Does the PS3 play .avi files off of a USB drive? or off of a DVD?

Butch Cassidy

I've tried the googling thing and can't get a definitive answer...

I have a .avi file - a film. I want to play it on my PS3 via a USB. The film's on the USB but when I go to access it on the PS3 it says there are no files. It's a new PS3 recently bought a few months ago.

Could I just burn the files to a DVD and play them off that?

amacachi

The USB is probably formatted to NTFS, PS3 only reads FAT32.

threeleggedhors

Have you pressed the Triangle button when you get to the USB Device on the PS3 Screen, it will display everything on you USB and you should be able to play .avi no problem

Dacelonid

Most likely problem is that either the usb drive isn't formatted as FAT32 or you haven't got the correct directory structure on the usb drive.
You can press triangle and select display all to see all files on your thumb drive.

It isn't a problem with the codec inside the avi, as in that case it would say corrupt file, or unsupported or similar

J.Ball

Yes just press triangle then view all files. once its an mpeg-4 file or says avi it'll play just fine 99% of the time the odd movie wont work its happened to me like twice out of hundreds of films

L'prof

This:

threeleggedhors wrote: »

Have you pressed the Triangle button when you get to the USB Device on the PS3 Screen, it will display everything on you USB and you should be able to play .avi no problem

Even if the format is unsupported, you should be able to see it. You could set up folders so that you can just press x instead, but I don't really see the point.

Paparazzo

Press triangle and display all. No idea why you need to do this, but you do. I always play films straight off the memory stick, never any problems.

tiny timy

amacachi wrote: »

The USB is probably formatted to NTFS, PS3 only reads FAT32.

+1
Put your usb in your pc and reformat it as FAT32, this will clear the contents of the stick so be sure to have a backup of whatever is on it, so you can put back on it. The when you put it back in your ps3 when you go to watch a film or look at pics you may need to press Triangle so you can view things.Problem solved. Hope this helps

L'prof

tiny timy wrote: »

+1
Put your usb in your pc and reformat it as FAT32, this will clear the contents of the stick so be sure to have a backup of whatever is on it, so you can put back on it. The when you put it back in your ps3 when you go to watch a film or look at pics you may need to press Triangle so you can view things.Problem solved. Hope this helps

I'd be surprised if it was formatted to NTFS as default though, most seem to be FAT32.

Butch Cassidy

Thanks for all the help guys. Managed to get it working in the end with the USB.


If I burn these to a DVD with something like IMG Burn would the film play off of that?

irish_stevo815

Ya there's no formatting or burning onto DVD's needed, just press Triangle and Display All..........as someone said above, it's a weird way about it, but u get used to it!!!

But if you burn it to a DVD it should just play like a normal DVD

Stuxnet

a press of triangle will let you copy your avi to ps3 hard disc also,

Paparazzo

The PS3 is the best thing ever made

noodler

Yeah, no way would I be wasting DVDs/Laser wear and tear when I can just plug in a USB onto my 320GB HDD (which is starting to run out of space...)

RangeR

What nobody has mentioned so far, is that you should be putting your AVI files into a VIDEO folder on the rot of your USB stick. This is where the PS3 looks for video files on every disk attached to it.

L'prof

RangeR wrote: »

What nobody has mentioned so far, is that you should be putting your AVI files into a VIDEO folder on the rot of your USB stick. This is where the PS3 looks for video files on every disk attached to it.

It has been alluded to above, but he's also been told how to get around that!

RangeR

L'prof wrote: »

It has been alluded to above, but he's also been told how to get around that!

Alluded to is not "specifically mentioned".Nobody mentioned it so I did.
Getting around a problem shouldn't be needed if it's done correctly in the first place.

L'prof

RangeR wrote: »

Alluded to is not "specifically mentioned".Nobody mentioned it so I did.
Getting around a problem shouldn't be needed if it's done correctly in the first place.

Pressing triangle is just as handy as pressing x. I'd prefer if Sony fixed it so that it'd just pick up all files regardless as I don't like putting, and don't, poxy folders on my hard-drive just so the PS can recognise it...strokes for folks!

Butch Cassidy

RangeR wrote: »

What nobody has mentioned so far, is that you should be putting your AVI files into a VIDEO folder on the rot of your USB stick. This is where the PS3 looks for video files on every disk attached to it.

What's the "rot" ?

L'prof

Butch Cassidy wrote: »

What's the "rot" ?

Root, as in \VIDEO, where the bolded part indicates the root of the drive and the rest is the new folder that you create.

RangeR

Butch Cassidy wrote: »

What's the "rot" ?

You're not heard of the rot? Painful. Seek medical attention at first sight.

irish_stevo815

Paparazzo wrote: »

The PS3 is the best thing ever made

Careful now, there might be some X-Box fan-boys lurking about