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I have TV via PS3 - Apple TV needed?

L

Leancuisine

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 5, 2009
2
0
london UK
Hi all,

This is my 1st post, so please be nice !

My question is as follows: I have a nice big 1080p TV and its hooked up to my PS3 already. Am currently running the PS3 "Play TV" box through it, so its basically a freeview receiver / hard drive with music/video streaming capabilities.

I also connect my TV up to my Mac (via mini DVI port) and use it as an extra "display" when I want to watch a movie that’s stored on my Macbook, when necessary.:D

Now, At Xmas my brother bought me Apple TV. Lucky me! - It’s a lovely present, and looks really good. Being an Apple product I bet the interface is silky smooth…(haven't hooked it up yet - network issues...) :mad:

- But I cant for the life of me see the point of it ! Do I need it ? Everything that it does seems as though its already covered by my PS3's TV box, except perhaps rentals from itunes. I don’t want to rent TV shows etc from itunes, thanks ! Are there any other benefits that I am missing? :confused::confused::confused:

I am quite happy putting up with adverts and not having to shell out for TV programmes. If I want to watch a whole season of, say 24 or Lost then why not just buy the DVD's ? And my PS3 seems to offer better HDTV than the ATV does too.

Can anyone help save my Apple TV before I throw it back to Apple and look like an ungrateful ******** to my brother ?!?!?!?

I've tried reading up on the forums for related posts but I really cant seem to get any relevant answers.

Thanks in advance

Leancuisine :)
 
Leancuisine said:
Hi all,

- But I cant for the life of me see the point of it ! Do I need it ? Everything that it does seems as though its already covered by my PS3's TV box, except perhaps rentals from itunes. I don’t want to rent TV shows etc from itunes, thanks ! Are there any other benefits that I am missing? :confused::confused::confused:

I am quite happy putting up with adverts and not having to shell out for TV programmes. If I want to watch a whole season of, say 24 or Lost then why not just buy the DVD's ? And my PS3 seems to offer better HDTV than the ATV does too.

Thanks in advance

Leancuisine :)
Click to expand...

Yeah with a PS3 I can't really see a need for the AppleTV if you are not interested in buying shows etc. I think that the AppleTV is really targeting people who have Cable TV in the US and are looking to replace it by just buying certain shows. In Australia, people are not used to paying for TV (only about 25% have pay TV). I don't mind advertising too much either.

The PS3 is a great piece of kit and has all the capability of the AppleTV with full Hd capabilities as well. The interface is not perfectly integrated like the AppleTV but it is pretty slick. It sounds like you don't really need the AppleTV so I'd get rid of it.
 
Thanks for the reply !

Its a shame cause I love Apple stuff, but I guess I'd rather have £200 to spend on peripherals and use PS3 TV where I need it.

Thanks again,



Leancuisine.
 
I have had an Apple TV for a while now and love it, but wish I'd got a PS3 instead. If I get a PS3 though will be moving Apple TV to kitchen with a 19" TV. Is there not another room in the house you could put the Apple TV in with a cheap TV? It's also good to connect to a Hifi for music and you can use it for Airtunes.

AFD
 
afd said:
I have had an Apple TV for a while now and love it, but wish I'd got a PS3 instead. If I get a PS3 though will be moving Apple TV to kitchen with a 19" TV. Is there not another room in the house you could put the Apple TV in with a cheap TV? It's also good to connect to a Hifi for music and you can use it for Airtunes.

AFD
Click to expand...

The :apple:TV unit requires a wide screen TV, so the likelihood of that being a "cheap" TV is pretty small.

FWIW, I have a PS3 and was using Medialink to stream content. It's ok, but the interface with the Mac on :apple:TV is so much better, and Medialink fails to show video on certain files, so I now have both. PS3 for games and Blu Ray, Apple TV for streaming content and renting movies.

The movie rental option on :apple:TV is great. For example, this holiday season my sister was visiting and she wanted to watch "White Christmas". Well, 3 minutes and 3 bucks later, it's on. Can't do that with a PS3.
 
ATV will give you access to itunes and has the better interface (by far).

If you don't need/want/desire those, the PS3 will do everything else.

The real beauty of ATV really only shows if you use Itunes as your main media souce and hub. They would brilliantly together. If you are not an itunes person, ATV is probably not for you.
 
Also if you TV Shows /Movies are in .avi format the PS3 will play them without converting. But I have to agree with everyone here, that the Atv interface blows the PS3 out of the water.
 
I have a PS3 and since I got it I sold my AppleTV...no reason to keep it..It offers inferior picture quality.

check Medialink, it offers streaming from your Mac to the PS3...It works great and with it you definitely dont need an Apple TV. With the PS3 you can play games, watch movies, pictures, listen to music (not DRM enabled) and go to the internet..
 
It seems I have it the forum jackpot, as i have been contemplating the PS3 vs. ATV question for the last few days. This is extremely helpful. One last question though: so am I correct to assume that the PS3 will also stream music, photos and video from my Mac (iphoto, imovie and iTunes for music) to my TV, wirelessly? My set up is a very recent iMac with time capsule and modem. thx all.
 
Don't know about the mac, but I can certainly stream music, videos & photos from my PC to my PS3 no problem at all (ever since a firmware upgrade about 18m ago). You simply use a program on your PC like Windows Media Server, Tversity, Twonky or PS3 Media Server.

I bought an Apple TV at Christmas, and whilst the ATV interface is better than the PS3, the PS3 certainly has significantly better picture quality and greater flexibility in terms of what it can play.

If only there was a movie download store for the PS3 in the UK, I would never even have considered the ATV. As it is, the iTunes interface is what sold me to ATV.
 
rayward said:
The :apple:TV unit requires a wide screen TV, so the likelihood of that being a "cheap" TV is pretty small.

FWIW, I have a PS3 and was using Medialink to stream content. It's ok, but the interface with the Mac on :apple:TV is so much better, and Medialink fails to show video on certain files, so I now have both. PS3 for games and Blu Ray, Apple TV for streaming content and renting movies.

The movie rental option on :apple:TV is great. For example, this holiday season my sister was visiting and she wanted to watch "White Christmas". Well, 3 minutes and 3 bucks later, it's on. Can't do that with a PS3.
Click to expand...

Richer Sounds have a Polaroid 15" HD wide screen for £99.95, fairly cheap?
 
One other item worth mentioning is that the AppleTV is much quiter than the PS3. The PS3 sounds like a jet in comparison. But it you're already using PS3 for watching movies I'm sure you won't notice. People more sensitive to background noise will greatly prefer the AppleTV.

Other than that and interface, PS3 can do everything AppleTV can and more.
 
Thx for all the helpful replies. I guess the only thing the ATV does that PS3 doesn't is direct movie and TV show downloads from Itunes. There has been talk of a PS3 deal with Netflix for some time. Does anyoine know status, or any other deal in the making that will allow direct movie/tv downloads from PS3?
 
torontoboy said:
Thx for all the helpful replies. I guess the only thing the ATV does that PS3 doesn't is direct movie and TV show downloads from Itunes. There has been talk of a PS3 deal with Netflix for some time. Does anyoine know status, or any other deal in the making that will allow direct movie/tv downloads from PS3?
Click to expand...

There is a PS3 Video Store in the US and Sony will be expanding it to Europe this year...
 
Don't agree

neiltc13 said:
PS3 does EVERYTHING that Apple TV does, only better.
Click to expand...

We have both and they compliment one another very well. The PS3 does a great job with games and blu-ray movies as well as DVD. The Apple TV is simply a great place to buy content that PS3 does not do very well at all. And in some countries not at all.

You can access the US store for ATV content. I would say that you won't regret it if you keep it.
 
I think that they each have their uses. I have a PS3 and I am currently thinking of getting an Apple TV to use in another room of the house.
 
I personally have 2 PS'3s one in my bedroom and one in the living room and i LOVE them! I generally don't game much but when i do i like to play my 360 other than that the ps3 is better in every way, if your looking to game i personally recommend the 360. Other than that the picture and media capabilities and blu-ray play and DVD up scaling from the PS3 is amazing, I currently have all my movies, music, and pictures shared and everything works great :D

I currently use Connect360 and MediaLink both from Nullriver

P.S.

Get ready to get hooked on Blu rays ;) I cant seem to stop buying them lol.
 
The big difference between the two, in the UK, is that in the UK there is no movie/tv show download at all on the PS3.

On Apple TV however there is full access to the UK iTunes store, and with a little bit of know-how, full access to the US iTunes store as well :cool: That is a major selling point for me.
 
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