I have the 500gb now. I'd like to rip some of my movies from my fairly vast DVD collection and I'd REALLY like to rip copies of my kids DVD's so i can save them from destruction.
LOL
having them on the PS3's HDD would save me a lot of money from replacing them.
Yeah , the price on the 500g has come down enough that I just recenty upgraded also.There are several programs that will convert dvd to mp4 or iso including the old faithful dvd decrypter .I stick with iso files on computer then use Ps3 media server to stream most movies to the tv but there is also a copy function in with ps3media server that I use to sometimes put movie files onto the ps3 hard drive and it will store and play them .You can also do this with mkv bluray files but they have to be muxed into ts files for the ps3 to read them.PS3 Media Server does this on the fly without muxing ( mkv or iso) and the neat thing about this is the ps3 harddrive is not limited to a 4 gig file like a fat 32 format portable hardrive. You can fit several full length movies in 1080p. This will be a pretty slow method but it will easily accomplish what you want it will just take awhile..
Well, you can just take the video directly off the DVD and transfer them over to your PS3. (I'm guessing the 500GB is an internal drive.)
Using DVDShrink (on your PC), one of the options is to NOT split the main movie into separate chunks - meaning you'll keep the entire video in one file, which makes things easy.
Once you've ripped the main movie onto your PC, you have any number of options.
If the movie file is 4GB or less:
1.) Transfer it over via a USB flash drive or external HDD (formatted to FAT32).
2.) Stream it via a media server.
3.) Burn it to a blank single-layer DVD (as a data disc), insert the disc into your PS3, and copy the file that way.
If the movie file is larger than 4GB:
1.) Stream it via media server.
2.) Burn it to a blank DVD and do as above.
...or you could definitely convert the movie to something significantly smaller, like a DivX file or so.
Found this thread and thought it would be the right place to ask my question.
I'm currently trying to weigh my options between building a media center PC VS. Buying a PS3.
I am not new to media centers, audio/video ripping and copying, or media streaming (I was using Xbox360 w/ a Media Center PC from day one!).
However, the part that I'm getting stuck on and making me feel like a dumb noob is surround sound decoding.
So to get to the point: If I rip my DVD into a video format that includes AC3 5.1 sound, the PS3 can decode the audio with no problems if I'm playing from an external hard drive?
Yes, I already understand the FAT32 limitations.
I also know there are 3rd party media severs for PS3, but I am NOT asking about streaming video.
To put some perspective on my question... my primary idea is to build a PC media "jukebox", so my original thought w/ a PC is to rip every DVD as VOB folders (using Shrink or DvdFab) onto an external... this way I could "load" the movies, like a virtual DVD, with menus and all audio options. Then the thought occured to me at one point that a PS3 acting as a media server would be much cheaper... but I'm stuck on the surround audio format and decoding because the whole idea is to retain the best quality I can.
Also... any recommendations as to what would be the best codecs and software to use if I went w/ the PS3? The bottom line is I want hi-def video (480P minimum since I'm ripping from DVDs) with surround sound.
From my experience, anything that can play on your 360 can play on your PS3. What's more, the PS3 can read and play .m2ts files, whereas the 360 can't.
Then again, this conclusion was drawn from playing two AVI files (DivX and Xvid, respectively) and trying to play one AVCHD file (x264codec), and from reading on stuff online that's... probably two years old now.
That said, I think you'd have a better chance of turning your (theoretical) PS3 into a media server if you bought a Linux-capable model. Meaning not the Slim. With Linux installed (and then configured to your taste), you'd be able to much more easily watch your DVD files with full-on video/audio/menus/extras/etc.
The PS3 is only capable of playing files that are a simple video-audio(s) combo, not anything complex like an .mkv file with subtitles, much less a DVD with all its menus and whatnot.
So if you're willing to go through the effort to buy an older fat PS3 and work with Linux and stuff, then it'd definitely be a solid bet for you. Especially since those fat models are selling pretty cheap nowadays.
