What are the media functionality of the Xbox 360 and PS3 like? whats better?
- Thread starter fdxd
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rp2000 said:
Transcode 360
This what you're after?
I use this with MCE and it works like a dream.
You could also try TVersity (google it), but I found it overly fiddly personally.
At the same time PS3 sounds cool too.I used the XP media connect stuff and Vista beta 2 briefly on my old lap top and found it quite slow. I've recently bought a new laptop with Vista and 1GB RAM and the speed has quite suprised me.
I have my router sat next to my 360 so I can roam with my laptop. I totally understand what MS are trying to do. The 120GB hard drive on my computer holds my photos, movie clips and music and my 360 streams them.
I mainly use it for showing photographs / movie clips when grandparents come over though I'm keen to start ripping my CDs so I can have custom sound tracks in games.
What I like about MS is attention to detail. I was playing with this a few days ago and browsing some photos (with the remote on my 32" LCD TV) and suddenly a little message popped up saying my laptop only had 10 mins battery left.
A big problem is supported movie file formats. My digital camera saves as avi files and the 360 won't play them so I have to convert them. Hopefully they can sort this out.
All in all I like it a lot. It's looks swish and does almost everything I want.
I should add it's a feature I always show off when people come over and they're always bowled over. I plug my camera into my laptop, download the photos then switch the 360 on. Watch I say as suddenly a slideshow of the pictures appears on the TV. Several have even expressed in getting a cheap 360 just for this feature and my parents are so baffled by it all they think it's pixies.
I have my router sat next to my 360 so I can roam with my laptop. I totally understand what MS are trying to do. The 120GB hard drive on my computer holds my photos, movie clips and music and my 360 streams them.
I mainly use it for showing photographs / movie clips when grandparents come over though I'm keen to start ripping my CDs so I can have custom sound tracks in games.
What I like about MS is attention to detail. I was playing with this a few days ago and browsing some photos (with the remote on my 32" LCD TV) and suddenly a little message popped up saying my laptop only had 10 mins battery left.
A big problem is supported movie file formats. My digital camera saves as avi files and the 360 won't play them so I have to convert them. Hopefully they can sort this out.
All in all I like it a lot. It's looks swish and does almost everything I want.
I should add it's a feature I always show off when people come over and they're always bowled over. I plug my camera into my laptop, download the photos then switch the 360 on. Watch I say as suddenly a slideshow of the pictures appears on the TV. Several have even expressed in getting a cheap 360 just for this feature and my parents are so baffled by it all they think it's pixies.
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Yeah you do have to copy media from PC to memory stick / pen drive (I tried a couple of USB HDD's and they didn't work) and then you can either play direct from memory stick / pen drive. The PS3 seems to be as limited as the 360 is in formats supported though as it only plays back MPEG4.rp2000 said:
I was using a peice os software I bought to convert media to mpeg4 but it only ever seemed to work half the time so I just bought a HDD media player in the end and it's ace.
My DVD player died recently so I now use my 360 to play DVD's and my PS3 for BD, but that's about as far as I push eithers media capabilities tbh.
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ic1male said:
thats your problem, i had vista and that transcoder360 and its basically pants, gone back to WMC2005 with the XP version of transcoder and all is fine again, On Vista i was getting a lot of pausing
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For media capability, a modded Xbox version 1 urinates on the competiton from a great height. XBMC is a joy to human kind.
Joebob said:
Why don't you use the PS3 for DVD and BD? Is the 360 DVD playback better than PS3?
I have a macmini with a dinky 6 button remote. You would think it would be crap for media playback, but it ****** all over a 360, and PS3.
No issues with video formats, sound formats or anything. I have used media center before and apart from the built in TV functionality the mac is better. I don't actually know anyone who uses their PC for watching TV or recording shows anyway (SKY+ has that market sewn up at the moment).
I know the 360 can upscale over VGA. Mine is only connected over component but the macmini over VGA to the same monitor is so much better, that I don't think even the 360 would be better if I used a vga cable to upscale. Even then, the macmini is the quietest bit of kit I have ever owned. As yet I have not even used a laptop that is quieter than it is in most tasks.
Hopefully the new firmware due on Friday will improve the PS3 media functions. Reading this thread and doing some research shows it doesn't do all the things that I expected (which was just based on my PSP).
The free copy of casino royale and some other blu-rays will keep me busy until they improve the other media functions
rp2000
fdxd said:I am gonna have both at one pointbut i want to know whats superior for media functionality. I know PS3 has Blu Ray which i like but what about how they work with media, pictures, music, internet etc?
I am having trouble finding detailed comparsions and stuff on each console. Is the wireless media features good for example? I know 360 has Vista media extender support which sounds cool but i dont know how it works.
I'm going to be honest with you. This forum is full of Xbox fans so your going to get more people saying 360 over PS3.
From what I've seen the PS3 heavy based around being a media player and home entertainment system. If it implements folders for movies then that would make it even better. I've never used an Xbox 360 for media so I cannot comment there. I would say though that converting files takes a few hours - hence why I'll be booting my PS3 in linux when I want to watch an AVI file, etc. It's easy to do. Just go to the XMB and select boot using different OS.
Kemik said:
From my very own experience, having a great deal of HD/SD media, I can tell you that the PS3 and 360 are just about OK as media machines, and I personally wouldn't buy either just as a media box..
People keep saying the PS3 is 'really' a media machine but you are deluding yourself if you really believe that..
Most media you download video wise will be Divx/XVid/H264 TS/MPEG2 TS and neither console can actually natively decode these.... the PS3 is supposed to handle MPEG2, but all the many hundreds of MPEG2 transports streams that are available don't work, especially the 5.1 audio embedded in them..
Music wise, both are great handling MP3, etc so music isn't a problem..
However as both consoles go, using a Media Centre PC to stream your video/audio to the 360 is by far the most complete solution, this can then play Divx/XVid/DVD Iso's/H264/WMV etc,etc,etc.. the downside being you need a PC on to stream to the console, but it offers you much more media support then the PS3..
tbh, as someone mentioned, you would infinetly better off with a proper 'media streamer, these are available for around £120+ and can play just about all formats of music/video, and can pick up from NAS drives, usb drives, etc, etc.. boot instantly, use little power and are very small...
Rebelius said:
I can't find any source saying this has happened yet, Sony have locked down the AV hardware from linux somewhat which may limit the quest.. everyone is keen to exploit linux on the PS3, but nothing useful has materialised (Except Folding@home)..