Streaming Videos - Which is better 360 or PS3?

[rudyjuly2]

My brother recently traded in his 360 for a PS3. Part of his desire was to have Blu Ray as well as the Show. We can also swap games now since I also have a PS3. We simply don't have a lot of money to buy and support two systems.

However, he's been very annoyed at the ability to stream videos to the PS3. He says almost any .avi would stream to his 360 while he has had to use different tools to get things to work on his PS3. I have seen some of the these issues as well. But he also claims the quality of the streaming is better on the 360. He says the quality was near DVD on the 360 and very poor on the PS3. Is this true for those that have both systems? If so, is there anything he can do to improve it?

[Pared]

I don't know what he is using, but any streaming I've done with windows media sharing has been completely the same.

And I'm talking about HD content via the PS3 wireless compared to a wired 360.

I do like how the 360 has WMA decoders and the PS3 does not, which is odd since Sony licensed WMV. Guess they left out the audio part of that equation.

There have been only a handful of times when I could not play something on my PS3 and had to use the 360. FWIW, I've never found something to not play on the 360 and play on the PS3, but I know there are file formats out there that require it.

[rudyjuly2]

Thanks Pared.

[Money99]

Pared, I'm not sure what makes your setup different from mine, but I have tried using WMV, Nero and now TVersity to stream movies to my PS3.
It wasn't until I downloaded a number of codec packs and installed FFShow before I could get a number of my 'avi's to play on my PS3.
Meanwhile, I never had any issues with this for my 360.

At the same time, a movie I was streaming that looked great on my 360 looked like Vaseline was smeared across the screen for my PS3.

If you could share any tips I'd be eternally grateful. Approximately 80% of what I used my 360 for was to stream movies. Changing over to the PS3 has been a big disappointment thus far in this regard.

Ugh, I'm still going back and forth on what to do. I love the quality of BluRay. And because I might be buying a Plasma in the very near future, I'm excited to see that quality on a true 1080p screen instead of a 34" CRT HDTV in 1080i.
However, with games like Left 4 Dead and Fable 2, plus the better experience in streaming and XBL compared to PSN, I might go back to the 360.

[Pared]

Well, first I would say just get both. That way you wouldn't have to switch.

In terms of what I am doing differently, I don't know. I don't even understand why you would need FFShow. Everything I have plopped in my Windows Media Sharing folders plays the same way on both systems. They can read divx/xvid files without an intermediary such as FFShow.

I have not used Tversity in a while because the quality in the past was terrible. Never tried Nero.

I'm guessing you're using wireless as well? I'm using an Apple AirPort Extreme and it is located right near my PS3.

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pared

Well, first I would say just get both. That way you wouldn't have to switch. In terms of what I am doing differently, I don't know. I don't even understand why you would need FFShow. Everything I have plopped in my Windows Media Sharing folders plays the same way on both systems. They can read divx/xvid files without an intermediary such as FFShow. I have not used Tversity in a while because the quality in the past was terrible. Never tried Nero. I'm guessing you're using wireless as well? I'm using an Apple AirPort Extreme and it is located right near my PS3.

FFShow seems to be needed for TVersity to work properly.
I'll try and configure WMV again when I get home.
I'm currently on a wired connection.

Thanks for the advice!

[rudyjuly2]

Money, do you have the latest version of WMP or were you just using what was originally put on your PC?

[Money99]

Quote: Originally Posted by rudyjuly2

Money, do you have the latest version of WMP or were you just using what was originally put on your PC?

I'm pretty sure I have version 11.