PS3 streaming via Plex vs AppleTV streaming via iTunes

[2is]

Up until reciently and for the last several years, I've been using my PS3 as a media center extender with various media servers (most currently Plex). I almost never play games on my PS3. It's used to stream movies from my Media Server or to watch Netflix.

A couple months ago I got an ATV, mainly for air stream so I can play a youtube video or something directly from my ipad to the tv, particularily if I have a room full of people. Then I figured, I may as well use the ATV for my netflix streaming too since it's that much more power efficient than the PS3, and as of a couple days ago, I added my movie library to itunes, turned on home sharing to see how it would handle streaming, and as far as I can tell, did every bit as well as the PS3+Plex combo. Actually it did slightly better with a couple blue-ray rips that have some sort of DRM on them where the audio cuts out on the PS3, but plays normally on the ATV.

Question is... Am I missing out on something? I just find it hard to believe this little box that consumes a fraction of the power and operates silently is doing everything just as well as the giant PS3 right next to it.

 

[smitbret]

That sounds about right. I dumped my PS3 a year ago in favor of the "little" WDTV Live and haven't looked back.

There will be some differences between the 2 in supported file types, but because the ATV isn't screwed up with Cinavia it is probably the better streaming device.

 

[2is]

Yeah it couldn't play MKVs but I just remuxed those to m4v/mp4

 

[yehness]

In both of your opinions which is the better deal, ATV or WD Live? I'm undecided in which to purchase.

 

[gus6464]

WD Live plays mkv? And if it does does it support hard subs? Asking specifically for anime.

 

[2is]

In both of your opinions which is the better deal, ATV or WD Live? I'm undecided in which to purchase.

I'm not familiar with WD Live so I can't speak to that. I personally decided on ATV mainly because I alraedy have an iPad as well as an iPhone and they integrate well with one another.

 

[alyarb]

how ironic that the PS3 has cinavia and the Apple product does not.

 

[2is]

how ironic that the PS3 has cinavia and the Apple product does not.

Not so much if you think about it. Apple doesn't like to implement anything they don't have control over, so I can only assume Cinavia is not something developed by Apple.

 

[smitbret]

I went with the WDTV Live Hub. Mostly because I don't want to get trapped in the Apple ecosystem, but also because the WDTV Live supports so many more formats than the AppleTV. I have yet to run across a mainstream format or codec that the WDTV won't play natively.

Cinavia was developed by Sony and is the reason I dumped my PS3 and replaced it with the WDTV Live... that and the PS3 won't play .mkv and the WDTV will. After Sony's Rootkit fiasco, their implementation of ARCOS on DVDs and finally Cinavia, I dumped everything Sony from my house and refuse to go that route again.

 

[yehness]

I went with the WDTV Live Hub. Mostly because I don't want to get trapped in the Apple ecosystem, but also because the WDTV Live supports so many more formats than the AppleTV. I have yet to run across a mainstream format or codec that the WDTV won't play natively.

Cinavia was developed by Sony and is the reason I dumped my PS3 and replaced it with the WDTV Live... that and the PS3 won't play .mkv and the WDTV will. After Sony's Rootkit fiasco, their implementation of ARCOS on DVDs and finally Cinavia, I dumped everything Sony from my house and refuse to go that route again.

Although my tech gear is mainly Apple-Mac based, I never was never drawn to the ATV. I'm just getting into the whole Netflix, Hulu thing. My iMac is connected to my TV so I watched movies from my iMac that way, considering I am able to transfer a wide variety of file formats to WD Live Plus that's the route I will go.

Thanks for the help.

 

[purbeast0]

if you are streaming to ps3 it plays mkv just fine if you are using ps3 media server.

you can also stream 3d mkv which wdtv cannot do, and is a huge reason i'm not getting a wdtv.

im going to get a sidewinder 3 most likely when i get around to getting a media player.

 

[2is]

if you are streaming to ps3 it plays mkv just fine if you are using ps3 media server.

you can also stream 3d mkv which wdtv cannot do, and is a huge reason i'm not getting a wdtv.

im going to get a sidewinder 3 most likely when i get around to getting a media player.

It plays them, but not natively. The media server is transcoding then sending the transcoded stream to the PS3.

 

[smitbret]

There are a few other problems with the PS3. It doesn't support .flv and it won't support .h264/.avc files with more than 4 reference frames. Also doesn't stream from Network shares. DLNA or UPnP serving software required.

 

[purbeast0]

It plays them, but not natively. The media server is transcoding then sending the transcoded stream to the PS3.

yup, but i don't see what that really matters if you are streaming them.

 

[2is]

yup, but i don't see what that really matters if you are streaming them.

There's usually some quality loss when it needs to be transcoded, and you've essentially doubled your power consumption, not to mention you need a media server powerful enough to do the transcoding in real time, which my C2D media server was not (for HD streams). I'd rather just put them in a m4v container and use my ATV which uses 6 watts of power.

 

[purbeast0]

There's usually some quality loss when it needs to be transcoded, and you've essentially doubled your power consumption, not to mention you need a media server powerful enough to do the transcoding in real time, which my C2D media server was not (for HD streams). I'd rather just put them in a m4v container and use my ATV which uses 6 watts of power.

ah yea that makes sense. i just stream from my desktop at home and it works fine. it does suck when wanting to ff/rw though, that's for sure.

but i'll be getting a dedicated media player in the not to distant future and will just use that. ps3 worked fine enough to use it for a while though.

 

[LongN3ck]

Yeah it couldn't play MKVs but I just remuxed those to m4v/mp4

I have had success simply editing the extension from .mkv to .avi and playing through a Samsung DLNA server.

However, I recently switched to Plex which does transcoding on the fly and I can stream to my Samsung BluRay over DLNA.

 

[2is]

I have had success simply editing the extension from .mkv to .avi and playing through a Samsung DLNA server.

However, I recently switched to Plex which does transcoding on the fly and I can stream to my Samsung BluRay over DLNA.

Transcoding is what i'd like to avoid all together though. It's a CPU hog and reduces quality. I just encode my movies to AppleTV native container (m4v) and let it's hardware do the work which is far more efficient than having your media server transcode.

 

[LongN3ck]

Transcoding is what i'd like to avoid all together though. It's a CPU hog and reduces quality. I just encode my movies to AppleTV native container (m4v) and let it's hardware do the work which is far more efficient than having your media server transcode.

I'd rather not have to re-encode anything. Different strokes.

 

[2is]

I'd rather not have to re-encode anything. Different strokes.

I didn't have to re-encode a thing. The stuff I already had in MKV format I reMUXED to a m4v container. Takes about 10 minutes to do for an HD movie. This process uses little CPU cycles and is as fast as your storage device will allow it to go. Anything else I just encoded to m4v to begin with. No re-encoding was done.

Not to mention, transcoding is essentially encoding but it includes streaming in this case. So you're essentially encoding the video every single time you watch it.