# PS3 as a media player?



## ChrisFilter (Dec 28, 2009)

What's the PS3 like as a media player? Ideally I'd like a box that'll stream divx, xvid, h264 and mkv files from my PC wirelessly. Would the PS3 do this?

Can you get a remote so my Mrs doesn't have to use the controller? She has an aversion to controllers.

How easy is it to get it to boot into media player mode?


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## stupid kid (Dec 28, 2009)

A PS3 can definitely do that (assuming you choose a model with wifi, which includes the new slim one). I use a program called tversity to do it over a lan, seems pretty clever because if the file is in a format the PS3 won't recognise then it'll re-encode it on the PC before sending. I mostly use my PS3 as a games machine though, I'm not sure about it's compatibility with various codecs. 

It's not really a case of booting it into media player mode as such, you just set the start up options so it doesn't load a game by default, then scroll to your pics, vids or music.


ETA: 


> http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/video/filetypes.html
> 
> The following types of files can be played under  (Video).
> 
> ...


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## yield (Dec 28, 2009)

ChrisFilter said:


> What's the PS3 like as a media player? Ideally I'd like a box that'll stream divx, xvid, h264 and mkv files from my PC wirelessly. Would the PS3 do this?



As stupid kid posted, all of those formats apart from mkv.



ChrisFilter said:


> Can you get a remote so my Mrs doesn't have to use the controller? She has an aversion to controllers.?



Official Sony Blu-ray Remote Control for PS3



ChrisFilter said:


> How easy is it to get it to boot into media player mode?



Boot? Just go to media server.


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## stupid dogbot (Dec 28, 2009)

http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/


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## Jambooboo (Dec 28, 2009)

I've not tried it thus far, but incidentally if I stream mkvs more than 720p across the computers on my network, they stutter. And it's not the individual computers, as they play 1080p files from their own harddrive/DVD drive while barely touching the cpu. For reference, am using the standard Speedtouch router you get with Be, while each network card is at least 54Mbs.


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## spacemonkey (Dec 28, 2009)

This is a good alternative to the PS3.

Western Digital Media Player 2


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## ChrisFilter (Dec 28, 2009)

spacemonkey said:


> This is a good alternative to the PS3.
> 
> Western Digital Media Player 2



No wifi. A common flaw!


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## stupid dogbot (Dec 28, 2009)

Jambooboo said:


> I've not tried it thus far, but incidentally if I stream mkvs more than 720p across the computers on my network, they stutter. And it's not the individual computers, as they play 1080p files from their own harddrive/DVD drive while barely touching the cpu. For reference, am using the standard Speedtouch router you get with Be, while each network card is at least 54Mbs.



Wireless? Bear in mind the 54Mbs is the theoretical maximum of the combined network, not the constant speed you can expect... iirc, 720p over wifi should be ok as long as you're not transcoding it first, in which case... stutter... go cabled...


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## pengaleng (Dec 28, 2009)

We got our ps3 set up as a media server, it's well good.


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## hendo (Dec 28, 2009)

ChrisFilter said:


> What's the PS3 like as a media player? Ideally I'd like a box that'll stream divx, xvid, h264 and mkv files from my PC wirelessly. Would the PS3 do this?
> 
> Can you get a remote so my Mrs doesn't have to use the controller? She has an aversion to controllers.
> 
> How easy is it to get it to boot into media player mode?



It works very well; I'm not technically astute but I managed to get Vista to share media with it pretty flawlessly.


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## kyser_soze (Jan 6, 2010)

Chris, if you're serious about streaming HD you need to use a hardline, not wireless. My setup:

PS3 Media Server, as linked to above, running in Vista
These

PS3MS has a loads of transcoders, so will run weird-ass file formats, and I've not had any stutter when running 1080p mkvs with _lots_ of screen detail. Having said that, given the paucity and generally shite quality of BRD rips available...

It's fucking brilliant, quite frankly.


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