i have a htpc, colors calibrated
and a ps3, colors calibrated.

and i want to know which would be better quality with blu ray picture?
my pc has a 2600xt pcie.

this is on a 1080p 32" lcdtv viewed at 4 feet give or take a few inches.

i know the ps3 is much hotter and it makes a bit more noise than my htpc.

this is mainly about opinions so feel free to chime in. :) heh heh :D

Why not test it yourself and see?

When I was using PowerDVD 7 with my HTPC I was getting incurable occasional stuttering. Not enough to really make me want to stop watching, but just enough, like every 15-30 minutes, to drive me slowly insane. It wasn't until I upgraded to PowerDVD 8 that the problem went away for me, and even then PowerDVD is a buggy POS which likes to die if I try to use any advanced features on discs.

My PS3 has never had a single problem with any Blu-ray I've thrown at it.

I have been an avid HTPC person for awhile and I'll be the first to admit that it isn't for everyone. Configuring and maintaining an HTPC can be a real pain. BUT it offers you great flexibility and in the end you can dial it in to look and sound as good any standalone product. After all, computers are the ultimate digital device :)

I like to have an HTPC due to the flexibility and the power. You can keep upgrading it till it is perfect :)

From what I've seen the Ps3 puts out a better picture than my htpc. Not alot better but it's noticeable. I have a 1950xt.

The PS3 picture quality is far superior to my Nvidia 8600GT htpc and PowerDVD 7.3. Its not even in the same league.

Slick. In order to play DVD you need software and hardware. Your HTPC with the Nvidia graphics card is hardware, PowerDVD is software. PS3 includes a cell processor, a graphics card and uoconverting software. PowerDVD8 is pretty much as good as it gets. The PS3 is also very good, probably as good as the best freeware stuff you can get, but not as good as the best commercial software.

hi av.pallino.

I wasn't happy with my gt8600 so recently I upgrade to Ati4850 (+latest drivers). Video quality of hdtv and h264/divx etc improved slightly over the gt8600 but is still not in the same league as when played through the PS3. htpc (Vista Media Center)and ps3 both connect to plasma via hdmi. I played with ffdshow/CCCP/Powerdvd8 etc...but didn't really know how to configure these software...

Could you share your htpc settings? eg graphic card and software settings....

Much Appreciated.

My experience with HTPC has never been good. I never was able to get result on par with stand alone and even less surpass them when playing dvd or BR and I've been trying since the good old day of the ATI 8500DV. Those disk are encoded in such a way to optimize the quality on SA player not on PC. The only time I get better than SA quality on an HTPC is when I encode the file myself. In the end I find HTPC to be more trouble than they are worth compare to a SA or a PS3. The PS3 is the best media player for the moment.

hi av.pallino.

I wasn't happy with my gt8600 so recently I upgrade to Ati4850 (+latest drivers). Video quality of hdtv and h264/divx etc improved slightly over the gt8600 but is still not in the same league as when played through the PS3. htpc (Vista Media Center)and ps3 both connect to plasma via hdmi. I played with ffdshow/CCCP/Powerdvd8 etc...but didn't really know how to configure these software...

Could you share your htpc settings? eg graphic card and software settings....

Much Appreciated.


I believe Vista Media Center is probably the worst mpeg 2 (DVD) solution. I would definitely get a 3rd party application such as WinDVD9 or PowerDVD8.

Also, I too agree that the PS3 is a good solution. The only reason I still use an HTPC is because I can resize the window to show a smaller frame. I adjust it till it looks as close to HD as possible.

My general TV viewing distance is set up for HD. So, even if the HTPC isn't as good as a top notch DVD upconverter, resized to 42 inches the DVD from the HTPC looks sharper than a 60 inch full screen DVD.

Differences after a certain point is very subtle. Also, another problem with Vista Media Center is the audio. Once again you're better off with 3rd party players or a really good sound card.

In the end, whether its PC or Stand alone the decoding and processing is all software. Most PC graphics cards have more than sufficient power :)

i have a htpc, colors calibrated
and a ps3, colors calibrated.

and i want to know which would be better quality with blu ray picture?
my pc has a 2600xt pcie.

this is on a 1080p 32" lcdtv viewed at 4 feet give or take a few inches.

i know the ps3 is much hotter and it makes a bit more noise than my htpc.

this is mainly about opinions so feel free to chime in. :) heh heh :D

Depending on the software, I'd give the edge to the PS3. I think you'd have to get up to 3600 to give the PS3 a run for it's money. HAve you tried the Nvidia cards with PureVideo? :)

When I was using PowerDVD 7 with my HTPC I was getting incurable occasional stuttering. Not enough to really make me want to stop watching, but just enough, like every 15-30 minutes, to drive me slowly insane. It wasn't until I upgraded to PowerDVD 8 that the problem went away for me, and even then PowerDVD is a buggy POS which likes to die if I try to use any advanced features on discs.

My PS3 has never had a single problem with any Blu-ray I've thrown at it.

Looks like your CPU and/or graphics card is under powered. With powerDVD you need at least a Dual Core 2.2 GHz CPU and a dedicated 256MB graphics hard. I'd recommend a good gaming card if you're turning on all the post processing features.

Looks like your CPU and/or graphics card is under powered. With powerDVD you need at least a Dual Core 2.2 GHz CPU and a dedicated 256MB graphics hard. I'd recommend a good gaming card if you're turning on all the post processing features.

This is actually pretty funny. I have a C2D E6600 OCed to 2.8ghz and a GeForce 8800GTX which is OCed to Ultra speeds. I KNOW how powerful my computer is. Whatever computer you have, mine is more powerful and I do I use it for PC gaming, and let me be clear about this, the stuttering cleared up on Blu-ray playback when I upgraded from PowerDVD 7 to 8 without changing a single thing on my computer. Of course Cyberstink dropped HD DVD playback when they released 8, so naturally HD DVD playback with 7 still stutters but 8 plays back Blu-ray smoothly.

The problem is Cyberstink's POS software.

Thanks av.pallino.

Just wondering what software/codec you use for over the air hdtv? divx/h.264 video? and dvd?

I think to elicit potentially more important responses, you could ask the questions:

Does the PS3 always work? -Yes
Does PowerDVD always work? -No

All else equal, that pretty much tells you which to use. I really don't see any difference in quality of picture between my PS3 and my HTPC, which also uses a 2600XT. I've used PowerDVD 7.3 and TMT, and TMT is much, much better than PowerDVD for me, but whenever I play from a physical disc I use the PS3.

Thanks av.pallino.

Just wondering what software/codec you use for over the air hdtv? divx/h.264 video? and dvd?

I use ffdshow for everything else but VC1 and DVD. For VC1 I use the Powertoy (at this moment the place I downloaded it from slips my mind) to set the decoding and encoding parameters and use Windows Media Player for all VC1 content. The reason is that many of the online streaming content is VC1 and I find setting strong deblocking improves the image.

I know using multiple codecs and players seems complex. But actually it is not. Just select the file and assign it to a default player. I use FFdshow with MPC, VC1 with WMP and WInDVD9 for all TS files and DVD!

My itunes content I play through Apple TV. The synchronization is seamless and wireless. I have found that Apple TV does a pretty good job with DVD - but I have too many DVD options and I want to have control over the image size :)

This is actually pretty funny. I have a C2D E6600 OCed to 2.8ghz and a GeForce 8800GTX which is OCed to Ultra speeds. I KNOW how powerful my computer is. Whatever computer you have, mine is more powerful and I do I use it for PC gaming, and let me be clear about this, the stuttering cleared up on Blu-ray playback when I upgraded from PowerDVD 7 to 8 without changing a single thing on my computer. Of course Cyberstink dropped HD DVD playback when they released 8, so naturally HD DVD playback with 7 still stutters but 8 plays back Blu-ray smoothly.

The problem is Cyberstink's POS software.

That's cool. Stuttering is caused usually because the PC is not able to decode fast enough and process any other filters you may have turned on. Of course software can be the cause as well. On a set up like yours you should have totally smooth playback.

The reason I said gaming card, is because they are designed to handle far more complex algorithms than anything a DVD can throw at it :)

My current set up isn't thet powerful, but looks aesthetic :) It's a Sony Digital Living TP 1 - maxed out.

edge goes to ps3 not only in the video dept but audio as well. the diff is bigger on audio side when it comes to lossless audio formats blu-ray ahd hd dvd provide.

Definitely the PS3 is a great value. But limited codec support and a very limited web browser. Also, is it easy to upgrade the hard drive on the PS3?

PS3 would not work for what I use my HTPC for, but for Blu Ray and DVD it is an excellent choice. That is all you want, an HTPC is overkill. IMO.

Very easy to upgrade the HDD. I'm horrible with PC's and held off for quite a while thinking it would be a hassle. After I did I thought "Should have done this on day 1". Mine is 20GB swapped to a 160gb. Still silent as well with the new drive.

Definitely the PS3 is a great value. But limited codec support and a very limited web browser. Also, is it easy to upgrade the hard drive on the PS3?

PS3 would not work for what I use my HTPC for, but for Blu Ray and DVD it is an excellent choice. That is all you want, an HTPC is overkill. IMO.

Limited codec can be taken care by either installing Linux on it which you can do and it won't void waranty, or by streaming from your PC to the PS3 and having TVersity or Nero Media transcode on the fly.

I do concede that the browser suck but I have trouble reading computer text on my 106" from 14 feet away so it's not a big problem for me but I understand that it could be for others. But ain't sony announce an upcoming upgrade for the browser? Alos you could always use Firefox on linux on your PS3.

Limited codec can be taken care by either installing Linux on it which you can do and it won't void waranty, or by streaming from your PC to the PS3 and having TVersity or Nero Media transcode on the fly.

I do concede that the browser suck but I have trouble reading computer text on my 106" from 14 feet away so it's not a big problem for me but I understand that it could be for others. But ain't sony announce an upcoming upgrade for the browser? Alos you could always use Firefox on linux on your PS3.

That IS tempting (installing LINUX). I can see the PS3 replacing many HTPCs down the road. From what I have seen, there is no flaw in the PS3 as a system.

Why would you use the web browser on your PS3 when you have a PC?

Web browsing on consoles has always been 99% gimmick and 1% actually useful ever since the Sega Dreamcast days, and the PS3 hasn't changed that percentage one bit.

Why would you use the web browser on your PS3 when you have a PC?

Web browsing on consoles has always been 99% gimmick and 1% actually useful ever since the Sega Dreamcast days, and the PS3 hasn't changed that percentage one bit.

The fact that you can use a mouse and keyboard on the PS3 means you don't have to leave your couch to browse for some information on the web. And since you can load up Linux and use firefox I don't see why I would stratup the 'puter just for that.

The fact that you can use a mouse and keyboard on the PS3 means you don't have to leave your couch to browse for some information on the web. And since you can load up Linux and use firefox I don't see why I would stratup the 'puter just for that.

Does it support Flash? How about live streaming video (a lot of which is VC-1)? How easy is it to use it with media extenders?

However, these are not limitations of the PS3 platform itself. I can easily see the PS3 take the role of what many use their HTPC currently for.

Does it support Flash? How about live streaming video (a lot of which is VC-1)? How easy is it to use it with media extenders?

However, these are not limitations of the PS3 platform itself. I can easily see the PS3 take the role of what many use their HTPC currently for.

If flash run on Linux I don't see why it wouldn't work on linux on the PS3. Same for VC-1. If Yellow Dogs includes it in there distro or if it is available on a repository I don't see why not. The PS3 is the media extender. My PC (one of them at least) is the media server. The fact that I can use the PS3 for other thing is the cherry on top.

If flash run on Linux I don't see why it wouldn't work on linux on the PS3. Same for VC-1. If Yellow Dogs includes it in there distro or if it is available on a repository I don't see why not. The PS3 is the media extender. My PC (one of them at least) is the media server. The fact that I can use the PS3 for other thing is the cherry on top.

The irony is that IF I didn't have a Sony Vaio TP1 Digital Living HTPC I would have picked up a PS3 this weekend itself. I am not sure which piece of equipment I would disconnect to put in the PS3. Most likely the LG BH 200.

I've owned Sony Vaio Notebooks and PC and Media Centers for many years now and their new stuff is very impressive. I'll take a Vaio product over a Mac any day, and their Digital Living PCs actually ship with very good DVD support (which is surprising since I find Sonys standalone DVD and Blu Ray players they have released so far to be so-so at best) Excluding the PS3 :)