PS3 and me

well, my PS3 arrived yesterday safe and sound. after purchasing it maybe 2 weeks ago, it shipped late last week and arrived Tuesday here - not bad. i was tracking the package as it went - started in Nevada, went East to Kentucky, then North to Ontario, and then to Honolulu. strangest trip i've ever seen a package take - it got further away with each step until the last!

anywho, didn't make a big deal out of it last night here on my blog because i didn't set it up. i know, i know - "you bought a $500 system and didn't set it up when you got it?" that's correct. 1) i don't have the correct cable to hook it up to my tv all nice (i'd have to unplug something else right now to plug it in), and 2) i'm still finishing a game on my PS2 and you can't transfer over save files to the PS3 unless you have this little device, which i should be borrowing from a friend of a friend this week.

even though i knew i'd have to play around with some wires in the back for now, i just had to set it up tonight - after all, there's things to sign up for and system updates to download. woohoo. how was the experience?

infuriating.

the cable i decided to use was the component cable i bought for my PS2 (actually meant for a PS3) a few months back that was supposed to make it look a bit better on my HDTV (it ended up just making the crappy picture sharper, not better per se). the reason i don't just use this cable with my PS3 from now on is because my TV only has one component outlet, and that's for my Xbox 360. i have an HDMI cable i ordered Sunday coming in the mail.

so i get everything plugged in and start it up. no picture. i turn it off, mess around with some of the cables, try again. still no picture. i think maybe it needs just a regular composite cable to get things started (the one it shipped with, same with the PS2), so i plug THAT in. picture.

i go through the registration of my PS3 and then turn it off to try the component cable again. more unplugging, plugging - no picture. i decide to put the composite cable back in. more unplugging, plugging - picture.

i realize there must be some setting INSIDE the PS3 that i have to tell it that i'll be using a component cord. so i find where that is, do what i think needs to be done, try it again (unplugging, plugging) - no picture. unplugging, plugging - picture.

i tried this more than a few times with various settings, but i could NOT get the component cord to work. i tested to see if it was the cord at fault by using it with my PS2 and it worked fine... so there's got to be something wrong internally with my PS3, some setting i have wrong.

anyway, it was quite the headache and after about 2 hours of playing around with all this i grew tired of it and didn't even get to start downloading any demos or games.

not a great start to this $500 powerhouse of a machine. i hope when i get the HDMI cable i'll be able to get IT to work.

off to play my PS2.

- kawitchate