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In the latest issue of PC User, they had a small article that the PS3 can be used as a HTPC
it says to install Yellow Dog Linux (PS3 compatible version of linux), install MythTV, and then get an external TV Tuner (USB) that works with Myth TV (if MythTV supports more then 1 tuner you could install heaps of TV Tuners)
add a 250GB 2.5" HDD, and you have a fantastic HTPC in my opinion, that can also play the latest games & BRD's (Blu-Ray Discs)
In the latest issue of PC User, they had a small article that the PS3 can be used as a HTPC
it says to install Yellow Dog Linux (PS3 compatible version of linux), install MythTV, and then get an external TV Tuner (USB) that works with Myth TV (if MythTV supports more then 1 tuner you could install heaps of TV Tuners)
add a 250GB 2.5" HDD, and you have a fantastic HTPC in my opinion, that can also play the latest games & BRD's (Blu-Ray Discs)
It's nice to see the PS3 capable of doing things like this, however the only problem is - when you're playing games or a BluRay movie, MythTV isn't running, so no television programs are being recorded.
The beauty of a Media Center PC and Xbox 360, whilst together are more expensive than one PS3, is that when you want to play games or HD DVD's, the Media Center PC continues to record your TV shows in the background that you can play back later via the extender feature of the 360.
What may be good is if MythTV or similar can run as an extender to a "server" MythTV box like the way the 360 can be an extender (ie recorded TV's, movies, pictures, music and most importantly Live TV streaming) - then this might be a good option (but again - more expensive than PC+360).
Regards,
Shane.
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Well this is nice in therory and in a while it would be awesome but linux on the PS3 has som limits that you should be aware of, and MythTV has some drawbacks to that you also should be aware of
Linux users have not gotten any videodriver for the PS3 chipset wich forces you to run VESA and that is not nice on a HDTV
This might change as Yellowdog "might" get acces to some graphicdrivers as it is sony aproved.
Also xine and mplayer all have no hardware support for the PS3 as of yet (nothing has) wich makes videoplayback is in software and the PowerPC that linux can utilize isn't fast, it is just supposed to be a sync for the other cells. Wich makes videoplayback a no go for the time being if I have my fact right..
Also MythTV is unfortunatly still in beta and has it's drawbacks. All (besides TV?) is single threaded (Well, i have'nt checked the source codes but) and you cannot wander around in the menu system while playing a simple MP3 file... It is almost embarising, But this might b e a limitation of the My Music and My Video plugins as TV seems to be running while you wander the menu's, But I haven't checked it out as I haven't gotten tV to work in MythTV
Other possible solutions is Freevo, but it is also single threaded thing
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My HTPC is running XBMC for linux haven't you converted yet?
In the latest issue of PC User, they had a small article that the PS3 can be used as a HTPC
it says to install Yellow Dog Linux (PS3 compatible version of linux), install MythTV, and then get an external TV Tuner (USB) that works with Myth TV (if MythTV supports more then 1 tuner you could install heaps of TV Tuners)
add a 250GB 2.5" HDD, and you have a fantastic HTPC in my opinion, that can also play the latest games & BRD's (Blu-Ray Discs)
In theory is does sound like a great HTPC option, are you gonna try it out Aleks? does this at all void your warranty with Sony??? Just curious.
I actually finally set up my 360 as an extender in my house over WiFi, I must say im quite impressed with quality, etc. At this stage im not using it for TV, but am using it with transcode360 (vista version) to view movies, and Tv shows i have ripped and converted to my hdd. Just bought 2 500gb samsung drives off ebay for $350 so im going nuts ripping my DVD collection.
Id love to know the outcome of running MythTv on your PS3 though Aleks, keep us posted as to whether you go ahead with it.
From what I understand HTPC is still a no go on the PS3 until more is learned about programming for the cell architecture (as mentioned), but there's no sign of IBM or Sony releasing any information on how that is done. Raw CPU is not enough at present to even play an SD stream in a happy way.
That being said though it will get there, how long it takes is anyones guess.
As to the cost basis (MCE + Xbox) being cheaper than (PC + PS3), well, that isn't necessarily accurate.
The difference being that you can set up a very lowly PC as a myth backend. All it needs is tuners and disk, no CPU grunt, little memory and basic video. MCE on the other hand is typically quite hardware hungry and because MCE isn't just a backend (ie It gets used as an MCE as well), it costs more for display hardware, needs a faster CPU for playback, audio hardware, Vista levels of memory etc.
You could argue that you get a usable MCE and an extender with a 360 and that is true but from a cost perspective in a true server->client relationship you could get away cheaper with the PS3 (depending on your requirements).
There is also no need for any extra disk in the PS3 if you're running a TV server as Myth streams all media (including live TV).
But.. Be warned, linux is not simple, is not plug and play and requires a lot of work and research to get going.
One thing that I have found is this relationship:
The faster something is to set up the less likely it will perform to satisfaction...
Explaining that I mean that MCE is easy to install, requires a bit of fiddling with drivers and codecs but can be up and running in a few hours and will continue to plague you with problems and stability issues forever more.
Linux on the other hand may take you weeks to set up, but once it's done it's done, stable and it won't change with the weather.
Many things in Linux are considered beta but are more production stable than much of what is commercially available in the Windows world.
In the case of the PS3 though it is truly beta and unless you are a hardcore linux user (or like to learn and/or contribute), I wouldn't yet go near it for HTPC use.
Cheers,
Arkay.
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The box said 'Requires Windows XP or better' - so I installed Linux . . .
MCE on the other hand is typically quite hardware hungry and because MCE isn't just a backend (ie It gets used as an MCE as well), it costs more for display hardware, needs a faster CPU for playback, audio hardware, Vista levels of memory etc.
Arkay,
Whilst I understand where you are coming from - in my situation I have a sub $1000 PC running Vista Premium as a Media Center "server" only. It has 3 tuners (1x Dual PCI, 1x USB) and runs absolutely rock solid (except for the lost channels issue which should be resolved by MS soon).
So for me - a $1000 PC (+ $175 for OS) and $399 Xbox 360 Core (from Dick Smith - still some left at this price) comes to around $1600.
I can't see a PS3 and Myth Server PC coming in at less than this.
Regards,
Shane.
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See my system details in My Profile
Last edited by scritch; 30th April 2007 at 11:51 AM.
Reason: OS price wasn't included - Doh!
this does not void warranty, in fact, SONY are encouraging people to run Linux on the PS3 (sounds like at least 1 company is making headway in this regard)
However, at this point, i definitely do not plan to do this, because you have to dedicate some of the hard drive to the Linux, and 60GB shared between games (such as Oblivion which take up nearly 5GB of space) & an OS, which takes up all the space you allocate to it, is clearly not enough
also i share the PS3 with other members of the family and they wouldn't appreciate me installing linux (downloading it is another matter, it will most likely take up quite a bit of usage in the month) on a $1000 machine we bought to play games
however we do have an external tv tuner in the house (hopefully it is supported), so if i decide to do it (and if i ever buy an additional 2.5" hard drive, or find one lying around the house) i should have everything i need for it
EDIT: just had a look at the requirements, and there are a few problems i would encounter while trying to install it
1. It recommends a 720p monitor, at the least! installing with 576i is supported but "painful, and NOT recommended"
2. Wi-Fi is not supported, which means no internet, or connection to router, however support for this is supposedly coming
At this stage it is very unlikely for me to be doing something like this, while i want too, there are too many cons at the moment to consider
someone else on this forum may or may not do it though
