When you look at console wars, the PS3 is losing badly. And its no wonder with its high price. But can you really call it Video Game Console or should it be classed as a media centre.If you asked me a year ago what I thought of the Play Station 3, I would have told you that it was worthless, high priced console that only had full HD if you had a full HD tv. But now my opinion is starting to change. Maybe the Play Station 3 is marketed wrong, maybe it should be classed as a media center. And why not? It’s the cheapest Blu-ray video I’ve seen in Australia and it would go great with my Sony Bravia HD TV.

When you put the Apple TV and Playstation 3 side-by-side you’ll know what I mean. Not only can the PS3 playback DivX and XVid videos but it can also play them back in full HD (1080p) whereas Apple can only playback MP4 and H.264 at a resolution of 720p.

However, the Apple TV does have the ability to play videos from youtube, as well as integration with iTunes two features that the Play Station 3 lacks. It is also quite smaller then the Play Station and has a bigger hard drive (160gb vs. 80gb). Both hard drives can be replaced, but in order to format the Apple TV you must have a mac (or linux). With the play station, its a simple as taking it out, putting it in and turning it on!

In my personal opinion, the XrossMediaBar (Also used in the PSP and some Sony Bravia TV’s) is far better then the GUI of Apple TV’s, although Apple’s is more focused for video playback whereas the Play Station has to cater for a lot more.

When you compare the PS3 against the Wii and Xbox, you see that they tried to copy both consoles but failed at it. In my opinion the Xbox live service is much better then the Wii’s and the Play Stations (when it’s working of course) and the sixaxis controllers were only trying to copy the Wii’s (which didn’t really work).

I am not a play station fanboy, and if I was to ever to buy another console it would be the Wii, but when looking for a Home Media Server I would have to pick the Play Station. Why? because its the smallest media server I’ve ever seen (Apart from the Apple TV) and it has the widest playback options. Not only that but it’ll play future DVD’s and also plays games.

Further Reading/References:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_TV - Apple TV image
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3 - Play Station 3 Image
• http://www.gamersreports.com/article/43/2/ - Replace Playstation 3 Hard drive
• http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/23/how-to-upgrade-the-drive-in-your-apple-tv/ - Replace Apple TV hard drive

Update - It appears the the Play Station isn’t losing badly, just losing to the Wii. Thanks to brian and john for pointing that out

Garion's blog is 100% Australian owned, produced and hosted.

this blog is Powered by Wordpress. Log in