PS3 as "HTPC"

[NorgmaN]

I've been looking into getting a PS3 for some time now, and have been interested in the capabilities of using it not only for games and BLuEray, but also to watch media/play songs from my computer through the PS3 onto my TV. I'm sure there is some "easy" way of doing it, and also a "right" way of doing it. Just not sure which is which. If anyone has experience with what I am speaking of please chime in. I am fairly tech "savvy", but I'm having a hard time getting GooGle to cooperate with me in finding this information.

 

OR, if someone has a "better/cost effective" way of doing this, I encourage you to also share your $0.02!!

 

Thanks!

[VooDooPC]

I don't own a PS3 but I have a 360 which lets you watch movies, listen to music and even browse pictures from your computer through a network. If you connect the PS3 to the network then go HDMI to receiver then receiver to TV I think that would work, that is if the PS3 has the network capabilities and you are using surround sound.

 

I use a monitor instead of a TV and go HDMI to Monitor, Optical to speakers, and 360 to network. The concept is the same but the monitor doesn't have any real audio output which forces me to use optical.

 

Since Sony and Microsoft are competing pretty heavily I am assuming the PS3 can connect to a computer through the network.

 

If for some reason the PS3 can't connect to the computer through the network you could use DVI or VGA to connect the TV and computer through the receiver and switch between the PS3 and computer.

 

 

 

 

I'm not very tech savvy, this is mostly a fabrication in my mind that I believe would work.

 

Or maybe this would help.

 

http://www.us.playstation.com/PS3/Features/DLNA

 

Did you realize that you could access your photos, music, and personal videos on your computer from a PLAYSTATION®3 system? Well, now you know.

Edited November 26, 2008 by VooDooPC

[NorgmaN]

That is something that I did not notice before, the DLNA that is. Too bad that I have no device that will connect with it.

 

From my knowledge, you would think that the PS3 being wireless, it would connect to your router, and as long as you are sharing music/movies from your computer it should be able to play them. But I read a few articles that said playing movies was not possible due to no software. The only problem is all of the articles are old, and I can't seem to find anything on the newer version's of PS3's or any software "hack" or firmware "mod" I could use, and that would be a last resort.

 

Thanks for the info though. I don't know why I didn't see that before hand, it's just too bad that most of the products that support that are either brand new, or really expensive...

[anonymo]

I would be surprised to find out the PS3 isn't able to stream media over your home network.

 

Saris should know...or ZD (I think he has a PS3)

[Tracid]

Yes you can stream music/videos to PS3.

 

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=158357

[BushM]

I've been using Tversity, it was easy to set up and works great.

[Lord Chip Douglas]

Does anyone have any experience with DLNA? I just ordered a Samsung LCD that supports it and was wondering how it worx...

[DNA]

I have been doing just what you are asking for about 6 months now and it works great. Streaming HD to the PS3, there was some tweaks I had to do to get it work perfect, but doing that and using TVersity it works well, you can use the windows media server thing also but I seem to like TVersity because then I can play all my music and videos at work also. The best is then using the Remote Play with a PSP because you can then stream the video from the PC to the PS3 and watch it on your PSP and it looks great. Going on vacation, staying a hotel with WiFi, then connect psp to the TV in the hotel and stream you movies from your PC via the ps3 and there you go.

 

Hit my up with a PM if you need some help setting it all up...

[NorgmaN]

I have been doing just what you are asking for about 6 months now and it works great. Streaming HD to the PS3, there was some tweaks I had to do to get it work perfect, but doing that and using TVersity it works well, you can use the windows media server thing also but I seem to like TVersity because then I can play all my music and videos at work also. The best is then using the Remote Play with a PSP because you can then stream the video from the PC to the PS3 and watch it on your PSP and it looks great. Going on vacation, staying a hotel with WiFi, then connect psp to the TV in the hotel and stream you movies from your PC via the ps3 and there you go.

 

Hit my up with a PM if you need some help setting it all up...

 

 

Wow, that sounds like a ton of fun to set up!

 

I did some research at work today, and finally started coming up with different ways to do it. I found the TVersity program that you guys mentioned, and since it's free, it sounds like it should work perfectly. I also found out that DNLA can be software supported (WMP11). So, I can go either way, the only problem with WMP is that it does not handle too many codecs, but that should not be a problem using the TVersity.

 

Thanks for all of the help. I figured after 3? years of having the PS3 out, Sony would have come up with something half decent to connect everything.

 

On a side note. I did little research on DNLA, (referring to the samsung tv reply) basically you just have to go into settings and it will "wirelessly" more like bluetooth I believe, find other objects that support DNLA and connect together, so you can play your PS3 "wirelessly" to you TV. Which sounds pretty sweet... if I'm right.

 

But again, a big thanks. Between getting a PS3 and making a HTPC, PS3 is the "bang for the buck". If I'm wrong let me know!

[DNA]

No your right, I have been thinking of getting another one for another room to use in the same manner...but i think I will try the route of taking an series2 tivo i sitting around and zipper'n it and using it to stream movies to another room, should not realy cost anything.

 

The PS3 route with TVersity works really well for me, to avoid the codec issue with WMP just DL vista codecs (goggle it), it is a great pack of free codecs that let me watch MKV's and h.264s just perfectly.