PS3 vs. Apple TV

[ethiostar]

The wife and I are looking to buy one of these but we can't decide which one would offer us flexibility. I have done some research but i still don't have a clear idea of which direction i want to go. I wanted to give you all enough information so you can advise me based on your own experiences and knowledge on these systems. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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The main reason (but not the only one) is that we want to be able to transfer 400+ CDS we have and listen to them through out surround system (I received a mega CD player from a kind zoner sometime ago but i've had a lot of problems with it). Going forward we do like the idea of purchasing music online so the Apple TV is attractive in that regard (I own a MacBook). However, i'm not sure if i will be able to buy and play anything that is not in the itune store.

We also have a lot of pictures that we want to transfer and view them on our tv rather than on the laptop or the home PC.

We are not gamers so that aspect of the PS3 is a bonus, although my son will probably want one when he gets old enough. We have PS2 that we haven't used in a few years and my wife wanted a wii so we purchased one a few months back.

The fact that we can play blue-ray dvds on the PS3 is a plus as well.

I personally do watch movies and TV shows online (my wife doesn't) and i like to do it for free. It seems through the Apple TV, i'm limited to watching (and purchasing) shows and movies from the itune store. Also, Apple only has HD quality movies and does not have blue-ray.
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If the information i have about either one of these systems is not accurate please correct me.

Considering what we are looking to do and the flexibility we desire, which one of these two is a better option?

What other aspects do I need to consider? What other constraints and/or advantages have I not considered?

Thank you very much in advance.

 

[Doomsday]

One nice thing about the PS3 is you can stream movies, pictures and music that is stored on your PC without having to transfer them to the PS3. It is also one of the best Blue-Ray players on the market.

 

[JustDezIt]

One nice thing about the PS3 is you can stream movies, pictures and music that is stored on your PC without having to transfer them to the PS3. It is also one of the best Blue-Ray players on the market.

i watch all my downloaded movies on the ps3, listen to music and view pictures.

as far as the pictures the quality is great and they have some cool photo albums options and slide shows that are pretty cool. i love it and it will play almost any kind of media file.

You can stream some kinds of videos on its internet browser, like you tube but some others wont work but they are constantly updating to help play as much internet video content as possible.

Like the previous pster said you can stream it without transfering using a media center straight from your laptopbut i would reccomend a cheap external hard drive so you can just plug and play and not have to worry about filling the playstations hard drive or damaging it, plus you instantly have your info backed up in a portable form. Im not sure if you can stream, streaming video playing on your laptop to it using the media center or not.

I dont know much about apple tv but apples does seem to try to limit the usage to only things purchased through them.

You can buy movies, music and games through the playstation store as well as save photos from the internet to the harddrive.

The blue ray player has amazing quality and it seems that will be the wave of the future so it would save you from having to buy stand alone player down the road.

I love my PS3 and with the hard drive have literally turned it into a complete media center, and would reccomend it to anyone who asks for my opinion. hope that helps.

 

[ethiostar]

Thank you both for your input.

Where is everybody else?

Looking for some deals I came across the following at Dell. Is that a good deal?

Playstation 3 Slim 120GB PS3 Gaming Console With Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Blu-Ray Remote Control & 6' HDMI Cable for $379.

I don't know anything about the game thats included.

 

[Kendo]

You could just hook up your macbook to your home theater system and use it to play any media you like. I have my laptop connected to my TV and stereo and control it all with a wireless keyboard and mouse. If ever I need to use the laptop I simply unhook it and take it where I need it (although I rarely do). You could then play all of your music through your stereo, stream online videos to your TV, and even rent movies through itunes, netflix, etc... This sounds like it would basically cover most of the functions you are looking for, and is essentially the same as the AppleTV.

Now that being said, the PS3 is an awesome machine and is more than capable of all the above functions. I almost exclusively use mine for gaming and watching blue rays as I use my computer set up for everything else. I know some people connect a wireless keyboard and mouse to the PS3 and use it for almost all their computing needs, but the OS is kind of limiting in that regard. Also if you were averse to keeping your laptop hooked up to your TV you could stream all of your media wirelessly to the PS3, although in my experience this can be a pain because of format types. Some files play fine while others don't depending on how they are encoded. Also the functionality of the PS3 keeps increasing with each update with 3-D next on the horizon.

Long story short - PS3 >>>>>> Apple TV

 

[Meat-O-Rama]

I like the AppleTV a lot and it does some cool stuff, but it is not at the forefront of Apple's development efforts. About the best you can do besides playing stuff already in your library is to stream stuff off Youtube. If you're up for hacking, you can get the boxee software (http://www.boxee.tv/ )running on it which allows you to do a ton more things

The PS3 seems a lot more open, I know for one you can stream Netflix movies. Also, the PS3 doesn't care where you got your content, whereas the AppleTV is going to be more of a pain about only playing 'authorized' content. Add in the functionality of the blu-ray player and the fact that it is a top of the line gaming machine (might just be a reason to get the next Madden?) and the PS3 wins hands down.

One major factor for some but not others might be the incompatibility of the PS3 with universal remotes. AppleTV uses standard IR, but PS3 uses bluetooth, which would require an adapter or some other hack.

 

[Kevinicus]

Thank you both for your input.

Where is everybody else?

Looking for some deals I came across the following at Dell. Is that a good deal?

Playstation 3 Slim 120GB PS3 Gaming Console With Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Blu-Ray Remote Control & 6' HDMI Cable for $379.

I don't know anything about the game thats included.

Personally, I'd just get the PS3 by itself for the $300 and buy the HDMI cables at monoprice.com or somewhere similar. I'm not a big fan of Ratchet and Clank (though I may be in the minority) and I find it just as easy, if not easier to use the PS3 controller instead of the remote.