Mac Mini or a PS3

[pb1300]

First off, I was searching around the forum, and got a lot of answers. But, Im interested in hearing some of you guys' opinion/s.

I have a PS3, iMac, and UMB. I was thinking about getting a Mac Mini for my living room, connecting it to a 37" Samsung Series 5 LCD, but I dont know if its worth it. I was thinking that instead of spending that money on the Mini, I can just get a larger HD for my PS3 and run everything through there. But, I have no clue how to do that. All I know is how to play games, access the web, and load some movies on it. I know there are programs that can sync my PS3 to my Macs, but I guess I just havent looked into it yet.

I have about 400 movies on my external drive right now, and I want to move them to a device that just connects to the TV. Im not going ot have a home theater system ATM, because I live in a one bedroom apartment in Greece. I cant have anything like Hulu because sites like that are prohibited outside of the US (if anyone knows a way around that, Im all ears). Thoughts/opinions anyone? Thanks!

 

[geoffreak]

The cheapest method is to get an external attached to your iMac and stream to your PS3

 

[pb1300]

The cheapest method is to get an external attached to your iMac and stream to your PS3

And I stream to my PS3 how? I dont mind at all if you speak to me like five year old regarding this lol. Im really not ignorant regarding these things, and I had a lot of info on my old laptop, but I lost it all because of a mistake moms made. BTW, should I just stick with the PS3 OS, or install something different? Thanks!

 

[Teh Don Ditty]

Rivet is what you need to stream movies, music and pictures to a PS3. It's absolutely brilliant.

I would just use the XMB. It would be in your best interest to pick up a PS3 Remote to make life easier.

 

[beejam]

If you have an external hard drive, why not just plug that in to the ps3 (usb)? Make sure you have the following folders setup in the hard drive (in all caps, just like it is shown):
MUSIC
PICTURE
VIDEO
Put the movies in the VIDEO folder and the ps3 should recognize them if they are in a format the ps3 knows (NOT video_ts).

One thing you may not like (especially with 400 movies) is that the ps3 just lists them in one loooooooong list. I haven't found a way to make some sort of directory tree on the ps3. Anybody else know if you can?

Changing the hard drive is easy. Sony even shows you how to do it in their online manual.

 

[dmiller]

If you're going to want to access the web quite a bit I would look into getting an actual computer attached to the tv. The PS3's browser for me is near non-functional due to the terrible UI.

However I replaced my 40GB hard drive with a 160GB in the PS3 and now load all movies and TV shows directly on the PS3's hard drive. There are instructions in the PS3 manual on how to change the hard drive as well as tons of tutorials on youtube. It is easier than changing hard drives in a MacBook. Yes you can stream the content but I think it's nice to have it all there on the machine and be able to play it whenever.

You just have to access how much "time on the web" you plan on doing.

The thing about movies being a long list on the PS3, about all you can do is press square and it will group them via date, or by first letter of the title.

 

[pb1300]

I have about 80 movies on my PS3 now, and I agree tat it sucks that you cant sort them any other way. I originally went from an external HD to my PS3, but the PS3 wouldnt read all the files because the movies werent converted right. Im going to try Rivet and, then go from there.

 

[Bye Bye Baby]

Depends on your library.

I have 100s of ripped DVDs that I have put on my PS3. I upgraded the drive to 250 gigs. It is quite convenient for that.

I have my mini and my drobo attached to the computer. My drobo+mini acts as a media server for the whole house. Music is streamed everywhere and all video content to the ATV. That way iTunes specials/ TV shows and rentals all appear on my flat screen TV. To have everything in the one place is good.

 

[Projectmorpheus]

Medialink worked well before I moved but I haven't taken my ps3 out of the box in a couple of months now but $20 and it was pretty smooth way of handling things between my macbook and ps3