Media streaming on PS3 - why does it suck?

[norkusa]

So I just got new slim a few weeks ago. Really just bought it for the blu-ray and media streaming capabilities since I've already got a 360 for gaming and none of the exclusive PS3 titles really get me excited.

Anyway, after setting everything up, I can only get a handful of videos & mp3's to play so far. I didn't think streaming would be that difficult since I have no problems doing it on my 360. But almost everything I throw at the PS3 though has problems playing. Lots of error messages saying the file is corrupt or that it's not a valid file type. All of my movie/mp3 folders can be viewed but there's nothing inside when I select them. And most of the videos that I actually can get to play have stuttering problems.

All these videos and mp3's play fine on my 360, so I can't figure out what's wrong. I'm using MediaLink and PS3 Media Server to stream. Do they have to be organized a certain way like on the PSP? I tried google'ing for some answers but couldn't find anything.

[Emuaust]

I use my PS3 everyday as a media streaming device, I use media player 11 and dont have any issues playing media.

[norkusa]

I use my PS3 everyday as a media streaming device, I use media player 11 and dont have any issues playing media.

Are you using wifi to stream or ethernet?

Is there a limit on how many sub-directories you can use? Most of my stuff is stored 7-8 folders deep on my external hdd (like "volumes/externalHDD/users/myname/movies/comedy/....), so I'm wondering if that has anything to do with it.

I'm using a Linksys wireless G router to stream via wifi. Someone told me that using Wireless N router with gigabit ports might help with the stuttering.

[Flack]

I stream movies all the time on my PS3 with no problems and no stuttering. Mine's a 60 gig, not a slim, and I'm running a 100 megabit/wired connection. The PS3's wireless connection is G, so I doubt buying an N router would help you -- in fact, running an N router in mixed mode may actually be slower than a B/G router. Things may have changed, but last time I checked there were no N drivers for the PS3.

Oh, and my movies are for the most part stored 2 directories deep, but I can't imagine that would affect network speeds at all. Testing that would be pretty simple.

[maxlords]

I use my PS3 to stream as well....no issues and my stuff is generally 2-3 directories deep. I tend to use the 360 more than the PS3 just cause it seems like the video encoding for streaming is a BIT better on the 360, but my PS3 works fine as well.

I do ONLY stream .avi files and .mp3 files though. I'm running a B/G/N wireless router that autoselects the mode...a D-Link DIR-625 (on a Vista OS) and doing everything via wifi. I don't even get slowdown. I'd recommend D-Link over Linksys, but I've heard exactly the opposite from others...depends on your setup I suppose. I do use TVersity as a media server though...I found that I had a LOT of issues when Windows tried to do it by itself. Windows has a shitty built-in media server, even with Vista. Lots of stutter, freezing, connection errors, etc. When I went to TVersity...nothing.

I occasionally get stuttering on videos as well...but I've found it's generally due to the quality of the encode...and I'll just use AllToAvi to reencode the video.

[megasdkirby]

I have issues with a wireless connection.

My Windows machine, using PlayOn, has a Linksys wireless USB card. My Ubuntu machine is connected via ethernet (Cat5e). My PS3 is connected the same was as my Ubuntu machine (via cables).

Streaming off the Windows machine (wireless), there is much lag, so much so that I have to immediately pause the video and let it download a bit before viewing. This does not occur with my Ubuntu machine.

I do know that the upload transferrate on the wireless card of my Windows machine sucks bad, so this could be the determining factor.

[Emuaust]

Yeah I run wireless, things are only 2 directories deep, the one thing I have found with audio files is the ps3 doesnt like my music folder if its over 30gb, If I split it into multiple diectories it is then fine.

[norkusa]

Thanks for the replies. Maybe I should just try an ethernet connection instead and see if that changes things. Don't know how that would fix the 'incompatible file' messages I'm seeing though.

I just read on AVSforums that the PS3 has a depth limit of 7 folders when streaming from DLNA server. That makes sense since I can see loose videos in my 'Movies' folder but not ones that are placed in another folder inside that directory.