PS3 / external hard drive question

[LwnmwnMan2]

Can someone tell me if I copy home movies to an external hard drive from the computer, can I then plug the external hard drive into the PS3 to watch said movies?

[Central Bassman]

I believe you can but I never have tired before... I'm also interested in what everyone says on this topic...

[LwnmwnMan2]

From what I see online, as long as it's FAT32 formatted, it works.

Biggest problem is the FAT32 format only supports 4 gb files, which for my home movies, isn't a big issue.

[Central Bassman]

How many GB is your PS3?? 4gb files seem small for a video

[spearchucker]

4GB is a fat32 limitation not a PS3 limitation. You can stream the movies over a home network from your PC, then there is no file size restriction. Also can play music from the PC over the network. Just need to turn on the media server on your PC and the PS3 will find it and connect on the network.

[pureinsanity]

I believe you can. but like someone said above just open a media share folder from your computer. You would probably be better streaming it over a network than dealing with a usb stream. Might be a little bit faster

[LwnmwnMan2]

The videos are in HD, WMVHD gets real choppy when trying to view over a wireless network, which is what happens when opening the media server.

I realize I could just hook the external HDD to the laptop, and then use the HDMI out on the laptop and plug right into the TV, which may be the route that I take, but if I could get another HDD into the entertainment cabinet, hidden, then it would just keep everything looking "pretty" for the wife, if you all know what I mean.

Also, there's another option now called WDTV, where you can use that as another 'box' and plug the external directly into that, and control that with a remote. I'd assume there must be some sort of a buffer in there so you don't get the chop, but I'll have to look into that.

[spearchucker]

I have mine hardwired via ethernet to my PC and get no chop with 720 or 1080P over my home network. Wireless G isn't the greatest for streaming HD video. The problem could be the wireless or it could be the speed of your PC, or both. If your PC is too slow (Hard Drive or processor) it will not be able to stream the data fast enough to the PS3. Either way hardwired ethernet is the way to go if possible.