Goodbye Apple TV, Playstation 3 rules!

[harcosparky]

I think its funny after all this arguing just sitting back and realizing the only reason people are buying PS3s are for Blu-Ray players not because of their games...all 12 of them 😛.

Yeah it is funny watching a guy trying to defend his PS3 purchase decision.

Even for use as a Blue Ray player ... 🙄

That's the ticket ....' I want a Blue Ray player so instead of buying a dedicated Blue Ray player, I'll buy a gaming console! ' 🙄

Just got finished watching ' Bandits " on our Apple TV .... was not a bad movie.

 

[P-Worm]

That's the ticket ....' I want a Blue Ray player so instead of buying a dedicated Blue Ray player, I'll buy a gaming console! ' 🙄

What's so weird about that? A PS3 is an inexpensive blu-ray player AND it's upgradeable to new versions of blu-ray disks.

P-Worm

 

[petvas]

Yeah it is funny watching a guy trying to defend his PS3 purchase decision.

Even for use as a Blue Ray player ... 🙄

That's the ticket ....' I want a Blue Ray player so instead of buying a dedicated Blue Ray player, I'll buy a gaming console! ' 🙄

Just got finished watching ' Bandits " on our Apple TV .... was not a bad movie.

Who is defending what here??? I started this thread to discuss with you people about the Playstation 3 as a Mediacenter! My experience so far has been much better than with the AppleTV.

 

[err404]

if nt wrong, there's already a store in Ps3 ui that you can buy music or games. sony can handle the movie ship too, they have a studio, and the rest of the studios will like sony if the ps3 is their veicle to put their blueray films onto your tv by disk or through the network.

Also, apple never mentioned that movie rentals will come in the future at the atv introduction; the update has come in a couple of months. sony can do the same thing, is feasible.

I don't really get your point about Apple adding rentals later. I didn't buy the ATV until this was a feature. It would have been dumb to buy an apple TV last year for rentals since it didn't support them. Just like it would be dumb to buy a PS3 for rentals today.

Having a studio doesn't mean you don't have to license the content. Any existing contracts for BD don't cover online distribution. Movies are notoriously difficult due to the large number of stake holders that need to sign on for a single film. Like I said it's possible, but getting the legal ducks in a row for it to happen will take a long time. Until then the PS3 can't do this a feature.

I didn't start this thread to compare Apple TV's rentals with the Playstation 3, but to mention the fact that the Playstation can function as a Media Center, totally replacing an Apple TV.

I'm not trying to flame you, because I really understand you point. But for users in the US (I realize that you are not), a PS3 can't "totally replace" an ATV as a media center since it's lacking the single most compelling reason to own an one.
Renting isn't just a feature for the ATV, it's the reason Apple is trying to bring it back to life with Take 2.
If this feature isn't important to you or is not fully supported in your area, the ATV is probably not the right device for you.
For me the PS3 can not even partially replace the ATV as a media center.

 

[petvas]

For those interested in what the future brings...

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thu...etails-playstation-3-year-hints-at-e3-reveals

The original blog entry can be found here: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/04/15/inside-playstation-network/

 

[jaw04005]

For those interested in what the future brings...

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thu...etails-playstation-3-year-hints-at-e3-reveals

The original blog entry can be found here: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/04/15/inside-playstation-network/

The same "article" also mentions how Home and in-game XMB is "coming soon." However, both features have been "coming soon" for months.

I have the original 60GB PS3. Therefore, I'll hold on to mine (as it has become somewhat rare). But trusting Sony is like trusting Microsoft, you never know when and even if they'll deliver.

For those that purchased the PS3 near launch, it's been a bumpy ride.

 

[petvas]

The same "article" also mentions how Home and in-game XMB is "coming soon." However, both features have been "coming soon" for months.

I have the original 60GB PS3. Therefore, I'll hold on to mine (as it has become somewhat rare). But trusting Sony is like trusting Microsoft, you never know when and even if they'll deliver.

For those that purchased the PS3 near launch, it's been a bumpy ride.

I can certainly understand you. I bought my Playstation a couple of weeks ago, so I didn't have to go through the many system updates....

 

[crap freakboy]

My wife bought me a PS3 for my birthday just two weeks ago, and even though I lament the fact I can't play play GOW or Halo3 I have to admit I'm impressed with what it offers. BluRay at 1080p is amazing, just really need decent films released at a higher rate of five a month.
Originally I was seriously looking at bootcamp on either our MBP or iMac but couldnt justify the cost for one game...that being COD4. COD 1080p multiplayer is well...comes close to the old days of Quake3 ctf spacemap...sigh. Of course I miss the mouse and keyboard, but this old dog is willing to learn new tricks.
Regarding playing media on it, a WD 180Gb Passport full of films, easy to browse and the PS3 seems to improve the quality. It also upscales my DVDs to 1080p extremely well, almost to the point where they seem extremely HD.
I'm afraid I finally did it tonight and dumped all my games off of my Mac and I wont miss the tweaking of cfg's to try and achieve a smooth frame rate. Nor will I miss suddenly finding I need an update, yet it is PC only and the Mac one is 'coming soon'. Goodbye mac gaming, it was fun.
Now I just need to put all my DVD's on another WD Passport and I'll be happy.

 

[msbsound]

For those interested in what the future brings...

http://arstechnica.com/journals/thu...etails-playstation-3-year-hints-at-e3-reveals

The original blog entry can be found here: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/04/15/inside-playstation-network/

While not earth shattering, another source on this "future" service:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sony21apr21,1,152898.story

I am curious to hear their plans, as I dont feel i really have the need for an ATV, but wouldnt mind the ability to occasionally rent a movie.

 

[minik]

I bought my 60GB Playstation 3 on Christmas 2006, kind of an impulsive buy thing as I planned to get one in late 2007. I purchased a couple games, but more and more blu-ray movie titles. In general, I love my PS3 in terms of gaming and blu-ray movies playback. I did rip a couple CDs onto it as well.

After hearing Steve announced Apple TV 2.0 software at MWSF08, 2 months ago I decided to get an Apple TV (160GB model). So far, I rented 2 HD movies and 4 non-HD movies. Along side, I cancelled my Netflix subscription. There are still couple glitches on the Apple TV, e.g. stuck Apple logo on weekly basis. I sync all my music on the Apple TV itself as well as a video podcast downloader.

For me, both Apple TV and Playstation 3 live well together.

 

[Tweeksy]

PS3 vs ATV

Hmmm, before going through this post I was planning on buying an ATV on my next trip to the states.

Been looking in PS3 and it certainly appealing, I am a causal gamer so this is no biggy for me, but blu-ray playback is pretty cool, and all I really want the ATV (well all it really does) is for playing movie files, ripped and converted from my DVD collection. PlayTV looks like it is going to rock as well!

A couple of questions though:

1. Did I miss something or does the PS3 not support AC3 within H264 files?
2. How simple/good in the connecting between PC/Mac and PS3?
3. How fussy is the PS3 around movie formats? the PSP seems pretty fussy about the files.

I have been converting dvds for ATV format in HB, will these work on the PS3?

 

[mark34]

The PS3 may be an inexpensive Blu-Ray player, but up until the newest stand alone units coming out, it has also provided the highest quality blu-ray video from what I have been told. The earliest stand alone Blu-Ray units were very problematic and then the second batch just didn't have as good a chip set (I don't claim to be an expert, so feel free to correct me).

My issue is that the PS3 does not have analog outputs so that I can take a decoded audio signal directly into my pre-pro analog inputs to take full advantage of lossless audio formats. I will likely upgrade to a good stand alone unit with analog outputs after a little research. It will still be cheaper than upgrading my pre-pro (McIntosh MX-119). I hear panasonic has a blu-ray player with 7.1 analog outputs... that's what i need!

 

[nordesmic]

Hmmm, before going through this post I was planning on buying an ATV on my next trip to the states.

Been looking in PS3 and it certainly appealing, I am a causal gamer so this is no biggy for me, but blu-ray playback is pretty cool, and all I really want the ATV (well all it really does) is for playing movie files, ripped and converted from my DVD collection. PlayTV looks like it is going to rock as well!

A couple of questions though:

1. Did I miss something or does the PS3 not support AC3 within H264 files?
2. How simple/good in the connecting between PC/Mac and PS3?
3. How fussy is the PS3 around movie formats? the PSP seems pretty fussy about the files.

I have been converting dvds for ATV format in HB, will these work on the PS3?

1. The PS3 does support AC3 with h264. The only thing is that it does not support in a mp4 container. A common workaround is to remux the audio and video into a vob file using software such as MKV2VOB.

2. The connection is great if you use Medialink (Mac). It had some initial problems with incorrect file size reporting, drop outs etc but all is fixed now. I use it connected via ethernet to stream High Def Rips. Works fine even at movies where the bitrate reaches 30 Mbps.

3. I've probably played 100 divx files since that update and 3 have failed. h.264 files are ok unless the level is greater than 4.1 (Many MKV torrents have a AVC level of 5.1). If it works on the AppleTV/iTunes it will probably work on the PS3. Anything that doesn't work on the psp most likely wont work on the PS3.

If you are converting your own dvds you can use handbrake or visualhub.
If you want to keep the AC3 audio and play on the PS3 I think the best workflow is to use handbrake (ps3 preset, avc + ac3 , mux into mkv container). Then run this file through MKV2VOB and you'll have a VOB file that will play on the PS3 with full audio.

 

[Tweeksy]

Hmmm, you are making a PS3 even more tempting 🙂

Thanks for the help, anyone out there using a PC as the media server? Which is the best software for doing this?

(and no flaming, have an old pc I could leave switched on with some usb drives full of vids, don't have an old mac!)

 

[nordesmic]

Hmmm, you are making a PS3 even more tempting 🙂

Thanks for the help, anyone out there using a PC as the media server? Which is the best software for doing this?

(and no flaming, have an old pc I could leave switched on with some usb drives full of vids, don't have an old mac!)

The software you need for PC is called Tversity. Not as easy to setup as Medialink on the Mac but can do all the same things.

 

[Tweeksy]

Noise

Last thing, and this is only because I haven't seen one in a quiet environment!

How noisy are the fans on the PS3, are we talking PS2 levels of hum or have they sorted it?

I mean mainly for BR and MP4 file playback.

 

[northy124]

How noisy are the fans on the PS3, are we talking PS2 levels of hum or have they sorted it?

They aren't noisy at all

 

[msbsound]

I agree, honestly I cant tell the difference in the room between it being on or off. For me it sits about 8 feet away behind standard entertainment center glass.

I am sure if the room was totally silent(IE running the PS3 but not playing even low level audio) I would hear it, but never noticed it when playing games, movies or music.

 

[BlackMax]

Last thing, and this is only because I haven't seen one in a quiet environment!

How noisy are the fans on the PS3, are we talking PS2 levels of hum or have they sorted it?

I mean mainly for BR and MP4 file playback.

I have the 60 GB PS3 and it seems to have two fan speeds, low and high. On low you cannot here it at all. Once it speeds up to high you can hear it, but it is not obnoxiously loud. For example, when watching movies or playing PS3 games I do not notice it, but once I turn off the TV I notice it.

I should point out that I have my PS3 out in the open on the same table as my LCD TV. I did have it behind glass, but it got really toasty enclosed in my entertainment center.

I love my PS3 and am very happy with this $499 purchase.

 

[Michael CM1]

Someone must explain to me how you compare a PS3 and AppleTV.

If you want to play games and watch optical media, you need a PS3 or a Blu-ray Disc player. If you want to have access to all the stuff you downloaded from iTunes and coverted with something like HandBrake, you need AppleTV. Or you could be like me and have both a BD player and AppleTV.

Back to the original post, please dear Lord don't try to compare compressed 720p video with uncompressed 1080p. That's about as bad as Comcast comparing their fastest speed with the slowest you can get with DSL (we're 50 times faster!!!!). Obviously the uncompressed 1080p is going to look better. However, considering you can't buy an HD movie from iTunes, that is also apples and oranges.

AppleTV was basically made to stream and sync stuff you bought on iTunes with a television. I have more than 500GB of video on networked hard drives, and it sure is nice to have an easy way to sync that stuff.

 

[petvas]

Someone must explain to me how you compare a PS3 and AppleTV.

If you want to play games and watch optical media, you need a PS3 or a Blu-ray Disc player. If you want to have access to all the stuff you downloaded from iTunes and coverted with something like HandBrake, you need AppleTV. Or you could be like me and have both a BD player and AppleTV.

Back to the original post, please dear Lord don't try to compare compressed 720p video with uncompressed 1080p. That's about as bad as Comcast comparing their fastest speed with the slowest you can get with DSL (we're 50 times faster!!!!). Obviously the uncompressed 1080p is going to look better. However, considering you can't buy an HD movie from iTunes, that is also apples and oranges.

AppleTV was basically made to stream and sync stuff you bought on iTunes with a television. I have more than 500GB of video on networked hard drives, and it sure is nice to have an easy way to sync that stuff.

I am comparing two different services I can get by buying the Playstation or the Apple TV. I know that 1080p is much better! I just believe that lower quality should also cost less than 1080p quality. This isnt the case, so yes, I am comparing the HD quality I can have on my Playstation with the one I can have on the Apple TV. Guess who wins....

If you buy Medialink, you can have access to your iTunes Library from yor Playstation 3....

 

[dynaflash]

I just believe that lower quality should also cost less than 1080p quality. This isnt the case, so yes, I am comparing the HD quality I can have on my Playstation with the one I can have on the Apple TV. Guess who wins....

Um, how much does a PS3 cost ? petvas, its great that you have found a platform you like, but it seems a bit "trollish" to be trying to argue your point on an AppleTV forum, don't you think ? Personally I would have to agree that in many ways you are comparing Apples to Oranges here. Trying to argue price seems a touch ridiculous.

 

[petvas]

Um, how much does a PS3 cost ? petvas, its great that you have found a platform you like, but it seems a bit "trollish" to be trying to argue your point on an AppleTV forum, don't you think ? Personally I would have to agree that in many ways you are comparing Apples to Oranges here. Trying to argue price seems a touch ridiculous.

In Germany the Apple TV costs 359 Euros (160GB) and the Playstation 390...

It's very simple actually, I am comparing two completely different devices and I have found out that the Playstation covers the functionality offered by the AppleTV and does much more at the same price level. This might not be true in the USA, but it is certainly true in Germany.

As far as why I am discussing it here in MacRumors...Hmmm, maybe I should realize that most people here don't want to hear sth bad about an Apple product and stop the whole discussion...

 

[cohibadad]

Love my PS3. It's an awesome game machine and blu ray player. I haven't used it for video but if I didn't have TV I would consider it. I got mine at launch. Plays SACD over the surround system beautifully.

 

[MagicWok]

I'm very tempted to pre-order the PlayTV over here for my PS3.

I've never been the biggest fan of the TV. I think Apple missed the mark horribly with the first launch. The 'relaunch' helped, but they're still wide off the potential. Just take off the 'TV' part and re-name, then the product makes more sense 😛

I like having a HD optical drive, having an actual OS option to use, streaming 1080p HD content, upgrading the HD easily, playing games and I now like the idea of having DRM free recorded TV content that I can use on any player of my choosing. None of this the TV can do. All of it, it should be able to do.