PS3 and AVI

[spagmasterswift]

First take it as read that I know nothing...

Right....I have some .avi files on my work Mac that I would like to play on my PS3.

If I pop them onto a memory stick can I then just slot that into the PS3 and it will play them or do I need to download some software or something on the PS3 first? I use VLC to view them on my Mac so do I need that?

Any help/advice greatly appreciated.

[kernow]

pop them in and the usb stick will appear, press triangle in the video section and display all, then select a file and try playing it

[spagmasterswift]

I would like to think it will be that easy, but I have found nothing ever is. I will give it a go though, thanks for the info.

[slimithy]

It all depends on the codecs contained in the AVI
For example, it will play all divx and xvid streams with mp3 audio, however it will not play any/many AVI with AC3 audio that's encoded lower than 192kbps. If you want lower bit rate AC3 audio (file size issues) then they need to be in m2ts/mp4 containers which will then need an x264 video stream.
There are other limitations but i can't think of them off the top of my head right now.

And to answer your question, no you dont need to download any additional software for your PS3