Did it make sense to try to make the PS3 as a HTPC?

I Always want to build one but never did it, because i thought i dont have the knowledge for. So here is the PS3 and i like to use it as a HTPC. But is it meaningfull?

I heard about restriction sony made for the 2d and 3d Hardware acceleration under linux. I think without, the PS3 could be a powerfull HTPC but would it make sense to build one with those restrictions?

Which Linux is best for?


Thanks for any advice. Where is the diffenrence betwenn YDL, Unbuntu ...


GReetz

Short answer, at the moment its not too practical (atleast not for HD), alot of hardware calls are blocked/rerouted, so at the moment, no hardware acceleration.

It is being worked on, but besides a full hack of the PS3, and its hypervisor, but for the moment, not much luck!

Thanks,

I read a bit, and think Ubuntu is the way to go, especially for the HD-DVD Add on. Will the restrictions be removed anytime soon!?

Why Sony use them?!


GReetz

I may in the future, but the power usage on that thing is off the scale. 177 watts in idle and 250+ watts during games/movies.

To give you an idea of how much power that is, I have a server that has a core 2 duo 4300, 11 3.5" hard drives, 3 capture cards, a bunch of fans and a video card and it pulls 180 watts in idle with the hard drives spun up. and during peak it hits 220 watts.

Definately not a good idea for a 24x7 htpc

Yeah, not a good HTPC from the linux OS. It's cool that they let you load Linux on the box, but it is was obviously a secondary consideration. I loaded YDL Linux on my PS3 and the thing is ssslloooww while being a power hog. The PS3 takes up more power than any other component in my system... including the audio amp.
For what it's worth - Sony is gradually building more HTPC like features into the native game OS.
It did get me into the concept, however, and I built a dedicated linux box with an AMD processor that peaks at 100 watts (single hard drive/capture card), idles at 50, and is much, much faster than the PS3 in Linux.

anyone did some experience with spdif output under linux? is it possible to passthrough AC3 sound from an AVI-File with mplayer (with windows there are no problems)...

anyone did some experience with spdif output under linux? is it possible to passthrough AC3 sound from an AVI-File with mplayer (with windows there are no problems)...

Please start a new thread to ask this question (the answer: "mplayer -ac hwac3 filename.avi")

I know the mplayer command for spdif passthrough. My simple question is if the PS3 supports it and give proper sound output to a DD/DTS amp.

I know the mplayer command for spdif passthrough. My simple question is if the PS3 supports it and give proper sound output to a DD/DTS amp.

Okay. Is your PS3 running Windows and passing S/PDIF? I was not aware of any Power CPU (i.e. Cell) version of Windows.

nope, sorry for the misunderstanding. On my windows PC spdif passthrough via mplayer is no problem. My question: is it possible to run linux under the PS3 with mplayer and spdif output?

because if yes, I'll go and buy one immediately :)

Did anyone try on himself to use it as an HTPC?

I've tried. Not a viable choice....yet. Until there's XVideo support, you can't really play video all that well.

Anybody with Linux loaded on their system give this a shot?

http://www.getmiro.com/

Anybody with Linux loaded on their system give this a shot?

http://www.getmiro.com/

Hey, that's pretty cool, thanks! Access to tons of stuff in one place. It won't play hulu, but there's a button to launch it in a browser.

Realize that when running an alternate OS on the PS3, the alternate OS gets only one cell processor and does NOT have access to the full graphics engine...

:cool:

Realize that when running an alternate OS on the PS3, the alternate OS gets only one cell processor and does NOT have access to the full graphics engine...

:cool:
Guess I misunderstood -- I'm not on PS3. That's still a cool proggy, though. I'll just use it as a download manager, symlink the dl dir somewhere, and add a video source in xbmc to watch all of that cool stuff! ;)

Why support a closed, proprietary box when you can build your own better, open box?