I rented Role Models from BlockBuster.

What's worst is that a wife's friend rented a blu-ray from BlockBuster, and when she tried to watched it didn't work. So she tries to eject the disc and it makes a really bad noise and the disc is out but it seems a sticker that was on top of the blu-ray is gone! So she somehow removes most of the sticker but there are still some pieces inside the PS3. So now the PS3 won't play anything, no games, dvds or blu-rays.

Now I'm scared...

Also, there's a way to turn on the PS3's fan so it cleans itself, that's suppose to help somehow. I read about that somewhere last year and tried and it worked pretty well. I haven't tried since then though.

And my PS3 is almost silent. Same with my Xbox 360 now that games can be loaded in the hard drive. Although I played Halo 3 last night (no HD support) and noise was fine, nothing noticeable.

The way to do it on the old models was to turn it upside down. On the new models you have to turn it on using the switch while holding down the eject button.

You got me there. I've never had those options show up. Mine would merely ask something about changing the aspect ratio (I think) with yes or no options. I can't recommend any of the above steps since mine worked without doing any. Sorry...

edit...I'm thinking there might be differences between our systems. The playstation that I did my "restart" with was the first model released. Maybe some functions have changed since then.

My system has rebuilt the database before-- no idea why and what provoked it. It wasn't me! My data was kept intact, however.

I have the 40GB model and my experience with the button reset seems to mirror yours...

I see what the problem is...when you hold down the power button you will hear the initial *beep*, then when you hear a second *beep* you want to let up on the power button. I held the button down longer to see what would happen and found myself on the screen you mentioned with the 6 options. If that doesn't work you might want to give Sony a call and have them walk you through it.

Regarding fan noise my 80GB is quiet most of the time, but when the fan kicks onto high you can definitely hear it. It usually doesn't get that hot (because it's in an open cabinet I guess) but it can be mildly distracting. It usually doesn't go to high speed when watching movies though, but during games you can often hear it.

Did they actually remove support for some video codecs with the recent update? I have a folder on my media server with some fansubbed Kamen Rider on it, which I know I watched on the PS3 just last month, but now it shows up as invalid format.

Sadly that happens a lot of times with the PS3. I've had that issue in the past. Videos that I put in my PS3 and was able to watch there, and then after a firmware upgrade they don't work anymore. Sound works but no video.

I'm wondering the same thing. I just downloaded a Revision 3 show in HD and it doesn't work. The PS3 never had trouble with Quicktime HD before.

Doesn't TVersity (if that's what you're using) use it's own codecs to make everything run properly on the PS3?

Yeah that would solve it because it would do the encode. Usually though I just download my video podcasts straight to a CF card and watch them directly on the PS3. Today it didn't work with the HD stuff that used to work all the time. I could just be a weird encode. I'll have to download something else to test it out.

Ok, so read up on other forums, where people are complaining that Sony removed codecs. One guy said that he copied his divx file from his media server to his PS3 and it played fine once transferred (though it showed up as mp4), so maybe just the streaming is broken. Divx and avi seem to be affected.

That's still crap considering the update didn't really add anything of value, at least from my perspective.

Also, there are lots of stories of it bricking Blu-ray playback, so now I have to go check that too.

edited to add: apparently, this may not be Sony's fault necessarily, but a bug in an older version of Twonky that is now incompatible with the PS3.

There is something definitely wonky with the latest PS3 firmware update... file access on USB external drives has slowed to a crawl. I discovered this the hard way.

http://community.eu.playstation.com/...hread.id=35670

Does anyone know if Blockbuster has PSN cards?

I have a $50 Blockbuster gift card coming my way from Sony Card Rewards and that's what I want to spend it on.

I believe they were actually one of the first stores to get them. But be careful, from what I've read, some people have been getting charged tax at BBV and that's definitely not the way it's supposed to happen.

Yes, they have PSN cards.

The 320GB hard drive that a lot of people have recommended for use in the PS3 has dropped to $59.99 on Amazon. Seems like a really good deal - 70% off MSRP, and the same drive is $84.99 on Newegg.

^ that is sweet... I'm waiting for newegg though, since Amazon charges taxes to NY. If the 500gb comes down to $70-$80, i will get that instead. Already down to 120gb from the 320gb upgrade.

Thanks for posting that. I just upgraded the 360 from 20gb to 120gb and I was thinking the PS3 should be in for an upgrade too.

Total price for the two upgrades? $120

I want to upgrade my 40GB drive to the 320GB. If I do that, will I lose all my saves plus RB1+RB2 music? Or if I do the backup feature on the PS3, it will save all of that to swap to the new HD correct and it won't really change anything?

There's plenty of guides that help with all of these concerns, here's one to read over:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Upgr...3s_Hard_Drive/

Essentially, it depends on what size of external storage you have available to use (memory card, thumbdrive, harddrive)

I have a 320gb WD Passport, so I'll be going the full-backup route (won't require re-downloading anything).

So the Xbox 360 upgrade is $60 too? It's not a bad price for Xbox's 120gb. But i doubt the average Joe can get that price... Even then, i still think it's expensive, 200gb less for the same price.

They do, but with their clearance sale on new games going on, that $50 could be better spent ($20 Uncharted, Ratchet and Clank, etc....$55 Rock Band Bundle)

I picked up a used ebay drive at that price.