get PS3 enjoy casual games like Buzz and singstar and little big planet with your wife.

watch bluray /dvd (upscaled),,,go to movie/series store to rent movies for 2.99 or buy them.

I only say : Bluray. The PS3 doesn´t take much more space than the machine itself and it´s prety silent. Has WiFi and Cheap HDD that, Tchan dan is the same size as your laptop, so you can store any movie you download directly in the PS3 HDD. As media center the Ps3 is better. Since your aiming for games that are basically Multiplat, get the Black machine, you won´t regret it.

thanks for all the responses! yeah, i've been here for a while, but not so much in the past half a year or so.

i forgot that the 360 is not wireless--that's a pretty big minus. my wife is absolutely insistent on having as few wires as possible. it might well overrule the streaming netflix advantage.

another month to to go before i decide!

Since cost doesn't seem to be the issue, you could always get wireless adapter thing for the 360. Also I believe you should ask Pbroy if he is around about netflix on the 360 he is usually watching them whenever I see him online.

I actually think 360 premium will suit majority of your needs, if you add in a remote and a wireless adaptar. I believe you have to buy the remote regardless, because neither console comes with it out of the box.

Also if you get ps3 you will need to get HDMI cables as well, since ps3 doesn't have that in the ps3 packaging.

Basically in terms of additional costs you have Ps3: PS3+remote+HDMI cables and 360:360 Prem+Remote+Wireless Adapter.

The 360 is wireless, you just have to buy an optional adapter.  If you have any intentions of buying Blu-Ray movies get a PS3. If you plan on using only Netflix and dowloading movies to your Hard drive you'll want to consider a 360. For sports games both are the same so that should have no effect on your decision.  But as far looks, the PS3 looks really nice in a home theater set up.  The 360 looks like a gaming console.  Also any 50" Panasonic Plasma is a great TV.  Don't sweat burn in, they took care of that problem a couple years ago, and even then it was minimal.  But I wouldn't lock my self into that TV.  Shop around, the deals this holiday on Plasma's and LCD's are going to be ridiculous.  Stay away from DLP.  Replacing bulbs cost money and as the bulbs wear down the picture degrades significantly.

One big limitation on the 360 is that you cannot put any of your downloadable videos that you did not download from Xbox Live directly on your 360 HDD.

Say for instance you have a lot of .avi's on an external HDD that you would like to watch on your TV.

360: You cannot directly transfer the videos from the external HDD onto the 360 HDD. So anytime you want to watch a movie from that HDD on your 360, you have to have the external HDD hooked up to your 360.

PS3: You CAN directly transfer the videos from the external HDD onto the PS3 HDD. You no longer need to hook up the external drive (whether it be a HDD, flash drive, etc.) as you can just copy it directly onto the PS3's HDD.

This is a glaring flaw with the 360 that could easily have been avoided, but MS still "owns" the content on your HDD even though you own the actual 360. All in all a horrible decision since your use of your 360 HDD is limited as a result.

 with a 360 you need to get this

somewhere. That's the reason the Ps3 is slightly bigger than the 360. The Ps3's power brick is inside the console. So if your wife is set on having less cords around the house would she mind having one with a brick on it?

the 360 is also a dvd player and rrod is no longer...get a 360 it has better games as well.

If you are primarily buying it as a DVD player (and can sport the extra couple hundred), the PS3 is a better DVD player because you get blu-ray and upscaling of standard DVD to boot. The blu-ray rentals at blockbuster are weak, but netflix is pretty solid with content...

I have all three consoles and if the question was mostly games, I'd say 360 since the back catalog is stronger. The PS3, regardless of what fanboys might say on either side, is a better DVD player...

There is, currently, a $199 vs. a $399 difference, however, which is pretty significant...

its you are going HD simply the ps3 its the best of all.

built in HDD and you store many things in it.