I did not think I needed yet another remote control because I thought the six-axis had everything it needed for movie playing on the PS3 and, yet, I bought one. There were 2 initial reasons:
- my wife was missing a 'magic wand' shaped remote for playing movies
- Amazon had it at a great price in one of them lightning deals
I ended up using it myself and, in fact, using it for more than just movie playing - see below.
But, let's do a quick inventory of features:
= It's blue-tooth enabled and, therefore, it's not taking any ports on your PS3. This is probably important for anyone who has a "2-USB ports console".
= It's wand-shaped, allowing the non-gamers to control their movie-watching activities while holding a familiar-shaped device in their hand.
= It maps ALL the six-axis buttons and performs everything a six-axis would do, except for the joystick features of R3 and L3 (but you do have the push-down or 'click' abilities for them).
= 2 AA battery powered (still with the original Sony batteries after 4 months of use)
= Includes additional buttons that the movie-only users would expect on a remote such as:
+ a number pad
+ eject
+ red, green, blue, yellow buttons
+ play, stop, pause
+ slow(step), scan(left/right), prev/next
+ display, top menu, pop up menu, return
+ subtitles, angle, audio
What is interesting about this remote is that you can use it for much more than movie-playing. Given that it has all the six-axis buttons, guess what? You can use it, and I do use it to:
- surf the web
- play music
- shop at the PSN store
- play certain games such as Sudoku
- turn the PS3 on/off when your six-axis controllers are in the charger and I am playing GT5 that is using a racing wheel
And, yes, you CAN turn the PS3 on and off with this remote. Turning it on is easy - you simply press the PlayStation button and the PS3 turns itself on. To turn it off, you either go as far to the left on the X-bar and all the way up and press Enter (the turn-off PlayStation icon will be highlighted) or you simply hold the PlayStation button pressed for a few seconds and then select 'yes' and press the X button a couple of times.
Overall: I am happy with this peripheral. Yes, it's one more remote control but it's a pretty good one, for the reasons I stated above.
_______________________________
Notes - Aug 29, 2009, after 16 months of use
I find that I'm using the remote more and more, not only for playing movies but for navigating the XMB and at the PSN Store, also when playing music or slideshows. Due to its very convenient arrows wheel with an 'enter' button in the middle, navigating the PS3 and doing just about anything other than playing games is a lot easier than using the PS3 game controller. Unlike the controller which normally requires two hands to hold, this is basically a one-hand operation where you hold the remote in one hand and operate the wheel with your thumb. And because it's Bluetooth, not IR (Infrared), you don't even need to point it at the PS3.
And, one word on battery life. After about 15-16 months of operation, this is probably the third set of batteries so I'd estimate battery life to be about 4-6 months. Not too bad. Sony PlayStation 3 Blu-ray Disc Remote
If you want to pause your movie, you hit "Pause". If you want to start your movie again, you hit "Play". But between the "Pause" and "Play" buttons is "Stop". Here Be Dragons.
"Stop" means it. "Stop" doesn't just stop the video from playing, it quits out of the Blu-Ray player and returns you all the way to the root PS3 menu. To start watching your disk again you need to select the Blu-Ray disk again, wait for it to boot up, wade through whatever previews and coming attractions are on the disk, re-enable the correct subtitles and menu settings, wait for the various FBI and MPAA warnings, locate the place where it stopped playing, and then resume watching. Hitting "Stop" whether you wanted to or not means you're going to spend at least the next five minutes not watching your movie.
The "Stop" button is so big and so centrally located that I can't count the number of times I've hit it in error, either by poking at "Pause" or "Play" in my darkened living room or by sitting on the controller. It's gone from being an occasionally frustrating surprise, to being an infuriatingly common blunder, all the way around to being some sort of perverse comic relief. "What happened? Why did the movie just stop? Did you hit the STOP button by accident again? You did? THE REMOTE GOT US AGAIN. WE HATE YOU, REMOTE."
There are three ways that Sony could solve this problem.
- They could re-label the button "Ruin My Evening", and replace the pushbutton with one of those covered safety switches that are used in military cockpits to arm weapons. A button with consequences this significant needs to be clearly marked with a protective cover that you have to move aside, so that there's no way you'll end up pushing it by accident without understanding what it's going to actually do.
- They could just remove the "Stop" button entirely. Nobody would miss it. There's already a "Pause" button if you need to take a break. There's a "Top Menu" button to return you to the top menu. There's a "PS3" button to pop up the media bar (with an option to quit the player), and an "Eject" button that also quits the player while ejecting the disk. There is nothing that the "Stop" button should do that another button isn't already doing.
- They could make the "Stop" button just return the user to the top level Blu Ray menu, and not quit out of the entire player. They could also make "Play" the opposite of "Stop", where "Play" returns you to playing what "Stop" stopped you from playing.
Apart from the "Stop" button this would be a completely fine remote with a four or five star review. It's well built, it runs for weeks or months without batteries, and because it's Bluetooth (not IR) it doesn't need to be pointed at the player with line-of-sight to work. It's like a well-built Mercedes, with an extra pedal between the gas and brake that makes all four wheels fall off. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT.
Update: It's actually pretty easy to remove the stop button yourself. Undo the screw on the underside at the bottom of the remote and carefully pry the upper and lower halves apart. Under the rubber buttons there's a layer of conducting pads, a plastic spacer layer, and the circuit board. You can either use a hobby knife to cut out the conducting pad that triggers the stop, or you can put tape over the circuit board contact to render the stop button mercifully unusable. - Blu-ray Remote - Playstation 3 Remote - Ps3 Remote - Blu-ray'
Detail Products
Detail Reviews
Click here for more information
