PS3 an alternative to all these media players?

[thevortex]

Tell me guys, do you see the PS3 as a viable alternative to all these various devices like (xtreamer, WDTV) etc. provided the fact that you do have a computer lying around at home?

To my mind, this seems like an easy decision in favour of the PS3 (always supposing that I already have a computer at home). Now I am sure I am missing something. I would love to know what that is....

 

[aneelr]

Tell me guys, do you see the PS3 as a viable alternative to all these various devices like (xtreamer, WDTV) etc. provided the fact that you do have a computer lying around at home?

To my mind, this seems like an easy decision in favour of the PS3 (always supposing that I already have a computer at home). Now I am sure I am missing something. I would love to know what that is....

Hi,

As long as the PS3 does not support for NTFS complaint devices, it cannot be considered to be an alternative to any mediaplayers.(i.e in it's raw form). But if you install Linux to it, which many do not prefer, it can be considered as an option, and not a complete replace. Not sure about the new PS3 slim (any owners, has it been upgraded to support NTFS or still the same old FAT32.).


cheers.

 

[srinisundar]

Vortex,
Nice topic to discuss, i also thought of raising this,,, but not much familiar in installing another OS, kept quiet,, But I am watching all the movies in my Laptop thru my media player"Tversity"..So for so good..

 

[thexfactor]

Since the PS3 can't play mkv's natively, the only alternative is to transcode and stream files from a PC using a software like ps3mediaserver - Project Hosting on Google Code .

However if you're only going to buy it for playing HD content then Xtreamer and WDTV are better since these are more focussed devices. Although with a PS3 you could stream HD, play games and watch Bluerays all with a single device.

 

[teky]

Tell me guys, do you see the PS3 as a viable alternative to all these various devices like (xtreamer, WDTV) etc. provided the fact that you do have a computer lying around at home?

To my mind, this seems like an easy decision in favour of the PS3 (always supposing that I already have a computer at home). Now I am sure I am missing something. I would love to know what that is....

I don't own any of those other devices you had mentioned, But I do have a PS3 and it has a great media playing capability. Few points though

1. Variety of formats being supported being minimal (Sony doesn't support MKV's yet, some sort of DivX doesn't work)
   
2. Limitation of the external HDD to be of FAT32 (imposing file size limits of 4 GB)
   
3. Unable to create Playlists of songs from your External HDD's music folder.
   
4. Expecting files to be in particular folder to be able read it itself (Else you've make the machine understand it)
   
5. A rather dull browser - Formatting doesn't work perfect nor it does play all the files out of the box. Youtube is well supported (No HD support as of yet) however and more can be on it's way.
   
6. Photo Gallery application again only works with the files within the internal hard drive, For files within the external hard drive you've to sit and keep clicking for a slideshow.
   

But some of these above can be overcome by probably having an internal hard disc of 500 Gb (I would assume this would enough) + adding PS3 Media Server as someone above me has pointed. But you would have to have your PC switched on all the time or probably have a NAS built which is attached to your router.

It's honestly a great hardware coupled with a poo OS by Sony. If you can withstand the points I've told above and would like to play games as well watch BD's it's a one-stop solution.


Oh and aneelr - PS3 slim still can't read from NTFS drives, Only major thing being added is it supports Bitstream

 

[ashishkesarwani]

I happen to have a Ps3 for a long time and due to certain limitation which have already been pointed out by Teky I have bought myself a Xtreamer which has made my life far more easier in terms of using various formats of files which are supported by it. I am the one here who happen to have installed Yellow Dog Linux on my Ps3 and also has a bluetooth enable keyboard but then too I would prefer Xtreamer over Ps3 for media playback anyday. The biggest drawback of Ps3 is the lack of support for NTSC formatted external HDD which actually is the biggest one in my case as most of my files are BD rips so in that case they are all more than 4 Gb in size.
For Ps3
After installing Linux, I have installed VLC player on my PS3 which plays any media files and that includes MKV too but again not everyone would do that as Linux is not an easy operating system specially in Ps3 case as Sony has not given the Full Access right of its hardware to the operating system and also the full use of the cell processor is not granted on the Linux platform which makes it quite a deal killer. But to my advantage it plays Apple Lossless Audio which is not even supported by Xtreamer.

 

[thevortex]

Folks, we can forget about PS3 not being able to play FLAC, OGG or MKV files. I did mention about the PS3 used in conjunction with a computer. If we run the excellent program 'PS3 Media Server' you can play anything you like off your media server (your computer). And now it will read data off NTFS drives, it will read your media tags and play everything at lightning speed. I am referring to the response when using the PS3 controller. It is really satisfactory to see such immediate and precise response when using the remote controller.

Asish - there is no need to install Linux on your PS3. It can play all files off your hard drive just like that with the PS3 Media server. Now tell me does that not make the PS3 much more viable than alternatives such as the Xtreamer or WDTV?

Also your PC does not need to have any codec files installed. The PS3 Media server software (an open source initiative) comes with MPlayer installed and all it asks for is to have VLC Media player to be installed on your machine. The rest is taken care of automatically. I think this is an outstandingly versatile solution.

I would love to know what others make of it.

 

[srinisundar]

Since the PS3 can't play mkv's natively, the only alternative is to transcode and stream files from a PC using a software like ps3mediaserver - Project Hosting on Google Code .

However if you're only going to buy it for playing HD content then Xtreamer and WDTV are better since these are more focussed devices. Although with a PS3 you could stream HD, play games and watch Bluerays all with a single device.

Very nice information passed,,, I never tried this,,, Since it is an open source code, hope it will play all files...

 

[srinisundar]

hey ashish for bd rips here's one site which contains files fitted especialy for ps3 its basically 3.99 gb
bricktophd - TPB

i have download several movies

You saved a lot of bucks which is alloted for Bluray purchase for me..:lol:

 

[aneelr]

......

Asish - there is no need to install Linux on your PS3. It can play all files off your hard drive just like that with the PS3 Media server. Now tell me does that not make the PS3 much more viable than alternatives such as the Xtreamer or WDTV?

Also your PC does not need to have any codec files installed. The PS3 Media server software (an open source initiative) comes with MPlayer installed and all it asks for is to have VLC Media player to be installed on your machine. The rest is taken care of automatically. I think this is an outstandingly versatile solution.

I would love to know what others make of it.

I guess you need to have your PC on for that, which is going to consume more power that the stand alone media players.

cheers

 

[teky]

I have used PS3MS in the past, however have you tried streaming a 1080p file with higher bit rate. Unless you are having a pc in good nick and a wired connection to PS3 it wouldn't work great. So yes it can open a whole world of possibilties if you're set-up properly. It does things pretty good for eg subtitle support and thumbnails. I've now ended up with converting all my videos into rather PS3 friendly format .m2ts

 

[audiodelic]

I have ps3 media server. Amazing program to use with ps3 much better then tversity etc.

I have also played 1080p video via laptop flawless performance. But i was using wired connection + laptop is dual core, 4gb ram, ati 256 mb vid card.

 

[aneelr]

I have ps3 media server. Amazing program to use with ps3 much better then tversity etc.

I have also played 1080p video via laptop flawless performance. But i was using wired connection + laptop is dual core, 4gb ram, ati 256 mb vid card.

Do you have a HD resolution laptop????? If not, your laptop cannot not output full 1080p contents, which is again not as good as true 1080p content.



cheers.

 

[cooltoad]

VLC does not support xfi or any sound card with asio. any idea how to make it work with asio driver?

 

[ashishkesarwani]

Folks, we can forget about PS3 not being able to play FLAC, OGG or MKV files. I did mention about the PS3 used in conjunction with a computer. If we run the excellent program 'PS3 Media Server' you can play anything you like off your media server (your computer). And now it will read data off NTFS drives, it will read your media tags and play everything at lightning speed. I am referring to the response when using the PS3 controller. It is really satisfactory to see such immediate and precise response when using the remote controller.

Asish - there is no need to install Linux on your PS3. It can play all files off your hard drive just like that with the PS3 Media server. Now tell me does that not make the PS3 much more viable than alternatives such as the Xtreamer or WDTV?

Also your PC does not need to have any codec files installed. The PS3 Media server software (an open source initiative) comes with MPlayer installed and all it asks for is to have VLC Media player to be installed on your machine. The rest is taken care of automatically. I think this is an outstandingly versatile solution.

I would love to know what others make of it.

I have installed Ps3 media server on my Laptop but due to the fact that it takes a lot of time to load files and play them I am not very happy. Also with big files of more than 4 Gb with 1080P encoding it doesn't allow you to fast forward or select the movie to a desired scene and sometimes media server software crashes too due to this. This I am confirming after using it through the Wired Network connection directly from my Laptop and not the wireless lan where its virtually impossible to play bigger files, also lossless audio files take so much time to load too. The biggest disadvantage is that the Laptop needs to be connected to the PS3 all the time which actually kills its purpose of portability, also due to the processing of bigger files Laptop generates a lot of heat. In my opinion if somebody has a PS3 and is not willing to buy a Media Player then in that case even after the shortcomings I have mentioned, Ps3 is a strong contender for a media player.

 

[audiodelic]

Do you have a HD resolution laptop????? If not, your laptop cannot not output full 1080p contents, which is again not as good as true 1080p content.
cheers.

Just my laptop resolution is not the criteria.
The fact is my dedicated 256 mb ati hd 3650 supports full hd resolution so i am able to get hd when connecting laptop via hdmi out to lcd or streaming via ps3 server.

Yes even with wired connection it is difficult to forward/rewind full hd movies.

 

[doors666]

if you're not into gaming, ps3 is a wastage of money. I was looking for a blu-ray player, and after little bit of research, was able to rule out ps3 quite easily.

1. ps3 cant play mkv
2. ps3 cant support ntfs, FAT32 is what, about 15 years old and is atrocious.
3. ps3 slim has dropped support for linux
4. ps3 (fat one) couldnt bitstream
5. Most important: blu-ray player - 25W, ps3 - 250W!!! ten times power consumption. Was planning to get it from US, will need a separate step down transformer for it. blu-ray player will work with the plug-it-in 50w step downs, not requiring another big black box.

For 4gb file limitation though, you can split the file using mkv tools for mkv, there are other tools to do this for other formats. As long as you are not converting the file format, this will be quite quick.

 

[teky]

Do you have a HD resolution laptop????? If not, your laptop cannot not output full 1080p contents, which is again not as good as true 1080p content.

Cheers.

aneelr - He is streaming contents from Laptop, Not actually connecting it to the TV.

 

[teky]

5. Most important: blu-ray player - 25W, ps3 - 250W!!! ten times power consumption. Was planning to get it from US, will need a separate step down transformer for it. blu-ray player will work with the plug-it-in 50w step downs, not requiring another big black box.

PS3's from US should work without requiring a step-down as it's multi-voltage. Bit more of research should be needed I'm afraid. Linky PS3 voltage is 110v-240v? - PlayStation3 General - PlayStation.com Forums

For 4gb file limitation though, you can split the file using mkv tools for mkv, there are other tools to do this for other formats. As long as you are not converting the file format, this will be quite quick.

Converting formats doesn't long time either, I've a rather sluggish laptop which can complete things withing 10-20 minutes. Unless you're re-encoding the whole files which is rare.

 

[thevortex]

I have installed Ps3 media server on my Laptop but due to the fact that it takes a lot of time to load files and play them I am not very happy. Also with big files of more than 4 Gb with 1080P encoding it doesn't allow you to fast forward or select the movie to a desired scene and sometimes media server software crashes too due to this. This I am confirming after using it through the Wired Network connection directly from my Laptop and not the wireless lan where its virtually impossible to play bigger files, also lossless audio files take so much time to load too. The biggest disadvantage is that the Laptop needs to be connected to the PS3 all the time which actually kills its purpose of portability, also due to the processing of bigger files Laptop generates a lot of heat. In my opinion if somebody has a PS3 and is not willing to buy a Media Player then in that case even after the shortcomings I have mentioned, Ps3 is a strong contender for a media player.

Asish - that the fast forward and rewind functions dont work so great is a known issue that the developer admits. However, I think the scene search function is nothing short of awesome. You can get the scenes broken down to 1 minute, 2 minute or 5 minute sections and can select the scene that you want. That is useful, right?

Also I use a wired connection and see no issues even with playing large files. Instantaneous response across the board is evident.

In my first post, I did mention a computer. Maybe I should have been specific in mentioning a desktop? Yes, connecting a laptop all the time will be sort of like defeating the purpose.

But I dont see the PS3 as being any less useful than any of the media players being mentioned. I am willing to be proven wrong though.