I'm thinking about getting a ps3 and was looking at the 250gb version, with a mind to using the storage in conjunction with the Foxsat HDR as an extra drive, for saving to, viewing from etc. Would this work? or does some sort of formatting need to be done to the ps3 drive

thanks in advance

The usb ports on the hdr are host ports so can only connect to a usb device like a pen drive. The ps3 being a computer I would imagine is also a host device. You can't connect two host devices using usb.

The PS3 is a brilliant device, and will play the .ts files from a foxsat with no other processing involved (except it won't play encrypted HD programmes).

The only problem you have is getting them to the PS3. The two ways I do it both involve initially copying the tv programme to an external hard disk (or other USB storage device that the foxsat will recognise). For direct play on the PS3 this needs to be FAT32 formatted - which will restrict the length of programme you can copy. You can then just plug the same device into the PS3 and play from there. Within the PS3 there is an option to save the file on the internal hard disk if you want to keep it without having the external disk plugged in all the time or if it's quite a small capacity device.

The other way assumes that you have a computer (fairly obvious if you are posting here) and both it and the PS3 are networked together (not so common). You can then copy the tv programme to the computer which gives you two further options. Assuming it's windows based (I know nothing of Macs or Linux) you can just use the pc as a media server and stream the programme to the PS3. If you have editing software you can do whatever magic you want to the programme first before streaming.

If you have a pc but no network, you can still edit the programme but you will then have to copy it back to the USB device to play it on the PS3.

Finally, to get really large programmes (over 4Gb, which I think means more than 2 hours of SD?) you'll need the USB device to be formatted in ext3 (a Unix file system). There are threads on this forum about how you might achieve this, and how to read the files on your PC. You may then need to edit the programme, or break it into small segments in order to get it back on another, FAT32 formatted, USB device and thence to the PS3. Sadly, the PS3 does not recognis ext3 drives, I have just tried it.

As you can probably tell, no, you cannot connect the PS3 directly to the foxsat!

Thanks for the replies guys. It seemed like a good idea, but nothing is ever as simple as imagined

For what it’s worth it would be much simpler to just put a 250 Gb 2.5” non-powered HDD out of sight behind the HDR.

Thanks, I did realise that, I've got a 300gb HDD (it would need power though) I've not formatted it for ext 3 yet.
It was just that I was looking at getting a ps3 and if it could be used as mentioned then that would maybe influence me on whether to get the 250gb as opposed to the 120gb version.

You can use powered HDD as well but the one I have has auto power shut-down and goes to sleep (when idle for along time and not in use) then you have to wait for the HDR to reawaken it.

No big deal but I have found the non-powered ones work alright without the need of a extra power cable behind the TV set up.

Wow, I have just realised something quite annoying (to me) while reading this thought-provoking thread.

My PS3 is connected to my very simple home network, but on that network is a Netgear ReadyNAS Duo. I play a lot of stored content that resides on the NAS via the PS3 (home movies, photos, music etc.). I also copy stuff from my Foxsat, via a USB stick, to my netbook for when I am away from home (and I can, obviously, store that stuff on the NAS if I want to keep it and could play it via the PS3, but that would be silly in my case, if the stuff still resides on the Foxsat ).

So, what's annoying me? The fact that I can't store stuff to my NAS from the Foxsat. The more I think about it, the more I realise how much use that would be.

I suppose, once the networking capability is activated on the Foxsat, it will only be for specific services such as iPlayer!

I like threads like this one, somebody asks an innocent question and then people start to think.

Bob_Cat has already stated that there won't be a capability for the hdr to act as a ftp server.