The Sony PS3 Thread

The Game Room
1

Much like the “what apps do you have/use on your iPhone” thread; I wanted to have a thread for ps3 ‘stuff.’

How many of you use your ps3 for more than just a game console and a blu-ray dvd player? It contains a lot of other features so that it can be used almost like a media center.

Who all has purchased/downloaded any games? Any particular ones you like? Don’t like? There are a couple out there that I’m considering purchasing.

So there you have it… share your ps3 info, and lets get doper community going.

2

You can put photos and videos on a USB drive, then use the PS3 to view them.

3

Or do what I do - put photos and music (don’t have any videos) on my computer, and have the PS3 remotely access them through my wireless network via TVersity.

4

OOOooh cool, I’ve got to try that!

5

I have bought a couple of playstation store games that were less then 10 dollars that are more then worth it. My favorite of all though has to be Echochrome. It’s a very unique puzzle game that is easier played then explained, and luckily there is a free demo on the playstation store that I urge all PS3 owners to try.

6

I copy AVIs and watch them all the time. Depending on the quality sometimes it looks just like a dvd, other times a bit lower. But, what are you going to do? It’s not blu ray. It is great to have an option to watch these on something other than a computer.

I haven’t tried tiversity, that sounds cool. Currently, I mostly use a laptop so it is easier just to go the USB route. But, once I have a solid desktop I am going to have to look into it.

My favorite games are
Oblivion
GTA 4
Little Big Planet

Currently I am playing Fallout 3. Which is fun. But, I haven’t gotten as into it as I got into Oblivion. Even if the graphics are better.

I haven’t had much use. But, I do like the fact that I can watch movies that are on my PS3 on my PSP from anywhere.

7

You have just revolutionized my media viewing experience today and for that I thank you.

8

Agreed completely. This TVersity thing is incredible and I’m just disappointed that I didn’t know about it sooner. I’ve tried using USB thumbdrives to transfer stuff to my PS3 in the past, but I could never get it to work right.

I always knew it could work as a media center but I’d never bothered to do any research. TVersity is far easier and more convenient than I’d ever thought possible.

9

i suppose I can look it up, but why not share with everybody what TVersity is?

10

Not an expert but I downloaded TVersity and I’ve playing around with it this evening. It’s appears to be a media center program designed to access wireless networks and removes a lot of the trial and error in the process. Simply download and install it and a PS3, (along with a lot of other devices apparently), can access any media on your PC. Technically it seems to be streaming which means playback is capped by your network speed, but that also means it’s transcoding the media at the same time using any codecs you have installed on your computer. This means it’s capable of playing media on the native system which may be incompatible.

After downloading it I had it setup and running perfectly in a few minutes, no muss no fuss. It really is quite remarkable.

The base version is free, but there’s a premium version for $30 that allows you to access other services as well such as hulu. (They have a full list available here.)

11

I enjoy Home and have lately had a helluva nice time playing poker.

Other things: TVersity, Yellow Dog Linux, media browsing, moviemaking (with the PS3 Eye), audio jukebox, PSP Remote Play, Eye Toy interactive gaming.

I also watch downloaded movies and shows (dl as rental or purchase from the Sony Store) – watching Dark Knight right now – and I’ll often browse the Web with it.

When I can I beta what they’ll send me. I play a lot of downloaded game and video demos.

12

Looks like Jihi covered it far better than I ever could, since he seems to have some experience with videos and such. I have no idea what a “codec” is, so I’m glad he was first on the scene.

Jihi - wanna give a moron a quick tour of TVersity’s video abilities? Like, is there a video to download somewhere on the internet (YouTube - can you download from YouTube?), and go from there? I’d really like to beef up my PS3’s abilities (okay - *my *abilities, the PS3 has always been capable).

13

I’ll check out TVersity when I get home tonight, but just so you know, you don’t need any extra PS3 software for it to get to your PC media. Provided you keep it in Windows Media Player (you do have to have media-sharing enabled on your WMP though). I discovered this by accident, I was scrolling through the PS3 bar and noticed my PC’s music database name. I was baffled, how did my PS3 know the name of my PC music database?! I then realized it was reading it automatically from WMP over my wireless network! Suddenly I had my whole MP3 collection available from the living room! Pretty cool.

As for other PS3 stuff, I have the PS3 eye- It’s pretty cool at first but the novelty wears off quickly. It may be worthwile if they put out some good games that use it, but for now it’s not a must-have. I downloaded “Flower” too, but haven’t gotten too far into it. It’s gorgeous and relaxing, but I figured I’ll save it until I have kids or non-gamers over to play.

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So, do you download TVersity to your PS3 or the computer?

15

TVersity’s official website.

Go here to see some screenshots and videos of the program in action on various platforms. (It appears to be compatible with the 360, Wii, PSP, IPhone and several other devices in addition to a PS3.)

You download it directly on your computer which is where all the work happens. You don’t have to do anything to your PS3. You do need a wireless network or some way of connecting the computer and the PS3, a simple wired network cable would probably work just as well.

After you download and install the program the first time you run it it will automatically detect your wireless network and start acting as a server accepting incoming connections. At this point turn on your PS3 and it should automatically detect TVersity’s signal and you’ll see an icon underneath the appropriate sections of the XMB, (Photos, Music, Videos). It doesn’t share anything on your computer automatically however, so you’ll have to go into TVersity and manually choose what files or folders you want to share. It’s just like setting up filesharing over a standard network.

Video Capabilities

Codec = Compressor/Decompressor. Codecs are what Windows uses to play/decode digital media on computers. For example, if you want to play a .wmv, .avi, or .mp3 you need the appropriate codec or the player won’t be able to recognize it. Now here’s the really cool part. PS3’s aren’t capable of playing certain formats because it can’t decode them. (Here’s a quick and dirty list of compatible formats. Anything not on that list won’t play natively on a PS3.) But TVersity does the decompression and then streams the resulting video directly to the system. Anything you can play or view on your computer can be streamed to the PS3.

To play a video all you have to do is mark for sharing the folder the video is in on your computer, go to your PS3 and find the TVersity icon under the Video section, browse to the appropriate folder and click on the file. It’ll start playing instantly.

Now there does seem to be one caveat. As I mention above, since you’re streaming the video the playback is capped by your network speed. On large files this can result in stuttering as the transcoding process can’t keep up with the playback and TVersity doesn’t seem to be capable of buffering playback yet. (According to the developer’s support page this is something they want to implement in future versions.) However there is a workaround for this problem. On the PS3 if you highlight your file and press the triangle button you’ll get the option of downloading it directly to the HDD. This can take awhile, (especially with larger files), but eliminates the stuttering problem.

As I said before I’m not an expert, I’m still messing around with it to see what it’s capable of, but if anyone has any specific questions I’ll be glad to help if I can.

16

So i downloaded TVersity and i am able to see the files i want on my PS3 menu screen. However, when i try and play one of the videos, i get a “data is corrupted” message. The videos work fine on my laptop. Whats the deal?

17

What kind of file is it? There are certain formats that aren’t compatible. Anything with DRM won’t play through TVersity. The FAQ page mentions ITunes and atomfilms.com as two sites with DRM protected content.

Also TVersity seems to use Directshow filters which I think, I could be wrong, but I think are specific to Media Player. When you say you can play them on the laptop are you using Media Player, Media Player Classic or something else? You may need to download the directshow codec to get it to work. They recommend the FFDshow pack for the most common file types. It contains support for MPEG 1,2, and 4, XVID, AVI’s and WMV’s and several other formats.

Is it just videos you can’t play? Can you stream mp3s or transfer images?

I had a “data corrupted” message once last night and it turned out my network had dropped the signal. I had to bounce my router and restart TVersity. Try restarting the client, make sure sharing is enabled, and allow it to reindex the folder.

That said, I’ve tested out a bunch of different types of files and I have a few that TVersity simply can’t play for some reason. I can’t discern a pattern but lesser used formats are, most likely, simply not supported.

18

I have become a big fan of PlayOn media server which is a close cousin to TVersity. It’s not free (one time purchase price) but allows full-screen streaming of music and video and has built in support for full-screen Hulu and Netflix. There’s a free trial – well worth downloading to see if your bandwidth can support it. But it ROCKS. It’s got a clean interface built into the XMB that makes selecting programming very easy.

I also use the standard Windows Media Player to stream movies and pictures to my tv.

As far as downloadable games go, I am a big fan of WipeoutHD, High Velocity Bowling, and an oldie but a goodie called Everyday Shooter. And I still fire up my first DL game, FlOw, from time to time just to chill. I finally broke down and bought a popcap game (Zuma) even though I could play it for free on my PC. There’s just something about lounging back on the couch playing a quick round on the big screen which I enjoy.

Something I wish they’d improve is Life with Playstation. In its current form it shows headlines for about 40 world locations but you can’t customize it at all. If they would allow you to add cities of interest and put in halfway decent weather info (instead of just current conditions) I’d almost make it my PS3 “homepage”. The fact that folding is going on in the background is a bonus.

One neat feature in Life with Playstation is that the cloud cover on the globe is actually updated satellite imagery. There’s just something cool about spinning the 3-D globe and seeing the current weather on it.

EZ

19

I have a PS3-ish question, I figure this is the best place for an answer.

Would a generic PC head-set/mic dealio (USB) work with the PS3? Or are all the little PS3 ear-pieces, blue-tooths, etc. proprietary?

That is, I don’t have any head-set mics at all right now. I was hoping I could kill two birds with one stone.

20

You should be able to use any bluetooth headset on the market to work with the PS3, and I’d imagine any USB devices would as well. But I can’t say for certain. (I lost my bluetooth headset charging cable, so can’t answer that definitively.)