I have both the Apple TV and the Playstation 3. If you take the game playing part out of the playstation, they both have similar functions. A cool media center function. In this very interesting blog post, I am going to compare each product and determine which is the best media player. If the Apple TV wins, then I recommend buying one and looking at the Wii, if the PS3 wins just buy one of those. ☺ If there are any typos or bad grammar or something similar, please comment and tell me. I want to improve my writing.
Setup: Setting up both of the products is very easy. With the Apple TV simply connect the cables (Standard analog, HDMI, power, etc.) and then pick your TVs resolution. Then a very cool introduction movie will play and it will help you set up the Apple TV with iTunes, which is usually straightforward. The PS3 is also very easy. Connect the cables and turn it on. The first PS3 we had was a Dud, turned on and immediately shut off while beeping and flashing its red light. The second one we had worked fine, but the set up process had many more steps to it, partly because it is a game console. It will then take you to the home screen where you will see options for Music,Photos,Movies,Games etc. If you select one of the media player options the only option will be “search for media server” or something. You will have to set up a media server on your computer. If you have a Sony Vaio computer it should have one installed, but we found that the PS3 picked up TVersity from my dad’s Dell rather then Vaio media center. After a couple of tries we got Vaio media center to work. I will post a tutorial on how to set up a media server later. Setting up the PS3 is easy, but not as easy the Apple TV. This round goes to Apple.
Interface: Apple TVs interface, is, well, Apple-ish. Very simple with cool reflections and very very easy to use.
It also comes with a really cute 6 button remote. The Menu button takes you back in the menu or to the homescreen where there are options for all of the functions. Select one and you go to it. Duh. It is very nice and easy to use. The only real problem is that your music or whatever you have playing will stop when you go to the homescreen. The PS3 interface is also cool, but, for some people not as easy to use. It has a cool splash of water like thing moving in the background changing colour with the time of day and the menu options slide across the screen. 
It looks really nice but like I said hard to use for some people. I can use it fine, but my dad can’t. And, o. My dad it not hopeless with these kinda things. Most of the time. Imagine what it is like for a person who can hardly work their cellphone. ☺ Once again this round goes to Apple.
Movies: When you select movies on the Apple TV it will take you to a menu which will show you all the movies that you have bought on iTunes and it will also have option for Theatrical Trailers and trailers for the top bought iTunes movies. That’s all. Unfortunately, iTunes movies are not HD, yet. Even so the videos just look great. Also, streaming My Neighbor Totoro from my mac down the hall on our network was VERY VERY fast. Video playback was fantastic, but you could not fast forward to much. You can convert your own home movies to Apple TV format (or your DVDs) but that can take a LONG time.
Selecting movies on the PS3 you need to connect to your media server, and navigate through all your folders until you find the video you wanted. I don’t know how to save videos to the PS3 yet, but the streaming was still pretty fast though we had the occasional skip. Working videos on the PS3 is very hard without the PS3 remote (which is butt ugly compared to Apple’s) but you get used to it. But, what makes up for the hard to use interface is that the PS3 can play all sorts off formats right out of the box, no conversion necessary. Cool. Seems like a tie.
PART 2 COMING SOON
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