Ps3 / xbox360

[Jac Hawk]

Now I know we're not a gamers forum, but I thought a thread on the 2 most popular games platforms would be advantageous.

To begin with it's worth mentioning that modern video games are one of the largest growth sectors in modern Media, with many games being adapted into film such as tomb rader, also the games theselves are incredibly detailed employing groundbreaking video techniques as well as taking advantage of digital 5.1 sound to great affect, also many well known actors now are used for character voices in many top games and the in game music is often written and performed by some of the top bands around.

As for as the machines themselves are concerned, both are pretty good DVD players in their own rights,both can output 1080p as well as the PS3 being capable of playing Bluray as well, and both have a multitude of different connection methods from HDMI to Toslink and if you connect them too the interweb you will be able to access loads of other cool features such as Sky TV , Video rental and Last FM to name but a few, so they seem to have all bases covered, so why buy a stand alone dvd or bluray player?

IT'S OVER TO YOU :)

[Alex_UK]

Hi Mike - well I am one of the converted, having been into gaming since 1983 with my Sinclair Spectrum 48K... I have had pretty much every flavour of console since, and currently have pretty much all of the games machines you can get - Xbox360, PS3, Wii, PSP, DS... Here's how I see it...

Xbox 360 is the best for gaming, by and large, and whilst it can be used as a "media centre" the PS3 is better for those duties. I haven't tried any hi-res audio, so not sure if it supports FLAC etc., but for sitting under the TV connected wirelessly to my home network and the internet it is superb. Apart from playing games (the new Move controller is great for family fun, better than the Wii, and because it uses a camera, it also puts you on screen - my little one loves it!) the BluRay player is superb in it's own right - there are probably better players out there, but considering it does so much more it is great.

Watching home videos (no not those!) and looking at pictures on a 42" plasma is also brilliant for when family and friends are round - just browse to any of your other connected devises (i.e. laptop or PC) and you can play any videos, or do some really nice looking "slide shows" of family snaps.

I also have Play TV, which is basically a freeview tuner which turns the PS3 into a PVR, allowing you to watch and record (pause etc.) live TV, much like a Sky box, though not HD. With a 320GB drive, there's a lot of space to record TV for the nipper leaving my Sky HD box for the grown ups. In addition, the standard PS3 now has native support for TV On-Demand from BBC iplayer, 4OD, ITV - much better than watching it on a laptop or PC screen. Finally, my PSP is "connected" to the PS3, so as long as I can get a wireless connection, I can watch live or recorded TV (or view home videos/pictures or play music) from my home PS3 anywhere in the world - pretty darned cool!

Connected up to my Caiman DAC (toslink only, unfortunately) the sound from DVDs/Movies and even CD and Files is pretty darned good (I think some people even use it as their main audio transport) and even on just 2 channel stereo really adds to films and music media.

So, in my experience, I would not buy a standalone player, the PS3 is so much more, and is also simple enough that even my wife who is rubbish with hifi etc. has no problem with it. Highly recommended by me. :)

[chris@panteg]

Very good Alex , at some point , ( not sure when) i would like a PS3 , does everything really :)

[electric beach]

Very good Alex , at some point , ( not sure when) i would like a PS3 , does everything really :)

Except play FLAC files natively. Bugger. :doh:

[Alex_UK]

I haven't really looked into it, but there is a piece of Open Source software which looks like it might do it - but as I don't use FLAC files I haven't tried it.

PS3 Media Server (http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/)

[Jac Hawk]

well i'm on the other side of the fence, as i have a 360, admitedly it doesn't have bluray (and by the way, of all the bluray players available the PS3 is right up there with the best IMHO) but as previously said the xbox 360 is the better gamers platforn, not because the games are better, just the online gaming community is better, for most other things they are almost equal and to be honnest if you're looking to buy a new dvd or bluray player, i would check out one of these bad boys as well, cos they can do so much more :)

[Alex_UK]

as previously said the xbox 360 is the better gamers platforn, not because the games are better, just the online gaming community is better

100% agree, (I am a massive COD player, and have the last 4 on both platforms) but don't forget you have to pay for Xbox Live, (£60 p.a. I think from memory) whereas Playstation Network is free - so for the casual gamer rather than online nut, PS3 may be the better option. Not if you wanted to play Black Ops for the last 2 months though - PS3 only now has the capacity to cope... :rolleyes:

[pwood]

Xbox sounds like a jet taking off or at least my nephews and shop ones do which would drive me nuts. I have A PS3 slim which is used mostly Blueray as unlike most available bluerays until now it's wifi enabled so keeps up to date software without faf.

[Jac Hawk]

Xbox sounds like a jet taking off or at least my nephews and shop ones do which would drive me nuts. I have A PS3 slim which is used mostly Blueray as unlike most available bluerays until now it's wifi enabled so keeps up to date software without faf.

Yes the XBOX does have a big fan and if you keep it in a confined space the fan seems to go all the time, the trick with them is to have them in a well ventilated location so the heat can escape and the fan doesn't kick in as much (mine hardy ever comes on):)

[Alex_UK]

Xbox sounds like a jet taking off or at least my nephews and shop ones do which would drive me nuts. I have A PS3 slim which is used mostly Blueray as unlike most available bluerays until now it's wifi enabled so keeps up to date software without faf.

Both very valid points - the original PS3 was just as noisy as the xbox 360 in my experience, but the noisiest thing about the PS3 slim is the disc drive now, as it is much much quieter than the original. To be fair to both though, the fans only really kick in when gaming, they are silent when playing a disc.

[pwood]

Nephews 360 sits in free space and sounds like a 747. My Old PS3 was a lot louder but still not 360 bad. I need mine in my rack so its not possible to keep it cool.

Anyway a true gamer requires both if you ask me and the Konnect despite its issues is a major leap ahead of the competition.

[Jac Hawk]

Anyway a true gamer requires both if you ask me and the Konnect despite its issues is a major leap ahead of the competition.

The problem with the Kinect is that you need a lot of space, you need to be at least 6ft from the TV, plus you can't play sitting down, or if you're a girl the kinect doesn't recognise skirts. In my opinion this is a major drawback as many people either don't have the room or want the XBOX in a childs bedroom for instance.

A mate of mine got the Kinect and he loves it, but he has had to completely change his lounge around so he can get far enough away from the TV, my lounge is quite small and i would struggle to get that distance away from the TV, i can only have my stuff in 1 location so even though i would like one, it's not top of my must have list.