In our house the PS3 is not just for gaming. It’s used as a media center, web radio (Pandora.com works nicely), and DVD player among other things (it only does everything, remember?) We rent movies from PSN, use PS3 Media Server to download or stream music, video, and pictures from a Windows PC, and yes, sometimes we actually game (or I do.) At first we used the PS3′s built in wireless to connect to the access point, a Linksys WRT54GS v1 running Tomato 1.27. The problem is the PS3 sits in a cabinet on the opposite floor/wall from the office where the AP resides. Basically, it’s as far away as you can get in a 2500sq2 house. Because of this, throughput was averaging 5 – 8Mbps with ~70ms ping times. This is (barely) adequate for gaming, but not much else. Downloads from the PC or internet took seemingly forever, and whenever we rented a movie from PSN we had to wait 20 minutes before we could start watching lest we be interrupted when the buffer ran out. What could be done to improve this?
I don’t have a lot of time to game. I want to make what time I do have as “productive” as possible. Part of that is using an interface that works for me.
When I bought my PlayStation 3 I knew I would be playing online, and would need a headset. I started looking around for one, and found out very quickly the only real headsets available (there weren’t many) were $80.00 and up. I also tried to find a Bluetooth headset, but due to the limitations of Bluetooth I couldn’t find one that did what I wanted. The current generation of Bluetooth headsets are limited to two channels so you can either have stereo with no microphone, or mono sound with a mic. Of course, neither of these was acceptable. Like many veteran gamers I have a wife and kid, and don’t have much time to play. What time I do have is usually at night during the weekend after everyone’s in bed. That’s why I prefer a stereo headset. I can communicate with the mic, as well as immerse myself in the game by turning it up as loud as I want.