Ps3 As A Multimedia Center? Options

[welly_59]

My dad asked me last night what platform he thinks would be best as a multimedia center for his house. the ps3 or 360. I've got a 360 so was able to tell him how that functions, the layout of the multimedia features, what he can and cant run etc, but i have no experience of the ps3 as a direct competitor in this respect.

He has seen my xbox1 running xbmc and it is that type of experience he is looking for ie being able to stream from a network pc, files from hard drive etc, but he also likes the way it is set out with artwork for videos and albums. I know that the way the 360 presents the media is pretty shitty and doesnt look that nice at all so was able to tell him that.

can anyone give me thier experiences of using ps3 as a media center, layout etc?

this isnt about the games, as he's not really interested in them

[theducknuts]

Check out tvix players they are expensive but are fanastic media centers

[Kamasutra318]

Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 support the most common media formats (beside Matroska) and both are capable of accessing streaming media; using Linux on the PS3 should add Matroska support and more. The primary difference is in the interfaces, which is subjective so using them first or looking at videos/images would be a good idea. Interface aside, I would recommend the PS3 more for two main reasons -- Blu-ray playback and it is quieter. Also, PS3 has good upscaling for DVDs. Note that PS3 does not have an IR port, so forget about using most universal remotes; though Bluetooth has the advantage of not needing line-of-sight.

[fmstatic]

regardless of which way your dad goes, tell him to check out & install tversity, which is a freeware program

[theducknuts]

Whats the point of a games console if all he wants to do is view files. Check out the Dvico Tvix range they will play everything MKV, VC1, Dvix, Xvix even dvd iso the newer ones have HDMI and can take 2 external HDD plus a on board HDD. You can network em to a PC the list is endless and they are a PVR also.

http://www.tvix.co.kr/eng/

[HotKnife420]

I was using the PS3, as it allowed me to store directly to the hdd, but I've just discovered that streaming over my network with the 360 looks better (VGA connection - 1920x1080) than the PS3 network or onboard (HDMI - 1080p).

I should also note that the PS3 will attempt to play almost immediately after you select a file for streaming, but will also be prone to "lag spots", wheras the 360 will load into buffer, but takes longer because of this. So in a nutshell:

PS3 - faster to access files, more convienent storage
360 - upscales better and less prone to lag

[rova]

Is there any way at the moment to get the PS3 to download torrents and to 'suck' content of other computers on the network?

Also, can it be configured to boot straight to linux instead of the xmb interface (since I assume a few people are going to come back with the standard 'linux can do anything' response).

I'm looking to buy a ps3 and set it up for my folks, but it needs to be hands off. Ideally the Ps3 would be the media server since they only have laptops.

[bucko]

Have you considered buying a Home Server and then a MCE computer? MCE imho plays so much more and with a MCE PC you can add Blu-Ray drives later etc.

I don't have them I have both consoles but I use them to play games and watch the odd file/movie.

I would let him seriously research more into home theatre equipment, consoles are quite limited with sound options as well.

[birgerb]

I was using the PS3, as it allowed me to store directly to the hdd, but I've just discovered that streaming over my network with the 360 looks better (VGA connection - 1920x1080) than the PS3 network or onboard (HDMI - 1080p).

I should also note that the PS3 will attempt to play almost immediately after you select a file for streaming, but will also be prone to "lag spots", wheras the 360 will load into buffer, but takes longer because of this. So in a nutshell:

PS3 - faster to access files, more convienent storage
360 - upscales better and less prone to lag

i have never seen a comparison, but think it highly likely that the video quality in regards to video is a result of having two very different types of connection to your tv set.

there was a lenghty comparison of both the xbox 360 and the ps3 as high-def optical media player in one of the larger, mainstream blogs - endgadget or something. in essence: the 360 paled in comparison - often it did no upscaling at all.

maybe the signal quality of the vga connector is just better than the hdmi port - however unlikely that may seem. does anyone second this hypothesis?

pre-buffering: maybe that's just some default you could change...

[rewen]

i have never seen a comparison, but think it highly likely that the video quality in regards to video is a result of having two very different types of connection to your tv set.

there was a lenghty comparison of both the xbox 360 and the ps3 as high-def optical media player in one of the larger, mainstream blogs - endgadget or something. in essence: the 360 paled in comparison - often it did no upscaling at all.

maybe the signal quality of the vga connector is just better than the hdmi port - however unlikely that may seem. does anyone second this hypothesis?

pre-buffering: maybe that's just some default you could change...

The 360 *always* upscales through vga or hdmi. But through lesser connections (component, composite, s-vid) it only upscales games, not video.

The 360 does an excellent job of upscaling video through vga. And as mentioned above, it suffers no lag. The compatibilty of formats is much higher, and personally, the menu system is much superior.

I have both a PS3 and 360, btw. In my home the PS3 is only ever used blu-ray, when it comes to playing media.

The 360 lets me use my universal remote (Harmony 880) as well. If Sony wanted their system to be the media center, they should have put an IR sensor in and made the compatibility better.

P.S. VGA quality is almost as good as HDMI, however it can suffer from interference/noise if there are too many other wires around. Some TVs will reduce the range of color as well, since they are expecting a PC to be input. But you can counter-act that in the display settings on the 360. IN FACT... if you have a 1080i 1366x768 TV, you will only get 30fps on the PS3 but with the VGA cable n the 360 you can get the full 60fps through VGA since it's not an HDTV format.

This post has been edited by rewen: Feb 29 2008, 09:11 PM

[HotKnife420]

Solved my lag problem; I forgot to switch my network settings to 'Wired' (Doh!) so all the lag was simply coming from the wireless connection (and a room and a wall seperating the PS3 from the router).

[Mudslag]

Im in the same boat, looking for a console media player. I dont game a lot but will from time to time. Iv heard the 360 could be getting a blue ray player and can wait a long time if true but I want to know what would make a better media center? Thanks

[TaeOH]

The 360 *always* upscales through vga or hdmi. But through lesser connections (component, composite, s-vid) it only upscales games, not video.

The 360 does an excellent job of upscaling video through vga. And as mentioned above, it suffers no lag. The compatibilty of formats is much higher, and personally, the menu system is much superior.

I have both a PS3 and 360, btw. In my home the PS3 is only ever used blu-ray, when it comes to playing media.

The 360 lets me use my universal remote (Harmony 880) as well. If Sony wanted their system to be the media center, they should have put an IR sensor in and made the compatibility better.

P.S. VGA quality is almost as good as HDMI, however it can suffer from interference/noise if there are too many other wires around. Some TVs will reduce the range of color as well, since they are expecting a PC to be input. But you can counter-act that in the display settings on the 360. IN FACT... if you have a 1080i 1366x768 TV, you will only get 30fps on the PS3 but with the VGA cable n the 360 you can get the full 60fps through VGA since it's not an HDTV format.

That would NOT be my experience between the two systems. Both were connected to a 1080P DLP via HDMI and the 360 did a very poor job of upscaling my Xvid collection, the PS3 on the other hand did quite an acceptable job. Neither comes close to XBMC, but in a pinch I could rely on my PS3 for media sharing, the 360 not so much. Too noisy and not a very good player IMO.