I use my PlayStation 3 primarily as a media player. Aside from its inability to playback some of the more common open-source media codecs, such as OGG and FLAC, it is a very flexible machine, and will readily playback the most common audio and video files. A full (and frequently updated) list of file formats is available at the Sony site here. However, initial hard drive space on the PS3 is meager, especially if you consider game data and demos alongside your audio and video files. Furthermore, the PS3 isn’t exactly portable, if you’d like to quickly take your media files to another machine.
Thankfully, Sony has learned from past lessons (namely the ATRAC/Minidisc failures) and opened up this platform a bit. The PS3 can play files from an array of supported media, including USB hard drives, USB thumb drives, and CF/SD/MS cards. You will first need to create Sony’s prescribed folder structure on the media, and then drop in your corresponding files. The directories should look like:
/MUSIC
/PICTURE
/VIDEO
When these folders and files are in place, connect your devices to the PS3. It will automatically scan the drive for playable media. When finished, simply use the XMB to navigate to the proper category. A new icon will appear representing the new drive.
Note: The media must be formatted as FAT32. Most portable drives are formatted FAT32 at the factory. However, if you’ve reformatted the drive with Windows, it may be in the incompatible NTFS format. If you decide to reformat your drive, know that you will lose all existing data on the drive.
Off-topic file of forgiveness:
MGMT - Kids (Burntpianos Robo Remix)
found via theworldfogot.com
Get at Insound!
