majority of it can be played using the PS3.

Here a link for your reference in terms of media files supported: http://manuals.playstation.net/docum...filetypes.html

If your only considering mainly the bluray player/basic media file support. I think you can just get just any PS3 (preferbly slim series).

The few reasons why we want to get a CFW loaded to a PS3, is to be able to load Homebrew applications such as Navi-xtreme (content aggregator for all sorts of awesome stuff) and be able to play "backups". Of course the CFW have its own media file player call "showtime".

Hope this helps.

Yes a slim is way to go ;) a phat one will give more headaches than happy moments if you want to use the PS3 only for that.

I thought the internal hdd size limit it 1tb?

Anyway, CFW would be useful, because some movies you rip will have cinavia protection. On 3.55 CFW you can disable it.
Also Showtime Media Player supports more file formats, than the regular PS3 one.

I would also suggest a slim, since they run cooler. I have slim cech-2001a and a slim cech-2501a. The 2500 runs cooler than the 2000.

First of all, I want to thank you guys for the input... I've had a hard time collecting information about this stuff.. sorting through all of the rumors and misinformation has been driving me nuts.

At least on a slim, the Hard Drive is a laptop HD, and anything bigger than 1TB is very rare and very expensive.. and usually too tall to fit in most laptops.

The homebrew stuff looks pretty interesting too. Problem with straight USB support without homebrew is that FAT32 is the only supported file system. I plan on compressing my videos, but I doubt many of them will come in below the 4GB file size limit.

So yeah, stuff like Showtime is very interesting to me. Also, I like to tinker, so beyond the basic media server aspect, I'll probably find other stuff to play with over time. I'm definitely looking to get a hackable slim ps3.

This is my current understanding, please tell me if I'm way off base. It doesn't matter what firmware version you're currently on... as long as your PS3 shipped with 3.55 or less, you should be able to downgrade using E3 Flasher, no soldering required, as long as it's got NOR based flash memory and not NAND.

If that's right, then can someone point me in the direction of a list of Slim PS3 model numbers that are 100% certain to be downgradeable with E3 Flasher?

EDIT: What about auctions like this that say "This console does not contain a hard drive, you will need to install your own hard drive and firmware"
http://www.ebay.com/itm/working-Sony...ht_1590wt_1246

Does that mean I can just add a 1TB drive and use E3 Flasher with the eSATA Station, and be up and running?

You got it man. Nice to see someone who does their own research and doesn't just come on here and start with the same lame question, "how do I downgrade my 3k model?". Lol. Look here http://www.ps3devwiki.com/wiki/Downg...rdware_flasher for compatible console models. Ask if you are unsure.
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Oh yeah, and all the hard drives for ps3 are the same, fat or slim. They are 2.5 sata laptop hard drives.
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If you get lucky you can get one already on a low firmware and then you won't have to fool with the e3 flasher. Getting a flasher is kind of a waste unless you plan on playing with it or using it on multiple consoles IMO

Thanks for that link. A lot of unfamiliar info there, but I'm going to read through and let it soak in for a bit before I start asking questions.

Yeah, I'm gonna try for that, but idunno. It seems like anyone advertising a low firmware version knows what they've got, and are selling it at a higher price. I'll be keeping my eye out though, for sure.

Well, if you can find a bundle console with a game that was on 3.55 or lower, it will ship with that firmware. For instance, a call of duty black ops console bundle will ship with 3.50 firmware because that is the firmware of the game. I bought a 320gb move bundle with the model chech2501b and it came on 3.41 firmware. The date code on it was 0c. If the date code is 1b or more, than it won't be on 3.55 or lower. The date code is on the console itself.

Alright, I've found a suitable PS3 to purchase, but while doing some research, I came across some information that said a connection to PSN is required for Netflix. Is that true? Do you have to find workarounds for using Netflix, Hulu Plus, etc if you stick to 3.55?

Why on earth do they require a connection to PSN to use 3rd party services totally unrelated to Sony?

The more I learn, the more I think I should spend more money and build an HTPC just to avoid giving money to a company that actively sh**s on their customers.

Yeah, you need psn for Netflix. Awesome right. You need psn to use a service you are already paying for on a system that you also laid for. Sony....we love our costumers.