Bluray, ps3, or apple tv? Or none of the above?

[bean438]

So I normally don't watch a lot of movies, I find the HD networks on my PVR is sufficient.

However, my complete BFM home theatre build will be complete and I will probably enjoy the odd movie or 2. I will need some kind of HD content provider.

My 1st choice is get nothing. My local cable company has HD movies for 8 bucks a pop.

Option 2 is dedicated bluray player. Downside is that all it will do. 2-5 dollars to rent, plus I have to take the movie back.

I can go with apple tv and download movies for 6 bucks, plus I can watch anything on my mac on my big screen. My itunes library will also stream to the HT system.

Ps3 is nice as it has built in bluray, and can access netflix as well as web surf.

I have no idea which route I want to go.

I would like some input as to what you bought, why you made the choice, and what would you do next time? I.e surfing the web on ps3 sucked so next time I would.......

The do nothing and order on demand sounds nice, but so does web surfing on a big screen.

Streaming music to my HT is no big deal but streaming stuff on my hard drive would be nice.

I currently don't play video games but my nephews would appreciate it when they come for a visit.

[BoostFab]

My vote is on the PS3; i was in the same dilemma. The PS3 does everything along, plus BlueRay. Unless you pay for a more expensive dedicated BlueRay unit, many of them takes a long time to load BD disc.

But if you don't care about games, maybe consider the DIY route: building a home theater pc (HTPC); and do everything you need, plus more flexible. most video cards nowadays have hdmi out and you plug the HTPC straight to your TV or receiver.

[SeisTres]

My vote is on the PS3; i was in the same dilemma. The PS3 does everything along, plus BlueRay. Unless you pay for a more expensive dedicated BlueRay unit, many of them takes a long time to load BD disc.

But if you don't care about games, maybe consider the DIY route: building a home theater pc (HTPC); and do everything you need, plus more flexible. most video cards nowadays have hdmi out and you plug the HTPC straight to your TV or receiver.

+1

this is also the same thing my brother did for his HT. As he does play some video games it was even more a no-brainer. But it can do streaming, Bluray, netflix, surf the web(although he too thinks it sucks), but the surprising thing was that he used to have pandora and being able to have on his new system was really awesome.

Also, if you get netflix, they are doing Blueray, too. And if you have redbox near by, they too have it.

Personally, I don't care for any of the above as I prefer xbox/pc games, don't mind dvd quality (or even low fi streaming), and pandora is just fine on my computer, but if you want to have a an all in one, the ps3 is a good choice.

[Radian]

Bought: Panasonic DMP-BD60

Why:

It was on clearance, the succeeding model (DMP-BD80) wasn't that much of an improvement, we had an HD TV, Panasonic video chip sets have amazing picture quality, and finally our old Sony DVD player was starting to flake out.

How it's going:

Although I get TWC HD feed through a Scientific Atlanta STB, the Blu-Ray disc player smokes the cable feed any day of the week in bandwidth (no artifacts) and color.

Especially, during scenes where there's a ton of moving image detail going on, the blu-ray wins, hands-down.

Got a wireless-n router and surf the web on the laptop, while watching TV, and listening to music.

[bean438]

I have heard from others that a real blu ray wins hands down.

How is the ps3 as a bluray player?

I am thinking apple tv will be no more than as good as HD from cable video on demand.

[bzb]

If you rip all your BD and DVDs to mkv/divx/mp4 like I do, then a WDTV Live with the WDLXTV hack is the best creation ever.

Although, the Apple TV hardware is intriguing, especially since IOS has been jailbroken. I'm not 100% sure VLC works on it with HD files. No 1080p is a killer for me, though.

Physical media is dead in my house.

[bean438]

I'll have to look into WDtv. I am not sure if my dvd on my mac is blu ray. I guess i can always upgrade it

[DanielNY]

If your looking for the best all in one solution then it's the PS3 hands down. However, a dvd player is a DVD player first and although it can stream from the internet the interface is usually cumbersome. Navigating a menu and inputing search criteria with a remote control gets old really fast. The PS3 has a leg up though and can have an add on keyboard, USB, and blutooth devices attached to it to make it more computer like.

If your only concerned with streaming HD and Standard Def material then the Apple TV, Google TV, and ROKU HD are all pretty good pics. There is also VUDU which offers the largest FULL RES HD library of them all but it is a pay service and the gap of HD availability is getting smaller and smaller so that may be a moot point.

So, what I'm getting at is if you intend on buying into one of these devices be prepared to live with some compromises no matter which you choose. Keep in mind if you want to have the flexibility of making your device available on your home network make sure it is DLNA certified like the PS3 is or that it at least complies with the standard. I believe it relies on upnp and AV version 2 or higher.

Considering all of this, I went the DIY HTPC route. I've been running a HTPC for about 5 years now and I did the trial and error thing for way too long. This may be outside of your budget but if you can, there is a company called AsRock that makes a Mini HTPC powered by an ATOM/ION processor which you should give a look at or you can build one yourself.

[DanielNY]

Also highly recommended.


http://www.logitech.com/en-us/keyboards ... vices/3848

I've had mine for 2 years, wouldn't trade it for anything. Fits in your pocket and lasts about a month on a single charge. Can also be used with the PS3.

[DJPhatman]

I have a PS3, HTPC, and wireless HD streaming built-in to my HDTV, a Toshiba 55" with everything but 3D (wasted on me, I'm almost blind in one eye), and the PS3 wins, hands down. Uprates everything that goes through it to at least 1080i, most everything to 1080p. I do game a lot.

[LelandCrooks]

I've been wondering about this a lot. I'd really like to dump my satellite and go to this. I currently get networks off the antenna for hd, I ain't paying extra for hd channels or locals. They get too damn much from me now.

So the consensus is the PS3? And is it easy enough the boss of the house won't be hollering at me every time she wants to watch tv? I'd really almost settled on a htpc. And are they any opinions on the xbox system that's available?

[bzb]

I'll have to look into WDtv. I am not sure if my dvd on my mac is blu ray. I guess i can always upgrade it

It's not. Steve Jobs has something against allowing us Mac people to play BD movies, but not data.

I rip all my BluRay to MKV using RipBot264 booting into Windows 7.


Leland - not necessarily. If you still want to watch *some* TV... Apple TV might be the way to go. Hulu+ can be run on IOS, and it's $10 a month for unlimited streaming TV.

PS3 you'll be limited to Netflix TV shows, which are *generally* only series on DVD. Apple TV can access the App Store which has a lot of shows for $0.99, and of course Hulu+ which has a lot of current stuff to stream. I think you should also be able to get the other apps like the ABC Player to watch stuff like Modern Family and the like. Other networks are following suit with their own streaming applications on IOS.

If you already have a sizable collection of movies and shows, and you're willing to download them as you want them (rather than stream them), or stick with Netflix's offerings, then the PS3 is a great solution.

If you already have a sizable collection like mine and your purchases are all pretty much Disney movies because you have no time to watch anything else, the WDTV rules


I used to use the xbox360 for streaming movies. It works just as well as the PS3, if not easier since it's Windows-based. Also has Netflix, just like PS3. It doesn't have a BluRay drive, though. I prefer the exclusives on the 360 to the PS3, but that's entirely personal choice.

[bean438]

Bzb what I meant was I don't know if my dvd drive on my mac can read buray discs.

How is the quality of itunes HD movies?

Is it as good as bluray, or more like cable HD?

[BoostFab]

Is it as good as bluray, or more like cable HD?

they used the lossless compression on the the video; streaming will never be the same as blue-ray media (or rip)

guess what my final decision was back then when i had to choose? an hackintosh htpc for the living room. i built my computer, using a case that looks like a receiver head unit, and install mac osx on there. I ripped all my music, movies dvd or bd and store them on my file server and access them from any where in my house. i have one big raid array on my file server. play whatever i want to on my laptop in the garage while building bfm cab in the garage. LOL

[bzb]

Bzb what I meant was I don't know if my dvd drive on my mac can read buray discs.

How is the quality of itunes HD movies?

Is it as good as bluray, or more like cable HD?

Honestly, not impressed with any of the streaming HD stuff. On my plasmas and smaller LCDs in the house, it's fine. I run most of those in 720p anyway. On the 55" LED panel it's *terrible* in comparison. The big problem with getting a nice TV is that it displays all the problems with low bitrates.

One of the common misconceptions is that 1080p will always look better than 720p. You can make a 480p look better than a 1080p source easily. Just jack the bitrate.

Problem we have now is that even though broadband is close to ubiquitous, the speeds vary so much it's hard to make a determination on what bitrates to carry/standardize on. Choose too many, and it's a pain in the ass to manage. Choose too few, and it looks terrible for those who have large broadband pipes and upper end TVs.

Unfortunately for those of us fortunate enough to have a nice TV, the major players in the streaming game have chosen to stick with the least (or close to it) common denominator to be most compatible. We're Pareto's favorite lowly 20% that complains 80% of the time.



On a completely different note, I cannot stream some of my bigger, full HD files, such as The Lord of the Rings rips. I ripped them at such a high bitrate that the files are around 50GB each, and they perform poorly streaming over my wired (yeah, WIRED) network - especially if there's significant traffic otherwise on the network between TVs running (IPTV) and/or downloads going.

For those files, I have them on a local hard drive plugged directly into the WDTV. If you're interested in my setup, I'll take some video of how the whole thing works.




Boost - the reasons I did not go with an HTPC are:

1. Boot time. I want it up immediately.
2. Power savings. Even if it's minimal with a Hackintosh, it's still significant over the year.
3. Simplistic operation. My 3-year old has been operating the WDTV for almost a year now. Apple TV he could probably control too, since he's been playing around with my iPhone since he turned 2. In fact, operating the Apple TV via the iPad is *very* alluring to me... but 720p is the big killer for me.
4. I tend to dick around with computers too much. Guaranteed that HTPC would have a good bit of "down time" every year