So, with respect to video playback on PS3s, since I don't own one myself, I had a few questions:

- Can I play back video files off of, say, any form of USB storage, or memory card on PS3s that have card readers (wasn't that taken out in certain models?  I don't remember off-hand...)?

- And if so, what formats and codecs are supported?  Particularly, can I play x264 .mkv files, and XviD .avis?

Yes, you can play video files off USB, memory cards (assuming it's one that has the ports), and disks. You'll either have to create the correct folder structure and drop them in a specific so you can get to them in one step once you're on the PS3, or use the option 'display all' to search for whatever folder you need.

As for formats/codecs, somebody else will have to list everything as I don't know. I do know that I've been able to throw lots of things on the hard drive and it's been able to play them. Whew, it's crazy to think just how far it's come since launch where you had to jump through the hoop of converting all your videos just to watch them.

Okay, and what would the correct folder structure be? Do I just need to make a videos folder, like it is IIRC for PSPs?

complicated, but lets begin

the PS3 can read off any usb based media provided the media is formatted in FAT or FAT32.

NTFS formatted external hard drives can't be read by the PS3 as NTFS is a MS proprietry technology unfortunately so a NTFS HDD will need to be reformatted into FAT32 before use.

If your PS3 has no card readers, you can plug an external card reader into your PS3 and use the cards in that without issue.

.mkv files do not play at the moment, and nor do .flv files play from HDD

It does play divx/xvid .avi', mov, mp4 etc.

here's a list from http://manuals.playstation.net/document/en/ps3/current/video/filetypes.html

Types of files that can be played

The following types of files can be played under (Video).

• Memory Stick Video Format
• - MPEG-4 SP (AAC LC)
• - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High Profile （AAC LC）
• - MPEG-2 TS（H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, AAC LC）
• MP4 file format
• - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High Profile (AAC LC)
• MPEG-1 (MPEG Audio Layer 2)
• MPEG-2 PS (MPEG2 Audio Layer 2, AAC LC, AC3(Dolby Digital), LPCM)
• MPEG-2 TS（MPEG2 Audio Layer 2, AC3（Dolby Digital）, AAC LC）
• MPEG-2 TS（H.264/MPEG-4 AVC, AAC LC）
• AVI
• - Motion JPEG (Linear PCM)
• - Motion JPEG (μ-Law)
• AVCHD （.m2ts / .mts）
• DivX
• WMV
• - VC-1（WMA Standard V2）

Great, thanks.

yes you can do that or just press triangle over your storge media and select "play all"

alternatively, a folder called x:\VIDEO is where to drop your vids, where x is the drive letter of your media

caps is important here for some reason idk why but lowercase doesn't do the trick

You can play DIVX (DVD Quality) from:
USB/Flash Drive
Memory Card
Internal PS3 HDD
Network/Stream via programs like PMS (Playstation Media Server)

You can play MKV (BluRay Quality) from:
Network/Stream via programs like PMS (Playstation Media Server)

You can NOT play MKV from:
USB/Flash Drive
Memory Card
Internal PS3 HDD

If you wanted to play MKV's on your PS3, besides using PMS, your options are:
Downloading a program called MKV2VOB. It converts the MKV's into MPG which are playable on the PS3.
The downsides/upside of this are:

If your playing the converted MKV off a USB drive, the File must be split into 4GB pieces (Due to the USB drive being FAT32, PS3 doesn't recognize NTFS). MKV2VOB does split these files for you

With the PS3 Internal HDD, Your allowed to copy 4GB+ Files to it (Dont argue), so you can copy and play files on the PS3 Internal HDD just fine without splitting the videos...

Your typical MKV file is 4GB for 720p, and 10GB for 1080p... on average that is

Hope this helps!

It's just as easy to do hit triangle and select display all to go to whatever folder you want, but if you want to drop everything in one folder, you have to have a folder called 'PS3' and one called 'VIDEO' inside that folder.

Or you could also take something from the PS3's hard drive and copy it to a flash drive and it'll create the necessary folders itself.

If you have a PC and can leave it on as a media server that's been the way to go for me. PS3 media server (a pc program) allows you to play (transcode) x264 MKV files, provided your PC is atleast say 2 ghz(tsmuxer works good on my old P4). You can also use the copy function on the PS3 and it will convert it to being PS3 compatible as it copies it over to your ps3 (over your home network). I have lots of my files on my PC hard drive I can stream and play on the PS3 this way, it works great.

just a note, PS3 won't recognise disks formatted as exFAT either