Did you know that the PlayStation 3 video game console supports DivX video playback? That means it’ll play movie files that have been encoded using the DivX codec, which is one of the best and most popular forms of video compression and playback out right now. The process is incredibly simple and the results are amazing. Why bother burning movies to a DVD or Video CD when you can just use a cheap USB flash drive to watch the files?
Step One
First, you will need to get a DivX video file or make one of your own. I won’t go into the detail on how to find one because there is a lot of illegal movie downloading going on via the web, and I don’t support it. However, you could take one of your own home videos (like a wedding video, for example) and encode it using DivX. There are too many ways to go about the process, but if you’re wondering how to play a DivX video on the PS3, then you’ve probably already got a video you want to watch.
Step Two
Copy the DivX video file to your USB flash drive. It doesn’t matter if you put the video in its own folder or in the root of the USB drive. If you are copying more than one video, you should make sure they are named properly so that you may tell them apart.
Step Three
Insert the USB flash drive into one of the front USB ports on your PlayStation 3.
Step Four
From the PS3 main menu, scroll over to the video section and you will see the name of your flash drive at the bottom of the list. For example, mine is a USB Data Traveler 2.0.
Step Five
With your flash drive highlighted, press the green triangle button on the PS3 controller or remote. When prompted, select Display All. This will show a directory listing of all the files on your flash drive. From there, just navigate to wherever you saved the DivX movie file and select it to play. The video should start playing immediately.
Controls
The playback controls for DivX video files on a PS3 are about the same as any other movie. You can hit Pause or Play as usual, and pressing the Stop button will send you back to the main menu. If you press Play again, it’ll resume from where you left off, but the video will lose its place if you turn off the PS3. The Fast Forward controls work as usual, and can go up to 120x speed in case you need to skip past certain parts. To view the time remaining on the video, press the Display button on the PS3 remote and it’ll show you the video encode rate, video duration, and more.
DivX Videos on PS3
I just recently discovered this feature after having spent many hours watching movies on my computer screen. Now, with the help of a cheap USB flash drive, I can sit in my living room and watch videos via my PS3 on my widescreen HDTV. Depending on the quality of the source material and the compression method used, the results are outstanding.
