BR drive or PS3 ?

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by prerich

PS3 upconverts to 1080p 24fps, PC can exceed 1080p at 60fps (and greater). The pc advantages are far too great and the PC's hardware (especially this guy's PC) exceed the capabilities of a PS3. Advantage PC.

Only if his PC monitor supports it. This is not about processing power. It's about daily use.

Upconversion of DVDs for PCs is not going to yield a HD picture either on a monitor, HDTV or HD projector. If the OP is going to be sitting on his computer desk to watch movies, then he can either get the burner or a PS3 (newer widescreen monitors have DVI/HDMI input. If not, he shouldn't get the burner.


fuad

[prerich]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

Only if his PC monitor supports it. This is not about processing power. It's about daily use.

Upconversion of DVDs for PCs is not going to yield a HD picture either on a monitor, HDTV or HD projector. If the OP is going to be sitting on his computer desk to watch movies, then he can either get the burner or a PS3 (newer widescreen monitors have DVI/HDMI input. If not, he shouldn't get the burner.


fuad

This is true - most people who build htpc, make sure that their monitor is up to task (at least wxga resolution perferably qxga resolution) No need to worry about interlacing - all PC output is progressive scan.

[SJM]

The pc/ps3, regardless of any Blue Ray drive will be hooked up to a Dell 27"
1920x1200 monitor & an Acer 24" 1920x1200 monitor, both with HDCP...if this info helps! I will have to use a dvi/hdmi cable/adapter for the ps3 on the dell (preferred). The acer has both dvi/hdmi hdcp.

I could also hook any pc/ps3 to a 32" LCD, but only at 1080i.

It's a great set-up, i play online poker for a living and compfort is of high piorty. I have something similar (better) to this, accross the centre of my bed.

Watching HD movies should be great!

[rarredoa]

Originally Posted by prerich

A PS3 is not cheaper than a BD Rom drive. If it is - tell me where to get a PS3 for less than $200.00. And a PC will KILL a PS3 in DVD upconversion - No contest there! PS3 upconverts to 1080p 24fps, PC can exceed 1080p at 60fps (and greater). The pc advantages are far too great and the PC's hardware (especially this guy's PC) exceed the capabilities of a PS3. Advantage PC.

I agree with the PC advantage, easier to future proof a PC (although there's no such thing as futurproofing this day in age ) I myself have both PS3 and Media PC, but i prefer the PC because the sound options with a good soundcard are much better than standalone/PS3, night and day! If you don't mind the extra steps to watch movies on your main TV (I have my DLP and my LCD desktop monitor) then go for PC option, but if u want easy operability then go PS3, u can't go wrong with either, better yet get both if u can afford it

[fingersdlp]

I disagree on the sound options statement in the previous post. You can not do lossless out of the PC (yet?) but you can out of the PS3 over HDMI. Only DTSMA is not available on the PS3 (yet) but it is also not available for the PC. PS3 has better sound options today.

[Skygod]

All the points listed are good; but here's one thing that I think has been skipped over:

With the PS3, you have free access to the Playstation store, giving you the opportunity to download 1080P Blu ray trailers and movie trailers.

When I have friends over and want to show off my tv and PS3, I play them 1080P trailers of 10,000 BC and Accross the Universe right off my PS3 harddrive.

[dadkins]

Originally Posted by Skygod

All the points listed are good; but here's one thing that I think has been skipped over:

With the PS3, you have free access to the Playstation store, giving you the opportunity to download 1080P Blu ray trailers and movie trailers.

When I have friends over and want to show off my tv and PS3, I play them 1080P trailers of 10,000 BC and Accross the Universe right off my PS3 harddrive.

1080p trailers?
10,000 BC?

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/10000bc/hd/

Across the Universe HD Trailer?

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/acro...iverse_hd.html

FREE!

[Skygod]

touché then I guess.

but does apple allow you to download the free demo of Skate or MLB the Show?

[prerich]

Originally Posted by Skygod

All the points listed are good; but here's one thing that I think has been skipped over:

With the PS3, you have free access to the Playstation store, giving you the opportunity to download 1080P Blu ray trailers and movie trailers.

When I have friends over and want to show off my tv and PS3, I play them 1080P trailers of 10,000 BC and Accross the Universe right off my PS3 harddrive.

Trailers? You can download 1080p trailers from Quicktime! Advantage PC. (And quicktime trailers are free).

[fingersdlp]

I believe currently there are some limitations to the PC solution:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...lossless+audio

Lossess audio is not there yet on the pc. The current version of Power DVD Ultra downsamples all lossless audio. It has been improved with the most recent version but from what I understand still downsamples the audio.

If you want to use HDMI for both audio and video out of the pc you will most likely have to live with 2 channel audio as the cards I am aware of only output 2 channel audio. EDIT: see post above - seems like 5.1 may be possible

I think there is a new Intel G45 chipset that can support hdmi and bitstream of the audio. That is not out yet afaik.

Power DVD Ultra is in my opinion a poor player. It still uses overlay for video output and not the newer VMR9 or the EVO (or whatever it is called) that Vista uses.

Power DVD Ultra claims to be profile 1.1 but I have found several cases where they do not play the PIP content correctly (Sunshine for example).

So until there is better playback software you are at the mercy of Power DVD.

If you want true 1080p24 output you have to make sure your video card can support it. The 1080p24 offerings from NVidia are 23 or 24 and not the 23.976 that is really wanted. The ATI cards are much easier to setup for 1080p24 since they allow powerstrip support and you can dial in the exact timing your display device wants. I heard the most recent drivers from NVidia may allow custom timings again in Vista but I have not verified this.

I have a PS3 and a very nice HTPC that can play blue ray (without skips by the way ). I use the PS3 for all my playback for the above mentioned reasons. YMMV

I have a hope that some day I can get lossless audio and a true profile 2.0 player out of my PC that works properly but it is not there yet.

[prerich]

Originally Posted by fingersdlp

I believe currently there are some limitations to the PC solution:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...lossless+audio

Lossess audio is not there yet on the pc. The current version of Power DVD Ultra downsamples all lossless audio. It has been improved with the most recent version but from what I understand still downsamples the audio.

If you want to use HDMI for both audio and video out of the pc you will most likely have to live with 2 channel audio as the cards I am aware of only output 2 channel audio. EDIT: see post above - seems like 5.1 may be possible

I think there is a new Intel G45 chipset that can support hdmi and bitstream of the audio. That is not out yet afaik.

Power DVD Ultra is in my opinion a poor player. It still uses overlay for video output and not the newer VMR9 or the EVO (or whatever it is called) that Vista uses.

Power DVD Ultra claims to be profile 1.1 but I have found several cases where they do not play the PIP content correctly (Sunshine for example).

So until there is better playback software you are at the mercy of Power DVD.

If you want true 1080p24 output you have to make sure your video card can support it. The 1080p24 offerings from NVidia are 23 or 24 and not the 23.976 that is really wanted. The ATI cards are much easier to setup for 1080p24 since they allow powerstrip support and you can dial in the exact timing your display device wants. I heard the most recent drivers from NVidia may allow custom timings again in Vista but I have not verified this.

I have a PS3 and a very nice HTPC that can play blue ray (without skips by the way ). I use the PS3 for all my playback for the above mentioned reasons. YMMV

I have a hope that some day I can get lossless audio and a true profile 2.0 player out of my PC that works properly but it is not there yet.

I beg to differ. I get lossless sound and Cyberlink has verfied that downmixing is over - via analog outputs. Point two - powerstrip is supported with Nvidia - besides the new Nvidia cards have made Powerstrip obsolete (has been that way for over a year). 1080p at 24 fps - try 60 fps. Recent Nvidia cards allow custom timings in XP also. The PS3 I hear is limited in the sound area - PC's are far more capable. .EVO files are only for HD-DVD , Bluray file extensions are .BDMV or .M2TS and my PC plays them ripped - fine, even Window Media Player 11 can play M2TS.
As far as the audio goes LPCM 5.1 @ 6912Kbps not downsampled at all. I have another friend that has verified 192khz play back as well. I'm an A+ Certified technician and working towrds my DHTI+ certification. I will always prefer a PC to a PS3 any day of the week.
As far as profile 1.1 PIP is concerned - there are standalone players that can't do that yet either - I don't have the movie "Sunshine" not my type of movie. But everything I have is working fine. Brush up a little bit - things are changing exponentially!

[BluDrum]

easy, PS3!


Not even a second thought!

[Rageanitus]

Unless you have a vid card that can do hdmi sound.

[glogrono]

Originally Posted by Rageanitus

Unless you have a vid card that can do hdmi sound.

The ATI HD 2600 through the HD 3xxx all can do sound through HDMI. Although only 5.1 sound and you have to use a dvi to HDMI adapter. It's a start though. There are companies working on this right now, such as Auzentech which is making an HDMI add-on card.