The Glade 4.0

So not that the last post on this topic was ancient, but I could benefit from a little more up to date advice.

I've never had a console before, I've just done PC gaming. That said, I've played 360s at friends houses quite a bit, and am familiar with the feel of the console to some extent.

I'm looking for something primarily to play DVDs and stream from Netflix/Hulu.

I'd also like to do some casual gaming, but that's not as big of a priority.

Eventually, I'll be building myself another nice desktop PC, but that will probably be a bit off in the future while I save up the cash.

So, to all of you that have consoles, what are the pros/cons of a PS3 vs a 360?

Keep in mind that I have no Blu-ray discs, and probably won't for a long time, so the HD-DVD player vs Blu-Ray isn't a big consideration.

I was mostly worried about the stability/lifetime of the 360, but I'm hearing that the new models have really gotten rid of a lot of the issues that the older models suffered from.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

If blu-ray isn't a consideration, then the 360 Marketplace/Arcade probably tip the scales in that direction.

There are a ton of fun, cheap games on the Xbox Live arcade.

Get a PS3.

It has the best DVD upscaling, plus Blu Ray (even if you wont use it)
It has the best Netflix streaming quality, plus Hulu if you get Playstation Plus
It has the best capability for media streaming
If you decide to get into it, the PS3 is about to be completely busted open and customizable -- media players, emulators, all that

I personally prefer the 360 because I play online a lot, and I think Xbox Live! is unmatched, but if you aren't concerned with that I'd go PS3.

Midgen:

On that note, what are the relative costs of Xbox Live membership?

I know you have to have (Gold, I think?) for Netflix/Hulu streaming on the 360.

Have you gotten to mess around with any of the new "slim" consoles?

Lenas:

I wouldn't say I'm unconcerned, the only game I'm really interested in playing is Halo (still have a lot of friends that play), but I'd drop the gaming angle if the PS3 was a significantly stabler/better media center.

So Netflix is available without a Playstation plus subscription, but Hulu requires it?

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Netflix is available on wii/ps3 for free, minus the subscription price obviously. However, the PS3 is the only console that will stream Netflix at 1080p with 5.1 sound (if your connection is good enough). I believe the PS3 is the only console currently with Hulu support, but it requires an optional PS Plus subscription through Sony. However, this sub will also get you other bonuses like early game betas, free downloads, etc.

An XBL membership is going to cost you 40-50 a year depending if you find a sale.

Netflix on the 360 does require XBL Gold. It works out to around $5/month if you buy a year at the time.

Hulu Plus doesn't require a Playstation Plus subscription anymore (that ended with the Hulu Plus beta's end).

To be honest, however, Hulu Plus on the PS3 isn't worth the subscription price Hulu's charging...the content is good, but the delivery on both my system and my assistant's system is ****. Constant freezing, buffering, and digital noise.

Otherwise, Lenas' suggestion is sound:

Yeah. 360 won't be picking up Hulu+ until early this year, from what I understand. Nice to know I don't have to have a Live sub for Netflix, though.

Farsky:

Are you using wireless or wired connection for your PS3? Too bad it's not working well on the PS3, I really enjoy it on PC.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

You do, actually. I misspoke and edited.

Also, the new PS3's (slims) come with N-wireless, which I don't think the original fat models did. Could have to do with Farskee's streaming issues.

Bleh

The Xbox sub isn't a huge deal, seems like a pain, but since I'd need it to play games online anyway, I wouldn't be having to get it just for Netflix/Hulu.

Haha! So many ninja edits here.

I have a decent wireless router, but I'll be running whatever I get wired... More consistent performance, and I've already got the cables everywhere I'd need 'em.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

My PS3 is wired. And I have no problem streaming Netflix, nor do I have issue streaming Hulu Plus on my iPad (wirelessly) or laptop. And the problems I'm running into with it are mirrored by my assistant, whose PS3 has the same Hulu issue. He has a new slim (a couple of months old) and I have an original-gen model (the one with the PS2 hardware inside).

Haha, ok, so in summary:

PS3 is best for DVDs (upscaling), and streams netflix free.

Xbox Live is better for games and is more developed.

PS3 currently has Hulu streaming, but it's pretty bad.

I guess it comes down to hardware stability, then, for me- any of you have any decent information on the 360 redesign, and how effective it was at reducing hardware failure? I know the old models had failure rates 3-4 times that of PS3s.

Lenas: How important is onboard storage for the 360? Is the new 4 GB model going to be ok for most things, or is it really better to copy the games to the HD?

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Copying games to the HD just improves load times and DVD drive life. I have a 250gb in my 360 because I install pretty much every game I play. I don't have a slim 360, but I know plenty of people that do. They're sexy little machines and I kind of want my current one to die so I can have a reason to get one. They're quieter and run cooler than their older counterparts, so I don't think failure is a very likely scenario at this point.

Take that with a grain of salt. Anecdotal evidence will show you that my original 360 (arcade version, Nov 2007) outlasted my original PS3 (80gb bc version, June 2008). Knock on wood.

Honestly, as much as I love my 360, if I were buying a console today and I was only planning on having one, I'd go Playstation. With all the streaming I do, it's really hard to ignore what the homebrew community is doing to it. I fully expect a port of XMBC at some point soon, and that will completely negate my need for an extra living room HTPC.

Tres

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

I obviously missed something, but I have no idea what

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Micheal is up to something...

His last three posts he appears to be practicing counting in spanish...

Yeah, I noticed that... What I'm missing is the WHY, I think....

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

PS3 is easier/cheaper to upgrade it's hard drive.

Xbox is a cheaper (price) console.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Just lining up some posts for a fun with thread titles moment. The inspiration passed with no screen shot.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Personal vote would be PS3 for the above but Sony needs to die in a fire.

First it wont cost anything more to stream Netflix, has one of the best 1080p upscaling available, gaming wise would be 360. But PSN is god awful, its slow, clunky, and pain in the *** to use, XMC just works.

But both the PS3 and 360 are capable of streaming anything if willing to run Tversity (free!) on your home PC (www.tversity.com), i regurarly download .mkv's and run them from my PC to my 360 to watch with friends/whatever on my home theater system, a 1 hour TV show, takes about 10 minutes of buffering. I havent tried Hulu in a long via TvVersity, as they refuse to respond to my support request (up to #27) or to fix my work blockage saying im in India instead of the USA...

Neph,

I have the Wii, 2x XBox 360, a PS3, Dreamcast, Gamecube, N64, PS1, OG XBox and a Fairchild Channel F. So I come in without any fanboy-ism (I have not even read the rest of this thread).

Now I have a **** ton of games for my XBox, I have XBLive Gold, I stream Netflix to my PS3 and my 360... I recommend the PS3.

I find that it seems to more reliably pull down the HD content.

For what you want to do... PS3 Netflix app does not require the paid Gold account, and I personally like the PS3 Netflix interface better than the 360.

PS3 Interface:


XBox 360 Interface:


You do not NEED to buy any Blu Ray disks... but you will have it available if you decide to, and well... if you have the capability to utilize HD Movies, why not. And since the 360 has no Blu Ray player...

Keep in Mind I will be continuing my XBL Membership since the PS3 is in the Living Room and the 360 is my bedroom DVD player. So I will not say I would never again do that...

Hell technically, if you do not even need the DVD capability... you can wirelessly stream Netflix to the Wii. I wouldn't, but you can.

Here is the Engadet article about the new features on the PS3 netflix app, not yet available for the 360... (odd since you pay for the 360 service to use the gorram app)
Netflix's new PS3 app includes new features, new headaches

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

That's funny darksiege, so far I find the actual operation of the 360 app VASTLY superior to the PS3 version. It's more responsive to button input, it has more options while playing back video (including dynamic video stretching), and can scroll at lightning speed.

On the PS3, you can scroll through a couple screens and then have to wait 10 sec for it to catch up.

All my friends play games on 360. I'd still buy 360 for that reason alone. But that's just me.

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The Dude abides.

This.

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Yeah, I'd recommend the PS3 for media playing and single-player gaming. I'd recommend the 360 for single-player gaming and multiplayer gaming. The 360 doesn't have many exclusive AAA titles anymore, aside from GEARS OF WAR and...uh, FABLE, I guess, with most of their powerhouse devs now providing multi-platform support (BIOSHOCK, MASS EFFECT, etc.). There are the HALO games too of course, but that series is through for the time being. XBLA has a better selection of downloadable games, but forgoing the indie stuff, the higher-profile downloadable games are generally available on both XBLA and PSN. Games generally run a bit better on the 360 (higher-res textures, better frame rates/loading times, etc.), but most aren't different enough to really notice.

Basically what Screeling said. From seeing which consoles friends usually use, I'd go with the Xbox 360. Also you can get Kinect.