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AppleTV...Or...PS3-Slim?

TheBritishBloke

TheBritishBloke

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jul 21, 2009
2,532
0
United Kingdom
I'm considering a new player for my TV. Largely because I'd like somewhere to store my movies, and watch them on my TV without having to turn on my computers.

I was considering either an AppleTV or a PS3 Slim. If in the UK, they discontinue the 40GB Model (So the 160GB is £195) the PS3-Slim 120GB will be £55 more than the Apple TV. I'm just wanting something not too hefty to sit on there, and play my movies from. I was considering putting an external DVD drive in the USB slot on the AppleTV, but I've been informed that's not possible.

There seem to be many factors to diverse me one way or the other, but I was wondering what decisions any of you made for practically, not fanboyism (I was considering buying the AppleTV at first, mainly because it is...:apple:)

Thanks!!
 
Where do you have your movies in? If you've bought them from iTunes (or you will) Apple TV is no brainer but if you have movies in DVD or Blu-Ray PS3 is the only way.

Simply: TV is better if you want to play movies/audio from Mac
PS3 is better if you want to play games, watch Blu-Ray or use VidZone or other to buy/rent movies
 
Hellhammer said:
Where do you have your movies in? If you've bought them from iTunes (or you will) Apple TV is no brainer but if you have movies in DVD or Blu-Ray PS3 is the only way.

Simply: TV is better if you want to play movies/audio from Mac
PS3 is better if you want to play games, watch Blu-Ray or use VidZone or other to buy/rent movies
Click to expand...

i can play audio and movies from my MacBook and Mac mini, AND PS3.

for me, it wouldn't make sense to buy it.

i don't really see much sense in buying it in the first place if you already have a computer (especially one that can drive an HD TV/monitor)
 
Hellhammer said:
Where do you have your movies in? If you've bought them from iTunes (or you will) Apple TV is no brainer but if you have movies in DVD or Blu-Ray PS3 is the only way.

Simply: TV is better if you want to play movies/audio from Mac
PS3 is better if you want to play games, watch Blu-Ray or use VidZone or other to buy/rent movies
Click to expand...

Well, I have plenty of things from iTunes (Mainly music, couple of movies, quite a few TV Shows). But I also have plenty of DVD's, other MP4's on my PC etc.

I just thought of the PS3 as a possibility, as for just £50 more, get a blu-ray player, and a games console.
 
I am in a similar boat. Although PS3 Slim sounds nice in paper, I've tried PS3 Media Server and I found it to be pretty terrible. Although it sort of does the job, I want full integration with my photos (Aperture), music (iTunes), as well as video. And I prefer to sync, not stream (which also taxes my poor little iMac CPU wise).

As much I find Blu-Ray and upscaling DVD to be a nice bonus, I need my media extender to have good integration with Mac OS X.

I am hoping today's price drop will be followed by hardware refresh in coming weeks, much like the price cut nano received shortly before hardware update.
 
PS3 is great for watching playing games, blu-rays and DVDs, but when playing music it's awful after the 3.0 update! You can no longer go trough your library while playing a song! I hate it! And I have to add songs and videos via an external harddrive, that should be unnecessary.
I love the PS3, but I just use it for DVDs, Blu-Rays and games, if you want that, then buy it. If you're like me, get both ;)
I'm buying an :apple:TV as soon as they upgrade it! :D
 
nutmac said:
I am in a similar boat. Although PS3 Slim sounds nice in paper, I've tried PS3 Media Server and I found it to be pretty terrible. Although it sort of does the job, I want full integration with my photos (Aperture), music (iTunes), as well as video. And I prefer to sync, not stream (which also taxes my poor little iMac CPU wise).

As much I find Blu-Ray and upscaling DVD to be a nice bonus, I need my media extender to have good integration with Mac OS X.

I am hoping today's price drop will be followed by hardware refresh in coming weeks, much like the price cut nano received shortly before hardware update.
Click to expand...

MediaLink is great for this. I've installed it on many iMacs etc for friends who have PS3s and none of them have ever had a problem. Does video, photo, music etc. It costs a little but then you get what you pay for.
 
ATv = Music, Movies and Photos

PS3 = Music, Movies, Photos and Games

Therefore:

PS3 = ATv + Games = Win
 
First off, protected iTunes videos can't play on the PS3. There are ways around this, but most are a pain in the ass.

If you have a fast enough PC to transcode to the PS3 on the fly, then maybe TVersity or another program will work for you.

For me, I went the PS3 route and it just wasn't getting the job done. I figured that if most of my media comes from the iTunes store or from stuff I encode to mp4 for iTunes/iPhone myself, I may as well get an Apple TV.

I am so much happier I'm not dealing with all that crap. Plus, with TVersity, it was consuming my horsepower. I can watch TV shows or Movies on the Apple TV and it uses hardly any of my computer power, only what iTunes consumes.
 
I have the PS3, XBox360, and ATV.

If your main thing is watching Movies, and other stuff from iTunes, the PS3 will work, but it isn't even in the same league as the ATV as far as layout, elegance, user interface, and integration with iTunes.

Also, if you have an 802.11n network and want to stream 720p stuff from your mac, the PS3's 802.11g card will choke. I've had to hardwire my PS3 to an Airport Express N to get it to play with out skipping, and this is only from 30 feet away, through 1 drywall.

However, if you want BluRay and some good gaming then go with the PS3.

If you want the best online gaming experience, go with a 360 (I know you weren't considering this one, just thought I'd through it out ;) ). Also, the Media steaming on the 360 is slightly better than the PS3, but not as good as the ATV in my opinion. Netflix streaming is pretty good.
 
I have both. I use the AppleTV way more, but find it hard to recommend over the PS3. Blu-ray is awesome and I am also a gamer.

I use the AppleTV for podcasts - I watch a lot of Revision 3 shows and they look great in HD. I have also ripped all my DVDs to the AppleTV and use it to reduce clutter in the lounge. The interface is much better than PS3 for this stuff.

However, PS3 blu-rays look beautiful and games are a boon.
 
blizaine said:
However, if you want BluRay and some good gaming then go with
If you want the best online gaming experience, go with a 360 (I know you weren't considering this one, just thought I'd through it out ;) ). Also, the Media steaming on the 360 is slightly better than the PS3, but not as good as the ATV in my opinion. Netflix streaming is pretty good.
Click to expand...

I already own an Xbox 360, hence the reason for not including it in the post :p
I never liked the way it worked with windows. Haven't tried it on mac yet though.
 
I have a lot of dvd's ripped into VIDEO_TS folders on my iMac, and a few of those have also been encoded for iTunes, but the whole process is very time consuming and low quality compared to the raw VOBs, and I miss out on the dvd menus and special features. I tried a WDTV but it doesn't support the dvd menus (but it plays VIDEO_TS great otherwise). I am now looking for something that can play my VIDEO_TS folders directly with dvd menu support; tv shows on dvd are pretty useless without menu support. Can the PS3 do this, either directly or through something like MediaLink? I can get by with a basic navigation system instead of the fancy GUI of my :apple:TV (the WDTV was quite sufficient for me) and then I can sell the :apple:TV. I have also considered a Mac Mini and Plex, but that gets quite expensive fast, and I don't really need all of the extra features that brings.
 
To tell you the truth they both go well together. If you can afford them.

I saved up for the ATV and now saving for the PS3.

I have all my music and video on a drobo and mac mini set up. Streams to the ATV and use the PS3 for games and blu ray.
 
Bye Bye Baby said:
To tell you the truth they both go well together. If you can afford them.

I saved up for the ATV and now saving for the PS3.

I have all my music and video on a drobo and mac mini set up. Streams to the ATV and use the PS3 for games and blu ray.
Click to expand...

I'm supposed to be coming into a nice lump sum very soon, most, if not all of which will be spent on purchasing luxuries such as this, and some new Macs etc. But either way, I'd rather not buy both if I don't have to.

The way I see it, even Bill Gates (Real Life, not MR's BillGates :p) would try and find the cheaper option when he's purchasing something, and won't just buy the top-line one because he can. Hope you get what I mean :p
 
Just sold my ATV, it looked lovely and promised a lot but never really delivered for me unless you hacked it and not even then really.

Bought a PS3 and coupled with Playback on my iMac and a portable external USB hdd hooked up to the PS3 (no hacking required) it can do everything the ATV did and then some. The interface may not be as pretty as the ATV but it's certainly not bad and it's really nippy. On top of that you can play games and watch BluRay and in the UK the BBC iPlayer and soon you'll be able to rent movies.

I got mine s/h for £190 with 5 games. As far as value for money goes I don't think it can be beat!
 
Sorry to jump in on this but what If I have a PS3 already?

I have an 24" iMac and an 80gb PS3. Ive been thinking of the getting the ATV for some time now, but just today learned that my PS3 may have the same capabilities.....Can someone maybe list the pro's and con's of both items?

I have a 200+ DVD collection that I eventually want to RIP and and use with either one of these, not to mention my 100gb+ of music and 1000's of pictures....What would be easier for a first time Mac owner to setup/use?

Im gonna give my PS3 a try tonight since I already have it available, but I want to know if Ill gain anything from using one or the other or both.
 
dickovski said:
Just sold my ATV, it looked lovely and promised a lot but never really delivered for me unless you hacked it and not even then really.

Bought a PS3 and coupled with Playback on my iMac and a portable external USB hdd hooked up to the PS3 (no hacking required) it can do everything the ATV did and then some. The interface may not be as pretty as the ATV but it's certainly not bad and it's really nippy. On top of that you can play games and watch BluRay and in the UK the BBC iPlayer and soon you'll be able to rent movies.

I got mine s/h for £190 with 5 games. As far as value for money goes I don't think it can be beat!
Click to expand...

Damn. If I was offered one for £190 /w 5 games, I'd snap it up without thinking. Did you get it from a friend? or Ebay? or?
 
MrMacMini said:
Sorry to jump in on this but what If I have a PS3 already?

I have an 24" iMac and an 80gb PS3. Ive been thinking of the getting the ATV for some time now, but just today learned that my PS3 may have the same capabilities.....Can someone maybe list the pro's and con's of both items?

I have a 200+ DVD collection that I eventually want to RIP and and use with either one of these, not to mention my 100gb+ of music and 1000's of pictures....What would be easier for a first time Mac owner to setup/use?

Im gonna give my PS3 a try tonight since I already have it available, but I want to know if Ill gain anything from using one or the other or both.
Click to expand...
I don't have the PS3 but I do have the iMac and the :apple:TV. I have all of my dvd's ripped to video_ts folders, and some also in iTunes; all of my music is in iTunes (but no iTunes purchased content). I was thinking of getting a PS3, but as far as I can tell it cannot do video_ts with dvd menus. I now plan to install Plex on my iMac and use that with a secondary monitor connection to my 42" plasma.

EDIT: The main problem I have with the :apple:TV is that it requires encoding into iTunes format, which loses both quality and dvd menus, and also takes an exhorbitant amount of time.
 
I have a PS3. The Apple TV is tempting for its interface (face it, the XMB interface sucks trying to drill down into music and movies), but it wouldn't work in my household without hacking.

I have a D-Link DNS-323 NAS which is storing all my MP3's. It can share them to other computers via its built-in iTunes server, but I've read that the Apple TV doesn't use this protocol when looking for music. I would actually need a PC or Mac running iTunes in order to play anything.

I've heard that there is an Apple TV hack to get around this, so I may check that out.
 
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