The PlayStation 3 arrived in 2006 and has long since reached its end-of-life phase. Most third-party services, including Crunchyroll, Plex and Netflix, have dropped support for the console. Even so, the aging hardware still has plenty to offer, so there is little reason to let it gather dust.
The PS3 works as a disc player out of the box, playing audio CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays without any custom firmware. Its built-in upscaler can enhance standard-definition DVDs to 1080p over HDMI, which makes older media look sharper and cleaner. Owners should keep the console updated to keep playing Blu-rays, since Sony issues an update about once a year to address the AACS copy-protection system.
The console also supports DLNA, letting it stream movies, home videos and music from a PC on the same network. Enabling Media Server Connection in the network settings makes shared libraries appear in the main menu. Alternatively, files can be loaded onto a FAT32-formatted USB drive, though that format caps individual files at 4GB and video at 1080p.
Finally, the PS3 is a capable retro gaming machine. Every model is backward compatible with PS1 games, while only the early 'fat' consoles can play PS2 discs. Owners of later models can turn to the official Digital PS2 Classics store instead.
Source: Engadget · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing