Software Video Player or PS3?

[spiderdan]

Note that I am posting this here is this question is on both hardware and software players. This forum seemed most appropriate. Apologies if this is in the wrong place. Also, I asked this on another forum but never really got a decisive answer. I feel doom9 will be more knowledgeable on this topic and look forward to your opinions.

I can use my pc (specs below) and a software video player to play video on my hdtv (720p) or stick with my PS3? I was under the impression that my pc's better video card would give a large advantage over my ps3, however, the PS3 does stand its own as an up-converting dvd player. Apparently, Sony has done a lot of work to effectively utilize the spu's in movie playback. That being said, what I intend to watch here is mostly xvid and x264 encoded video files. Some 720p, some standard def. Would my pc's better video card give me the best experience, or am I better off sticking with my ps3? Also, what is the best media player for pc (free or otherwise). I used to think directshow filter based players gave the best results but perhaps stand alone codec packs (vlc, mplayer, ffmpeg etc.) have caught up as of late. I would like to be able to deinterlace and upscale standard def stuff. If anyone knows of a good media player, I appreciate the suggestion. Currently I am using vlc, but I have been looking at boxee or xbmc. They both support hardware acceleration in linux. Boxee supports acceleration in Windows by default and xbmc has a build which supports windows hardware acceleration. I am using both operating systems and am open to suggestions on either. Lastly, hdmi is output through spdif so I have to switch my default audio device to watch on the tv (on windows, have not toyed much in fedora yet). Perhaps someone can suggest a method of bypassing this nuisance? Thanks ahead of time!

PC specs...
Nvidia GTX260 Core 216
Intel Core 2 Duo e7300
4gb 800mhz DDR2 ram
Dual monitor with 37lg30 as second monitor through hdmi

[pandy]

My personal preferences are:

At first LG37LH3000 LCD TV (it supporting USB data storage and internal hardware decoder is capable to decode h.262, h.264 and "*ivx" up to HD)
at second - WD TV HD Media Player - small and fanless - support even more formats up to 1080p60
at third my PS3 (quite limited but have internal HDD - noisy and quite huge power consumption)

im avoiding PC as a player as much as possible...

[spiderdan]

Thanks for the reply pandy. Just curious as to why you are avoiding the pc as a media player? Is it worse than a standalone option or do you just prefer these other options?

[pandy]

Why avoiding PC? there is not many PC that can earn 20 - 30W, they are capable to decode h.264 up HP@L4.1 and what is really important they are Real Time Systems - especially Win based media PC is not capable to be real media player due of non-RTOS - for me it is really important to have frames in constant time periods - for many Win based solutions inaccuracy can be more than +-20% which is quite big... embedded OS even Linux based are usually RTOS patched and tightly joined to hardware that is RT operation oriented (i don't think that even Linux is good solution from multimedia point of view but it is at least better than Win on this)

[Ghitulescu]

Thanks for the reply pandy. Just curious as to why you are avoiding the pc as a media player? Is it worse than a standalone option or do you just prefer these other options?

I used the PC both under Win and Linux with various software. I even dropped my Satellite project, which worked absolutelly wonderful and stable, in favour of a standalone PVR.

I don't give a damn s..t on MP3 and divx&co, because I haven't invested money in top gear only to see how bad they sound or play ;). For CDs I have a CD player, for DVDs I have a DVD player, for BDs I have a BD player, for SAT I have a PVR, for DVB-T I have a PVR. I never ever hat a bluescreen on any of them.

A PC under Windows will always be instable (even under Pro versions) when it comes to Multimedia (M$ has to fulfil some requirements of media content providers ;) most people are not aware of), under Linux you'll always go into troubles with some drivers (some hardware manufacturers are threatened not to get the MS certification if they publish drivers for linux, and Windows is on ca. 90% of PCs, so one has to rely on reverse engineered beta software).

The sound of a PC will never be so clean as that of a standalone (I mean a CD player, not a Elta, Mustek or Panascanic or the like) unless one uses a profi sound card, which normally costs twice as a good CD-player.

The analog outputs of a PC might trigger the ground loop if used together with a bad TV, so you have to use the optical audio, which is forcibly resampled to 48kHz unless you use a profi card or hack the sound card and the OS, which sends you back to item one. ;)

The HDMI and/or DVI output on the other hand is subjected to awfull restrictions so having them work usually involves a lot of tinkering and probably money. A good BD-player (LG 350/370) costs here in Germany about the same money as a BD-ROM and an entry-level HDMI graka together.

Not to mention that a PC-barebone that fits optically into a HiFi rack would cost a lot (only the housing + power supply would be some 130€ in Germany), so again back to item one.

Finally, a HDMI-enabled GraKa would draw alone some 50W, not to mention the CPU and the rest of the periferics. All my 5 gear draw together max. 125W (15+15+35+35+25), which I'm afraid is not possible with a PC, as you can't always shut the periferics off. I can REC a HDTV show while watching a BD, you'll need a QuadCore and a real fast HDD to replicate this on a PC.

So, if you own your BDs/DVDs/CDs, you don't need a PC. If you have other sources, yes, a PC is much more flexible. If your TV, the amplifier and the loudspeakers cost together 200$ then it wouldn't make any difference, but if you'd invested real money, you'll notice the difference and think twice.

The only alternative to standalones is the PS3.

[Blue_MiSfit]

Acer Revo is an amazing little Ion nettop that can do the whole job for $200, and has a low power envelope, either using Windows, or Linux running XBMC. The only thing missing here is multichannel analog out.

~MiSfit

[pandy]

maybe future generation devices like Nvidia Tegra2 + decent RTOS can create real multimedia "PC" with acceptable power consumption.