Streaming to my PS3 - Advice Nedded

[sparksj]

I need the Blu Ray forum members’ tech savvy advice.

I have recently started converting some of my old home movie and slide show DVDs to files that I can stream from my PC to my PS3. Since I also have an Xbox 360, I have selected to convert everything to .WMV files, since both my 360 and PS3 can read them.

However, apart from taking forever to convert (about 4 hours for 1 hour and 30 minute DVD), I have a success rate of about only 50%. That means that about 50% of the time I get situations where the sound just stops while the video keeps running, or the picture just freezes. I doubt it’s my PC (see specs below), or my source file, I have noticed that sometimes the issue is fixed using a different converter. But I need some advice.

First of all, I have a Dell XPS quad core running at 2.8 Ghz with 2 GB Ram and a 128 MB Nvidia video card. I also am running everything through wired Ethernet, not wireless.

Questions:
1. Is there a better video converter that I should use? I have tried DVD Fab and Movavie Video Converter.
2. Could the issue be with the .WMV file type? What is the best file format to use for reliability and picture quality? I think I can stream to my 360 using Nero, which would give me the option of using a different file format. (I know that MPG2 takes a lot less time to convert, but haven’t used it enough to test its reliability)

The final issue may be with the settings I’m using within the converter, but I think that would be o time consuming to correct via a forum.

Any streaming advice you would be willing to share would be well appreciated.

Thank you in advance.