Homer Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 After a little advice from the IT folks here on setting up a media centre type thing for my sister... I'm useless at this sort of thing! She lives in a modern townhouse, so has an office with PC and router on the ground floor and the living room on the 1st floor. She wants to be able to view media files on the PC from the living room, but I'm not sure how best to do this. She has a PS3 in the living room, but there's no cat5 from the office to the living room, is there any way to connect the PS3 wirelessly to the PC? Would that even work or be fast enough to stream media files over wireless? Any ideas appreciated Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 Homeplugs and Tversity FTW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian W Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 What are Homeplugs, Michael? I'm planning on doing something along these lines with my laptop in my flat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 What are Homeplugs, Michael? I'm planning on doing something along these lines with my laptop in my flat Networking using the electrical circuit in the house, you plug in a Homeplu at each end and then plug your CAT5 into that. I have 4 of them, a couple connected to switches running the PS3, XBox, various PCs, IP CCTV etc etc - flawless. http://www.homeplug.org/home/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted June 20, 2010 Author Share Posted June 20, 2010 Thanks Michael, homeplugs look like a perfect solution. I never realised these were finally available. Which of the homeplug products are you using at each end? The website lists over a hundred products and it's not clear what is needed. Also, is Tversity really required if the PC is sharing a folder - would the PS3 not pick that drive up as a media server? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 I use PS3 Media server. Not had to use anything else since, it is absolutely fantastic. You need to download PS3 Media Server and a few other codec/program packs to get it running to its potential, once it is up and running it would play a tea biscuit if you could fit it into the drive. Before PS3 Media Server I used TVersity. It was very good as well, just doesn't have the same raw processing power as PS3 Mediaserver for me. Using a 54mbps router at the PS3 end I can stream HD media absolutely no problem. For some reason if I have the router at the PC end it doesn't stream fast enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamc Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 Quite honestly, the best I found for the PS3 (especially with high-res movies) is to buy a couple of cheap USB sticks and plug them into the PS3. I know its not quite up-to-date, but finf it much easier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted June 20, 2010 Share Posted June 20, 2010 Sounds like hassle to me I just download, I mean backup my movies into the one folder and access them directly via the PS3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted June 24, 2010 Author Share Posted June 24, 2010 I use PS3 Media server. Not had to use anything else since, it is absolutely fantastic. You need to download PS3 Media Server and a few other codec/program packs to get it running to its potential, once it is up and running it would play a tea biscuit if you could fit it into the drive. Before PS3 Media Server I used TVersity. It was very good as well, just doesn't have the same raw processing power as PS3 Mediaserver for me. Using a 54mbps router at the PS3 end I can stream HD media absolutely no problem. For some reason if I have the router at the PC end it doesn't stream fast enough. Thanks Scott, good advice as always If I understand you correctly, I need to install media server on the PC, designate a folder and that folder will then be available from the PS3 under the media server menu? I'm going to hardwire the connection to the PS3 as there's not enough time before the weekend to sort out wireless. The router/modem is a standard Sky one, which should be 100mbps so hopefully will be enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 Thanks Scott, good advice as always If I understand you correctly, I need to install media server on the PC, designate a folder and that folder will then be available from the PS3 under the media server menu? I'm going to hardware the connection to the PS3 as there's not enough time before the weekend to sort out wireless. The router/modem is a standard Sky one, which should be 100mbps so hopefully will be enough. Sounds fine bud. The added advantage with PS3 mediaserver is that when you set up a folder/drive it automatically updates instantly. With other programs you have to do manual updates to refresh the directories which is a bit of a pain (you can set it up hourly/daily etc but its still a pain). You are correct in your thinking, you can add an entire drive though. I have a few HDD's on my PC set aside for media. I just added them. You can add a folder or an entire hierarchy with as many or as few subdirectories as you choose. You will know instantly as soon as you play with it. Some information so that you don't get caught out like I did to begin with.... When you first open it you will be scared by the amount of options etc there is. It really is ridiculous lol. Just open up transcoding settings tab, and enable all the "Video Encoder Engines". You will need to have installed AVI Synth, Haali media splitter and FFDshow to use it to its full potential. If you select a movie and it doesn't work, simply go into the "Transcoder" folder at the top of your file structure (On the PS3). Inside this folder you will have directories of all the video files you have and the different transcode options available to you. An example.. on your PS3 You go to Video, then PS3 Media Server, then "Movies" Inside you will see #Transcode# A Team B Team C team If A Team has no sound, go into Transcode, then into the A Team folder and select the type of encoding you wish to try. HTH, it will be a lot less confusing when you get in about it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted June 24, 2010 Author Share Posted June 24, 2010 Good stuff, thanks again. I couldn't find it in the info at the media server site, but is the PC doing the encoding then streaming it to the PS3? I'll try and have a play with this tomorrow here before going back to my sisters to set her one up. She's not very PC literate, so need to make it as easy as possible! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Posted June 24, 2010 Share Posted June 24, 2010 Yeah, the PC does all the encoding prior to streaming. In most cases the media is just streamed as the PS3 takes on a LOT of different types out of the box. Very rarely do I actually need to use the "Transcode" option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.