The Ultimate PS3 Media Streaming Solution Is Here

The Past

Ever since DLNA support was added to the PLAYSTATION 3 in firmware 1.80, I have been streaming all sorts of media to my living room and HDTV in a configuration similar to this:

Early on, I transcoded my Top Gear and American Dad episodes from my PC via TVersity since a majority of my content was encoded in DivX/XviD format (incompatible with the PS3 at the time). While the solution worked, it had some inconvenient setbacks:

• Computer(s) must be on in order to view/access all media.
• Image quality suffered due to transcoding.
• TVersity service needed to be restarted in order to become visible to the PS3.

A couple of months ago, I purchased an HP Media Vault 2020 (for $199 CAD) to act as a Network Attached Storage (NAS). The HP Media Vault 2020 was a perfect fit for my requirements:

1. Affordable
2. Solid Performer
3. Easy to Setup
4. Plenty of storage space

In addition to fulfilling all the above, the HP Media Vault 2020 also came with an added bonus: built in DLNA server (media streaming) functionality

While on my network, I mapped HP Media Vault 2020 as a network share and began storing all my media on it. Unfortunately, the Media Vault was not able to transcode my media to the PS3 and thus I still had to utilize my PC with TVersity. Little progress was made in finding a PC-less solution.

The Present

With the release of firmware 2.10, DivX support was finally enabled and guess what? This is now a reality:

• Most if not all my media is available to my PS3.
• I no longer need to keep my computer on.
• Image quality no longer suffers.
• HP MV2020 is always available and consumes very little power. (No more service restarts)

If you have PS3 and have a large amount of media to stream, I highly recommend the HP Media Vault 2020. It works marvelously and boasts some solid features aside from the DLNA server:

• Gigabit Ethernet
• 500 GB SATA Hard drive (Expandable up to 1.2 TB)
• RAID 1 support

A great review could be found here if you are looking for an in-depth look.

What about the XBOX 360?

Unfortunately, the above configuration does not work for the XBOX 360. As I reported earlier, despite the availability of DivX support and being DLNA compliant, the XBOX 360 was not able to recognize the HP Media Vault 2020. Perhaps another DLNA media server works with it? Please leave a comment if you know of one which works with the XBOX 360.

Problems with PS3 Streaming

If you are encountering media server disconnects other network related errors with the MV2020, I highly recommend trying out the TwonkyMedia server installation. It fixed all my connection issues. Syabas disappoints me.