Windows – Getting “Play To” working on Windows 8 and a Playstation 3

dlnaps3windows 8

On Windows 8, "Play To" functionality has been integrated into Windows Explorer;

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However, as you can see, "Play To" is disabled; and I don't know why.

When I hover over the option, I get no information.

If I do things the other way round (set my PC as the streaming server through Windows Media Player, and then search for my PC from the PS3) this works fine; but as I've got many hundreds of videos on my PC, I want to be able to select a video from my laptop, and stream that to my PS3 instead.

I was under the impression that:

  • "Play To" works for any DLNA enabled device
  • A PS3 is a DLNA enabled device

Sharing is turned ON for this network on my Windows 8 PC, and I've ensured (and proved via the alternate approach above) that the two devices can communicate.

If it's any help, I can't see the PS3 listed as a network device, nor can I see it when I search for devices.

Any help would be appreciated!

Best Answer

The Playstation 3 is not a Digital Media Renderer (DMR), which is what is required for PlayTo to work.

Whilst the Playstation 3 is DLNA certified, it is only a Digital Media Player (DMP), which means it can only pull content from media servers. Content can not be sent to it remotely.

For more information, see this answer on the Microsoft Forums.

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