There are three main components to the modern digital lounge room - a HD Personal Video Recorder, HD disc player and HD streaming media player.
Finding them all in one device is difficult unless you opt for a media centre PC, but rising complexity leads to falling reliability and media centres can be fickle beasts.
The PlayStation 3 can also tackle all three jobs, plus gaming, but it's still a jack of all trades.
The best of breed in each category tends to be a dedicated device - such as a TiVo, Apple TV and Sony Blu-ray player. Unfortunately the best of breed approach can leave you with an overflowing AV cabinet and a coffee table covered in remote controls.
Internet video, Blu-Ray, wireless: LG's BD390
Enter LG's wifi-enabled BD390 - a Blu-ray player that also offers impressive streaming media features. The BD390 lets you connect to your home network to download BD Live 2.0 content (the extra features on Blu-ray movies), but it also lets you stream content from your local network using both Samba (Windows) and UPnP networking.
This means you can easily watch movies and TV shows downloaded via BitTorrent, no matter where they reside on your home network. The BD390's impressive upscaling ensures that even low-res files look good on a big television.
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| Triple threat: LG's BD390 features wireless, Blu-Ray and UPnP media streaming |
The BD390's network browsing interface is slick, responsive and intuitive - better than many dedicated streaming media players. As for file formats, it holds up very well against the DivXTestCDV2.0 in terms of video (although it doesn't like Windows Media files). Music playback is restricted to MP3 and images to JPG and PNG.
The icing on the cake is UPnP compatibility - meaning the BD390 can streaming files from UPnP-enabled media centres, network drives and media server software such as PlayOn.
Connecting via UPnP for steaming Internet video
In the US, the BD390 is compatible with Video on Demand services such as Netflix and CinemaNow. Those services are blocked in Australia, but if you're running UPnP software such as PlayOn on a computer then it's easy to also run Virtual Private Network software on that computer - to make it appear as if the computer is in the US without disrupting the rest of your home network.
Unfortunately the BD390 doesn't seem to play nicely with PlayOn, but there are several other UPnP server applications to experiment with that offer internet video - such as Tversity.
More expensive than a PS3, but there are advantages
The BD390's biggest drawback is its AU$574 price tag - making it more expensive than a Blu-ray-capable PlayStation 3. LG's BD390 still has a few advantages over Sony's all-singing, all-dancing games console.
The PlayStation 3 option: the disadvantages
Firstly, the PlayStation 3 is region locked to Australia for both Blu-ray and DVD, which is a major pain if a chunk of your DVD library came from Amazon (such as Region 2 PAL discs from the UK).
Secondly, the PlayStation 3 uses a Bluetooth remote control, which is a major pain if you've already spent good money on an RF-only universal remote.
The third reason to favour the BD390 has to do with networking and file formats. Unlike the BD390, the PlayStation 3 does not support Samba (Windows) network shares. You need to use a UPnP compatible media server - either a UPnP-enabled network drive, Windows Media Player or a third party app. One of the most popular is PS3 Media Server, which is available for Windows, Mac and Linux. The PS3's limited format support means your media server might need to transcode video on the fly, which is likely to impact on image quality.
Even if on-the-fly transcoding isn't required, UPnP servers often tend to "optimise" video for network connects which can result in a picture that doesn't look quite as sharp as video pulled straight off a Samba share.
Conclusion: PS3 verse LG BD390
The PlayStation 3 has plenty to offer, but if you're primarily in the market for a Blu-ray/streaming media player it's certainly worth considering LG's BD390 Network Blu-ray player as well.
Also in this series, Picking the Perfect Home Entertainment Box:
Part 13: TiVo and Foxtel embrace iPhone scheduling
Part 13: Logitech's Harmony 900 universal remote puts you a little less in control
Part 12: TiVo's upgraded Video on Demand is a kick in the guts for Foxtel iQ2
Part 11: Not all universal remotes are created equal
Part 10: Hulu blocks international access via Witopia
Part 9: What does Windows 7 offer in the lounge room?
Part 8: forget scratched DVDs, build a video jukebox instead
Part 7: Is Foxtel Download worth getting excited about?
Part 6: Is interference destroying your digital lounge room?
Part 5: Do you need a Freeview sticker?
Part 4: What's the best way to record your favourite shows?
Part 3: Networking your TV, PVR, console, set top box
Part 2: Creating a P2P season pass
Part 1: Internet video on the PS3
Buying a TV? Also see our series How to Pick a Great Flat Screen TV, And Not Get Sucked In By Marketing Hype