Wondered what other alternatives are to the Apple TV?

Is there anything I can buy that enables me to wirelessly pick up my media from my PC which displays on the BV7-40 (using Windows Media Center for example) which can also be controlled using the Beo 5 remote? I know that Apple TV fulfils all this criteria and I don't mind taking this route as I quite like the iTunes interface but I just wondered if for example the Sony PS3 is able to do anything similar since I am also looking at one of those for Bluray DVD playback. Would very much appreciate people's input.

Thanks,
Simon.

Realy depend what your main use wil be from it.

I have an apple tv, and a TVIX 6500 connected to my BV7.  The tvix allows a much wider range of formats to be plaed back, but the interface is not a nice as the apple.  With the apple I have to use itunes to keep it all synced, where the tvix just points at my pc, or nas drive and plays the content.

The best bit about the apple is the ability to buy films and music through the interface, and the film rentals are nice.  If you just want to play back your existing library the tvix is probably a better bet (you can have numerous tvix clients around the house all playing different content from a single repository, it's briliant, p to 3 hd sources at once, or 12 sd I think)

Thanks for your prompt response red. Actually, since posting I have spent all this time looking on the net and realised that the PS3 is almost certainly the way to go. The latest 160gb model offers everything I am looking for. It will do what an Apple TV does as the recent updated models now have Media Server capabilities which from what I have read are excellent, well implemented and very friendly from a user interface viewpoint. They also now include cover/album art which previous models did not. This is all done wirelessly. The machine offers first class Blueray DVD playback along with excellent upsacling capabilites and on top of that I can run games on it when my nephews come over (or they can bring their own to play with them) so I am sold. I am going to buy one tomorrow from PC World, which it seems is the only place in the UK that has any left. The 160gb models are limited edition for some reason, have no idea why, probably some silly marketing ploy to make them popular in the run up to Christmas but so long as I can find one somewhere that's all that concerns me as I need to get it to channel all cabling into the wall by the end of this week. I always liked Apple iTunes, especially the cover art and the kind of jukebox flip feel to the album covers etc, but the more I look at Media Player 11/Media Center in Windows, I really like that too. Its very different but well designed and thought out. The PS3 is just as good so I am sold. The main reason being that it doesn't show any company logos which I like, because in that way nobody (i.e. guests visiting) will know what is generating the media content, so naturally, they'll think its B&O ... and I will too!

Simon.

PS I think Sony only JUST cut it because everything I read pointed to the Xbox 360 being by far the best (from a Media Server point of view) until the recently released 160gb PS3 came out which rapidly caught up for fear of being undermined by the Xbox! Obviously I am pleased about that since Xboxes don't play Bluray DVDs!

Hi again Simon, I saw your PM and was just about to add to your thread, but it looks like you've already done much of the typing I was about to!  As you said, the PS3 has excellent media server capabilities.  You can download free media server software onto your PC, and put any media files you wish into the folder.  My brother said he used TVersity back when the PS3 was first updated with media server capabilities, although he said he isn't sure whether that's still the best program or whether it's still free.  Here's one thing I'm not sure about though.  If you buy or rent a protected movie through itunes on your pc, and save it to the media server folder, I don't know whether the PS3 can play the protected file through the server.

Oh, and my brother said that whole backwards game compatibility issue I talked about was only for PS2 games.  The new PS3's can still play PS1 games like point blank, although the gun won't work on the lcd or plasma as you said.  As an fyi/trivia, he said there's a flashback sequence in Metal Gear 4 game for PS3, where you play a part of the original Metal Gear PS1 game.  In actuality it's the real PS1 game that you're playing in that moment (not a PS3 recreation), and it uses the PS1 capability of the system.

Austin

Many thanks Austin for your contributions through PMs and also this thread and my previous PS3 thread. Its been a bit of a rush for me since I needed to decide on a solution by the end of today, which I have just about done! Much as I would like to have seen the B&O Blueray module its release date is too late for my own plans. Something tells me buying the PS3 won't turn out to be a bad route anyway since it offers so much more. The Media Server capability is particularly attractive as it saves buying a BS5/BM5 too.

Cheers!

Simon.