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How are the media center abilities of the PS3?

mrgreen4242

mrgreen4242

macrumors 601
Original poster
Feb 10, 2004
4,377
9
I have a 360 connected upstairs in my home theatre, but I don't have any HD sources connected to my HDTV set in the living room. I store all my DVDs as MPEG4 files that I stream to my 360 upstairs and to my Series2 TiVo (after a realtime transcode to MPEG2 - it's not as bad as you'd think it would be) on the living room HDTV.

I'd like to get a better media front end for the downstairs, both to send my 480p content too and also have some HD capabilities in that room. I was looking at the Apple TV, it will be a great tool once I have a way to rip HD discs on my Mac into something it can handle, but at the moment it's not really "worth it" for me.

The PS3, if the rumors about a price drop to $300 this summer are true, wouldn't be a bad buy for the media front end as well as a BD player. Playing games on it would be a nice bonus, but I barely have time to get through the 360 games I'm interested in, so, oddly, gaming is low on my list.

But, if the PS3 media extender abilities suck then it's a no-go for me, so I'm wondering what you PS3 owners think about it?

Thanks!
 
I love it. The HD is user replaceable if you want a bigger one. It's got a sweet Earth music visualizer. The optional blu-ray controller is bluetooth and so it doesn't have to point to the system like most IR remotes. Video playback is nice. It can rip music cds but it isn't that fast, mostly as fast as a normal comp. It might be getting a TV tuner/recording thingy but it isn't confirmed for US. I think only EU.
 
There are numerous threads discussing the PS3's media playback capabilities. You might also want to try Sony's official PlayStation Web site.

In my personal opinion, the PS3 has excellent media playback capabilities but lacks a true "media center-like" interface. The Photos, Music and Video segments of the Cross-Media bar are archaic and directory-like.

The PS3 does not currently have a TV tuner capabilities, nor does it support RSS. Therefore, it can't automatically acquire content. There's no syncing capabilities, but you can stream to your PS3 via MediaLink or other DLNA-enabled software packages.

WMV and DiVX files are artificially limited to 2GB to prevent piracy. Blu-ray playback is excellent, and the PS3 is the ONLY available Blu-ray player that will likely support the BR 2.0 profile.

I would definitely take a USB memory key (with media content) into a Best Buy or local retailer and try out Cross Media bar interface before purchasing.

http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/About/Multifunctionality
http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/About/DLNA
http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/About/Blu-Ray
 
i have both hooked up to my TV. The PS3 is running wirelessly, the 360 is hardwired to my AEBS.

I streamed the same movie (actually encoded for the iphone) yesterday to both of them and the 360 handled it better. The PS3 stuttered and could not FF/RR as easily.

This was just a very quick, rough test, but figured I'd mention it...

The nice thing about the PS3, though, is that it is virtually silent - especially compared to the 360 which is ridiculously noisy.
 
Hm, thanks for the comments. Sounds like the 360 in that it's good but not perfect. Maybe I'll have to hold of for awhile and see what happens.

Thanks again.
 
I have an Apple TV and a PS3. The PS3 can use my NAS for media. It's a crapshoot with the media though. Anything bigger than a small music / video library sucks, as the interface just can't handle it all that well.

Movies sometimes work, other times they don't. Not really sure why this happens, but it does.

It's great when it does work though. Hopefully they'll put a little more effort into the media software, as its lacking right now. It works, but not great.
 
pilotError said:
I have an Apple TV and a PS3. The PS3 can use my NAS for media. It's a crapshoot with the media though. Anything bigger than a small music / video library sucks, as the interface just can't handle it all that well.

Movies sometimes work, other times they don't. Not really sure why this happens, but it does.

It's great when it does work though. Hopefully they'll put a little more effort into the media software, as its lacking right now. It works, but not great.
Click to expand...

Ya I love my AppleTV. The new update made it perfect!
 
mrgreen4242 said:
I have a 360 connected upstairs in my home theatre, but I don't have any HD sources connected to my HDTV set in the living room. I store all my DVDs as MPEG4 files that I stream to my 360 upstairs and to my Series2 TiVo (after a realtime transcode to MPEG2 - it's not as bad as you'd think it would be) on the living room HDTV.

I'd like to get a better media front end for the downstairs, both to send my 480p content too and also have some HD capabilities in that room. I was looking at the Apple TV, it will be a great tool once I have a way to rip HD discs on my Mac into something it can handle, but at the moment it's not really "worth it" for me.

The PS3, if the rumors about a price drop to $300 this summer are true, wouldn't be a bad buy for the media front end as well as a BD player. Playing games on it would be a nice bonus, but I barely have time to get through the 360 games I'm interested in, so, oddly, gaming is low on my list.

But, if the PS3 media extender abilities suck then it's a no-go for me, so I'm wondering what you PS3 owners think about it?

Thanks!
Click to expand...



I realize this thread is well over year old, but I'm very frustrated with the PS3 as a media center. In a word I would describe it as an afterthought. I am not a fanboy of either system, 360 or PS3, and play games on both. I've been using the 360 as my media extender for years because it simply works better. The interface is smoother, it responds quicker (both wireless), and is more flexible. Even though the PS3 is newer, the 360 got it right the first time and PS3 can't even copy it correctly.

Why is that company so stubborn? They have the same controller from 1994!!! Come on! Bunch-a-pansies!

If your main interest is a media extender, stick with the 360 and buy a quality blu-ray player. If you play games and want the blu-ray, get the PS3.

No one will probably ever read this thread, but I feel better.
 
GamerDan said:
I realize this thread is well over year old, but I'm very frustrated with the PS3 as a media center. In a word I would describe it as an afterthought. I am not a fanboy of either system, 360 or PS3, and play games on both. I've been using the 360 as my media extender for years because it simply works better. The interface is smoother, it responds quicker (both wireless), and is more flexible. Even though the PS3 is newer, the 360 got it right the first time and PS3 can't even copy it correctly.

Why is that company so stubborn? They have the same controller from 1994!!! Come on! Bunch-a-pansies!

If your main interest is a media extender, stick with the 360 and buy a quality blu-ray player. If you play games and want the blu-ray, get the PS3.

No one will probably ever read this thread, but I feel better.
Click to expand...

:)
I don't own any game console. I wanted to purchase one to use solely as a media center to play all my ripped and downloaded movie files. Unfortunately from what i've read all these machines have too many restrictions regarding size, type, etc. You even have to convert avi, mpeg and xvid to a format that PS3 can play.
All these files should play on these consoles without having to convert them.
My brother owns an XBOX 360 and has many videos that he has converted, but they all look crappy. Probably because of the lo-res.
I will continue to use my Macbook pro for the time being. VLC will play anything I throw at it.
 
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