PS3...XBOX....Wii.........

[Rodny Alvarez]

http://www.projectorcentral.com/videogame_consoles.htm

[basementjack]

I have a 360, and the thing is really great.

There's some cool features of the 360 - for example - you can turn it on and off from the wireless controller.

Another cool feature is that from within any game, you can access many of the console settings without leaving the game. You can also exit a game back to the Xbox 360's user interface without ejecting the game disc.

Another neat feature is the "Arcade" these are mini-games that you download and keep on a memory card or hard drive. All arcade games are available as non-expiring demos - perfect if you just want to play a level or two of joust or ms. pac man.

If you're lazy like I am, it's nice to play an intense round of Gears of war, then exit that and play a game of bejeweled and zuma, all without ever getting up from your chair...

Some friends of ours have a nintendo wii and that seems pretty fun as well.

[EchoMike]

basementjack wrote:

There's some cool features of the 360 - for example - you can turn it on and off from the wireless controller.

A PS3 will also do that from the wireless Bluetooth controller

Another neat feature is the "Arcade" these are mini-games that you download and keep on a memory card or hard drive. All arcade games are available as non-expiring demos - perfect if you just want to play a level or two of joust or ms. pac man.

Sony also has downloable content as well. Demos of upcoming games, and also smal mini-games

If you're lazy like I am, it's nice to play an intense round of Gears of war, then exit that and play a game of bejeweled and zuma, all without ever getting up from your chair...

Sony controller will also wirelessly take you out of a game and back to the main menu so you may select new content.

[SteveCallas]

I bought a Wii at launch to play the new Zelda.....I was pretty disappointed in that system and I think the current enthusiasm for it will dry up pretty quickly with the "cookie cutter" games that have and will continue to be released for it. The difficulty on that Zelda game was very, very watered down. I sold it around Christmas for a profit and picked up a 360, and that turned out to be a very good decision. Large variety of games, great AV, great features, and a very solid online backing.

I don't have much interest in the PS3 with the games that are out as of now, however, a $100 price reduction is supposed to be in the works now that a blue ray manufacturing breakthrough has been made, and by the time that comes about, there may be enough good games to make me bite and get a blue ray player in the process.

[EchoMike]

I'm there with you. At this point, I just can't afford to go get a PS3 so I'm saving up.
In my opinion the PS3 is the better bang for your buck, and within the next 6 months you are gonna see a ton of new games for this system, and not just filler titles, some very good exclusives are coming, and they look PHENOMINAL!
But I wouldn't mind having a 360, although there's really only a few games, even after a year, that seem to ring thru. Halo, Gears, and the new Forza looks pretty good. Not sure of any other exclusive titles there are.

[John Simpson]

The PS3 is a fabulous machine, but the lack of games at the moment makes it a very expensive paperweight (I did buy Oblivion, which is great, but the lack of control mapping makes it hard for me to play).

One thing that surprised me with the PS3: the sound chip must be a very good one. The surround effects for Casino Royale were the best we've heard to date.

[wbassett]

John Simpson wrote:

The PS3 is a fabulous machine, but the lack of games at the moment makes it a very expensive paperweight (I did buy Oblivion, which is great, but the lack of control mapping makes it hard for me to play).

One thing that surprised me with the PS3: the sound chip must be a very good one. The surround effects for Casino Royale were the best we've heard to date.

I'm one of those that never looked at the PS3 as solely a gaming console. In fact I see it more as a BD player/media server that can also play games.

I agree, the sound is very good and if a person doesn't require or want analog out this is one of the best Bluray players out there. I just finished setting mine up as a media server and even my wife is now saying it's pretty cool. (That's a really big statement right there... when I bought it she was like why do you need that? And when I got the HD DVD player I got all kinds of dirty looks for spending money )

Now she's really into it and started giving me movies and CDs to load up on the My Book external drive. It's a lot easier going to a directory and clicking on a movie or CD than constantly swapping discs.

So I wouldn't call it a paper weight, it is a power house and it all depends on what you use it for. For just a game system, I'd say it's too expensive... for a full entertainment/media server setup- you could spend three times the amount on an HTPC and still not have a BD player or the same audio quality and SDVD upconversion quality.

I'm still definitely format neutral since most of the high def movies I happen to like are on HD DVD, so my Toshiba still gets a work out, but the PS3 is one fun piece of HT hardware! (I'm adding a second USB hard drive next payday)

[EchoMike]

wbassett wrote:

I'm adding a second USB hard drive next payday

I've got an older USB external drive (40GB). You sound like you've had some pretty good results on using a devide like this on your PS3. I've been thinking about it as well.

Now that Sony will announce a price cut next week, I'm REALLy thikning about getting one now, and with the line up of games they will announce, and show off at E3 next week, I really think it's the system to get.

[dbrady]

I am thinking of picking up either a 360 or a PS3 to test for myself, as I have more clients asking about the viability of them as integrated units.

I am not a hardcore console gamer, and neither are most of my clients. Most often they want the ability to play either HD-DVD or BD, stream music and lastly, play games. Now, if they are looking specifically for either HD-DVD or BD, then it is a no-brainer. But if their need is playing music from their extensive WMA or MP3 library already stored on their PC, would the PS3 or the 360 be a better choice?

The main concerns I have relate to which interface looks better and is more intuitive to use? Which one is easier to control via 3rd party remotes?

To me, the XBox Live sounds like it is a better service, but most clients don't game that much and might not want to pay a subscription to possibly download some content. Are the PS3 downloads free (i.e. demos and HD trailers), with only some things being pay-per-download?

[wbassett]

dbrady,

I know the 360 will also recognize external USB drives, my son was up to visit and we connected my USB MyBook to a 360. It wouldn't recognize the mpeg2 files though.

There are conversion programs that can be used but I'd have to have a 360 to know what video codec it uses and to test, but it can be done and used as a media server just like I did with my PS3.

Now if anyone can figure out how to get the PS3 to recognize the 360 addon HD DVD USB drive... THAT would be quite the media center!

Again, I don't have a 360 to play with so I don't want to sound biased. Right now HD DVD is riding a high, but I feel both formats will be around for some time to come.

I do know that with the PS3 you can rip CD's to the internal drive with a click of a button on the remote. We scanned and loaded up pictures from the family photo album and the PS3 has an excellent slide show with various playback effects you can pick from... start the slide show, click over to the audio folder, and fire up a CD sound track and sit back and enjoy your family pictures.

Red Kawa also has a free media center that provides video streaming from a PC to the PS3, so you don't have to have an external USB drive if you don't want to and I believe Red Kawa even provides a play list for streaming, something lacking on the PS3.

The interface is very slick and intuitive on the PS3 and the RF remote is $25. Personally I think Sony should have included an RF remote and HDMI cable with the PS3, but Sony can be greedy.

One con is that the remote is RF, so no using an IR universal remote. I'm not sure what the 360 remote is like. I also don't know if they have an HDMI adapter for the 360 yet, an extreme oversite on Xbox's side if you ask me for not building an HDMI 1.3 port right in the unit like the PS3 has.

The 360 Interface looks pretty easy too from what little time I had to play with it, but a little more game oriented, but that's just my initial opinion. I'm on the phone with my son right now who owns a 360 and he said he thinks the PS3 has a better interface and is better all around as a media system plus it already has an HDMI 1.3 port right on the back. The definining factor is going to be if your clients prefer HD DVD or Bluray.

Also keep in mind that the current PS3 is marked down $100 to $499 but it's also being discontinued and a new model is coming out with a 120GB internal Hard Drive. It won't have the complete PS2 chipset rather an emulator for PS2 games, but if you're dealing with adults, games may not be the highest priority. Besides, I just saw Pirates of the Caribean in PS3 format and it's pretty hard to fire up the old PS2 games now!

For people that want all the features I mentioned the PS3 has as a media server, but want HD DVD, wait for the XBox Ultimate to come out. It will be similar in price to the PS3 (around $500-$600) but is supposed to have an internal HD DVD Drive (from what I hear) and the 320GB hard drive as well as a built in HDMI port and ethernet connection. Transfering/achiving DVDs to the hard drive looks to be a bit more involved than the method I outlined for the PS3, but it is definitely doable.

You won't have analog audio out on either of these, but most stand along players don't have full analog out either so I wouldn't be too concerned about that, PCM over the digital out on the PS3 sounds incredible and I have no complaints what so ever.

So again, it all depends on which High Def format they prefer. Unfortunately I don't know enough about the 360 to walk you through setting it up as a media server. I opted to get a Toshiba HD DVD player since their prices are much better than Bluray and I watch my HD DVD movies on the Toshiba, BD on the PS3, and use the PS3 as a media center. As far as upconverting, they both are very good but right now. I think I put a slight edge to the PS3. Now if we were talking an XA2, I think the edge would shift back over to the Toshiba...

With current prices a person can go format neutral for around $699 and also have a complete media center to boot. Cheaper than what some people paid for a stand alone player

[dbrady]

Great info, thanks!

Yes, gaming is more of an afterthought in these situations, and streaming movies isn't the top priority. The main thing is being able to play their MP3s and music from their existing library with as little fuss as possible. They would continue to use their PC to manage their music, but have access to it through their AV system.

[wbassett]

If streaming isn't a desired or feasable option, then the external USB drives work very nice.

I manage my DVD archive from my PC to the USB drive, and then just plug it into the console. The same can be done with music. Or you can use USB Flash drives or media cards, which ever a person likes best...

[santora]

wbassett wrote:

dbrady,

For people that want all the features I mentioned the PS3 has as a media server, but want HD DVD, wait for the XBox Ultimate to come out. It will be similar in price to the PS3 (around $500-$600) but is supposed to have an internal HD DVD Drive (from what I hear) and the 320GB hard drive as well as a built in HDMI port and ethernet connection. Transfering/achiving DVDs to the hard drive looks to be a bit more involved than the method I outlined for the PS3, but it is definitely doable.

Unfortunately the 360 Ultimate is just a rumor. I would be highly suspect if they put this unit out for many reasons, specifically the technical requirements. A HD DVD drive is unable to read the DVD discs that the 360's games are on @ 12x DVD speed (which is why the DVD drive is so loud). Eventually they might come out with a drive that can read this, but really there's no point.

Not to mention, MS is more than happy to make money having people rent movies over MS Marketplace. They make a lot of money that way.