PS3 General Discussion

[Digital-Nitrate]

So pissed off right now... I have a video file which is AVI Mpeg 4 which should play on the PS3, it doesnt! So now I have to PS3 Video 9 it to Mpeg 4 on its own for it to play and its going to take like 2 hours! add file size and probably degrade quality

When Sony say DIVX/XVID support and AVI support it should mean every codec under the sun... the thing is still so hit and miss. Where is the VLC level of codec support!

Heres what gspot said about the file... why doesnt it play!!! It plays fine in WMP.

It's a mystery sometimes.
I have backed up 2 of my dvds to an external HDD last week.
Both use the same audi and video codec, but only 1 works on the PS3.
The other one gives only a black image, but with working sound.
The video plays fine on my laptop, but not on the ps3

This might help explain...

• Depending on the data type, some files may not be playable or some control panel options may not function during playback.
• Some video files distributed over the Internet have playback restrictions. For details, contact the content provider.
• When using a USB adaptor to play video files, you may need to use a USB adaptor (not included) that supports copyright-protection features (to play copyright-protected files). When using a USB adaptor to play AVCHD-format video files saved on Memory Stick media, use a device that supports Hi-Speed USB (USB 2.0).
• If your video files are copy protected, they may not play on the PLAYSTATION 3 system.

(source)

DivX video files that are copy protected or encoded using DivX 3.11 are not playable on the PS3. [48] Certain DivX and XviD Files have been known to not play on the PS3, even though they are recognised correctly, however deleting the first few black frames from the file with a program such as Nandub can rectify this problem.

(source)


Basically, having the correct audio and video codec is not the only thing that determines playability. Many audio and video files have hidden copy protection codes which would explain why a file can be played on one type of player and not another.

 

[Robin]

Well I guess its still truely hit and miss then even if the file is correct! Oh well it works now after I video 9'ed it but thats it pain to do... thanks for the replies.

Robin.

 

[FoolKiller]

It's a mystery sometimes.
I have backed up 2 of my dvds to an external HDD last week.
Both use the same audi and video codec, but only 1 works on the PS3.
The other one gives only a black image, but with working sound.
The video plays fine on my laptop, but not on the ps3

D-N's information may help, but I am guessing that as you are "backing up" your own DVDs that it may not be copy protection, unless the copy protection somehow transferred over to your backup file (in which case your DVD ripper is odd). I would first try the Nandub option D-N lists.

Then there is just the case that sometimes when compressing a file something may not compress correctly. I've had files that suddenly can't be read and by redoing the conversion it then works fine. Sometimes all it takes is one misplaced 1 or 0 to mess something up.


And while I know it is convenient, how hard would it be to play the DVD in your PS3? I can think of three reasons to do it your way: 1) Convenience 2) A digital file won't prevent background downloads or take you off the PSN 3) Not actually a legitimate backup. I'm just asking. Feel free not to answer if it would be an AUP violation to do so.

The only DVDs I have ripped for the sole purpose of having a seperate digital copy is for use on my PSP. I took ten movies with me when I went to Hawaii, all on two Memory Sticks.

Aaaggghhh! So tempting!

Now, my main issue will be getting SingStar Country, as that is what my wife really wants. It's like I am buying torture for myself.

Oh well, with Gamefly I should be able to get the two for the price of SingStar by itself.

 

[Robin]

It's like I am buying torture for myself.

👍

 

[DustDriver]

And while I know it is convenient, how hard would it be to play the DVD in your PS3? I can think of three reasons to do it your way: 1) Convenience 2) A digital file won't prevent background downloads or take you off the PSN 3) Not actually a legitimate backup. I'm just asking. Feel free not to answer if it would be an AUP violation to do so.

The only DVDs I have ripped for the sole purpose of having a seperate digital copy is for use on my PSP. I took ten movies with me when I went to Hawaii, all on two Memory Sticks.

I backup my dvds to an external hard disc connected to my laptop. These aren't the only movies on there, but talking about that would be against the AUP.
TVersity takes care of feeding the movies to my ps3, and other computers on the network.
I will also take the hdd on my work placement abroad, for 3 months.
Much easier than to haul 30 dvds with me on the airplane.

An added bonus is that I don't need room to store the dvd's in my room.
And switching to a game and back is also easier, since you don't have to switch discs all the time.


@D-N:
The files have been encoded with the same program and with the same settings.
That 1 file turned out to be protected and the other not would be extremely weird.
Something tiny must have gone wrong during the encoding like Foolkiller said.

 

[Sturdy]

I backup my dvds to an external hard disc connected to my laptop. These aren't the only movies on there, but talking about that would be against the AUP.
TVersity takes care of feeding the movies to my ps3, and other computers on the network.

Similar set-up here, I've got my DVDs ripped onto my PC, and TVersity lets me watch them on the PS3.

My reasons are:
So that the DVDs don't get damaged through use (minor reason, but nice)
Can just keep the DVDs tidied away somewhere
Don't have to swap discs around (if only all games could be installed to the hard disk completely )

 

[FoolKiller]

I backup my dvds to an external hard disc connected to my laptop. These aren't the only movies on there, but talking about that would be against the AUP.
TVersity takes care of feeding the movies to my ps3, and other computers on the network.
I will also take the hdd on my work placement abroad, for 3 months.
Much easier than to haul 30 dvds with me on the airplane.

An added bonus is that I don't need room to store the dvd's in my room.
And switching to a game and back is also easier, since you don't have to switch discs all the time.

Similar set-up here, I've got my DVDs ripped onto my PC, and TVersity lets me watch them on the PS3.

My reasons are:
So that the DVDs don't get damaged through use (minor reason, but nice)
Can just keep the DVDs tidied away somewhere
Don't have to swap discs around (if only all games could be installed to the hard disk completely )

Consider me and my love of physical media put in my place.

Outside of portability I have just never thought it would be worth my time.

But I also have a wall-sized DVD case that I attempt to keep alphabetized OCD style. My wife and I have had a few run-ins regarding proper placement of movies. She doesn't put one in its place, I complain, she tells me to quit being so anal, and I tell her that if she keeps it up I will switch to the Dewey Decimal System so that she can never find what she is looking for. It just goes downhill from there.


Anyway, has anyone tried using PlayOn yet for streaming Hulu and Netflix on to the PS3? I'm thinking of loading up the trial version this weekend.

 

[Picc84]

FoolKiller, on average... How long does it take you to write a post? Jesus I have never EVER seen a post of your's less then like, a paragraph or two

 

[FoolKiller]

FoolKiller, on average... How long does it take you to write a post? Jesus I have never EVER seen a post of your's less then like, a paragraph or two

I type fast, and talk a lot.

 

[Sturdy]

Consider me and my love of physical media put in my place.

Outside of portability I have just never thought it would be worth my time.

But I also have a wall-sized DVD case that I attempt to keep alphabetized OCD style.

Massive alphabetized collections have their place too, I just prefer mine virtual 👍

 

[TB]

Anyway, has anyone tried using PlayOn yet for streaming Hulu and Netflix on to the PS3?

You can watch Hulu on the PS3 without streaming from the PC already.

Netflix I'm not so sure about.

 

[DustDriver]

Consider me and my love of physical media put in my place.
Outside of portability I have just never thought it would be worth my time.
But I also have a wall-sized DVD case that I attempt to keep alphabetized OCD style. My wife and I have had a few run-ins regarding proper placement of movies. She doesn't put one in its place, I complain, she tells me to quit being so anal, and I tell her that if she keeps it up I will switch to the Dewey Decimal System so that she can never find what she is looking for. It just goes downhill from there.
Anyway, has anyone tried using PlayOn yet for streaming Hulu and Netflix on to the PS3? I'm thinking of loading up the trial version this weekend.

I like to have the physical media too, but I'm a bit sloppy when it comes to discs.
I therefore try to keep them inside their box in 1 place
Games are stored in my desk, dvds downstairs.
And I believe Hulu is for US citizens only, as is mcgyver on youtube.

 

[FoolKiller]

You can watch Hulu on the PS3 without streaming from the PC already.

Netflix I'm not so sure about.

Hulu doesn't like my connection speed with my PS3. It runs just a smidge slower than my PC and it seems to be the breaking point.

Netflix requires Media Player or Windows, I can't remember which, unless you have the 360's new setup.

 

[TB]

Hulu doesn't like my connection speed with my PS3. It runs just a smidge slower than my PC and it seems to be the breaking point.

I have a 7 meg DSL and Hulu doesn't like my laptop or PS3. If I pause it for a few minutes it builds up enough of a buffer that it isn't an issue. I've run speedtest on both and the PS3 is just as fast as my laptop but web pages are slower to load, which might have something to do with it.

Don't even get me started on their 480P setting... If I can watch streaming HD from ABC's website, I can surely handle 480P from Hulu.

 

[FoolKiller]

I have a 7 meg DSL and Hulu doesn't like my laptop or PS3. If I pause it for a few minutes it builds up enough of a buffer that it isn't an issue. I've run speedtest on both and the PS3 is just as fast as my laptop but web pages are slower to load, which might have something to do with it.

I don't even get a buffer issue. I get an error telling me to check my Internet connection. I go to any other Web site and it works fine. I load up Hulu on my PC and it works fine, which tells me PlayOn may be an option.

I have 1mb down, 128kb up, so a smidge is a large percentage difference for me.

Don't even get me started on their 480P setting... If I can watch streaming HD from ABC's website, I can surely handle 480P from Hulu.

The thing that is killing me with Hulu is that no other video service I tried that is compatible with the PS3 browser gives me trouble.

But mainly having Netflix streaming to my TV, without buying a $300 Xbox (I want a hard drive) makes PlayOn a great option.

 

[Delirious]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16822145228,N82E16822116160,N82E16822148336 Which of these 4 HDD's would you guys recommend me for my PS3?

 

[Eric.]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16822145228,N82E16822116160,N82E16822148336 Which of these 4 HDD's would you guys recommend me for my PS3?

Seagate.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...2E16822145228,N82E16822116160,N82E16822148336 Which of these 4 HDD's would you guys recommend me for my PS3?

Both times that I upgraded my PS3's HDD to larger drives I got Western Digital Scorpio drives 160GB last year, and 320GB back in June. When I switched to the 320GB I used my previous 160GB drive to upgrade my parent's PS3. Both drives have been working flawlessly.

• Western Digital WDH1U5000N My Book Essential 2.0 500GB USB 2.0 HD
  • $100 w/Free Shipping from NewEgg.com
  
  
• Western Digital WD3200BEVT Scorpio 320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s HDD
  • $130 w/Free Shipping from NewEgg.com

The 500GB is for the PS3 (music, photos, and videos) and file sharing on our home network... as a nice bonus the finish on the case is nearly identical to that of the PS3... and it even has a blue light as well.

The 320GB internal drive is to replace the current 160GB drive in my PS3. I didn't expect to need a larger drive, but I have well over a hundred games and demos that have already filled the drive, and you'd be amazed how quickly you can eat up space on a hard drive with high bit rate 1080p video.

Yes it's possible, although it's debatable whether or not you would see any significant difference between a 7200rpm laptop drive w/16MB cache and a 5400rpm laptop drive w/8MB cache... especially for use with a PS3.

I personally just replaced my PS3's HDD from the Western Digital WD1600BEVS Scorpio 160GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 1.5Gb/s HDD that I bought last October for only $90 from newegg.com with a Western Digital WD3200BEVT Scorpio 320GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s HDD which I was able to find for only $130 w/Free Shipping from NewEgg.com - as expected, it has performed splendidly. 👍


BTW: There are threads that cover this topic, that you may want to check out and post there for more info on what hard drives people are using and recommending to use with their PS3's:

• Need help choosing the right HDD
  
  
• Guides, Suggestions, & Tips on Installing & Using 3rd Party Hardware & OS for the PS3
  
  
• PS3+160GB+Yellow Dog Linux 5.0 (56k warning!!! Pics Inside)
  
  
• List of Compatible/Incompatible Accessories

 

[Delirious]

One other quick question say I want to delete some games (to free up HDD space) I downloaded from the PS store that I won't be playing for a while (e.g. bowling, pain, gripshift) will I be able to download them later at another time?

 

[Robin]

One other quick question say I want to delete some games (to free up HDD space) I downloaded from the PS store that I won't be playing for a while (e.g. bowling, pain, gripshift) will I be able to download them later at another time?

Yes you should be able to redownload them with no problems. Provided Sony dont delete them from the store (but they aint going to do that!).

If you need extra space you could consider buying an external to store all you unrelated PS3 media such as videos and music and only use the internal HDD for PSN games.

Robin.

 

[Digital-Nitrate]

Yes you should be able to redownload them with no problems. Provided Sony dont delete them from the store (but they aint going to do that!).

Even if they remove items from the store... which so far the only items that have been removed that I am aware of are old videos and a small handful of game demos. However, even then, as long as you have already downloaded it, even when a demo get's removed, you can often still find it in your Download List from the PSN store you originally downloaded it from. From that list you can select it and download it again. 👍

If you need extra space you could consider buying an external to store all you unrelated PS3 media such as videos and music and only use the internal HDD for PSN games.

We use all three methods of content storage for the PS3.

• Internal HDD
• External USB Drive
• DLNA Media Sharing

Each one of these has its own set of advantages and disadvantages.

Internally you can organize and sort the content much, much better than an external USB drive. You can also reorganize and rename files internally, where as you'll have to connect the external drive to a PC to do that. It also supports thumbnails for folders and preview thumbnails for videos, which an external drive connect to the PS3 wont.

However, any media you have on the internal drive can not be shared with other computers on your network. So one of the advantages of using an external drive is that you can easily unplug it and plug it into any computer or media device with a USB port.

The advantage of DLNA media sharing is that you don't need more drives, but depending on your computer and how your network is set up it may be slow and cause some video playback to suffer from macroblocking and stutter. Also if you take your PS3 on the road, you wont have access to any of that media.

It is for these reasons we use all three methods depending specifically on the type of data.

That said, our most commonly used system of media storage are the external hard drives. They are so cheap these days, easy to take along with us on trips, and can be connected to so many different devices. 👍

As such, we now have dedicated drives, one for music, another for family photos and home movies, another for movies, documentaries, TV shows, and Misc videos.

 

[GT4 genius]

Conveniently you are all talking about this topic so I thought I'd ask now. I seen this external HDD and was wondering if this would work with the PS3 and my XP laptop, I know it will for the laptop and I could do the file sharing thing with my modem and laptop then, but it would be handier if I could get this to work with the PS3 as well.

Hope this hasn't been answered already, I looked through the posts and didn't find an answer. I read something about formating to FAT32 or something, if I done that would it work still work with the laptop then?

Thanks.

Opps, actually forgot to post the link, here it is;
http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/6756224/c_1/1|cat_10391721|Hard+drives+and+data+storage|10391828/Trail/searchtext>HARD+DRIVES.htm

 

[TB]

I have an external HD that works with both my laptop and PS3. If that's what you're asking, I'd be happy to expand on that.

 

[Moglet]

Can anyone tell me if there's a way of turning off the double beep that plays into my ear whenever I have the mic muted on the official BlueTooth headset? I've no idea who thought that was a smart move but it's ridiculously annoying.

 

[GT4 genius]

I have an external HD that works with both my laptop and PS3. If that's what you're asking, I'd be happy to expand on that.

What format is it, or what does it say its compatible with. To be honest I'm not sure what I should be asking because this area is new to me, I thought it was as easy as plug and play but apparently they're all formated differently and some arent as good as others etc. What I'm looking for is a 500 to 1000 Gb external hard drive that will work with my laptop and PS3 and preferably under €100, but its not easy trying to figure out if the things I'm looking at actually fit that or not.

 

[nick09]

Find a FAT32 formatted external hard drive.

 

[TB]

What format is it, or what does it say its compatible with. To be honest I'm not sure what I should be asking because this area is new to me, I thought it was as easy as plug and play but apparently they're all formated differently and some arent as good as others etc. What I'm looking for is a 500 to 1000 Gb external hard drive that will work with my laptop and PS3 and preferably under €100, but its not easy trying to figure out if the things I'm looking at actually fit that or not.

Finding a FAT32 drive isn't really an issue since you can reformat it yourself. Also, if you do what I did, you'll have to reformat it anyway. I have a 500Gb drive with 3 partitions - 8Gb FAT32 (named Little FAT ), 228Gb FAT32 (Big FAT) and a 228Gb NTFS so I can have files larger than 4Gb on the drive. If you don't already know how, Swissknife worked well to create the partitions and there is a pdf included with instructions. I didn't do it, but I think you can partition the drive with windows, too.

Also, for the Big FAT partition, I have four folders set up for the PS3 to recognize - Game, Music, Picture and Video. I'm sure you can guess what goes in them.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

 

[GT4 genius]

Finding a FAT32 drive isn't really an issue since you can reformat it yourself. Also, if you do what I did, you'll have to reformat it anyway. I have a 500Gb drive with 3 partitions - 8Gb FAT32 (named Little FAT ), 228Gb FAT32 (Big FAT) and a 228Gb NTFS so I can have files larger than 4Gb on the drive. If you don't already know how, Swissknife worked well to create the partitions and there is a pdf included with instructions. I didn't do it, but I think you can partition the drive with windows, too.

Also, for the Big FAT partition, I have four folders set up for the PS3 to recognize - Game, Music, Picture and Video. I'm sure you can guess what goes in them.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks, so just find the biggest and cheapest and format it afterwards. 👍

 

[TB]

Thanks, so just find the biggest and cheapest and format it afterwards. 👍

About the only thing you need to look for is that it uses, at a minimum, USB and not only FireWire or eSATA.

Other than that, you're correct - big is better and bigger is best.

 

[Jeremy Ricci]

God of War 3 looks amazing.