I finally treated myself to some quality couch-potato technology (a PS3) with the justification that I could use it as an HD media source for films, music, etc. The wife has believed this (despite my Amazon recommended list being full of FPS titles and indie games) and so I am now on the look out for a decent, quiet HD-based NAS that I can just leave on my home network to serve films.

I have read that Plex for the Mac can do this, but even with the server running on my MacBook, the PS3 does not find it. I might be able to tweak the firewall on the laptop a bit to let the PS3 in (if that is the issue), but a better solution may be another server so that my wife can watch films when I’m away with the laptop.

What are people using with their PS3s to do the media streaming thing? Any recommendations?

HP Microserver is great value and more flexible than traditional NAS’s

http://www.serversplus.com/servers/server_bundles

You can install Linux, Windows or FreeNAS on it.

I’ve tried a couple of NAS drives as media servers with a PS3:

Buffalo mini linkstation: Worked pretty well. PS3 found it no problem, but streaming can be a little jerky, especially with higher bitrate audio channels. (Be careful the wife doesn’t put a towel on top of it though, causing it to overheat and corrupt the disks and so losing everything!)

GoFlex Home: works well as a backup drive, sh*te as a media server. Takes ages to re-index new files, and doesn’t automatically add them to the public share so the PS3 doesn’t see new files. Once they appear though the streaming seems to be much better than the buffalo linkstation.

To be honest the DNLA server software on NAS drives is pretty sketchy so if it’s an option you’ll proably be better off with a separate server running something like XBMC. Also there is PS3 Media Server which is a free media server dedicated for use with the PS3. I’m planning on cutting the PS3 out of the loop cos it’s too noisy and going to try using a raspberry pi running raspbmc or an older ATV box if I can get hold of one.

HP Microserver here (running WHS). Excellent system for the price, particularly if you can get in on the £100 cashback that was/is running.

Hmmm. The HP looks good, but I’m not sure how my wife would react to another box in my office. Her big problem with the last one was noise (office is below our bedroom) and unless it is pretty much silent, I can see her getting annoyed.

A Zyxel NSA210 has magically appeared on my desk from a bloke at work. Has anyone used one of these?

I got a 4TB QNAP TS-212 from an ebay store for a decent price (can’t remember exactly how much but it was cheaper than anywhere else).

It works fine with the PS3, no issues at all. Just turned it on, plugged it in and the PS3 recognised it.

I’ve had a buffalo link station live right up till its log in corrupted just bought a pair of these
http://www.cclonline.com/product/75921/N5/Network-Storage-Enclosures/Noontec-N5-3-5-Gigabit-NAS-Enclosure/AVD0424/
Does the DNla will find out just how well it works shortly.

ReadyNAS Duo user here, it’s pretty good, but I would now go for HP Microserver or Zyxel or make my own with a Raspberry Pi.

I use a PC running a variety of media server programs including :
Tversity
Twonky
PS3 Media Server
Logitec Media Server
White Bear
Plex (i thought was shit)

Not sure if all these are available for Mac tho ?
Not had any Probs with the PS finding any of them except maybe a couple of firewall issues years ago .

The main issue is that basically the PS3 isn’t a very good streamer IME its menu system is clunky and takes ages to navigate through a large library , it is noisy too.
But the main issue I have is its file type type support is very limited and because of this you may find (dependent on what files you want to play) That you won’t be able to play all your films or music direct from a NAS and like me need a Computer with media Server to transcode files like Flac ,MKV etc on the fly .
I’ve decided to ditch the PS3 as a streamer and use A WDTV live which is a player/Nas combo .

I’ve got a Synology DS212j, which has been great. Works with my XBox fine ,and my DLNA TV and WD Live box. Be aware that DLNA only supports limited video files though, doesn’t like my .mkv files, plays .avi fine. If you want to play most file types, then you will need something like my Western Digital WD Live box.

try serviio, never had a ps3 but work great with my sony blu ray player and hp microserver running ubuntu server