Media Streaming

Freeksta

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HI guys..

which would be a better media streamer???

Xbox 360 or PS3???

I'm looking at getting a gaming console, and would like to add enchance it's functions by utilizing it as a media streaming device...

There's also the huge price difference betweend the 80gb PS3 and the Xbox 360 core.. but is that price difference really worth the extra's???
 
A) if you have vista, the ps3 media streams perfectly... the xbox does it any way

B) the price is justified as the ps3 HAS a harddrive, (and i might suggest you get the 40gig ps3) and built in wifi, which means, you'll have to get a wifi adapter (1000 bucks) and a HDD (+-900 bucks) for the core.

C)ps3 seems to be a bit better on the whole with media though... It plays video's better and it can play dvix know :p (although the xbox box plays dvix to)

the ps3 seems more attractive, and with much better games coming out, there's no worry about where you gonna have a limited selection....

the ps3 also supports all mp3 usb players etc(I'm sure the xbox does to, but I need confirmation)

on the whole, if you have a HD tv, with HDMI in puts, then the ps3 will come into it's own. and you can even customize the menu screen on the ps3!

the ps3 store is also a fantastic place to get games/demos and other forms of media. The xbox in South Africa is limited as we don't have availability to some items on the xbox's store , but the xbox's store is a bit more mature.

If you grew up with playstation consoles. the ps3 is a fair bit easier to move to, as the controls are the same, and there most games still use standard configurations.
The xbox's controls are heavier, and that means they feel a bit more tuned to your hands, and the layout seems a bit more cumfy. but they are different to what we have come to know and love with the ps3 controllers (well it looks me a little time just to get use to the new layout of the controls on my friends xbox)

The big question you want answered though is:which is better at media and streaming.
there's no simple answer here, as the ps3 shines with media. you can have playlists with photo's and music. but streaming is a bit on a tuffy, most people use xp, and they don't use windows media player 11 :( . but there are pletty of tutorials that can aid you.

The Xbox Is still a great media player, but sharing media is a lot easier... plain and simple...

The choice is yours... I've given all there is about each console.
Cheers
 
Scotty said it all if you strip out some of the fanboy nonsense in the middle (The PS3 does not have better games coming out, the 2008 line up is great on both fronts).

They both play DivX and XviD, both are great at streaming and both can play from external devices.

I also agree with Scotty that you should rather be looking at the 40GB.... Honestly if you want a media player that can play games I would go for the PS3.

If you wants a games machine that is also a media player then for the Xbox 360...

Both do 1080p over HDMI and AFAIK the 360 is happy with most MP3 players.
 
sorry Gavin, got ahead of my self there :D... I forgot to mention the xbox also has a great line up of games :p

Ya... ty for that quick summary of my, over dramatised answering for your question :D

So... maybe you should look at the 40gb it's got nice specs :
CPU: Cell Processor
GPU: RSX
Sound: Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-based processing)
Memory: 256MB XDR Main RAM, 256MB GDDR3 VRAM
HDD: 2.5" Serial ATA (40GB)
I/O: USB 2.0 (x2)
Communication: Ethernet (x1 / 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) - IEEE 802.11 b/g - Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
Wireless controller (Bluetooth)
AV Output: Screen size 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI OUT - (x1 / HDMI NextGen)
AV MULTI OUT (x1)
DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) (x1)
BD/DVD/CD Drive (Read Only): Maximum Read Speed BD 2x (BD-ROM), DVD 8x (DVD-ROM), CD 24x (CD-ROM)
Super Audio CD 2x
Dimensions: Approximately 325mm (W) x 98mm (H) x 274mm (D)
Weight: Approximately 5 kg
and It's black :D
 
dont forget about the BD player too!!! PS3 still the cheapest BD player i've seen ...
 
dont forget about the BD player too!!! PS3 still the cheapest BD player i've seen ...

And is still the best one around (spend 300 bucks on a ps3 dvd remote and it's awesome)

Oh i forgot, From what i've read and seen with my friends xbox360, they kinda noisy... so that might be a turn off...

edit:

So I've finally media streaming to work on my ps3... and it works well...
I downloaded a 14mb program called TVersity, i supports everything, psp, ps3, xbox, even the wii :D

and you simply created a playlist with the ps3, and voila! you got yourself a media hud...
 
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sorry Gavin, got ahead of my self there :D... I forgot to mention the xbox also has a great line up of games :p

Ya... ty for that quick summary of my, over dramatised answering for your question :D

So... maybe you should look at the 40gb it's got nice specs :
CPU: Cell Processor
GPU: RSX
Sound: Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-based processing)
Memory: 256MB XDR Main RAM, 256MB GDDR3 VRAM
HDD: 2.5" Serial ATA (40GB)
I/O: USB 2.0 (x2)
Communication: Ethernet (x1 / 10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) - IEEE 802.11 b/g - Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
Wireless controller (Bluetooth)
AV Output: Screen size 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI OUT - (x1 / HDMI NextGen)
AV MULTI OUT (x1)
DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) (x1)
BD/DVD/CD Drive (Read Only): Maximum Read Speed BD 2x (BD-ROM), DVD 8x (DVD-ROM), CD 24x (CD-ROM)
Super Audio CD 2x
Dimensions: Approximately 325mm (W) x 98mm (H) x 274mm (D)
Weight: Approximately 5 kg
and It's black :D

Hi thanx for all the advice...

1 quick question... whats the diff between the 80gb PS3 and 40gb PS3???
and are those HD's upgradeable? with other 2.5" drives???

I think am going to go the route of the PS3, since i have the PS2...
 
HD's are upgradable.
You can replace it with a 5400rpm laptop drive.
 
Hi thanx for all the advice...

1 quick question... whats the diff between the 80gb PS3 and 40gb PS3???
and are those HD's upgradeable? with other 2.5" drives???

I think am going to go the route of the PS3, since i have the PS2...

ah... Problem is, don't sell your ps2 yet if you want to play ps2 games, the new 40gb ps3 can't play ps2 games. But i believe the 80gb can... as weird as that is...

yes you can upgrade the hard drive in the ps3, with any laptop sata hard drive, which can save you money...
the 40gb only has 2 usb ports, no memory card reader and thats it
 
Yes the 40GB cannot play any PS2 games and the 80GB can play most popular games adequately...

Don't buy a new machine to play old games though ;)

On the side of the noisy xbox, the PS3 is quieter but the new 360's are much better as well....

Oh and the 40GB cannot play SACD discs... like anyone cares ;)
 
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Sheesh I turn my back for a second and all the Playstation fanboys come crawling out the woodwork! ;) It's only fair I do likewise :p

To answer the question both can stream media from a PC, the 360 does it quite a bit better as it has full media centre integration with Vista home Premium, Ultimate and XP MCE, as well as low level support like the PS3 for things like WMP11, Zune and TVersity. It also has native integration for most music devices and digital cameras, but it makes no attempt to store the media. The PS3 is designed more as a Media server itself, and it is quieter when not under heavy load.

Forget the gobbledegook specs, the 360 and PS3 will keep tit for tatting each other in terms of software features for the next 5 years.

The questions are what are your needs, and preferences. If you say pure media extender - 360 arcade hands down. If you want a BR-Player - PS3. Games wise the two are a performance wash. Both look great, decide based on which console has the games you'd rather play. If you've grown up on PC games then the 360 is more the right option. If online gaming is your thing - 360 also trumps, it's a paid for service, but you get what you pay for.

360 doesn't have wireless, but you can buy an adapter or generic W.E.B. However, if you want to stream Hidef movies wireless is unsuitable anyway if you have more than 2 devices on your network.

If you've got kids then I'd say also look to the 360. Without the PS2 catalogue on the 40Gb the PS3 is extremely restricted in terms of family oriented games. There's Ratchet and Clank and GH3, that's about it bar races and sports games.

If it's Media performance you're looking for there's another big thing to consider IPTV! There's a reason Telkom are selling 360's for R110 a month - the 360 is a set top box for Mediaroom IPTV which is what Telkom media are launching next year - Think DSTV but include Video on demand as well.
 
Hmmm Doobiwan, I sense much bias towards the xbox side in your post :p

Gavin and i had a good thing going... then you come along to unbalance the ship... :(

Ok Freeksta, listen to me... read EACH and EVERY one of this posts with a pinch on salt... each of them do have bias qualities... and then decide which one of them you would much rather spend 5 or so years living with... the honestly are equal machines as the last updates... so chose which one looks and feels better... chose with ones controls are easier to use... and maybe fight off some kids at look and listen to get a chance to play on each console...

There's media streaming capabilities are equal as well... (taking into account that the ps3 had wifi built in adn the xbox doesn't, and that the xbox is easier to set up while the ps3 might take some work)

Hmmm... both are great choices, and I won't chose for you, as I know which one is best TO ME. both are worth the money for which is being asked...

later man
scotty
 
These weird logical postings of Scotty are quite unsettling.... it's not quite the same when we can't throw the two rabid fanboys at each other :D

Pity Freeksta didn't come back though :(
 
ug don't remind me I was out all day yesterday and I am back off to the shops soon...

I didn't see many people buying any consoles yesterday but I did see that Incredible Connection in Cresta had no more 360 pro bundles and Reggies only had 1 left.

They had quite a few PS3's and a moderate amount of Wii's left...

Means nothing though since we don't know how many units were shipped to begin with.

Lets hope SK, MI-Digital and The Core Group agree to release holiday sales figures this year. Don't hold your breath though
 
Your original posts used to be exceptionally biased, however you now seem to have admitted that the 360 is also a very good console and are now posting more balanced comments.

It was a compliment ;)
 
lol guys... :lol: I'm still around...

Just been reading alot of posts all over the net.. and have been reading more about bugs and fixes for PS3... or heating and hdware problems wih the Xbox 360...

I'm kinda pointed towards the PS3 for the reason, it's taken MS 2years to finally admit they have problems and changing the hardware...

Whereas the PS3 from launch, was said to have problems and fixes have been sent on it's way...


I'm still bit confused with regards to the 2 versions of the PS3...
I'm sure it must be software updates that makes the 80gb backwards compatible :rolleyes:

I've been going to shops over the weekend and see a fair amount of Xbox's been purchased.. although what scares me, is that we wont know which has the good internals... apparently everything made after the mongooose edition would be reliable... I however have not heard any bad things from my friends and they playing pretty well with their consoles, (1 even chipped his and no hassles... )

the only game i enjoy is Gran Turismo... if i'm gonna wait for GT5.. I might as well wait on h PS3... ;)


About media streaming... which is my 2nd most wanted feature from a console...

The xbox seems better on paper, but I have heard it does not play 'all divx and xvid' videos...

I wonder if the PS3 is MS friendly??? From what i've heard you can add linux OS to the PS3??? is that true???
 
Yes you can, but you can't access the gfx hardware. It's very popular that way as nodes in compute cluster - it's what the Cell was designed for. The question I ask though is why? If you want a Linux Box you can buy a dedicated PC for less than R2k.

On the 360 hardware issues - All new units now ship "fixed" with the new internals, to be sure just make sure the unit has HDMI - That's all Arcade units and all PAL Elite units and any Pro unit or Bundle that has "HDMI" printed on the back of the box.

The 80Gb PS3 is probably as backwards compatible as the 360, ie largely software based. It's the 40Gb that is not BC at all because they pulled the final bit of hardware out.

If you like Gran Tourismo, give Forza2 a bash on the 360. The nice thing is it's currently available in a bundle with the Pro.
 
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