# PS3 or mac mini



## ACSA10.6 (Mar 25, 2010)

I had a friend ask me the other day if he should get a mac mini or a ps3 for a home entertainment setup. I think the PS3 has more to offer for the price and for being used soley as a home entertainment unit. anyone have a reason why the mac mini would be better?


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## ACSA10.6 (Mar 25, 2010)

I also think the PS3 draws less power at idle or am i wrong?


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

Power consumption at idle is irrelevant.

As per which is better, if all your buddy needs is a Blu-ray player, get the PS3 - specifically because the Mac mini has no Blu-ray player. That said, you could rent/purchase movies/shows from the Mac mini via iTunes and watch them via Front Row using the Apple Remote, which would also be a nifty setup. But again, no Blu-ray player.


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## johnnyspade (Aug 24, 2007)

If he plays games then the PS3 is probably the way to go. Movie rentals are coming to the PS3 in the next couple of weeks as well. The PS3 is noisier than the Mini though, at least mine is.


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## ACSA10.6 (Mar 25, 2010)

Which PS3 do you have? The older one or the new style with the Power supply built in? I have the newer style one and it is super quiet.


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## Dennis Nedry (Sep 20, 2007)

[deleted]


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## pcronin (Feb 20, 2005)

Dennis Nedry said:


> If he needs Bluray, get the PS3.
> 
> If he doesn't, get the Mini Mac.
> 
> ...


Most of the *cough* pre-release *cough* material I get a hold of makes a 'fully PS3 and Xbox 360 compatible' claim. I don't have a PS3 or Xbox to *cough* test it *cough*. 

As for renting/buying in iTunes, I have major issues with that. Not the least of them being the fact I currently only have a 1mbit internet  Trying not to threadjack here, but if you have the PS3, you can rent bluray, DVD, games from anywhere. You can buy the discs from where ever and archive/format shift however you want. That is something you can't do with iTunes.

I'd personally go for a PS3, but I'm going to have a media server on the back end that would handle transcoding. To me, buying a mini for a TV set, unless you genuinely want web surfing, you might as well get an AppleTV. 

tl;dr : like others saide, want bluray and games? PS3. Don't want bluray and/or want to buy/rent from iTunes? AppleTV or mini.


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## sheamus (May 20, 2010)

Go with PS3. When I got my PS3 at luanch there was some stuff it couldn't play. But after the firmware updates, and I haven't downloaded anything in a long time it couldn't handle. I stream everything to it from my mac using PS3M, which even lets it play MKV's, youtube, etc.

My only complaint about the PS3 as far as media is concerned, is watching CBC's hockey broadcasts (I don't have cable), they don't seem to work with PS3 browser. I have watched TSN, and justin.tv streams with it though. But yeah, they really need a webkit browser in there.

~S


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

PS3 all the way.


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## johnnyspade (Aug 24, 2007)

ACSA10.6 said:


> Which PS3 do you have? The older one or the new style with the Power supply built in? I have the newer style one and it is super quiet.


Is the new one quieter? That's good news. Mine is a couple of years old and is always humming when it's on. I heard that the new 360 is also quieter.


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

johnnyspade said:


> Is the new one quieter? That's good news. Mine is a couple of years old and is always humming when it's on. I heard that the new 360 is also quieter.


Yes, the PS3 slim is a nice departure from the original design.


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

but the slim doesnt have a)backwards compatibility and b) the ability to play SACDs

if either of these are important to you, find an old 60GB on craigslist. i have one..its big, its hot, its noisy as all hell and i wouldn't trade it for the world.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

Well a part of the equation that seems to be ignored in this discussion is how important is music to you?

To me I listen to music way more than I watch movies and having my full collection being able to be played and mixed in just about any way imaginable through my audio system is as important if not more so than the movie and game aspect. I also have a device hooked up to my Mini to stream music with zero latency (i.e not an Airport Express) to my stereo system in the shed that plays to my out door speakers. This way when entertaining (which we do a lot in the summer) when going from inside to outside there is zero lag in the music from the inside to the outside, absolutely seamless.

In a Mac based home network environment the Mini is also incredibly easy to set up for sharing of media on the different computers as well (NAS for example).

So I think it really depends on what ones needs and uses are and it is far from a cut and dry choice as some here are portraying it.


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## jeepguy (Apr 4, 2008)

I would like to add that you can play blu-rays from the mini, with an external blu-ray drive. There are 2 ways, the easiest is bootcamp with windows 7, and the other is a free program called *Makemkv*, it can decrypt the disk to harddrive, or stream it to a player like VLC. I agree with *screature* about the music, I have music playing all the time, and distributed around the house with an Airport Express.

The second thing I would like to add, it's a much better experience surfing the net with the mac mini compared to the PS3, but like other people have said if games are your thing then you can't beat a PS3.


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

i would wager you a fairly good amount of money that bluray performance from a ps3 would be exponentially greater than that of a mini, not to mention playback of other compressed formats and SD DVD performance, all categories in which the ps3 pisses all over the mini. the mini just can't hold a candle to the ps3 in any video-related category...noise reduction, motion handling, upscaling (this is a big one when watching DVDs and even HD files that usually quite compressed and passed around the net)

i think it really comes down to convenience vs performance. the mini does a lot well, but it does an *excellent* job at nothing video related. 

FWIW, i have and use both, connected to a reference grade plasma that has been ISF calibrated...


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## UMMA2DUMMA (May 10, 2010)

weakness....

buy BOTH!!!

no brainer!!


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## sheamus (May 20, 2010)

If your old PS3 is getting load, follow the youtube videos on applying some high end thermal paster, and blow it out while you are at it. 

I couldn't believe:
1. how much quieter my system got
2. and how dirty it was (and I had blown in canned air regularily.
3. how much work it was to take apart.
4. the quality of the heatsink in that thing. Half the cost of that thing must have been the cooling.

Having said that, the new ones do not have the PS2 hardware in them, and have a smaller die size for cell, so will naturally run cooler/quieter/less power. It is still a quiet system. abou 10x quieter than any 360.

~S


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## Vexel (Jan 30, 2005)

PS3 + AppleTV FTW!


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## daniels (Jul 27, 2009)

ps3 defiantly


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

screature said:


> Well a part of the equation that seems to be ignored in this discussion is how important is music to you?
> 
> To me I listen to music way more than I watch movies and having my full collection being able to be played and mixed in just about any way imaginable through my audio system is as important if not more so than the movie and game aspect. I also have a device hooked up to my Mini to stream music with zero latency (i.e not an Airport Express) to my stereo system in the shed that plays to my out door speakers. This way when entertaining (which we do a lot in the summer) when going from inside to outside there is zero lag in the music from the inside to the outside, absolutely seamless.
> 
> ...


The PS3 can play music just fine and I'm sure if one is in need of a setup that you mention, they could pull it off.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

MannyP Design said:


> The PS3 can play music just fine and I'm sure if one is in need of a setup that you mention, they could pull it off.


But then you are left with some interface other than iTunes... I will stick with my Mini for the ease of networking, and all the other Mac Apps that can't run on a PS3... to each their own.


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## pcronin (Feb 20, 2005)

screature said:


> But then you are left with some interface other than iTunes... I will stick with my Mini for the ease of networking, and all the other Mac Apps that can't run on a PS3... to each their own.


I thought that was half the point of PS3 over mini 

Seriously though, part of the planning I'm currently doing for my eventual house will be whole home media and (light at least) automation with Welcome to LinuxMCE 
I've looked at a few solutions and I keep coming back to this as one of the most feature rich, upgradable and expandable out there. Not for everyone, as there is a lot of tinkering in setup. But where looks don't mater much, you can use cheep/old(er) off the shelf PCs or even sling box type interfaces as the front ends (various rooms, shop/garage, back yard, etc). Could even use a PS3/XBOX or mini as a front end in living/bedrooms if you wanted. 

All media on the network is then available to any place you care to output it.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

pcronin said:


> I thought that was half the point of PS3 over mini
> 
> Seriously though, part of the planning I'm currently doing for my eventual house will be whole home media and (light at least) automation with Welcome to LinuxMCE
> I've looked at a few solutions and I keep coming back to this as one of the most feature rich, upgradable and expandable out there. Not for everyone, as there is a lot of tinkering in setup. But where looks don't mater much, you can use cheep/old(er) off the shelf PCs or even sling box type interfaces as the front ends (various rooms, shop/garage, back yard, etc). Could even use a PS3/XBOX or mini as a front end in living/bedrooms if you wanted.
> ...


For that all you need is a NAS and your choice of computer. My computer of choice is a Mac. Not much tinkering involved.


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## pcronin (Feb 20, 2005)

screature said:


> For that all you need is a NAS and your choice of computer. My computer of choice is a Mac. Not much tinkering involved.


That is *one* way to do it for sure. linuxmce is a bit more involved than just file sharing


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## polywog (Aug 9, 2007)

screature said:


> I also have a device hooked up to my Mini to stream music with zero latency (_i.e not an Airport Express_) to my stereo system in the shed that plays to my out door speakers..


I'm curious about this comment. I have 2 Airport Express and an Apple TV that I regularly stream to simultaneously, with no lag whatsoever. Has that not been your experience?


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## Dennis Nedry (Sep 20, 2007)

[deleted]


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

polywog said:


> I'm curious about this comment. I have 2 Airport Express and an Apple TV that I regularly stream to simultaneously, with no lag whatsoever. Has that not been your experience?


There is a latency associated with the Airport Express that if you are playing the music in different locations but are close by you will hear a "lag" between the two if moving form one to the next when they are immediately next to one another. e.g. when you move from inside to outside for example and standing at the threshold between the two there will not be a seamless transition.


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## Digikid (Jun 22, 2010)

ACSA10.6 said:


> Which PS3 do you have? The older one or the new style with the Power supply built in? I have the newer style one and it is super quiet.



Err....the older style one also has its power supply BUILT IN.

I would say PS3 myself.


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## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

screature said:


> There is a latency associated with the Airport Express that if you are playing the music in different locations but are close by you will hear a "lag" between the two if moving form one to the next when they are immediately next to one another. e.g. when you move from inside to outside for example and standing at the threshold between the two there will not be a seamless transition.


i've never noticed this.

there is a lag, in that if you press play, or skip to a point in a song, it takes a second to stream to different connections, but once it starts they've always been synced in my experience.


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## yamawho (Jan 10, 2010)

Dennis Nedry said:


> The Mac Mini may not play Bluray media, but it will sure as sh!t play anything else you can throw at it (either with Quicktime X + Perian, or VLC). No questions asked. -DN


Well ... VLC on a PC thru hdmi also does a super job and add a blu ray for 65$ to it and you have it all for about 400$. Unless of course you want to game on the PS3 that is ...

If so inclined, you can also install iTunes 

Originally I was going to use a mini but no HDMI at the time and the cost with no blu ray put me off.


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## UMMA2DUMMA (May 10, 2010)

anybody know why the didn't include the blu-ray on the new mini??

that is the only weakness....

other than that hookith my arse up!!

where do i sign!!

ud


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## yamawho (Jan 10, 2010)

UMMA2DUMMA said:


> anybody know why the didn't include the blu-ray on the new mini??
> 
> that is the only weakness....
> 
> ...


They probably don't want to play royalties to Sony ...


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## pcronin (Feb 20, 2005)

yamawho said:


> They probably don't want to play royalties to Sony ...


Yep, same reason the first iMacs etc would only burn +R and not -R DVDs (or vice versa..) 

Apple doesn't want to include the HD physically rentable medium when they have the whole iTunes HD store...


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

The new Mac Mini has HDMI,
It's come a long way, Is Apple actually trying to turn the Mac Mini into Apple TV?


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## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

UMMA2DUMMA said:


> anybody know why the didn't include the blu-ray on the new mini??


Steve Jobs doesn't like Blu-ray....which means apple doesn't like Blu-ray.


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## kloan (Feb 22, 2002)

Hmm... any aftermarket solutions to that yet? Slim blueray drives? I know there are laptop blueray drives on eBay, have been for a while now. Would need the proper driver though.


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## polywog (Aug 9, 2007)

i-rui said:


> i've never noticed this.
> 
> there is a lag, in that if you press play, or skip to a point in a song, it takes a second to stream to different connections, but once it starts they've always been synced in my experience.


Likewise. My place is open concept. The rooms I play in are separated only by a common area and I've always been impressed by how well they are synced.


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

screature said:


> But then you are left with some interface other than iTunes... I will stick with my Mini for the ease of networking, and all the other Mac Apps that can't run on a PS3... to each their own.


Alrighty, then.


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

yamawho said:


> They probably don't want to play royalties to Sony ...


Wrong.


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## yamawho (Jan 10, 2010)

MannyP Design said:


> Wrong.



Thanks for the valuable insight ...


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## pcronin (Feb 20, 2005)

MannyP Design said:


> Wrong.


Enlightening.


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## MannyP Design (Jun 8, 2000)

yamawho said:


> Thanks for the valuable insight ...





pcronin said:


> Enlightening.


It's been discussed ad nauseum here. You can do a search for it if you really want to.


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## polywog (Aug 9, 2007)

yamawho said:


> Thanks for the valuable insight ...


Well, first off, Sony doesn't collect royalties. The Blu-Ray Disc Association does. But Jobs hinted that the main problem was the complexities of the licensing, not the cost.


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## Amiga2000HD (Jan 23, 2007)

polywog said:


> Well, first off, Sony doesn't collect royalties. The Blu-Ray Disc Association does. But Jobs hinted that the main problem was the complexities of the licensing, not the cost.


The BR Disc Association significantly cut the complexity of the licensing process since Jobs made that comment. Also, Apple is a member of the BR Disc Association and as one of the largest consumer electronics and media distribution companies out there, would have the clout to make Blu Ray happen on Macs. The lack of Blu Ray support on Macs isn't a technical problem or an inconvenience problem due to licensing process complexity, it's a business decision made by Apple taking into consideration their business as a music and video retailer.


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

polywog said:


> I'm curious about this comment. I have 2 Airport Express and an Apple TV that I regularly stream to simultaneously, with no lag whatsoever. Has that not been your experience?





i-rui said:


> i've never noticed this.
> 
> there is a lag, in that if you press play, or skip to a point in a song, it takes a second to stream to different connections, but once it starts they've always been synced in my experience.





polywog said:


> Likewise. My place is open concept. The rooms I play in are separated only by a common area and I've always been impressed by how well they are synced.


It must be that things have changed and the Express is now a better product. I set up my system several years ago now and there were reviews that noted the latency issues with the Express of the time. If things have changed and the problem no longer exists that is great!

Apple AirPort Express Review



> There is also a bit of a lag associated with streaming music with the AirPort Express. This lag is not as bad as the latency experienced with the Linksys Wireless B Media Adapter or the Actiontec Wireless Digital Media Player, but it certainly is not the instant response we experienced with the SlimDevices products and the Gateway Connected DVD Player. When selecting a song to play, expect a second or so lag before it begins. The same is true when pausing a track or manually switching from one song to another. This is the case for both the analog and digital connections from the AirPort Express, but the digital optical connection adds one more annoyance. When connecting digitally from your AirPort Express to a stereo, there is a noticeable gap that cuts off the beginning of a song. We watched the light of the optical connector as it switched tracks and noticed that the light is actually turned off for a fraction of a second, which certainly is the cause for this gap.


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## fyrefly (Apr 16, 2005)

kloan said:


> Hmm... any aftermarket solutions to that yet? Slim blueray drives? I know there are laptop blueray drives on eBay, have been for a while now. Would need the proper driver though.


Even if you could cram a Blu-Ray drive into a mini (or use an external - those are dropping below $100 now) - there's no Blu-Ray player software for OSX. You'd have to boot camp into Windows every time you wanted to watch a Blu-Ray movie. :S


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## maximusbibicus (Feb 25, 2002)

Vexel said:


> PS3 + AppleTV FTW!


:clap:

Same here. 

I had the Mini for years as a HTPC, it doesn't hold a candle to the PS3 for my needs. I have a PS3 as well for the bedroom.


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## Elric (Jul 30, 2005)

Just throwing in my 2 cents... I pick(ed) the Mini. The only thing it doesn't do is play the games, but I have a Wii60 for that. Bluray isn't all that great, I have a Bluray player, and in a year and a half its played about 12 Bluray movies... on the other hand, the Mini has played hundreds of HD audio and video in under a year. It also streams to my iPhone and iPad (anywhere in Canada), designed a website or 2, and got my lady a job...


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## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

screature said:


> It must be that things have changed and the Express is now a better product. I set up my system several years ago now and there were reviews that noted the latency issues with the Express of the time. If things have changed and the problem no longer exists that is great!
> 
> Apple AirPort Express Review


Well, from the quote of the review, there IS a LAG when playing or pausing (about a second), but what i thought you were saying is that the airport express is NOT IN SYNC to the computer playing the music (which is different).

I've noticed the lag (but not the first second of the song not playing...thats weird) but it's always been in sync to the machine playing itunes.


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## MACinist (Nov 17, 2003)

yamawho said:


> They probably don't want to play royalties to Sony ...


Apple was one of the first supporters of Blu-Ray and on the board. Hardly doubt that. However, adding a slot loading blu ray BURNER (not player) into the Mac Mini would make the pricing even higher... $900 to $1200 minimum. The new price bump has already caused complaints from some here, imagine a Mini @ $1200? However, I do wish it was a CTO option.

I love my pS3. It is rarely used for games. I'm sorry, but playing back movie's on a Mini (or any Mac/PC) connected to a TV is not ideal. The image looks over scanned and washed out. The PS3 has a much better engine for playback. It actually improves the picture in most cases rather then degrading it on a HDTV. Sony has a real opportunity to make the PS3 shine further as a home theatre device... add a webkit to it, wireless N and this thing would give a lot of companies a run for their money. 

The mini set up to a TV is only attractive to me as a Media server with the ability to be hooked up to TV which would save me from buying a monitor and using a desk. But if you don't need that, PS3 all the way. Plus, no one has mentioned that the two costs are Apples and Oranges... 299 for PS3 and 749 for Mini? I guess cost is not a consideration...


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## screature (May 14, 2007)

i-rui said:


> Well, from the quote of the review, there IS a LAG when playing or pausing (about a second), but what i thought you were saying is that the airport express is NOT IN SYNC to the computer playing the music (which is different).
> 
> I've noticed the lag (but not the first second of the song not playing...thats weird) but it's always been in sync to the machine playing itunes.


There was mention of the "out of sync" aspect at the time that I was looking for a solution elsewhere but this was the only old post I could find now. If the Airport Express does what you need it to all is good, it was apparently an issue at one time, if it isn't now that is great and I am happy with the solution I found at the time. All good.


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## broad (Jun 2, 2009)

> I love my pS3. It is rarely used for games. I'm sorry, but playing back movie's on a Mini (or any Mac/PC) connected to a TV is not ideal. The image looks over scanned and washed out. The PS3 has a much better engine for playback. It actually improves the picture in most cases rather then degrading it on a HDTV. Sony has a real opportunity to make the PS3 shine further as a home theatre device... add a webkit to it, wireless N and this thing would give a lot of companies a run for their money.


when firmware 1.8 came out adding upscaling, the ps3 was at the time one of the best looking upscaling DVD players in the world. 

i have auditioned the same divx files both playing off the mini and playing off the ps3 via medialink and there is really no comparison at all...the ps3 is head and shoulders above the mini.


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## jeepguy (Apr 4, 2008)

i-rui said:


> Steve Jobs doesn't like Blu-ray....which means apple doesn't like Blu-ray.


Are you sure, I bet he has a blu-ray player at home, it's a must have for any respectable Home theater, and Steve seems like the techno geek that would have one along with a collection for blu-rays.


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## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

jeepguy said:


> Are you sure, I bet he has a blu-ray player at home, it's a must have for any respectable Home theater, and Steve seems like the techno geek that would have one along with a collection for blu-rays.



i guess that depends if Steve Jobs drinks his own kool aid....


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## yamawho (Jan 10, 2010)

No delete button .... remove post


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## jicon (Jan 12, 2005)

jeepguy said:


> Are you sure, I bet he has a blu-ray player at home, it's a must have for any respectable Home theater, and Steve seems like the techno geek that would have one along with a collection for blu-rays.


I'm fairly certain he's a bit more keen on _Disney blu-ray_, or _Disney DVD_ over blu-ray or DVD.


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## Guest (Jun 28, 2010)

I'm about to do some home theater upgrades and i'm leaning towards adding a PS3 to my setup, mostly to play blu ray, but I'm sure it will see some games as well. Does the PS3 support uPnp devices on the network? I thought I read that somewhere recently .... If that's the case then it's the best of both worlds if you have another device on your network you can setup to serve your media from ...


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## i-rui (Sep 13, 2006)

Yes, PS3 media server is a uPnp server :

ps3mediaserver - Project Hosting on Google Code

works great. Maybe not perfect, but for free software I've been very impressed.


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## Guest (Jun 28, 2010)

Plex also supposedly supports being a upnp server and I am running it on other machines too. If it works out I may be able to ditch one Mac mini (I have 3 hooked up to different tv's in my house) but I want blu Ray playback in the living room hence the PS3.


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## ACSA10.6 (Mar 25, 2010)

As someone mentioned in an earlier post that the price difference between the two is a fair bit. PS3 seem slike more bang for your buck

My friend has his ps3 setup to play movies over his wireless network (his movies are on his pc and shared out through windows media player) and it plays perfect on the ps3 with no lag.


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## polywog (Aug 9, 2007)

Rather than starting a new thread, it's certainly interesting to note that the PSN Store now offers movies (buy or rent) and TV. I tried a couple of rentals and a TV show to see, and I have to admit, the quality surpasses the iTunes store, at the expense of larger downloads. On the negative side, the 5.1 mix doesn't seem to be Dolby Digital - I get downmixed to 2.0. But my amp is old, and doesn't support HDMI or AAC.

The selection is certainly far behind the iTunes store, but it is worth a look at.


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