Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, AT&T’s 100-day plan to stop sucking, updating me on Lost (please), or Edwin Valero entering drug rehab, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.
Today I wanted to talk about all the non-gaming things you do on your consoles. I’m guessing most of you have watched a Blu-ray movie on your PlayStation 3 systems. I’m sure many of you have downloaded or streamed movies on Xbox Live. Do any of you use Facebook or Twitter on your home machines? Do you happen to surf the web with your Wii? I want to know anything and everything you do with your consoles (aside from playing excellent games).
As for me, I use my PlayStation 3 to watch Blu-ray discs and all sorts of media files. It’s frickin’ fantastic as a media player. My Xbox 360 has my Facebook account on it. When friends are over, I sometimes use it to look at Facebook photos of our friends. Web browsing on a console?!? No thanks. Linux?!? Not for me.
Now it’s your turn! Let everyone here know about the non-gaming activities you enjoy on your consoles. What percentage of your console use is gaming and what percentage is non-gaming?
@side note
I just turned in my resume and everything else to EEDAR for their videogame research internship. So here's to hoping it works out well in the end!!
@topic
I personally don't understand the appeal of web browsing on a console. It is not natural to me, and the process is much slower than going to get my laptop, or even sitting at a desktop (if I had one right now). The appeal is not there for me. I would definitely use a PS3 for blu-ray, and my fiance wants a PS3 as a blu-ray player specifically so I will get an extra gaming system out of it someday if that purchase is made and I will not complain. lol. Most of my media usage is just playing dvd's. I would download videos to my xbox, but I hate the idea of not being able to take them with me or play them on my ipod touch. I don't like being limited on where I can take something that I purchased. I don't leave my souvenirs in yellowstone, or the rockies, or michigan just because that is where I got them from, I like to take my souvenirs home and have them with me wherever I choose to take them.
I use my PS3 for lots of stuff. I watch ALL dvds and Blu-rays in my PS3.I have a metric F&%# ton of music stored on it and movies. I do use the internet on my PS3 when there isn't a PC convenient to use. The web browser is horrible on the PS3 and its far better than my Blackberry. I stream music and movies from my PC to my PS3 because my surround sound on my TV is far superior to my PCs surround sound.
I also use to my PSP/PS3 to watch movies while I am at work. Its nice to store stuff on my computer and be able to access it any and everywhere that has WiFi through my PSP.
I also use my Xbox 360 for other things besides gaming. It visually balances out my entertainment center by offsetting my PS3. And thats about it. The hdd on my 360 isn't large enough to put music on and I would never consider watching a movie in my 360.
QUESTION: Does anyone actually store photos on their PS3? The photo gallery seems odd to me.
@RROD
I agree. I also like that the PS3 upscales your dvd's to near 1080P. I watched a non-high def version of *sighs* Love Happens and it was pretty close to high def quality. Guys, if you haven't watched it, avoid it like the plague. It's a pretty bad movie but my gf wanted to see it.
thanks for the birthday wishes yesterday guys, fortunately I didn't come to work, but unfortunately I missed my Rpad.tv fix
I use my PS3 as my log in for my VNC. It's my personal cloud system.
Like RROD I like to use my PS3 for its Blu-Ray capabilities, I don't mind DVD upscaling, but BD is unmatched for video and sound.
I also have a 1TB external HDD attached to my Xbox 360 that includes about 250 movies and 5 or six full TV shows such as Seinfeld, The Office, House, and a few others. I can stream all of that stuff to the PS3 and 360 from my Mac but the wireless is iffy every now and then. I like to have a nice solid connection.
@shockwave
Are you using Connect360 and Nullriver?
@smartguy – I use Rivet, I like it because it works for both consoles and it was reasonably priced
@shockwave
I went with Nullriver. Same price. I don't use my 360 for anything since it seems to be a pain to mess with and the Zune interface they use really irks me.
@smartguy – ya I do like the 360 for most of my movies, unfortunately the PS3 doesn't have a lot of video encoding software built-in. A lot of my movies won't play on it.
On the other hand my 360 encoding software was downloaded for free on XBL, so I can't watch many of the movies unless I'm connected to the internet.
Believe it or not, I get the most non-gaming function out of my Wii than my 360. I guess it's because I use the 360 as a purely gaming machine. I'm not on Facebook, I don't have a Twitter feed (or subscribe to anyone else's for that matter), I've never streamed/downloaded a movie or music video from my Xbox and I don't have a Netflix account. With the Wii on the other hand, I've used the Opera browser a whole bunch of times (mostly for porn- take that, "kid-friendly console"), checking the weather, catching up on current events on the news channel and even voting for almost everything in the "Everybody Votes" channel. I guess it's because I don't really use the Wii for games, I subconsciously like to use it for SOMETHING so that I feel that I'm getting my money's worth… even if it was a gift (I'm a very appreciative person).
-M
@smartguy – I don't think it will run my AVIs, but I can't be sure about Mpeg4 right now
@shockwave
I don't have any issues running avi's or mpeg4's when i have my ipod connected or when i save them from my ipod to the PS3. I haven't setup my PS3 to share files from my pc but i should look into that someday.
@ tokz interesting, I may need to look back in to it, since the external HDD has performed well on my 360 I didn't really mess with it too much. I might need to look back in to it though.
Off to search for Blackest Night #8. I can't wait to see how it all ends!!!
@shockwave
i stumbled upon it. if your doing for video or music or even pictures you can transfer it from your ipod to your PS3.
@rpad
don't spoliers it for me i'm going to read it later along with GL#52.
@shockwave
check options to make sure it will display all file types.
@shockwave
np. It worked for me. I had acquired Donnie Darko on avi and had to press triangle for the ps3 to display all file typed. Had to do that when I attached a USB memory stick/drive as well.
@sandrock
let's shoot some kids this weekend.
@Tokz_21 and @RROD
Thanks for the support. Right now I'm just playing the waiting game.
Blackest Night #8 acquired. I'm going to read it now. In the meantime, would someone kindly spoilarize Lost for me?
@tokz
the problem with TPAs (recruiters) is that they aren't qualified to understand job duties of different disciplines. Years ago I ran into a recruiter who refused to turn over my info to a firm because he didn't think I had accounts payable experience since I listed my current accounting position as "clerk" which is entry level and handles Accounts payable. He said if I were the AP assistant at my current position he'd have passed my info along. Idiot.
From that day on I refuse to consider employment with a company or firm who will not screen their own prospective employees and lets a third party agent do the filtering.
@rpad
original island
Jin and Sun episode. They keep looking for each other. Jin gets captured by Widmore. Smokey tries to recruit Sun but fails. Sun hits her head and only speaks Korean. Smokey confronts Widmore, who denies having Jin, and declares War. Jack earns Sun's trust and Jack promises to re-unite them. Alpert returns and says they're going to stop Smokey.
@Tokz and @Smartguy
Yeah I can see both sides of that. I'm sure there can be plenty of times where people could not understand what the qualifications for the job are and how to screen everything properly. But I would just love when I apply for a job if someone could just tell me no or that I do have a chance…it would ease my mind because I am the kind of person who would have it on my mind until I hear something more definite.
watch Blu-ray movies/stream Netflix on PS3.
Stream Movies on 360 when the PS3 is not in use. I do not have a FB or ever plan on getting one.
I might get the Wii streaming movies too once i get the disc but that’s about it.
@buskenyan
Good Luck!
I watch Blu-Rays on my PS3. The quality of Blu-Ray is unmatched. That so called 1080P streaming stuff IS NOT the same and it’s inferior, no thanks. I have a 500gb HDD in my PS3 so I use it for all media purposes. I have all of my music and pictures on it and still have about 270gb remaining last I checked. When my wife in on the laptop and I need to get online I use the PS3’s web browser. It’s not the best but it gets the job done. I also transfer my music from my PS3 to my mp3 player, I find it faster than using my PC.
@bsukenyan
Good luck with that. Also, once I saw a Blu-Ray I couldn’t go back to DVDs.
@Smartguy
Lets make them cry!
@shockwave
hmm. The only thing I couldn’t run on my PS3 was an mkv file.
@tokz – thanks, I’ll look at my options, I still like the external HDD with all my movies on it though
@shockwave
no problemo.
@smartguy – thanks, I think that might help
My 360 gets non-gaming uses, but for the most part it is an anime/video game only machine. I’ve never spent more than five – ten minutes at time using Facebook or Twitter and I only download movies off of Live when I feel like (once a year) seeing a movie at 1080p. I used to use the Netflix app allot, but I cleared though their anime collection on it within a few months. That said, I watch all of my anime on 360 which is about 4 hours a week.
@smartguy
Hey was it me or did yesterday’s episode of Lost seem out of place?
@bsukenyan
No problem. the waiting game sucks!
@tokz
I thought it was a bad episode. I’m getting tired of “we need to talk, but not yet”.
@bsukenyan
goodluck. I have an interview Friday for a tax accountant position at a CPA firm. I sent my resume off and was called about 3 hours later. Nervous and excited.
@smartguy
are you referring to when Sun and Jin where in bed. I have a theory on that.
Lol at ZeroPunctuation FFXIII review today. That is exactly how I felt about the game.
@tokz
nah that is directed at Locke and Alpert. I thought the episode last night didn’t really do anything for the story that we already didn’t know.
Only new thing was Desmond Hume is back. I’m considering skipping the next episode or 2.
@Tokz
Yeah it is probably my least favorite part of applying for any job.
@Smartguy
Well good luck on Friday in that interview! Hope all goes well.
@smartguy
I agree. it just gave me more questions, especially when Widmore was like you took him to early. i was like ok? WTF! I’m actually happy to see Desmond back but now we’re going to have to see a flashback and a island 2 time for him too.
Also good luck in your job interview!
@bsukenyan
I wish companies would actually look at your resume right away and at least contact you to tell you no, we’re not interested. This way you know you can move on. It may take some time but most of the time those recruiters aren’t doing shyte anyways.
@rpad
island b
Jin is let go by security w/out the money and is upset that he missed his meeting. Jin and Sun are having an affair behind Sun’s father’s back. Keamy comes and takes both Sun & Jin captive until he gets his $25k that he tells Jin was his money from Mr. Paik to kill Jin for touching his daughter. Sun tells Mikail Keamy’s translator that she has the money. Mikail and Sun go to the bank but her dad closes the account. They return only to find that Keamy is dead and Jin is out of the fridge. They fight and shoot at each other. Jin kills Mikail by shooting him in the eye and Sun gets shot. Jin rushes Sun to the hospital
I forgot to add this to original island time. Widmore reveals his possible secret weapon against smokey…… and it is Desmond, who is seen by Sayid who’s sent by smokey on a spy mission.
@ everyone
Sorry for my morning silence, my internet was down and the phone guy ACTUALLY came today and fixed it. Hopefully my phone’s going out for a few days at a time will no longer be an issue.
@bsukenyan
prepare for a world of hurt later on. HR won’t call you after an interview to let you know you won’t be getting a second interview. Had that happen often. Their excuse is that they’re busy. In the business world I have the least respect (negative if possible) for HR people.
@everyone
great youtube link
@Smartguy
Yeah that is one thing that I am hoping will not happen, because I would really like to know what is happening, whether it is a yes or a no. It is just better to be informed. I am sure there will be plenty of times where I just won’t hear back from a company, but I won’t be too happy about it.
Non gaming console activities eh? Well, the PS3 gets use as a DVD/BluRay player, a music player (mostly my Days of the New collection when I’m house cleaning lol), sometimes I’ll put photos up there so I can show em off on the big screen (my mom hates when I do that of her), some internet(mostly to find new wallpapers) and youtube but the tube of you and usually slow as hell on there, and lastly and very least I do voice chat on there with RL friends that I’ve convinced to buy a ps3 lol.
My Wii seems to browse the internet faster, so if I’m stuck on something on the ps3 and wanna cheat I’ll switch over and look online from there if I’m feeling to lazy to go in the other room to look things up on my pc.
Ugh but by the sounds of my last comment, it doesn’t look like I game at all. LoL, would just like to throw in there that all the activities above are in the 10% area of my ps3 activities lol. Well cept the movie watching. We watch a lot of stuff around here.