PS3 as media streamer - any experiences?

[njp]

This weekend a friend brought round a PS3 (which he had in turn borrowed) to try out on my projector, mostly for games, but we also played a bluray film.

To cut to the chase: I'm not much of a gamer, but the price of the PS3 makes it potentially interesting purely as a bluray player, an internet browser (I understand you can get a bluetooth keyboard for it), and a media streamer. Gaming would just be a nice extra, for occasional use!

I currently have a Pinnacle Showcenter 200, which is quite good but could be so much better. I didn't get to try out the PS3 for media streaming at all, so I'm interested in anybody's experiences of using it for this purpose.

[MarkB]

i currently use the PS3 to connect to my computer through Media Player 11 and it seems to work OK, but i have never used it to actually stream to another device, but i have never tried

[raowler]

I have a PS3 (and XBox 360) and can stream video/photos and music to each device from a windows media center pc up stairs that holds all my content.

The 360 seems to be a little more sturdies, as my PS3 can become a little slow at times and suffer with network errors when using windows media player as my connection, I have downloaded Nero Home Media Pack and use the media player connection on there - which has been excellent.

I can also use PSP to connect to PS3 and stream when working away. :thumbsup:

And as the previous poster said the games are now here to make it a worthwhile investment...

[Chocolate_10]

Could anybody post pictures of the PS3 User Interface when using it as Media Center? Thanks in advance!

[Chocolate_10]

One more question for you who has a PS3 and have experienced using it as Media Center: what are the biggest limitations/problems you have found out so far?

Thanks!!!

[chris57]

Here's my issues with the PS3 as a media center:

1. Very limited VC-1 support. It is only supported in a WMV and I don't believe it supports multichannel audio in that container.
2. MPEG-2 support is questionable. If streams aren't muxed in a certain manner it just pukes.
3. EXT2/NTFS files systems are not supported. Generally no support for files >2GB.
4. Painful UI.
5. Poor file type support in UPNP client. I have to rename files to get them to work. (Might be my UPNP server). Other than burning a BluRay, this is the only way large files are supported.
6. Loud!!! I've heard 40GB models are better. (I have 60B).
7. Poor IR remote support. You can get an IR dongle, but it can't turn the unit on. Sony does make a BlueTooth remote, but you can't use a universal.

[delmastiff]

I recently bought a PS3 and quickly realised its media centre capabilities. I first tried Windows Media Player 11 in XP and all was ok until I tried looking at my Video Folder via the PS3 and each time MP11 fell over.
I now use Twonkymedia software on the PC and the whole experience is excellent.

[timlee79]

Never had any luck with wmp11 allways get network errors. But if anyone has found a reliable way i would be very interested. Are you guys connecting by wireless or wired?

[chris57]

WMP11 used to crap out on me every 30 mins or so. Tracked it down to divx codec, once I removed that files played fine with only xvid codec.

[delmastiff]

I recently bought a PS3 and quickly realised its media centre capabilities. I first tried Windows Media Player 11 in XP and all was ok until I tried looking at my Video Folder via the PS3 and each time MP11 fell over.
I now use Twonkymedia software on the PC and the whole experience is excellent.

[PLJPlayer]

Ive got an Xbox 360 (1.5 yrs old) and a PS 3 (2 months old).
I found for streaming video the Xbox seems to cope with more formats.

I use WMP11 on a Vista machine and never really had any problems to the Xbox.
I have found that when I try to play the same vid on the PS3 it usually comes up saying media not supported.
Maybe this could be solved if I used twonkymedia or something, but as I get it to work on the xbox, i've never bothered.

Only problem with the xbox is that it is noisy (jet fighter noisy), compared to the PS3 which seems whisper quiet.

[njp]

Am I right in thinking that recent firmware upgrades to the PS3 mean you can use a PSP to browse and select music? Has anyone here done that yet?

[Still haven't bought a PS3 yet, pending completion of my long-delayed lounge/home cinema refurbishment!]

[Stephen Neal]

7. Poor IR remote support. You can get an IR dongle, but it can't turn the unit on. Sony does make a BlueTooth remote, but you can't use a universal.

Believe there is now a 3rd party IR to Bluetooth dongle - which offers power on and off functionality (unlike the USB IR dongles designed for the PS2 which have been used with the PS3 until now to add IR for media playback)

Also - whilst the MPEG2 support is a bit flaky - I've had quite a lot of success with H264 and AC3 content as long as it has been passed through TSRemux. All my UK HD off-air recordings play fine when burned to DVDRs in UDF format - though there are occasional issues with shuttling.

[dave_bass5]

Am I right in thinking that recent firmware upgrades to the PS3 mean you can use a PSP to browse and select music? Has anyone here done that yet?

[Still haven't bought a PS3 yet, pending completion of my long-delayed lounge/home cinema refurbishment!]

Yes. It works ok.
The newer FW allows the sound to come out of the PS3 now. Before it would have to come of of the PSP.

[spawnofwar1600]

earlier i copied vob files to my ps3 hdd using tversity.

the odd thing that i found out was the bitrate in the info of the copied file decreased.

for example,

on the media server the file shows a bitrate of 12.7 mbps, when i check the info on the copied file on the hdd it shows 11.8 mbps.

theres about an average decrease of 0.8mbps
does such a difference effect the resolution or not?

isnt the file supposed to playback using the maximum bitrate on the ps3 as its not streaming or transcoding , compared to media server

[Flipper]

I found WMP11 to work fine streaming AVI files. Watched a whole series of Lost without any problems at all (wired). Never had much luck with Nero MediaHome, Twonkey or TVersity.

I did have problems getting WMP to work from Vista. Worked better on XP.

[dave_bass5]

I still have no luck getting WMP to stream files.

In fact once i select Share media it just sits there doing noting until i cancel it.
:mad: