I'd be interested in seeing that link as I haven't been able to find anything that supports that. Sony's PS3 enforces region coding for DVDs and Blu Ray discs. I recently bought a DVD player and it was region locked to R4 which I had to unlock with the code that was provided in the instructions. Every DVD player I saw when out shopping was region locked, couldn't find one that wasn't.

Actually there are 3 regions:

Region A: USA and East Asia not including China

Region B: Africa, Southwest Asia, Europe (except Russia), Oceania and their dependencies.

Region C: Central Asia, East Asia (Mainland China and Mongolia only), South Asia, central Eurasia (including Russia) and their dependencies.

I only had a very quick search but found this which has some pointers if you want to read on.

http://www.abforum.org/f8/copyright-...p-please-1089/

The thread on here to which I was referring (and you also particpated in was:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=609038

As you pointed out, most players (if locked) are relatively easy to hack.

Bluray sadly is not. I wonder when here will be Bluray test case similar to Stevens vs Sony in The Australian High Court.

Three actually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu-ray_Disc#Region_codes

Rather a bizarre thing to have China in a separate region to the rest of Asia though.

For what it's worth, I have been using my UK laptop here in Sydney for the last 7 months with no problem!

On Sunday I am going to try my (uk) wii here so may update this forum then!

I initially loved the Wii, but after a pretty short period realised that the accuracy of the controller system was going to be it's greatest let down. It promised so much but frankly delivered nothing more than a way to wave you arms about which effectively push buttons that generated pre-defined movements on screen. A very clever trick but hardly something to base an entire console on. Nintendo managed to do well though with their never ending range of awesome kids games.

Even though Nintendo are trying to rectify this now with the hyper accurate Wii MotionPlus it's too late to stop the others from stealing the market from underneath then.

It took a while but Microsoft and Sony are about to enter the fray in force.

Microsoft with their real-time full-body motion detection system currently, codenamed NATAL, and Sony with their stunning new real-time full 3D controller system.

• Microsoft XBox - Project NATAL (Video) - http://www.xbox.com/en-US/live/projectnatal/
• E3 2009 - Sony Playstaytion new 3D motion controller (Video) - http://www.snotr.com/video/2733

Looks like Sony are a little ahead of the game as Microsoft only have mocked up demos of what it might be like.

Al

They need to be, quite frankly the PS3 has been a disaster that has never lived up to any of the hype and is causing Sony to hemorrhage money.

I'm using my UK Xbox 360 and absolutely no probs. I even get the UK downloadable content that the Aussies don't get!

Planning on shipping my Wii over and had the same concerns as yourself, so went in to a games shop to ask there advice. They informed me that the Wii isn't coded like the other consols as it doesn't play DVDs, and PAL is PAL regardless of region.
Make sure you either have a power adaptor or a new Auzzie plug, be careful when buying new plugs though. There are 2 different sizes 10 amp and 15 amp, they almost look the same, just the 15 amp has a larger earth pin and so won't fit into household sockets.
Also be aware the new plugs should be fitted by an electrican, which sounds really lame if you come from the UK or Ireland where you can fit your own. I have heard of some insurance companies not paying out after a house fire because the householder fitted a plug of there own.
Good Luck

I have fitted loads of Aussie plugs. Since when has there been two different sizes? I've never seen them and Aussie plugs don't have fuses either.

Ya there is - I got catch twice with it myself

Then 15A version has larger earth pin - like the normal 10A they're not fusrd. They're really only used in workshops e.g.home welders.

Doing a search I came across the HPM site and they supply plugs in 10A, 15, 20 & 25A.

I have still never seen them, well that i've paid any attention to anyway.

Interestingly I have all three consoles and use the PS3 on a daily basis, but not to play games. It's is the absolute centre of our entertainment system in the front room. We watch and record Australian TV (small amount) through the PlayTV HD PVR, watch all our other TV as DivX downloads, play all our music through the house via the PS3 and it also holds all our photos.

Conversely my 9 year old lives on his XBox360 when not playing sports and his younger brother has pretty much given up with the Wii claiming the games are "too babyish". Says it all I think. XBox is for kids, Wii is for grannies, mums and puppies. PS3 is the grown up's system

Best purchase I ever made. That and the wedding ring I gave my wife.

Al

Does the PS3 do lossless audio and does it support FLAC in particular?

Now i think you just had to say that, is the missus standing over your shoulder watching you replying to these threads. Good man yaself