I bought a couple of t.v. shows off of i tunes and copied them to my external h.d. However, when I connected the hard drive to my PS3, it said that the files weren't supported. The files are in mpeg4, can't the PS3 play files in this form? What did I do wrong?

The videos are likely encumbered with DRM thus restricting where you can play them. It's not your fault.

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/04/02/HNjobsnotpushingliftvideodrm_1.html

I did not know that. Thanks for the info. I guess I am S.O.L. then, aren't I?

I don't have any experience with itunes stuff myself. It might be worth asking Apple or Itunes support about it so they at least know people want to do this.

The PS3 is funny about playing Mpeg files. I cannot get Mpeg-2 TS files to play...I can get Mpeg-2 PS files to play ( Most of the time). Also...you are limited to 4 gig files max from the external HD.

If you have QuickTime Pro, the "export" feature works perfectly on the PS3. You can choose what codec to use for .mp4 (I use h.264, at 4000kbps), you can choose your resolution and audio options etc... and it runs perfectly on PS3.