Just thought I'd give you guys a heads up on using external HDDs with PS3s for movies, music and the like.
First off the PS3 is a total pain in the rear when it comes to this. Video format wise PS3 supports MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 (in other words crap selection). Music ain't so bad as it supports .oma .msa .aa3 .3gp .mp4 .mp3.wav (note not .WMA
) In terms of HDD format, it accepts FAT32 which is a real annoyance as most people are going to rolling with NTFS for PC uses, not to mention FAT32's files size limitations.
I couldn't really afford to format my external HDD to FAT32 as I had files in the 7GB area, so I looked for alternatives and that's when I found out about DLNA.
DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance which is kind of a useless abbreviation when it comes to telling you what it does. Essentially using DLNA you can move, copy and stream video, audio and images from your PC (and of course your external HDD) through a LAN. Now as I mentioned earlier the PS3 is quite picky in what file formats it notices, in particular movies which was primarily what I wanted to use mine for! The great thing with DLNA (providing you choose the right server software [We'll get to this later] anyway) is that it will transcode the file you want to transfer from whatever format it is currently in to whatever format the device in this case our PS3's requires! And it's super speedy too, it will transcode and copy a 700mb film in under 3 minutes, not too shabby :)
All you really need is some software, the latest PS3 firmware, a router, and a little bit of ethernet cable.
I browsed a few forums and websites trying to find the best, easiest to use software that had all the features I needed and came out with TVersity as my best choice.
Taking it from the top, it's free, which is always awesome. It does transcode which I discovered is a rare thing and it's easy to set up!.
All you need to do is download the software, select the folders you want to share, make sure your router is set up to pass UPnP data and your away. (There is a more in depth set-up page if you having issues)
Not only that TVersity has support for RSS feed downloads, the ability for you stream data from outside your LAN (providing you give it permission), helpful for people with lappys, blackberrys, iPhones etc.
It's also uses very little resources when you consider the tasks it's completing. It uses around 60mb memory and about 10% CPU (on my 2.7 Quad) usage when transcoding and copying over the network, which is damn good considering it will output 720p resolution if the source is HD.
Overall it's a really good workaround for people who want to watch films and have custom musics on their PS3s or any other device that supports DLNA.
Hope this is of some use to somebody!
First off the PS3 is a total pain in the rear when it comes to this. Video format wise PS3 supports MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 (in other words crap selection). Music ain't so bad as it supports .oma .msa .aa3 .3gp .mp4 .mp3.wav (note not .WMA
) In terms of HDD format, it accepts FAT32 which is a real annoyance as most people are going to rolling with NTFS for PC uses, not to mention FAT32's files size limitations.I couldn't really afford to format my external HDD to FAT32 as I had files in the 7GB area, so I looked for alternatives and that's when I found out about DLNA.
DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance which is kind of a useless abbreviation when it comes to telling you what it does. Essentially using DLNA you can move, copy and stream video, audio and images from your PC (and of course your external HDD) through a LAN. Now as I mentioned earlier the PS3 is quite picky in what file formats it notices, in particular movies which was primarily what I wanted to use mine for! The great thing with DLNA (providing you choose the right server software [We'll get to this later] anyway) is that it will transcode the file you want to transfer from whatever format it is currently in to whatever format the device in this case our PS3's requires! And it's super speedy too, it will transcode and copy a 700mb film in under 3 minutes, not too shabby :)
All you really need is some software, the latest PS3 firmware, a router, and a little bit of ethernet cable.
I browsed a few forums and websites trying to find the best, easiest to use software that had all the features I needed and came out with TVersity as my best choice.
Taking it from the top, it's free, which is always awesome. It does transcode which I discovered is a rare thing and it's easy to set up!.
All you need to do is download the software, select the folders you want to share, make sure your router is set up to pass UPnP data and your away. (There is a more in depth set-up page if you having issues)
Not only that TVersity has support for RSS feed downloads, the ability for you stream data from outside your LAN (providing you give it permission), helpful for people with lappys, blackberrys, iPhones etc.
It's also uses very little resources when you consider the tasks it's completing. It uses around 60mb memory and about 10% CPU (on my 2.7 Quad) usage when transcoding and copying over the network, which is damn good considering it will output 720p resolution if the source is HD.
Overall it's a really good workaround for people who want to watch films and have custom musics on their PS3s or any other device that supports DLNA.
Hope this is of some use to somebody!
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