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Yeah, any 2.5" SATA drive should work. SATA is important.
That looks good. I went with a 120 GB, kinda wish I went for more now.

Just be careful, there might be a max cap for the size of the HD.

I've got a stupid question: what videos do you convert for the PS3? Converting VOB files to mp4s is great to watch DVDs on your PSP, but what files do you convert to watch on your PS3?

MP4's work on the PS3

Originally Posted by seanr1221 MP4's work on the PS3

But so do DVDs, DVDs don't work on the PSP. Are people ripping them just to keep on their hard drive, so they don't have to watch the DVD?

OK, I have a several related questions. I have a Panasonic 50 inch 720p Plasma TV (TH50PX60U) and a PS3 hooked up via HDMI. I have the PS3 to upscale PS2 games (Full) and Smoothing on.

1) When I play a PS2 game, the game is displayed widescreen BUT does NOT utilize the entire screen. Small black strips are on top and bottom and much larger strips on the left and right side (maybe about an inch or inch and a half on each side.) Why is this?

2) When I play God of War on my PS3 with the setting above, I go into the Option Menu and select widescreen. When I do, the picture stretches vertically, cutting off MORE of the image. So now I don't select widescreen and I see more of the image.

3) When I select Progressive scan in God of War, the text and image is so much crisper (despite that it is being displayed in 480P) that now I play God of War with widescreen off and Progressive scan on in the God of War options. The picture is crisp and widescreen (or partially widescreen -see #1 above). I'm I missing something?

Thanks - great thread.

Originally Posted by cheapfrag OK, I have a several related questions. I have a Panasonic 50 inch 720p Plasma TV (TH50PX60U) and a PS3 hooked up via HDMI. I have the PS3 to upscale PS2 games (Full) and Smoothing on. 1) When I play a PS2 game, the game is displayed widescreen BUT does NOT utilize the entire screen. Small black strips are on top and bottom and much larger strips on the left and right side (maybe about an inch or inch and a half on each side.) Why is this? 2) When I play God of War on my PS3 with the setting above, I go into the Option Menu and select widescreen. When I do, the picture stretches vertically, cutting off MORE of the image. So now I don't select widescreen and I see more of the image. 3) When I select Progressive scan in God of War, the text and image is so much crisper (despite that it is being displayed in 480P) that now I play God of War with widescreen off and Progressive scan on in the God of War options. The picture is crisp and widescreen (or partially widescreen -see #1 above). I'm I missing something? Thanks - great thread.

1. Do you want to play games stretched even if they're not widescreen, or do you want to play in whatever aspect ratio the game is supposed to be in? Answer and I can help.

2. That's because God of War 1 has a "fake widescreen mode", like you said, it just chops off top and bottom. Play it in regular mode.

3. I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here.

Originally Posted by dallow 1. Do you want to play games stretched even if they're not widescreen, or do you want to play in whatever aspect ration the game is supposed to be in? Answer and I can help. 2. That's because God of War 1 has a "fake widescreen mode", like you said, it just chops off top and bottom. Play it in regular mode. 3. I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here.

1. Widescreen no matter what - which means it will be stretched for non widescreen games.

2. OK

3. God of War with progressive scan option set to ON (which forces it to 480P) looks MUCH better/crisper than progressive scan option OFF and upscaling to 720P.

Originally Posted by cheapfrag 1. Widescreen no matter what - which means it will be stretched for non widescreen games. 2. OK 3. God of War with progressive scan option set to ON (which forces it to 480P) looks MUCH better/crisper than progressive scan option OFF and upscaling to 720P.

1. Ok. You'll have to live with the black bars then. Those are what is known as underscan. They're lines that normally are hidden when playing on a regular TV. You'll find that just about every older gen game has this. The bars are just part of the image.
Google "underscan" and you'll see better explanations.

3. It looks better because the game changes so that it's optimized for it's own progressive mode. I would also play with it on in 480p.

Hehe, probably not the answers you wanted to hear.

seanr, a guy at work told me he uses eyeconnect to connect his PS3 and Mac. It's not free, but it does work.

Can anyone tell me if I can change the default background of the ps3 menu? The black is a little dark.

Yea thanks MTX. Eye connect was neat for the month I used it. I suppose I could keep downloading the month trial.

As for the background, no. However, the colors change depending on the month/time of day.

I'd imagine a future firmware update will allow you to put in custom backgrounds similar to the psp.

A few questions..

Can the tilt feature be disabled globally or do you have to do it for each individual game?

Do they have VGA cables for the PS3? I don't want to see the system on my TV, it wouldn't look that great.

I'm sitting this on a wired shelf on the bottom row, next to my 360. This should be alright, correct?

PS2 and PS1 games save directly onto the hard drive, right? I don't have a memory card that I'm transferring anything from so I don't need the adapter.

If I were to use the "PS2 to PS3" adapter, could I plug in a normal dual shock controller and get the rumble feature for all of the PS1 and PS2 games, so long as they originally supported it?

Originally Posted by Scorch A few questions.. Can the tilt feature be disabled globally or do you have to do it for each individual game? Do they have VGA cables for the PS3? I don't want to see the system on my TV, it wouldn't look that great. I'm sitting this on a wired shelf on the bottom row, next to my 360. This should be alright, correct? PS2 and PS1 games save directly onto the hard drive, right? I don't have a memory card that I'm transferring anything from so I don't need the adapter. If I were to use the "PS2 to PS3" adapter, could I plug in a normal dual shock controller and get the rumble feature for all of the PS1 and PS2 games, so long as they originally supported it?

1. Tilt is required in some games, and not in others. If it's optional, the default setting is usually off. Few games use it extensively. In Resistance, you just use it to shake off enemies when they grab you or if you're on fire. (shake shake)

2. No VGA option. Unless you use some kind of converter, but even that wouldn't be a true VGA picture.

3. As long as the vent is clear, should be fine.

4. Yeah, you create virtual mem cards on the hard drive.

5. Yes, though there are some adapters that don't work as well as others. I think there's a thread on which one is the one to get to enable rumble. I bought a cheap no name brand one and rumble doesn't work. Don't think it works with the Pelican adapter either.

I really want to pick up a PS3 before they begin the emulation.

My PS2 is almost on ebay; there's just one tiny problem I see.

Haven't been able to find any information online, but I have a metal DDR mat for my PS2. It connects to one of those control boxes that then plugs into the PS2 controller slot.

My question is this: will it be useable on a PS3? I really don't want to sell my PS2 if I cannot use the metal mat I paid for. But, I'd rather not keep my PS2 around either.

Originally Posted by dallow 1. Tilt is required in some games, and not in others. If it's optional, the default setting is usually off. Few games use it extensively. In Resistance, you just use it to shake off enemies when they grab you or if you're on fire. (shake shake) 2. No VGA option. Unless you use some kind of converter, but even that wouldn't be a true VGA picture. 3. As long as the vent is clear, should be fine. 4. Yeah, you create virtual mem cards on the hard drive. 5. Yes, though there are some adapters that don't work as well as others. I think there's a thread on which one is the one to get to enable rumble. I bought a cheap no name brand one and rumble doesn't work. Don't think it works with the Pelican adapter either.

Thanks for the quick response. It's unfortunate to hear that there's no VGA option, but it's nothing that's a deal breaker, either. Good to hear about the memory cards. Just picked up a black label FF7.. can't wait to start playing it. Never played through it before!

Originally Posted by Scorch Thanks for the quick response. It's unfortunate to hear that there's no VGA option, but it's nothing that's a deal breaker, either. Good to hear about the memory cards. Just picked up a black label FF7.. can't wait to start playing it. Never played through it before!

Just make sure you create the virtual memory card first before you try to play the game.

What does "folding" mean?

Originally Posted by mtxbass1 seanr, a guy at work told me he uses eyeconnect to connect his PS3 and Mac. It's not free, but it does work. Can anyone tell me if I can change the default background of the ps3 menu? The black is a little dark.

It's probably a little late (and it's most likely been mentioned already... if so, I second it.)

But I use Twonkyvision to great effect (the latest version works specifically with the PS3 and 360)... sharing my music and movies between my Mac and 360/PS3.

I enjoy using custom soundtracks while playing things like Uno or whatnot, and having it work with my PS3 as well is just a bonus. (I used to use 360connect, but it didn't like my custom firmware of my linksys router... that has since died from a power surge dangit...)

I watched "Devil Girl from Mars" on my TV streaming from my Mac... (and my rip of Godzilla:2000 too..) Pretty snazzy, and dang simple to set up to boot.

(I cannot compare it to eye-connect, because I only heard of TwonkyVision at the time I was searching for a streaming server solution.)

OP updated. Thanks again everyone. Great job as well, dallow. FYI, I'm just putting a general thanks at the bottom of the OP instead of at the end of every answer for easier formatting. I'm also trying to reword some of your answers so it's a smaller FAQ for new users. I don't intend to take credit for your responses and if I mistate something, please let me know.

Anyway, got a question myself: How the hell do I configure the network settings? Is there a really good step-by-step guide somewhere, 'cause I can't figure it out. The "IP Check" and "Internet Connection" tests pass, but logging onto the PlayStation Network always fails for me. I tried both wired and wireless, but would prefer wired. I just plugged in my 360 and it seemed to work off the bat, but I don't know how to figure out all these settings to check on my PC and router. Thanks for your help.

great thread....definitely going to try the HDD switching....to the CAGers that did it, how do u transfer stuff back to the new HDD?