Video to PS3 question?

[BigRig]

Hello, and thanks in advance for any advice or guidance.

Basically I have an external HD full of video files, mainly .mkv, .avi and .m4v

I have tried connecting it to my ps3 to view the files on my TV but to luck. The ps3 seems to not read the HD. I have enabled media servers under network and labeled the folder on my external HD to Video, but it doesn't show up.

Anyone know how to make this work?

Thanks!

 

[boch82]

your hard drive is not a media server. It is storage.

You need to connect the drive into your home network as a shared drive then you can access it from the PS3

 

[dvince2]

your hard drive is not a media server. It is storage.

You need to connect the drive into your home network as a shared drive then you can access it from the PS3

This is incorrect, as I presently have a hard drive with media on it attached directly to my PS3.


The PS3 won't be able to play the mkvs, but the rest should be fine.
Is the hard drive formatted as FAT32? The only other requirement the PS3 has is to have the videos in a folder called "VIDEO" which you said you've done.

 

[JasonA]

Is the hard drive formatted as FAT32? The only other requirement the PS3 has is to have the videos in a folder called "VIDEO" which you said you've done.

This. Also note that FAT32 has a file size limit of 4 GB, so if any of your videos is larger than 4 GB, you'll have to either burn to a data disc (DVD or Blu-ray), or stream the files from your computer over the network to PS3.

 

[BigRig]

Alright, but will that force me to erase the HD before formatting it in Disk Utilities? Also, would it be the MS-Dos?

Thank you, this has helped A LOT... I was getting cranky not being able to do this

 

[JasonA]

Yes and yes.

 

[BigRig]

Thanks! Works like a charm =) I knew it could be done, but nothing I googled helped... Thanks again....

 

[Mike P.]

Have you heard of PS3 Media Server?

I used to use MKV2VOB to convert mkv video for PS3 playback, but certain movies have an encoding that wouldn't let me convert. So I eventually came across the media server and it lets me stream my media (video,photo,music) from the server application on my desktop. Kinda like Windows Media Server or whatever its called on the PS3, but with more features and transcoders (including mkv).

And with the server, theres no need to label you folders VIDEO or MUSIC to be read. You just have to make sure that you are in the correct XMB section (i.e Video, Photo) the corresponds to the media you want to play.

Thats just my 2 cents on watching video on a PS3.

 

[JasonA]

MediaLink also works well for this.