Hi,

I was considering the Popcorn Hour (A-110 initially, now c200) and now saw that the PS3 slim is about the same price (actually cheaper today $260 from Dell with a coupon).

So I was wondering how the PS3 stacks up to dedicated Media Streamers like the Popcorn Hour and what limitations the PS3 has in this respect.

I would really appreciate any opinion on this subject matter. TIA

So I was wondering how the PS3 stacks up to dedicated Media Streamers like the Popcorn Hour and what limitations the PS3 has in this respect.Its limitations are many and crippling. The PS3 is useless for anything more than occasional, casual use as a streamer. The codec support is very poor, so nearly everything will have to be transcoded at a noticeable loss in video quality. The UI is very simplistic and not suitable for navigating a large media collection.

If you're looking for a gaming system and a blu-ray player, then the PS3 is great. If you're looking for a streaming media hub, it's abysmal.

The PCH has extensive codec support and will play back pretty much anything natively. The default UI is lacking, but there are at least half a dozen 3rd party UI enhancements that are absolutely gorgeous (http://omertron.com/pch/skins).

Its limitations are many and crippling. The PS3 is useless for anything more than occasional, casual use as a streamer. The codec support is very poor, so nearly everything will have to be transcoded at a noticeable loss in video quality. The UI is very simplistic and not suitable for navigating a large media collection.

If you're looking for a gaming system and a blu-ray player, then the PS3 is great. If you're looking for a streaming media hub, it's abysmal.

The PCH has extensive codec support and will play back pretty much anything natively. The default UI is lacking, but there are at least half a dozen 3rd party UI enhancements that are absolutely gorgeous (http://omertron.com/pch/skins).

Thanks for the quick response. Would the same apply to the XBox 360?

Thanks for the quick response. Would the same apply to the XBox 360?

Pretty much sames goes with Xbox360. To be able to use WMC in the Xbox360 you need a dedicated PC running WMC.

Thanks for the quick response. Would the same apply to the XBox 360?

Yeah the 360 is just as bad, you lose BD/AVCHD support. The 360 can do WMV-HD and has native netflix support but it's still severely lacking as a media device.

The NMTs play pretty much everything and in the case of the new C200 the only things it doesn't do that I'm aware of is multichannel lossless FLAC and some Japanese video format that I'd never even heard of till like a week ago.