28 November, 2010

PS3 Media Server - A Fantastic Free App to Serve your Media Files to your PS3

I was looking for a means by which to share my network PC's media files with my PC, and I found PS3 Media Server, a great little free app for multiple operating systems.  It will serve video, photos, and audio (even serve your iTunes library).

Note to Avoid a Rookie Mistake:

You will see the media server, via your PS3's XMB (Cross Media Bar) menu, in the Videos, Photos, and Audio sections.  MAKE SURE YOU ARE IN THE PROPER MENU WHEN YOU GO BROWSING THROUGH THE FOLDERS.  If not, you will see a "There are no titles" message, and you'll likely think that the server is malfunctioning, when in actuality, you are probably in the Photos section, of your PS3, looking for movie files.  Reason I know this?  I wasted 10 minutes repeatedly restarting my media server software before I figured it out.

As is usual for media servers, make sure your PC is basically doing nothing other than serving up media while you are running the server software.  Most often, this means:

; Restrict your PC from kicking off a virus scan or automatic download during the streaming, as it will likely impact your streaming performance.

; Close all open apps other than the media server.

; Make sure your automatic processes, that you have running in your system tray, are closed, such as any RSS feed downloaders, weather apps, etc.

; Exempt your shared media folders from being virus-scanned, as that often slows down the streaming.


Download the PS3 Media Server version, for your OS (Windows, LINUX, Mac) here: http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/

Support:  Read the support forums here: http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/index.php

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