Question

So I have a PS3. I have managed to configure this PS3 to be able to see all my media, but I've always felt like I'm missing something on the whole thing. I've also tried out programs that supposedly make this whole thing easier, but I've never been pleased with any of them.

So, any cool tricks I can do to get the most out of my PS3 experience?

Answer 1

Get PS3 Media Server - it's awesome! It uses the power of FFMPEG so you can stream almost any type of audio / video and it just works. You can also adjust the quality of the transcoding based on your network setup so you don't get juddery videos (oh, and it's completely free).

Answer 2

If you have a main computer that you store all your movies on I recommend Tversity to stream all them to your PS3. The free edition is enough

Answer 3

If you have a NAS, TwonkyMedia is/was excellent at streaming photos and videos to your PS3 and other devices. I say 'was' because they no longer support installation of the software onto many NASs and so it can get a little involved.

Installing Linux on the PS3 is pretty painless and it's easy to switch back and forth between Linux and the XMB. I recommend Yellow Dog Linux as it seems to use less memory than Ubuntu (important since PS3 only has 256mb main memory), supports the Logitech Bluetooth Mediaboard out of the box, and has a quick way to get back to the XMB. You may want to upgrade your PS3 hard drive if you're thinking about going down that route - 320gb is very inexpensive and easy to upgrade to.

Answer 4

I've had a fairly good experience using Nero. I actually have 2 main computers I store videos/pics/etc on that I like to access using the PS3. Nero makes it easy to access all of this. The only issue I've encountered is occasionally streaming will hang if a computer goes to sleep/hibernate. This isn't always the case but can be frustrating.