PlayStation®3 Media

[Fluencist]

Hi all,

I've been having an issue with streaming MP3s since owning our PS3 Slim unit for around a year now. At first I just assumed it was down to the PS3MS software which worked great with all my films stored on my workstation, regardless of codecs (i.e. from MKV to H.264 to MPG4 etc etc).. I started having bandwidth limitations with higher definition content (due to PS3 54Mb/s wireless speed), but after adjusting the encoder rates to something that wouldn't saturate the wireless connection, all was well again.

What I simply cannot fathom out is why my system cannot play MP3s smoothly. I have now tried streaming by PS3MS, the integrated server in W7, and since my router had a nice update to act as a media server via the USB port, I tried this too. ALL solutions result in frequently pausing audio. Last night I ran a check on a big (6Gb) folder of music for any corruption, and tests showed all files were fine. I then copied the folder to all media server locations, and also locally onto the PS3's HDD. I ran the same checks on the locations I coped to and once again, files were fine (obviously couldn't check the PS3 storage).

All of the streamed MP3s put out the usual 'pausing every 10-15 seconds then carrying on' behaviour as usual, like it was buffering, but really shouldn't be, even for a 320Kbps MP3. And when I went to play the locally stored copies most were completely (and randomly) FUBAR'd! Some songs started normally, then jumped straight into the midlle of a completely different song. Others were just interpreted as 'corrupted data', and others just never copied over at all!

Is there something I'm missing here? My PS3 seems great when taking on high bandwidth video streams, internet downloads and online gaming. Yet when it comes to streaming measily 128-320Kbps MP3s, it fails abysmally and is getting frustrating, particularly since mine doesn't even copy MP3s correctly. I've tinkered with a few of the audio settings and made sure wireless signal is strong but to no avail.... any hints would be appreciated. If not this unit may have to go back for repair / replacement as this is a feature I regularly like to use. I'm hoping some sort of setting will resolve this though.

Thanks for any advice!