• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

HTPC vs PS3?

S

spaceman

[H]F Junkie
2FA
Joined
Jan 7, 2005
Messages
14,959
What are the pros and cons of buying a ps3 vs building an htpc w/ high end gaming capabilities? I am building, from the ground up, a HT in my new house. This is still a month away at least but planning helps right? I would rather build a htpc than buy a ps3 for its blu-ray mostly. However, is the ps3 better in terms of video and audio quality?

cheers!
 
I would think you would get better video quality with the PC seeing how as most PS3 games are not true 1080p anyhow... but with a computer you can run it at 1080p regardless of the game. Audio... again... the possibilities of sound cards are endless. It just boils down to are YOU going to notice the difference? Its unlikely unless your just a major video and audophile.
 
Also with the htpc you can have dvr capabilities and more codecs to choose from for playing ripped videos.
 
i would get the PS3 because of the blue-ray support and the fact that it will cost a fraction of a good HTPC, and at the same time be a easy gaming console that anyone can pick up and play, or watch a movie.

and the fact that i have a PS3 as my media center, i can connect to my computer and play all my music and movies over the network. Wireless keyboard recomended. :D
 
If you know how to build a computer, no reason to ever buy a console unless you like some of the proprietary games.

Unsure of the blue ray deal though, if the drives still cost a fortune (I havent looked because I dont care) then it may end up being cheaper to buy the PS3 with its subsidized drive if you feel the need to have oen.
 
? is the blue-ray that much better than hd playback from say a 4870?
 
? is the blue-ray that much better than hd playback from say a 4870?
 
Actually, unless the blue-ray is significantly better, I would prefer to build a htpc.
 
a htpc based on a 780G mobo would cost less than $400, Bluray drive included.

a htpc based on e7200+p35 mobo+radeon 4850 may go over $500, but it is miles ahead of a PS3 on ANY technical aspect you look at.
 
Warrior said:
i would get the PS3 because of the blue-ray support and the fact that it will cost a fraction of a good HTPC, and at the same time be a easy gaming console that anyone can pick up and play, or watch a movie.

and the fact that i have a PS3 as my media center, i can connect to my computer and play all my music and movies over the network. Wireless keyboard recomended. :D
Click to expand...
this is true for MOST people. Just like playback with the xbox 360 you are fairly limited as to WHAT you playback. If your primary thing is watching downloaded videos the PS3 might not be for you. Do some reading on codecs supported currently and look through your collection. You may have to deal with some transcoding but you might not.

Personally I have an xbox 360 for gaming and TV watching/DVR since its hooked to my PC it uses that for recording shows but watches the live tv flawlessly with all the pauding type features.

For video playback I use an popcornhour box which is under $200 and plays EVERYTHING I've thrown at it.

don't forget about the cost of power consumption. The PC will ALWAYS be on and produces heat which will make you run the AC more in the summer. If you live in an expensive power place you need to be thinking about this...
 
geok1ng said:
a htpc based on a 780G mobo would cost less than $400, Bluray drive included.

a htpc based on e7200+p35 mobo+radeon 4850 may go over $500, but it is miles ahead of a PS3 on ANY technical aspect you look at.
Click to expand...

Well shit. I did not know that they were that cheap and available for pc. Done deal then. Thanks. Heat? lol. I will have two central air units in my home. One in the basement and one in the attic.
 
spaceman said:
What are the pros and cons of buying a ps3 vs building an htpc w/ high end gaming capabilities? I am building, from the ground up, a HT in my new house. This is still a month away at least but planning helps right? I would rather build a htpc than buy a ps3 for its blu-ray mostly. However, is the ps3 better in terms of video and audio quality?

cheers!
Click to expand...

Dude. they're not even in the same category. PS3 for gaming and blu ray movies and the HTPC for everythng else.
 
A PC cannot support all of the HD audio specs yet (+you need specific software to get the codecs that are supported) so in that respect, a HDMI connected PS3 - to an HDMI amp that supports the HD audio codecs - may give you better sound.

However for gaming, there is no contest, a PC blows away the PS3 for framerate and gfx quality at high res.
The PS3 is a few generations behind now.
 
You can do the HD audio specs with a 48x0 video card, they are the first ones to support it. There are also some audio cards that are slated to come out in the near future (month or so) that will pass through the video signal and add on the HD audio track. I understand there are some issues with 24p playback with some video cards, I suspect it could also be a software issue, I know it was for my HTPC for a while. Once the software gets more solid I think the PC will surpass the PS3 in raw quality as well as being able to play whatever the new codec de jour is. The PS3 can't stream quicktime for instance. Oh, the PS3 also will not work with an IR remote, apparently it wants bluetooth, so if you are going to be using a universal remote it will be a problem.
 
TroubleMagnet said:
You can do the HD audio specs with a 48x0 video card, they are the first ones to support it.....
Click to expand...

Sadly not true.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3338&p=2
All of AMD's Radeon HD graphics cards have shipped with their own audio codec, but the Radeon HD 4800 series of cards finally adds support for 8-channel LPCM output over HDMI. This is a huge deal for HTPC enthusiasts because now you can output 8-channel audio over HDMI in a motherboard agnostic solution.

We still don't have support for bitstreaming TrueHD/DTS-HD MA and most likely won't anytime this year from a GPU alone, but there are some other solutions in the works for 2008
Click to expand...
 
Well, you can't stream TrueHD/DTS-HD over HDMI but you can decode it on the PC and stream it as LPCM over HDMI. This should be just as good as sending the encoded stream (better for people like me with a receiver that can't decode them but will play LPCM streams) unless you think your receiver or pre-amp is going to do a better job of decoding it than the PC will. You can send the result of the decode with no loss or re-encoding via LPCM. This is why I consider the 48x0 as having solved the audio quality problem with PC Bluray/HD-DVD playback.
 
Idk I definately use my PS3 more than my HTPC that I built. Depends though. If I cant stream something like HD avis such as the x264 codecs I will use my HTPC but the ps3 rocks at streaming, and I play loads of games on it too.
 
Well.. You can get away with the media file format issue on the PS3 if you use transcode on the fly/media streaming software like TVersity. Granted, the quality of the media will worsen a little bit since it is going through another compression.

If you want HTPC features (DVR, PC gaming, web browsing, e-mail look up, etc), stick with the... HTPC.

If all you care about is media streaming, bluray and play some PS3 titles, then the PS3 does a good job at it, but the HTPC can do the same task (excluding playing PS3 titles).
 
TroubleMagnet said:
Well, you can't stream TrueHD/DTS-HD over HDMI but you can decode it on the PC and stream it as LPCM over HDMI. This should be just as good as sending the encoded stream (better for people like me with a receiver that can't decode them but will play LPCM streams) unless you think your receiver or pre-amp is going to do a better job of decoding it than the PC will. You can send the result of the decode with no loss or re-encoding via LPCM. This is why I consider the 48x0 as having solved the audio quality problem with PC Bluray/HD-DVD playback.
Click to expand...

Thats where the problem lies.
You need specific software to decode the HD audio from Blu-Ray disks and not all HD audio formats are supported yet.
 
ive read all the posts here differentiating between the 2 and all i can say is i have no problem downloading (i know some people don't like but i do buy if i like) x264 videos and use mplayer on my macbook pro. i use a simple dvi to HDMI cable to my 55" sony sxrd rear projection and it displays 1080p just fine. as many have said you can have endless audio options which are true just depends on your liking, setup and overall goal. what is your progress so far in deciding on what to do? i ask is a few of us at work are helping a guy out and making him a home theatre as well. itd be cool to get some more input from someone going down the same path.
 
so stands the questions...you're building a nice home theater for your living/family room or a home theater room ? If yoiu're doing a high end component system, I say go w/ a blu ray player and put it in the beautiful rack system for the theater. Then hide the computer behind the scenes.
PS3 = typical sony monopoly. Oh you need out remote, out connections...sorry just don't think they cooperate w/ everyone else in the industry.
 
I had a nice HTPC set up but now strictly use the PS3. I got tired of the constant maintenance and constantly training my family on how to use it properly without messing up my settings. Of course everyone's situation is different. Anyway my family loves the ease of the PS3's cross media bar and prefers it to my HTPC. As far as graphics, yes the PS3 is noticeably outdated now. All you have to do is play the Grid demo on a nice pc with everything cranked up and then try and play the console version lol.
 
Without some tweaking the PS3 seems to put out a slightly nicer Blu Ray image than my 1950xt. Not sure whether it's my video card or what.
 
brokenarrow03 said:
Is there a half height HD4000 series card? I didn't see any on the egg.
Click to expand...

You don't need a 4000 series card for HTPC use, only if you're gaming (pretty much, the 4000 series has a couple of improvements when it comes to audio).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102754
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814145154
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162004
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814145153

Theres also a slew of 3450 cards that are low profile. Any of the above as well as the 3450s will work as an HTPC card.
 
Repooc said:
PC all the way... atleast this way you can watch TRUE 1080P content
Click to expand...

Actually, if you've read anything about Blu Ray on the PC you'd know that a PS3 kicks the shit out of it due to now fragmented the playback software situation is. :rolleyes:

And what the hell does "TRUE 1080P content" means? :rolleyes:
 
spaceman said:
Huh? For what? A SFF build?
Click to expand...

Uhhh...Yea a SFF build...


CrimandEvil said:
You don't need a 4000 series card for HTPC use, only if you're gaming (pretty much, the 4000 series has a couple of improvements when it comes to audio)....
Theres also a slew of 3450 cards that are low profile. Any of the above as well as the 3450s will work as an HTPC card.
Click to expand...


Ive got a 3450, do the 3450's do surround sound over HDMI? That would be my only reason to upgrade...
 
CrimandEvil said:
Actually, if you've read anything about Blu Ray on the PC you'd know that a PS3 kicks the shit out of it due to now fragmented the playback software situation is. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

No kidding. If I want to watch a movie, I turn on the PS3 and put in a disc, and it plays. I never have to worry about HDCP issues, software drivers, buggy playback programs, paying more to upgrade to the new version(s) every year, playback stutter because Vista decides it's time to index itself for the upteenth time, having a keyboard hidden somewhere, trying to diagnose resolution changes on a TV when something breaks, dealing with incessant Windows complaining about updates, and crossing my fingers that the whole thing won't just die mysteriously one day (which happens more to PCs than consoles, IMO), forcing you to start over from scratch with your system settings and optimizations.

The only win the HTPC has is flexibility. It really will play back about anything I can throw at it, which is nice. The proper method for me for some time has been to just do both. The PS3 or your dedicated upscaling unit can deal with movies, the HTPC can deal with exotic content (MP4, MKV, etc.).

That, and the PS3 really needs an infrared remote adapter.
 
wildfire99 said:
That, and the PS3 really needs an infrared remote adapter.
Click to expand...

I bought a Nyko PS3 Remote control that came with a small usb infrared reciever and I'm able to use my Logitech Xbox 360 harmony with it flawlessly. Well except turn it on and off, but everything else is works perfect:D.
 
The PS3 actually puts out a slightly better blu ray image than my pc. I've read it has the best image quality of any Blu ray player and I believe it it does look good.
 
All 3 of my PC (two HTPC's) have a better BD picture than my PS3. It's not huge, but it looks better to me. I have a PS3 and HTPC's... I love HTPC's, however, I do wish they were more mature. Native BD playback in VMC and the ability to bitstream HD audio would be great.
 
I have both and I think the pros and cons are completely user dependent. For ease of use, the PS3 wins-- hands-down.
 
bryanwii said:
If you are going to do either setup, I suggest using a good universal remote. Harmony remotes are pretty bad ass, you can press watch dvd on the remote and it turns on all the necessary devices to watch a dvd. plug the remote in via usb and input the model numbers of the devices and it loads the codes for you.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/remotes/universal_remotes/&cl=us,en
Click to expand...

QFT. I gotta get me one of those, I'm no record setter, but a remote for the DVR, AVR, TV, dvd player, vhs player, and CD player... it gets alittle out of hand.

Get a nice universal remote. Harmony is excellent but Logitech is also making some pretty nice remotes these days.

And if your willing to break the bank I highly suggest a drobo if you plan to use record alot (as in terabytes) of stuff. You could go raid-5 but its a little fugly to upgrade, with drobo you can simply pop in a new drive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top