Quick question about the PS3 please

Magic_x_uk · 1 Jul 2008 at 12:02

I am thinking of buying one as I fancy a new games machine and everything else that the PS3 can offer., Blue ray especially.

But I need some advice on something.

I have a DVD player (Sumvision Phoenix, from OCuk) which has a USB port on the front and I have an external mains powered 80 GB hard drive which sits next to the DVD player. If I download any films from the internet I put them on the hard drive from my main computer and the DVD player plays them fine.
This saves me burning everything to DVD.

Would the PS3 be able to pick the hard drive up and play the DIVX (I think) films. Or could I wirelessly (dont even know if the PS3 can do this) get them from my main home computer onto the PS3 hard drive to play them ?

I have no idea about all this you see.

Maybe some one can help.

Thank you

Nismo · 1 Jul 2008 at 12:08

You can stream them wirelessly from your PC no problem, and also read them from external storage providing they aren't bigger than 4Gb in size (has to be FAT32 for removable storage).

The other alternative is to do what I do (for HD quality stuff anyway) and copy the file to the PS3 HDD itself over a network using HTTP server software, makes filesize a non-issue then

Streeteh · 1 Jul 2008 at 12:09

PS3 will play most Divx files, whether this be from a USB external harddrive or streamed over a network from another computer. For those few files that don't work, programs like Tversity are able to 'transcode' the videos into a format that the ps3 can play as it streams (you need at least quad core to transcode high definition video in real-time however).

Basically, i watch all of my 'backup' series and films on the PS3, streamed over the network from my PC. I could put them onto a USB harddrive and plug it straight into the PS3 and 90% of them will play.

Magic_x_uk · 1 Jul 2008 at 12:13

When they are streamed over the network, if it is a film for example, does it play fine then, no flutter ? no buffering ? no pausing. As it is all being sent wirelessly isnt it from my main computer's hard drive to my wireless router and to the ps3 (which is in another room on another level)

Nismo · 1 Jul 2008 at 12:16

Magic_x_uk said:
When they are streamed over the network, if it is a film for example, does it play fine then, no flutter ? no buffering ? no pausing. As it is all being sent wirelessly isnt it from my main computer's hard drive to my wireless router and to the ps3 (which is in another room on another level)

Mine is fine wirelessly for SD stuff, absolutely flawless in fact. I can even get away with most 720p and even some 1080p stuff, but it can get a little flaky during high-action scenes, thus I choose to put it locally on the PS3.

I only have a relatively standard Netgear router, so nothing special and the PS3 is on a totally different floor to the router.

Streeteh · 1 Jul 2008 at 12:17

Magic_x_uk said:
When they are streamed over the network, if it is a film for example, does it play fine then, no flutter ? no buffering ? no pausing. As it is all being sent wirelessly isnt it from my main computer's hard drive to my wireless router and to the ps3 (which is in another room on another level)

I stream it like so:

PC ---ethernet cable---> router ---wireless---> PS3

I can stream 720p content (assuming it's a compatible codec) over to the PS3 just fine without stutter or buffering

EDIT - for gods sake nismo, you're making me look silly!

Nismo · 1 Jul 2008 at 12:37

Streeteh said:
EDIT - for gods sake nismo, you're making me look silly!

...and I wasn't even trying!

Egon · 1 Jul 2008 at 12:37

Appologies for threadjack however the question is relevant and it seemed wasteful to start a new thread seeing as this thread has answered a few questions for me already.

Assuming you want to stream movies to the PS3 wirelessly what do you need software wise to do this, someone mentioned Tversity, is this all you need?

Streeteh · 1 Jul 2008 at 12:40

Tversity or windows media player with media server built in (9 i think?) and the codecs required to play said movies on your PC. That's it.

Egon · 1 Jul 2008 at 12:42

nice - experimentation tonight me thinks

Magic_x_uk · 1 Jul 2008 at 13:40

now what model should i look at though 40 or 60gb ? i know the 40gb has no card slot and less usb ports and does not play ps2 games, but really, do i need it too ?

Streeteh · 1 Jul 2008 at 13:47

The 60gig is not worth the money these days, second hand ones cost more than a 40gig. If you NEEDED to play a PS2 game you could buy a slimline PS2 for 60 quid, that combined with the price of the 40gig is still cheaper than a 60.

Also you can change the harddrives in both, so the harddrive size isn't worth worrying about.

Nanoman · 1 Jul 2008 at 13:49

If you don't play PS2 games then its probably not worth it, though 2nd hand 60Gb prices have dropped now sub £300, whether thats good or not. & you can use a usb hub anyway.