Getting Started

This part couldn’t be simpler: You open the program and are immediately greeted with a status window where you can start or stop media sharing and choose which types of files to share: Movies, Music, and Pictures. Within seconds of clicking start, your computer shows up on your PS3 and you’re ready to stream.

By default, Playback shares pretty much everything you have, but also offers you the ability to pick and choose what to share. For instance, under Movies you can share iTunes Movies, iPhoto Movies, EveTV Recordings, and even add specific folders. The same level of customization is also available for Music and Pictures – you can share as much or as little as you want.

One interesting feature, absent in almost all other programs of this ilk, is Access Control. Playback allows you to specify which devices on your network you’d like to share with and what specifically to share with them. This allows me to share all media types with a Windows PC and just share video and music with the PS3. Pretty nifty.

There are some other little niceties like Growl support, automatic generation of QuickLook thumbnails, and even the ability to limit bandwidth (though I can’t think of a reason why you’d want to do this). Codec support is also quite wide, with Playback offering the ability to share anything that PS3 supports.

Score One For the Nerds!

One bonus that really appeals to the nerd in me is the ability to convert high definition MKV files into an MP4 that PS3 can play. Most people will never even come across an MKV in their lives, but I have a few lying around from my days of ripping HD-DVDs. My test material for this was David Fincher’s “The Game”, which if you haven’t seen is your first mission right after downloading Playback. Anyway, the MKV file I converted was 1280×544 @ 24fps, with a file size in the neighborhood of 4.4GB. The Playback output file was quite literally almost identical in size except it was now an MP4. I tried to play this previously unsupported file on my PS3 and, viola!, it streamed (and looked quite glorious I might add).

Bottom Line

Playback fills in the gaps that Sony left when choosing to support only one protocol to share media across devices. Could I set up a UPnP server on my Mac? Probably, but the hassle and headaches aren’t worth it when a program like Playback makes sharing media this easy and effortless. There are a handful of programs that aid you in sharing media to your PS3, and while some of them are quite good, none hold a candle to Playback.

PS – I guess it’s also worth noting that Playback works equally well for Xbox360, though it’ll take a lot more than that for me to even consider buying one of those!

What MS Did Right:

• Windows 7 Starter sounds like it’s aimed squarely at the netbook market, which seems to be the next big thing.  Microsoft has stated that Windows 7 Premium has a small enough footprint to run fine on a netbook, so this watered-down version should finally be able to succeed Windows XP as a de facto netbook OS.
• Emphasis on just two main versions brings people back to a simpler time, much like XP, where there’s basically a Home (Premium) version and a Professional version.

What MS Did Wrong:

• The first three versions can be thrown all together into one and then allow the computer/user to decide which is appropriate for their machine.  For instance, if the processor is an Intel Atom, the Starter restrictions could automatically go into effect.  If the video card can’t support Aero or some of the other visuals, then it’ll be automatically disabled.  It’s ridiculous to have more than one edition for personal use.  Axe the Starter package completely and the “Home” part and just call it Windows 7 Premium.  Then you’ll have two very consumer-centric brands to choose from: Premium and Professional.
• Will anyone require ALL of the features of Ultimate?  It’s unlikely, so why not dump those features into Professional and put the “Ultimate” edition out to pasture?

If MS followed this path, then we’d have a mere 3 versions of Windows 7:  Premium, Professional, and Enterprise (which is really just volume licensing of the Professional Edition).  This would clear up a ton of confusion for buyers because, in addition to being more concise, it just makes more sense.

Dialtone: The Movie, The Trailer

Today’s article is from the trusty ol’ fodder canon known as CNET blogs.  Written by the assumedly self-proclaimed “thought leader” Dave Rosenberg, addressing many of the problems plaguing the PS3.  Let’s delve right into this, shall we?

A console that starts at $400 (with only one controller and usually zero games) puts you over $500 before it’s much fun.

Very true, Dave.  Let’s disregard the Wii in this argument, since the target demographic and the overall system philosophy are different. While the 360 comes in a variety of flavors ranging from $199 for the Arcade to $399 for the Elite, we’re going to have to compare oranges to oranges and since the PS3 is on the chopping block, we’ll use it as our baseline.

In order to match output capability (HDMI), we’re already looking at the same price since the Elite is the only model to feature this type of connector; the connector that has come standard on all PlayStation 3 models since release. Some people are going to want WiFi for either streaming their digital content to the console or online play.  That’s going to cost you another $90 to get that adaptor.  Oh yeah, and another $50 a year if you want to actually be able to play your games online. Since WiFi is included in every PS3 and it’s free to create a PlayStation Network account and play your games online, looks like we’re up to $540 for an Xbox 360 that matches the specs of an out-of-the-box, $400 PS3.

Sony also is suffering from a lack of attractive titles that are exclusive to the PS3. Microsoft has hit the jackpot with two action-adventure game franchises, Halo and Gears of War, which are available only on the Xbox 360.

Interesting that you bring up exclusives.  I won’t deny that the Halo trilogy as well as Gears of War are incredibly fun games, but let’s just see if any of these titles ring a bell: Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo (series), Resistance (series), Motorstorm (series), Uncharted, Heavenly Sword, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and LittleBigPlanet. Yep, all PS3 exclusives.

The Wii makes your goofy little Mii character come alive by connecting consoles online. Xbox Live has a community and marketplace.

I’ll admit Sony was quite late to this party with all of the Home delays, but from what I hear they’ve got things running smoothly now.  Truth be told, I’m not too interested in the social interaction of games beyond being able to meet friends in a common lobby and blast them all to smithereens. If I was serious about playing a simulation I’d pick up The Sims 2 or Second Life, but as it stands I’m not.  PlayStation has this little thing called the PSN Store, where you can download exclusive third party games, demos, videos, themes, and more.  This service is also free, unlike the aforementioned $50/year subscription fee to do this on the 360.

The games are the accessories to the Wii lifestyle, and Microsoft makes the Xbox the center of your interactive gaming lifestyle. 

I’m not particularly sure what he’s trying to say in this sentence. What exactly defines the “Wii lifestyle”? If I had to take a stab at the Wii lifestyle, I’d most likely have to say it’s for the very casual 30+ gamer or for children as a learning device.  What does it mean for a console to be the center of my interactive gaming lifestyle?  It connects to the internet?  So does PS3. It can play online with others, send messages, stream media? So can PS3. I will concede that there is definitely a strong loyalty for the 360 and Wii while customer loyalty for the PS3 is lukewarm, at best.

The games themselves look and feel good, but the experience of launching a game and getting up and running takes way too long (I feel this way about most consoles), to the point where many users I spoke with get so annoyed that they curse the machine. 

The first part of the sentence leads me to believe that you have firsthand experience with this “way too long” phenomenon, but then you lose me when you refer to these problems as being had by users you “spoke with” without citing any concrete examples.  I’ve heard sometimes when people turn on an Xbox 360, they have to wait several minutes to discover the red ring on the front of the console means it’s never going to launch, then wait a month while it’s sent in for repairs and shipped back to their house.  That seems like a little bit longer than the 15 minutes it takes to install a game’s core files.

A bigger threat looms for all console makers, and that’s the fact that people spend way more time online then ever before and that browser-based casual games are not feeding console sales, but instead pushing consumers to stay on their PCs.

When you finally decide to try one of these systems instead of just crunching marketing numbers and listening to your nephew tell you how fun the Wii can be, Dave, take a moment to browse around their respective marketplaces/stores and you’ll find a veritable plethora of casual games priced just right.  Nintendo’s Virtual Console literally has hundreds of classics from the N64, SNES, NES, and Sega catalogs. On the flip, indie developers are constantly adding engaging, experimental, and often times incredibly fun titles to both the Xbox Marketplace and the PlayStation Store.

In the end, I won’t hide behind the fact that PlayStation 3 has and probably will continue to trail in the sales department until another price cut is announced.  I think it’ll really explode if it can hit the magical $300 price point, but that’s a ways off. In all fairness, the Xbox 360 had an entire year to itself, so I’ll give the folks at Sony the benefit of the doubt.

Original Article

The Frozen Throne.toast, while burning, (ironically) becomes The Frozen Toast.