Being an owner of both a Mac and a PlayStation 3, I stumbled across a great piece of software called PS3 Media Server, a free way to stream various media types from your Mac to your television, via a PlayStation 3. Here’s how to set it up.
Hardware wise, all you need is your Mac and PS3 turned on and connected to the same network, be it WiFi or wired. Personally, I have my PS3 connected to a network switch, as a wired connection is naturally more stable. My MacBook Pro’s on the WiFi, but since they’re on the same network everything runs smoothly enough.
Once you’ve downloaded and installed PS3 Media Server, launch it from Applications. Hopefully you’ll be greeted with a big green tick after a few seconds, meaning the PS3 has been found by PS3 media server and is connected:
If, as opposed to the green tick above, you encounter a red cross and the status “No renderers found”, firstly double check everything is on and connected – you can test your PS3’s internet connection via Network Settings on the console.
If the PS3 is definitely online and the problem persists, obtain the IP address from the PS3 (From the PS3’s “Network Settings menu”, select “Settings & Connection Status List” – the IP address is listed in here). Back in PS3 Media Server, navigate to the “General Configuration” window. Under “Network settings (advanced)”, find “Force IP of the server” and type in the PS3’s IP address. This fixed my initial issues with setting up PS3 media server and by the looks of things is quite a common problem:
Next, you’ll need to setup what on your Mac will be shared. To do this, navigate to the “Navigation/Share Settings” window within PS3 Media Server. At the bottom of this window is the “Shared folders” section, from where you can select directories. Click on the green plus sign and you’ll be able to choose what to share:
As you can see, I’ve set my Desktop and Downloads folders to shared, meaning any files within these two directories can be accessed and viewed on my PS3:
From the PS3, navigate to the “Video” menu. From here you should be able to access your Mac’s shared directories and in turn the files within them – from jpegs to mkv videos, PS3 Media Server can render most media types, meaning they can be viewed on your television without any further configuration.