SteelSkin.net – The Ramblings of Chris Nutt

I just picked up a new set top box. It’s the Echostar HDS-600RS. In terms of features the box is amazing and compared to it’s conventional peers it is pretty good and responsive. However I am not used to normal set top boxes anymore.

For over 2 years I’ve been running PlayTV for my PS3. I unfortunately live in a low signal area and years after launch no HD or Sat HD version is on it’s way. I’ve seen my mates VM Tivo and I thought I was prepared for the massive backward step in interface PVRs have even today.

Really I am not, I have gotten used to things just happening quickly and beautifully. Why in all these years is there not a decent PVR platform that doesn’t require a PS3 or a full blown PC to run is beyond me. Seriously how slow and laggy are these boxes, no wonder people are leaving TV. The devices they use to access TV are RUBBISH.

As much I didn’t like the guy, Steve Jobs would never stand for this shit. Hell Bill Gates didn’t either and neither did Sony. Why the hell can’t Humax, Echostar or Samsung get their asses in gear and bring out a Android/Linux/WindowsEmdded/Meego box? Slap in a half decent ARM CPU, wifi and tuners and booom!

But no, it’s like they want Apple to come in and take all of their stuff.

I think 3D gaming has it’s place, much like with films. But to me both are ‘niche’ versions of their media. Just like everything shouldn’t be Move or everything shouldn’t be played through a guitar controller.

The current consoles just about do 720p at 30fps in mainline games. We can’t even do 1080p 60fps in all but the rarest games. Adding the 3D gimmick to games makes them worse in most cases, when the power on the console isn’t doubled to compensate.

Also having watched Tron Legacy in IMAX 3D and 2D Bluray I can tell you that 3D seems to destroy a lot of detail. Most games have an element of precision in them, adding flickery/polarised glasses makes them harder to see. You loose to much to gain too little.

Also 3D is just unpopular. An unnamed competitor’s 3D hand held hasn’t sold, all of the TV manufacturers have posted losses because 3D and smart TVs haven’t sold.

The only area that had any positive response to 3D is the PC market. For two main reasons: You can just add another graphics card and get perfect 3D performance and 3D monitors double up as 120hz/120fps monitors. In both cases their are no compromises and plenty of benefits.

Also 3D isn’t 3D. The Stereoscopic effect only hooks into one of many visual indicators of depth. You can’t focus on one area, because the film camera has done the work for you and you brain can flip out trying to focus.

Saying the current implementation is true 3D is as true as a virtual controller on a touch screen, i.e. no where near the real thing.

3D as it is now is just the same gimmick we had in the 80s and 50s, a passing fad with a few niche applications.

Spent a good few hours at the weekend with my mate trying to fix his problems with Uncharted 3.

I have a PS3 40gb (upgraded to 250GB).

He recently replaced his launch 60GB with a new PS3 Slim 160GB. He reused his 250GB Western Digital drive from his 60GB. I noticed from day 1 it was laggier and would stutter playing back video when downloading.

I he recently had major problems with Uncharted 3. They ranged from music stuttering, audio not syncing and then breaking with cut scenes. Then game breaking levels of stutter.

I mentioned that I never thought his new system was good (his 60GB was fine, he just wanted a warranty, urgh).

So we tried my copy in case it was the disc, no luck.

I suggested it might be the hard disk combined with the more budget internals of the slim.

So we first backed up and deactivated the system. Then removed the 250GB HDD, reinstalled the 160GB (patching from the 3.73 firmware on Playstation.com). We tested video whilst downloading, no problems. We the tried Uncharted 3 it had the odd hickup, but was now an unbroken game. We then restored from his backup, reactivated the system. Tried the Video test and Uncharted 3 and it worked fine with only the very occasional stutter.

I have to my knowledge noticed no stuttering at all on my 40GB.

I am guessing that either the 250GB drive he had was badly set up or clashed with the cheaper components of the PS3 Slim.

I hope this helps anyone with their Uncharted 3 stuttering. I can guarantee you I won’t be ‘upgrading’ to a PS3 Slim any time soon. Although this is purely anecdotal evidence.

It isn’t always obvious until the following generation that the previous generation was hindering developers. We know that many of the gameplay types available now were an impossibility on consoles like the Megadrive. If a console has more power, it can do what those before did better and with imagination things they couldn’t do at all.

Right now it is blindingly obvious once you think about it how knackered and old the PS3 and 360 are. Most smartphones have more ram than the PS3 and can output at resolutions that the Xbox just can’t do. Most releases now run at sub 720P and have to be scaled up due to small frame buffer of the 360 and the crappy amount of ram in the PS3. Blu-ray promised freedom from compromised repeating textures, but the tiny amount of ram means you haven’t anywhere to put it. Mandatory installs on the PS3 are more and more common as it has to swap information in and out of memory all the time just to draw level with the 360. Games like Rage need 3! DVDs for the 360 and that DVD drive is really noisy.

Also don’t mention patches to me as a PS3 owner I know the pain of Sony’s stop everything for a patch. Doesn’t help I use PlayTV on my PS3 for TV! I can’t watch a recording whilst the thing is in use. Things are similarly, but not as bad on the 360.

However as I said that’s not the main reason for a next gen. With the recent spate of HD remakes running at 1080P or 3D the question is asked why aren’t today’s games running at that res, framerate or no of dimension? Because the consoles are so frackin OLD. Seriously the PS3 uses a modified 7800GT, that’s 5 generations older than the GTX 560 Ti I have in my PC. The 360 is similarly ancient.

I can’t wait for the next gen of consoles and they had better have a proper OS like Android or Windows so it can do everything else a £300 box in my living room must do well to earn it’s place.