HDD straight to PS3

[Dolby]

So my brother comes to me and says he wants to plug his 1TB HDD straight into the PS3 with movies etc.

I take it home, format to FAT32 using fat32conerter.exe and copy all the movies. Everything looked great and he took the HDD home to plug in.

The PS3 does recognise it, and he get's through to C:\Movies\A-D\ etc - but he says he can't see much else. It says 'no titles'. Is there another limit or something that needs to be done?

I've stored them as C:\Movies\A-D\Accidental Husband\Accidental.avi

 

[RPG_Fan]

You need to activate the option show all files

 

[@udiS3]

You need to activate the option show all files

Use the triangle button to get to the menu to 'list all files'...

 

[gifs]

The PS3 looks for a specific folder structure to recognise videos etc. (but you also opt to show all files as some others have said)

This links explains the structure quite well:
http://ps3explained.com/advanced/folder-structure/

Note the the folder names must be in capital letters.

 

[Dolby]

THanks guys - I'll check it out when I'm home.

What are the limitation of connecting directly, as opposted to streaming through a server? I understand it won't transcode formats - so that's .vob and .mkv out?

 

[Fudzy]

THanks guys - I'll check it out when I'm home.

What are the limitation of connecting directly, as opposted to streaming through a server? I understand it won't transcode formats - so that's .vob and .mkv out?

I think it reads vobs directly, just not mkvs.

 

[RPG_Fan]

THanks guys - I'll check it out when I'm home.

What are the limitation of connecting directly, as opposted to streaming through a server? I understand it won't transcode formats - so that's .vob and .mkv out?

Besides certain unsupported formats by the PS3, nothing much. I did get some files that streamed causing the video and audio to be out of sync. Then I played it directly on the PS3 and it was fine.

 

[cr@zydude]

So my brother comes to me and says he wants to plug his 1TB HDD straight into the PS3 with movies etc.

I take it home, format to FAT32 using fat32conerter.exe and copy all the movies. Everything looked great and he took the HDD home to plug in.

The PS3 does recognise it, and he get's through to C:\Movies\A-D\ etc - but he says he can't see much else. It says 'no titles'. Is there another limit or something that needs to be done?

I've stored them as C:\Movies\A-D\Accidental Husband\Accidental.avi

The HDD is 2.5", not 3.5" right? Sorry if you already knew that a PS3 takes 2.5", but some people don't realise this. Otherwise, what the other guys said should work.

 

[Dolby]

I'm gonna try everything later - but surely when it comes to an external drive, it makes no difference?

 

[sn3rd]

I'm gonna try everything later - but surely when it comes to an external drive, it makes no difference?

I think he means if you were going to put the hard drive INTO the PS3... In that case, it (obviously) needs to be 2.5" (since that's what the PS3 takes).

 

[I am Penguin]

fat32conerter.exe

 

[I am Penguin]

I think he means if you were going to put the hard drive INTO the PS3... In that case, it (obviously) needs to be 2.5" (since that's what the PS3 takes).

Nope, bypass streaming as I would understand it?

 

[Dolby]

I mean plug the HDD in via the USB - seems to be the directory structure. It's kinf of simple :/

Have they changed it at all? Can you subfolders?

 

[sn3rd]

Nope, bypass streaming as I would understand it?

Streaming?? That's completely unrelated to what I was saying

 

[I am Penguin]

Streaming?? That's completely unrelated to what I was saying

Yeah I know, that was because you did not understand his meaning. He wants to plug the drive containing videos straight in the PS3 for viewing, that can be done either via a external USB drive, a large USB stick or then as you thought, upgrading the internal drive. I realised he wanted to do the first choce as apposed to streaming the videos to the PS3 as most PS3 owners do.

The downside is he loses transcoding of MKV files and TS files as "PS3 media server" would do. A better solution depending on requirements would be to use a ethernet wired link to a PC with "PS3 media server" streaming the videos to the PS3 automatically transcoding the unfamiliar codecs the PS3 can not natively decode. Or as in the OP's case he would have to transcode the videos in a codec the PS3 decodes natively before putting it on the hard drive.

 

[I am Penguin]

I mean plug the HDD in via the USB - seems to be the directory structure. It's kinf of simple :/

Have they changed it at all? Can you subfolders?

You can use sub folders and then use triangle when folder for drive is selected on the PS3 then select "show all" to browse the subfolders

For FAT32 formating I use "HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool"

Some reading here:
You will need to download a program such as Swissknife (Download from here). This is a free download and can format your massive external hard drive in the FAT32 file system.

When you have formatted your external drive you will need to create 4 folders so that the PS3 can recognise where you put your files.

Name these four folders:

Photo
Video
Music
Game

You can then fill these folders with your pictures, videos and music – make sure you put the files in the right folder and then after you have disconnected the drive from your PC it’s time to hook it up to your PS3.

how-to-add-an-external-usb-hard-drive-to-the-ps3


Convert .MKV to USB AVCHD for PlayStation 3 using mkv2vob

convert-mkv-files-to-blu-ray-or-avchd-for-playstation-3-using-tsmuxer

create-avchd-discs-with-subtitles-using-tsmuxer


SmartLabs tsMuxeR


mkv2vob.exe download

 

[Dolby]

Thanks IAP - definately the directory structure.

So, in a nutshell, the PS3 is a limited 'media center' which only works correctly if certain criteria are met?

*stir*

I've no such issues on my dedicated media player ...

 

[sn3rd]

Yeah I know, that was because you did not understand his meaning. He wants to plug the drive containing videos straight in the PS3 for viewing, that can be done either via a external USB drive, a large USB stick or then as you thought, upgrading the internal drive. I realised he wanted to do the first choce as apposed to streaming the videos to the PS3 as most PS3 owners do.

The downside is he loses transcoding of MKV files and TS files as "PS3 media server" would do. A better solution depending on requirements would be to use a ethernet wired link to a PC with "PS3 media server" streaming the videos to the PS3 automatically transcoding the unfamiliar codecs the PS3 can not natively decode. Or as in the OP's case he would have to transcode the videos in a codec the PS3 decodes natively before putting it on the hard drive.

That's still not what I was saying. I was replying to Dolby's confusion about cr@zydude's comment. I understood Dolby from the beginning.

This is getting off topic.

 

[I am Penguin]

Thanks IAP - definately the directory structure.

So, in a nutshell, the PS3 is a limited 'media center' which only works correctly if certain criteria are met?

*stir*

I've no such issues on my dedicated media player ...

Nope, My media center works perfectly with "PS3 media server". Then if you read the posts you will see that if you use the green triangle and select "show all" when on the main disk icon then you can browse all the directories like on a PC for the media you seek.

I tried those mkv2vob and tsmuxer programs. They work great. Just have to sort out the correct DTS sound selections still.

 

[I am Penguin]

Thanks IAP - definately the directory structure.

So, in a nutshell, the PS3 is a limited 'media center' which only works correctly if certain criteria are met?

*stir*

I've no such issues on my dedicated media player ...

But then can YOUR dedicated player do BluRay and decode DTS master?