Connecting a Mac drive to a PS3

[DUCKofD3ATH]

I've been using Nullriver's MediaLink to stream video from Mac to PS3, and it works pretty well.

The main problem is that max FF/RW rates are only 1.5X. So if I'm halfway through a movie and accidentally hit stop, it takes a half hour to FF to where it had stopped.

The other problem is that MediaLink eats up a lot of bandwidth so the Internet slows on the Mac if a movie is being streamed.

What I'd like to do is use a backup drive that has my movie library on it (about 1000 vids) as an external drive for the PS3.

I assume the PS3 can read the M4V format because MediaLink streams them without transcoding, but will it be able to read the long movie titles on the drive?

Finally, I need to be able to hook the drive back to the Mac if there are new movies to add to it. I'd use Carbon Copy Cloner to make the update.

Has anyone used this setup?

 

[old-wiz]

the question is not whether the PS3 can read the M4V, but whether the PS3 can read the file system format, typically HFS, used on the Mac.

 

[Weaselboy]

For the PS3 to be able to read the external drive the drive will need to be formatted in FAT32, which you can do in OS X Disk Utility. OS X can also read/write FAT32 disks, so you should be in good shape there.

The only issue you may have is FAT32 cannot handle a single file larger than 4GB, so if any single movie file is larger than that it will not work.

 

[Julien]

...The only issue you may have is FAT32 cannot handle a single file larger than 4GB, so if any single movie file is larger than that it will not work.

What about using ExFat?

 

[Weaselboy]

What about using ExFat?

ExFAT would overcome the 4GB file size issue, but unfortunately ExFAT is not readable by the PS3.

 

[DUCKofD3ATH]

For the PS3 to be able to read the external drive the drive will need to be formatted in FAT32, which you can do in OS X Disk Utility. OS X can also read/write FAT32 disks, so you should be in good shape there.

The only issue you may have is FAT32 cannot handle a single file larger than 4GB, so if any single movie file is larger than that it will not work.

I've read about the FAT32 formatting, but it's good to have it confirmed by a Mac guy. I'm not a big fan of BluRay, so my vids are all about 1.5 GB each. Will the PS3 read long Mac filenames with spaces and such?

One more question. I know that the drive directories have to follow the structure PHOTO, MUSIC, and VIDEO, can you tell me if the PS3 will read subdirectories such as movie genres (ACTION, SCI-FI, etc.) added to the VIDEO directory?

 

[AcesHigh87]

I've read about the FAT32 formatting, but it's good to have it confirmed by a Mac guy. I'm not a big fan of BluRay, so my vids are all about 1.5 GB each. Will the PS3 read long Mac filenames with spaces and such?

One more question. I know that the drive directories have to follow the structure PHOTO, MUSIC, and VIDEO, can you tell me if the PS3 will read subdirectories such as movie genres (ACTION, SCI-FI, etc.) added to the VIDEO directory?

I'm not 100% on the file names but I believe it can read just about anything.

As far as the format goes, I have a bit of a trick for video files that makes it easier. Rather than formatting in specific folders for the PS3 jut display all files. On the PS3 when you go over the drive you want press triangle and select "Display All" (I don't recall if that's the exact wording but it's close). This will display files it can't play as well but saves a lot of formatting time. Plus you get all the sub-genres you want.

With that said, again not 100%, I BELIEVE it can read sub-folders once you have the basic folder structure down but I'm not sure since I never really bother.

 

[DUCKofD3ATH]

I'm not 100% on the file names but I believe it can read just about anything.

As far as the format goes, I have a bit of a trick for video files that makes it easier. Rather than formatting in specific folders for the PS3 jut display all files. On the PS3 when you go over the drive you want press triangle and select "Display All" (I don't recall if that's the exact wording but it's close). This will display files it can't play as well but saves a lot of formatting time. Plus you get all the sub-genres you want.

With that said, again not 100%, I BELIEVE it can read sub-folders once you have the basic folder structure down but I'm not sure since I never really bother.

So just create the genre subdirectories in VIDEO and then access them by clicking the triangle on the remote?

That sounds too easy...

Thanks for the assist.

 

[AcesHigh87]

So just create the genre subdirectories in VIDEO and then access them by clicking the triangle on the remote?

That sounds too easy...

Thanks for the assist.

They could be on the root of the drive and it wouldn't matter. The PS3 will only natively DISPLAY things within it's folder structure. It can read that the files are there it just doesn't like displaying things that don't agree with it's structure. By displaying all you force it to ignore that rule. I never bother with the PS3 folder structure anymore, I just put things in folders how I want and then display everything that's in them.