for those of you that do this, ive got a couple of questions please….

after contributing to the threads on ‘which media streamer’, ive just plumped for the ‘PS3 plus ‘play tv” over a dedicated bluray player or roku type box. its thrown up a few questions i wouldnt mind some advice on please.

1. ive ‘paired’ my phone and laptop with the PS3 youtube app, so i can type in searches rather than use the game controller which is a faff for typing. it keeps dropping tho, especially on phone, and i have to keep pairing again. firstly, anyone else finding this too? and secondly, is there a wifi keyboard or something that i can use specifically for the PS3, or a different controller/remote thats easier to use? (for the whole player, not just youtube app)

2. if i set the play tv to record a programme, then want to watch netflix for instance, i have to ‘quit’ the play tv app first. anyone know whether that cancels the recording or whether itd still go ahead? (yes i know i could just try it out but ive only just thought of it) 🙂

3. i was told that if i plugged an external drive into the usb, loaded with media, the PS3 will pick it up in the tv/music/photos sections. it doesnt. am i doing something wrong? should it?
at present ive got logitech, plex and PS3 media servers running on laptop, and have various degrees of success with these so id prefer just having a drive plugged in.

pretty sure ive made the best choice so far with the PS3 and im sure ill have a few more questions as i delve into this, so thanks for any help you can give me.

1. No experience of problems with this, but don’t use it much.
2. It’ll record in the background.
3. FAT32 only, is your drive maybe NTFS? Also with USB sticks I have to browse to the stick on the XMB, them use Options-Display all before I see media files or folders, which has always struck me as a bit odd.

1. Yes I’ve found that it drops the connection with my phone and the useability is dodgy at best.
3. You have to put the files into folders named MUSIC/VIDEO/PICTURES because the ps3 is a bit dumb.

Did you know you you can stream all your media to your ps3 without the need for a USB stick or external HD. You just need the http://www.ps3mediaserver.org/ load it up on your pc as and it uses your wifi to stream the content. Doesn’t work for HD downloaded movies though, which is annoying, but all your music and pics, easy peesey.

@ Jekyll.
MKV2VOB to convert HD video in the Matroska Multimedia Container format.

thanks chaps.
ive already got the ps3 media server, but ive found that it kept showing ‘no files in this folder’. a google showed me the ps3 doesnt recognise anything more than 8 folders down i think it is. im using linux, and by the time its gone through the / home username music folders it doesnt leave me many more options for subdividing categories. so i thought just having a hard drive permanently connected may be better.

im in the process right now of re-loading all my files to the HD after formatting to FAT32, hopefully the ps3 will read it then. ill report back when its done 🙂

btw, anyone found a good wifi or decent remote/controller thats easier to use than the gamepad and will let me type in searches?

thanks a lot

IMO your money is better spent on a WD TV live or similar device rather than aadditional controllers to try and make the PS3 more user friendly. PS3 is pretty poor as a media client.

There’s an official clip-on Bluetooth keyboard for the controller, I’m not keen but if you’re a Blackberry user you might get on with it.

PS3 is pretty poor as a media client.

Unfortunately you’re a bit late with that advice!

PS3 is pretty poor as a media client.
Unfortunately you’re a bit late with that advice

Why? it’s quite handy for playing games so not a bad purchase.

My point was a WDTV live costs about 50 quid rather than chucking money at the PS3 in an attempt to make it better at secondary function it might be better spent on a device which does it much better fairly cheaply……..

3. You have to put the files into folders named MUSIC/VIDEO/PICTURES because the ps3 is a bit dumb.

hmmm…..ive formatted as FAT32, plugged it in and now theres ‘USB Device (M3 Portable) in the XMB. but, its not showing any pics, music or videos. just says ‘there are no tracks/images/data’ depending on whether i choose pics, music or videos.
i made sure i renamed the folders PICTURES/VIDEOS/MUSIC too.

any ideas?

Unfortunately you’re a bit late with that advice!

yeah, spose 🙂 altho i paid £100 for the PS3 with 250Gb HD and £20 for the play tv, and should easily get my money back. theres a samsung smart bluray waiting for me in the local shop for around the same money, so i may ask if i can try it out first, and just sell the PS3 if the bluray player looks a better bet.

thanks

EDIT:

Why? it’s quite handy for playing games so not a bad purchase.

i will NEVER be a gamer 😀
if something works out better for streaming smart tv, netflix and media from an external drive, id go for it. done a lot of research into this and all the other options seemed to fall short. cant remember what it was about the WDTV that put me off. might have been the UI. altho the PS3 is hardly excelling in this area :-/

IMO the WD UI isnt bad at all maybe a little clunky at times but way way better than the PS3 for sure.

Besides I use an app on my phone as a remote. Add BubbleUPNP to the mix and you have an excellent system for playing lossless audio n HD Video stored either locally or on a network plus internet content all controlled by your Smartphone or tablet.

haha, cant believe im still undecided on this now, thought i was sorted 😀

think a selling point for me with the PS3 is the ability to record tv to the play tv. altho i do have a dvd recorder with freeview that i could bring into the equation.

so, can you confirm, a WDTV will have ALL the main streaming apps of a PS3? iplayer, itv, 4OD, demand5, netflix, lovefilm, youtube?

and it has its own remote plus you can get an android app for full functionality?

AND itll stream music/pics/vids from my laptop via a media server?

thanks 🙂

EDIT: AND itll have a usb port for my external HDD and play stuff from there or a usb stick?

One folder named Video one named MUSIC etc. Sorry if that was unclear. Google works you know.

Check out bubble on your android. It will display all media shared on your network from whatever device .
You will see all your sources can select between them and also select your playback device and even switch between them mid-stream.

The WD has it’s own remote and there are atleast two android based remotes available which perform very well and nice as no.need to have a tv screen on for playing music.
It will accept streams from your laptop via Windows share, or any upnp media server like tversity, bubble etc.

Id check the WD site for all supported internet services as I don’t use those tbh.

Yes there is a USB which will do what you want. But transfer rates can be slow if you wish to copy accross files.

One folder named Video one named MUSIC etc. Sorry if that was unclear. Google works you know.

er…..thats what ive done, sorry if that was unclear 🙂

just been having a google, and the wdtv is confusing me. anyone care to give me a quick description of the different types? play, hub, live, streaming etc? and which would be most suited to me?

thanks

When I bought my “live” the other option was “live hub” hub refers to the fact it has a built in HDD.
I partnered mine with a WD mybook live NAS which is accessible from a mobile network….which is nice..

right, so hubs got a HD then. now, could i record from tv to it? or is it purely for storing media to play?

ive got a dvd recorder with freeview. if i bought a basic wdtv and brought the recorder into the setup, do you think i could record anything thats viewed on my tv? so say i watch a streamed film on netflix via the wdtv, could i record it onto HD?

thanks