How's the PS3 as an entertainment hub?

[VS Omega]

Hey all,

My XBOX 1 running XBMC (formerly XBOX Media Centre) is getting dated and lacks the processing power to push anything out at high definition. I [strike]want[/strike] need a new media centre box for the lounge, and am interested in the PS3 knowing it can do HD.

I have all my media on this PC box (356GB of TV series, 129GB music, 365GB of Movies) spread over 3 hard drives which I don't want to remove from the PC (so burning them or storing on the internal hard drive's not an option) so I wanted to know; can I access my media easily from the XMB through the network (via samba shares, server software etc.), and how versatile is the PS3 at playing back content (compatability with codecs, ability to clean up video, etc.)?

Also what are the SKU's available? And would it be a better (though much more costly) to build a media centre PC instead?

Thanks for all input guys

[Ozzie]

Personally I would go for a decent HD DVD player & surround sound if you just want a media centre,

The PS3 is overated for the price it is. I mean they could have atleast fitted a blue-ray dvd player into it for $600 odd dollars.

Best to wait till the financial year to get a PS3 so the price drops. Save your $$$

[Fun_Bucket]

Personally I would go for a decent HD DVD player & surround sound if you just want a media centre,

The PS3 is overated for the price it is. I mean they could have atleast fitted a blue-ray dvd player into it for $600 odd dollars.

Best to wait till the financial year to get a PS3 so the price drops. Save your $$$

PS3 does have a Blu Ray player in it, hence it's 600+ price tag.

[walesy]

ummm it does have a blue ray player in it mate

OP beat me to it

[VS Omega]

PS3 has a blu-ray drive meaning it's future proof (not that it's of any use except for high quality - I believe the future is in digital distribution), and then there's support for Gran Turismo 5 when it finally does come out though my main reason is media playback which is why I asked... also to add I wonder if it supports AAC, WMA/WMV, MOV, RM, FLAC, etc (all supported by XBMC software on the original XBOX), because these are licenced technologies,

If it were powerful enough I wouldn't bother but the XBOX's 733MHz Pentium 3 just can't cope with HD at all, and it is quite slow (I don't even have a controller for it, just the remote lol). They're an extremely versatile, cheap media player though stuck in SD. It can output 720P and 1080i but it dies with the high bit rates.

I know the PS3 has Linux available but thought it was limited and would be too inconvenient booting into it to watch/listen to something versus opening it straight from the XMB

[Fun_Bucket]

personally i would have rathered they left it out, and just sold the PS3's for $350-400, i mean i have a Video player, a DVD player, i have TV and Digital TV, i have foxtel, and what, now i'm supposed to have Blue ray aswell??? I miss the old days where you just press a button and turn the knob....

[VC_HDT]

Personally I would go for a decent HD DVD player & surround sound if you just want a media centre,

The PS3 is overated for the price it is. I mean they could have atleast fitted a blue-ray dvd player into it for $600 odd dollars.

Best to wait till the financial year to get a PS3 so the price drops. Save your $$$

i dont get what you mean, as it is a bluray dvd player?
i use mine to stream avis from the pc with no probs
im not fully inot the media centre thing like vs omega so not sure what other file types you maybe wanting to play,but i think you need to convert mkv files before the ps3 will read them though.

[VS Omega]

personally i would have rathered they left it out, and just sold the PS3's for $350-400, i mean i have a Video player, a DVD player, i have TV and Digital TV, i have foxtel, and what, now i'm supposed to have Blue ray aswell??? I miss the old days where you just press a button and turn the knob....

Agreed, the discs aren't mainstream enough at the moment (burners and media are too expensive), at least with the XBOX 360 the HD-DVD drive was optional so when it got beaten by BD-ROM it wasn't too bad and kept the prices of the SKU's down.

Does anyone know how the console performs over the internet and on a network (not in gaming but for media, browsing etc.)? I've got a PSP as well though I don't think there's too much that can be done between the two

[VC_HDT]

not sure how much help it will be for you
PS3™ | Types of files that can be played

it probably wont play all the formats you want it too but it does what i need/want it to do!

[lil_mickey]

the ps3 is an awesome media center. if you have windows vista it is a breeze to stream media. My father in law has even got a mac to stream to it. if u have a full hd tv then you will love the video quality off blu-ray and the games are good also... if you are serious about media then go ps3.... it has also taken every video format i have thrown at it(mp4,mp3,div-x,avi,x-vid, etc. music and photos too... you wont regret it, especially if you have a full hd tv...

[VS Omega]

Did a bit of reading in other places, a bit concerned how it stacks up to XBMC (ignoring HD):

I have 360, PS3 and Xbox with XBMC and I have also been hoping that the PS3 would replace the XBMC-box, but sorry to say it's just not as good. The PS3 chokes on a large percentage of Xvids without transcoding, and the interface is just not as good. Obviously it can play HD material, which is where I have been using it, but otherwise I have stuck with XBMC. There is also the wife factor, and my wife prefers it as t is just easier to use.

I think I have been spoiled by XBMC as it is just so good, I mean it plays absolutely anything except HD stuff; VCDs, .rmvb, flash video, even file still inside .rar without un-raring them. No commerical system is going to offer as much as this. The best we can hope for is that the Linux port is successful so we can run it on a PS3!

Though it is being ported to Linux it'll take a while (though with a decent PC HD won't be an issue)... I just don't know any more, everything works on my XBOX except for HD, don't want to risk having files not work on a PS3 which I want to use to replace the XBOX. A few people say they have kept their XBOX's in addition to the PS3. Will do a bit more reading and get a few more opinions

[ucwepn]

Ps3 is tip top with the wireless built in and blu ray but it doesn't play .avi files (plays everything else tho) for some stupid reason, and if i install yellow dog (linux) i have to format the hd which is annoying, but overall im very impressed with it, especially online gaming and game updates (mostly) for free.

anyone wanna have a game i play GT5 prologue and gta 4 and username is ucwepn05

[gdunkley84]

From firmware version 2.10 I think it was (nearly 12months ago) the PS3 can now play DivX natively. And you can also get other programs to run on your pc to do on the fly conversion to the PS3. I just converted everything I had that wasn't DivX into DivX