360 vs PS3: Different viewpoint

[six_storm]

Originally Posted by crainger

Wait wait wait... If I put a HD tuner card in my PC, I can then watch TV through my 360 in extender mode? I thought it only played back pre recorded material.

Yes you can watch TV and it works really good. However, don't expect any HD content from your cable/satellite provider to work.

[ENU291]

Originally Posted by EciDemon

XBMC is being ported to linux, it will be the same as on xbox with better support for HD.

To me a media centre is something you actually store media on (the reason I got the original xbox in the first place, xbmc). the 360 blows here as you can only rip and store audio CDs, you can't change the HDD and the bigest one isnt very big at all.

I think media extention is a nice idea, but If i wanted my puter turned on while watching movies etc, id just use that one directly and save on power, for a console the 360 is a powerhog too, and loud.

Cant speak for the ps3 as I dont have one yet, but to me it looks better on paper, and you can officially install linux on it.
hehe, Xbmc on the ps3 anyone ?

A while back I checked out a PS3 running Linux (Yellowdog I believe) and it was painfully slow. I guess the limited memory (256mg) was the deal breaker.

[Lyme]

Originally Posted by ENU291

A while back I checked out a PS3 running Linux (Yellowdog I believe) and it was painfully slow. I guess the limited memory (256mg) was the deal breaker.

That and as one of my eve-online corp mates rants tirelessly about is how you have virtually zero access to the gpu in the ps3 under linux, and Sony intends on keeping it that way.

As for the 360 and media, MS has positioned the console as a 'media extender' rather than a device that stores your media and plays it. Thats why it works well with media center being hosted on a computer somewhere else in your home, and also works really well with Windows Home Server.

The PS3 should be able to do virtually everything that the 360 does in that respect, except that it does not include windows media center extender functionality. Which simple means you would have to use something like sagetv or beyond tv or whatnot.

[ViN86]

Originally Posted by six_storm

Yes you can watch TV and it works really good. However, don't expect any HD content from your cable/satellite provider to work.

unless you get an HD cable box.

[Lyme]

Originally Posted by ViN86

unless you get an HD cable box.

A HD cable box only decodes one channel at a time, you still would need to get a IR trasmitter so that your recorder can change the channels on the box. The cablecard solution was supposed to fix this problem, but the cable networks are not particularly interested in releasing working systems, and linux support is lacking.

[nekrosoft13]

Originally Posted by Lyme

That and as one of my eve-online corp mates rants tirelessly about is how you have virtually zero access to the gpu in the ps3 under linux, and Sony intends on keeping it that way.

As for the 360 and media, MS has positioned the console as a 'media extender' rather than a device that stores your media and plays it. Thats why it works well with media center being hosted on a computer somewhere else in your home, and also works really well with Windows Home Server.

The PS3 should be able to do virtually everything that the 360 does in that respect, except that it does not include windows media center extender functionality. Which simple means you would have to use something like sagetv or beyond tv or whatnot.

is there anyway for 360 to grab media from windows 2003 server or windows 2008 server? I have full license of 2003 server from college, and right now running 2008 server RC1 evaluation. But once I go back to college in spring, there is a very good chance i will get server 2008 license.

[crainger]

Originally Posted by six_storm

Yes you can watch TV and it works really good. However, don't expect any HD content from your cable/satellite provider to work.

We can only get HD over the air here. Cable is SD still. ::

[ViN86]

Originally Posted by Lyme

A HD cable box only decodes one channel at a time, you still would need to get a IR trasmitter so that your recorder can change the channels on the box. The cablecard solution was supposed to fix this problem, but the cable networks are not particularly interested in releasing working systems, and linux support is lacking.

ohhh, i was thinking of getting HD support in any way shape or form. not really watching/recording different channels simultaneously.

[Lyme]

Originally Posted by nekrosoft13

is there anyway for 360 to grab media from windows 2003 server or windows 2008 server? I have full license of 2003 server from college, and right now running 2008 server RC1 evaluation. But once I go back to college in spring, there is a very good chance i will get server 2008 license.

Install windows media player 11 on the server, it will share out your media off windows server 2003 and 2008. It enables sharing for both other authorized computers on the lan and your 360.

If you get Windows Home Server (based on windows server 2003), it does sharing out of the box.

[Lyme]

Originally Posted by ViN86

ohhh, i was thinking of getting HD support in any way shape or form. not really watching/recording different channels simultaneously.

Ahh. I simply wanted to clarify the state of HD recording from Cable or Satellite, ie: it sucks.

[nekrosoft13]

one more question can 360 display pictures, videos and music in categories? or will it throw all the videos into one huge list?

[Dr.Nick]

As a media extender I prefer the PS3 hands down. It plays everything just as well as my 360 but its much quieter and much faster on the network. That and the fact that I could upgrade the HD (for a reasonable price!) and store TONS of xvid hd flicks and countless hours of music directly on it sealed the deal