Both Sony and Microsoft make claims about how their gaming console should be the central media console in your living room. In reality things are a little different. Its the same old story of incompatibility, DRM and protectionism. This page compares a Windows HTPC v Playstation 3 v Xbox 360. The living room/test lab was set up according to the diagram below:
I am using DLNA to stream content over WiFi from my 500Gb NAS using the Twonky Media Server software to the PS3, Xbox 360 and HTCP devices.
And this is what it looks like in real life. (The NAS is upstairs.)
This is a real world test so I used sources from a number of places. Some DivX and WMV files downloaded from BitTorrent and DVDs from all over the world. Note there were no High Definition content, because I do not have any and there are no free HD broadcasts in the UK.
:| Title | File Size | Codec | Bit Rate | Resolution | Frames | QF | PB | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr Who S03E12 The Sound of Drums | 358Mb | XviD | 917kbps | 640x368 | 25 | 0.156 | PB | 120kbps MP3 VBR |
| Saxondale S01E01 | 180Mb | XviD | 725kbps | 560x320 | 25.006 | 0.162 | - | 120kbps MP3 CBR |
| Top Gear S10E06 | 716Mb | XviD | 1474kbps | 720x416 | 25 | 0.197 | PB | 130kbps MP3 VBR |
| Simpsons S04E03 | 108Mb | WMV2 | 622kbps | 320x240 | - | - | - | WMA v2 |
| DVD 300 Region 2 | ||||||||
| DVD Judge Dredd Region 3 |
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| [1] The HTPC with MediaPortal software played the DVDs but NOT in the correct size and location on the screen. |
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The HTPC with MediaPortal software failed to stream the DivX and WMV content. It does not support DLNA and froze frequently when playing over windows shares. |
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The PS3 failed miserably at DivX, failing to play lots of content. It would not play WMV. |
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The Xbox 360 only failed to play Region 3 DVDs. |
As I was writing this up Sony released 2.20 of the firmware, which fixes a lot of DivX incompatibility problems with the PS3.
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| [1] The HTPC with MediaPortal software played the DVDs but NOT in the correct size and location on the screen. |
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The HTPC with MediaPortal software failed to stream the DivX and WMV content. It does not support DLNA and froze frequently when playing over windows shares. |
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The PS3 played all DivX, but still would not play WMV. |
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The Xbox 360 only failed to play Region 3 DVDs. |
So on the face of it the Xbox 360 is the best device for the lounge. That is unless like me you have a lot of multi Region DVDs. But its not the whole story. While the HTPC could not stream using DLNA, it could play DivX better than the PS3 and Xbox 360 when played from the hard drive. Play back of DivX on the PS3 and Xbox360 was blocky when compared to the HTPC. The main reason for this is the deblocking used by the DivX codec under Windows.
The PS3 is the worst with lots of blockiness on fast action scenes.
The Xbox 360 is slightly better, but this is mainly because the SCART RGB input helped smooth out some of the blockiness. If I the Xbox 360 used HDMI it would have been as bad as the PS3.
The HTPC was miles better with the blockiness smoothed out by the codec.
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The HTPC supports the most formats. |
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The HTPC has the best quality DivX picture. |
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There is currently no DLNA client software for Windows that supports DLNA streaming. |
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All devices including the HTPC struggle with multi region DVDs. (Why? Even the cheapest DVD players from Tesco now play all regions!) |
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The Xbox is probably the best Home Entertainment centre. Although my core test box had no WiFi or HDMI. |
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The QNAP TS-201 NAS is a great DLNA server, but QNAP appear to have stopped releasing updates. |