PS3 Video Server, Media Server Preliminary Setup and Tests

**Blaser** · **03-04-09, 05:00 PM**

Well, the PS3 is not only used as a movies storage device anyway... but it goes far more than that and is in my opinion one of the most versatile machines available today (if not the most at all).
So this thread is about only a fraction of the capabilities and features of the PS3, and the Popcorn Hour is good to have beside the PS3, but not as a replacement anyway

So no offence taken

**shine5555** · **03-04-09, 05:14 PM**

Quote:

dh2005 wrote:

Which is why you need a Popcorn Hour, dude...!

... but being serious for a moment, though...

I used this thread a great deal to begin with. It was the perfect starting point for learning about ripping, remuxing, VOB-merging, timecode-repair and other such things. And Bill is the perfect moderator - full of knowledge, innovative ideas and encouragement - which I deeply appreciated then, and I still do now. He and the other members helped me to get the very best that I possibly could out of my PS3, as a media device.

But, when push came to shove, it couldn't be denied that the Popcorn Hour machines are easier to use and, in my opinion, do a better job. I haven't had to compress, remux or otherwise "mess with" any DVD rips since going over to the Popcorn Hour. With my PS3, I was doing it all the time. And that God-forsaken 4GB limit was always a problem. It dictated what I could and couldn't back-up, because after 15 to 20% compression, the movies looked and sounded awful. And if it looks and sounds awful, you might as well use the disc...! Which completely defeated the object of the exercise, for me.

I know a lot of people are very happy with the PS3 - particularly those who stream content from networked devices, who can therefore circumvent the FAT32 issue. But for those who aren't, you might consider the Popcorn Hour (and/or other similar media devices).

Anyone with questions, feel free to PM me.

DH.

I can not for the life of me figure out ow to PM on this forum.... I am intrested in more info, I Love the guide, from this thread... I use this all the time, but maybe I need to start looking at popcorn hour, for my > 4 gig movies

**Blaser** · **03-04-09, 05:17 PM**

Guys, there are 2 threads about the Popcornhour (A-100 and A-110). Pls discuss these products there. Pls do not use PM for such discussions so that others can also benefit/learn...
Thanks!

**dh2005** · **03-04-09, 05:51 PM**

Blaser;

Sure, there are things the PS3 can do that the PCH can't, and vice versa. An important point that needed to be made - thank you.

**dh2005** · **03-04-09, 05:53 PM**

shine5555;

Yeah, I'm fortunate to have access to both.

Post to me on either the A-100 or the A-110 thread, and I'll reply to your questions there.

**wbassett** · **03-29-09, 07:07 AM**

Quote:

Blaser wrote:

Well, the PS3 is not only used as a movies storage device anyway... but it goes far more than that and is in my opinion one of the most versatile machines available today (if not the most at all).
So this thread is about only a fraction of the capabilities and features of the PS3, and the Popcorn Hour is good to have beside the PS3, but not as a replacement anyway

So no offence taken

Sorry for being away for so long in this thread, work has been very hectic.

I'm not putting the Popcorn Hour down in any way, however I agree with Blaser. The PS3 is much more than just a mass storage/playback device. It is also a top rated Bluray player, and did I mention it plays some pretty cool games too?

I'm lucky because I bought one of the first models so mine plays PS1, PS2, and PS3 games as well as upconverts DVDs and plays BDs. If I didn't have a PS3 though and already owned a stand alone BD player, then I probably would have gone the route of the PCH or Western Digital Media Player. Again... I certainly am not putting down the PCH or anyone that loves thier's, but if a person already has a PS3, why not use all of its capabilities? Now only if I can get Netflix Watch It Now to work through it...

I did some playing around, actually I was up all night playing! I went ahead and took the plunge and did a firmware update to 2.6. Some people were reporting that it was also crashing their system. I think maybe a lot has to do with how the update is done, but I can't say that for certain. I download the update to my computer and then put it on a USB flash drive and update my system that way. So far I have never had a problem, and 2.6 is running perfectly.

The first thing you'll want to do is go to your System Settings and then Video. Scroll all the way to the bottom and turn Sequential Playback on. That's it! Now you can skip making one .vob or mpeg file that's 4MB in size and use the 1GB .vob chunks that are the normal DVD size.

I tested this out with Rocky and it works perfect. Also, and this could vary from model to model, but I was able to fast forward just fine. Also if you hit 'next' it 'chapter skips' so to speak- there are no real chapter breaks, but it will go to the next .vob or mpeg file in the movie. That's better than nothing I guess.

The other things I played around with was sub-directories and long file names. Unfortunately sub-directories still do not work. The best you can get is /Video/MovieName. It won't read any folders nested further than that. Some good news though, I intentionally named a file with more than eight characters. That is something that really bugged me with FAT32 and I hated some of the cryptic names I came up with. I made a test .vob and named it RockyBalboa.vob, which is obviously eleven characters (the file extention doesn't count). This is going to make things a lot nicer. The bad news (for me at least) is I now have to go back and rename a bunch of things.

I'm up to 4.5TB of storage now, but I'll be honest and say I am not even close to having everything archived over yet. Work seems to be slowing down a bit now, so I hope to have everything archived soon. Plus I just put together a monster PC- Q8200 Quad Core 2.66Ghz, 4GB ram, 1TB hard drive, ATI Radeon HD 4650 PCI-Ex16 w/1024MB ram, DVI/HDMI/VGA out, 7.1 channel audio out via Tosh-link... a 22X Light Scribe DVD Burner, and... an LG SuperDrive that plays Bluray, HD DVD, burns Bluray discs, and plays and burns DVDs and CDs and a 32" LCD HDTV with HDMI and VGA in! So I'll have two systems in my computer area and one will pretty much be dedicated to archiving to the external USB drives! If anyone is interested, the system ran me $1200 for everything. I'll probably start a thread if anyone is interested in going that route instead of a PS3, PCH, or Western Digital Media player.

Anyway, I thought it was good news that 2.6 works, and also that fast forward, rewind, and 'next' all work as well as we don't have to use just eight characters. I'll play around and see what the max character count is and report back.

**Blaser** · **03-29-09, 04:01 PM**

Welcome back Bill!

I have the PCH in hands. A nice machine that is very good as a storage device. But I can't live without my PS3 though for its software and extremely fast processors (that's the biggest problem of the PCH).
They are both an excellent combination, I guess I need them both, the PCH mainly for its movies Jukebox programability and flexibility, which appears quite like a movies server I saw in a showroom for as much as 26000 $.
Both are definitely excellent stuff for the money IMO!

**wbassett** · **05-07-09, 10:50 AM**

I have some good news and some so-so news.

First the good news!
I've been enjoying all my new $5 HD DVDs! Some were even less, like say around $2, but they weren't free shipping like most of the $5 ones are. Still, with shipping they come to just under $5.

So I'm sitting here with all these HD flicks and my HTPC/Media PC I put together mainly for video editing and starting thinking... can I get these to play on my PS3? Well of course all my Blurays will play, just put the disc in. But I'm hooked on total archive playback. Can these be put on external drives too?

Blurays are a definite yes... with a bit of a but... The 4GB file size restriction. I know we've overcome that with the sequential playback feature, however I ran into a snag. I can split the BD files into any size I want, but when I tried a test playback on my PC there was a definite and noticeable 'bump' or gap/studder between the segments. I haven't tried it on the PS3 yet, but I see no reason I wouldn't experience the same thing there. So I need to work that issue out. As far as archiving, it does meet my main requirement of being simple and having as few steps as possible. Basically... one program is needed and that's it.

Now the so-so... HD DVDs are proving to be a bit of a problem. Not only do they require 8-10 steps, it also requires at least four programs and as of right now I have yet to successfully get one to work. I get video, but no audio.

On a side note... as far as Blurays go, this method should work for the Western Digital Media Center as well as the Popcorn Hour. I will be on vacation for a week and down at my brother's. He has a WD Media Center so I will be playing around with that while I'm there. I don't have access to a Popcorn hour though. As far as this thread though, I have nothing against the WD or PCH. I just happen to already own a PS3 so instead of spending more money on something else, my goal is to see what all I can do with the PS3.

I am toying with the idea of streaming to the PS3 from a PC (I have one sitting in my arcade cab that's in the HT room) but again I want to try and keep this as simple as possible. That plus some people may not be able to stream for a number of reasons. If they can, then there are a ton of options available to them. For those that can't, yet own a PS3... well that's what this thread is about.

The biggest factor with external drives and the PS3 is FAT32. This is something I doubt we'll ever see change though. And except for what I am trying to do right now, really there is no need. SDVDs play back perfectly, and with the sequential playback feature there is no need for the 4GB size movies... just use the native 1GB size chunks Shrink normally creates. No compression... and I am having no issues with FFW or RW.

**WRYKER** · **05-07-09, 11:33 AM**

Bill
So for BD's you have on an HD and view through the PS3 using the small 'chunks' do you get HD audio and no 'pauses' when it ends one VOB and begins the next? After my post a few months ago I'm leaning towards PCH for the sake of 'convenience' to rip DVDs, HDDVDs, & BDs and stream away without having to do nothing more than rip.

**wbassett** · **05-07-09, 12:09 PM**

I get full audio and video with BDs, it's just that at the moment when it switches to the next segment (on my PC, I still have to test this on my PS3) there is a momentary split second where the screen goes black. Totally unacceptable in my opinion. I am still working on this though, which is why I haven't posted any instructions yet.

Again I have nothing against the PCH. Like I said, I have a PS3 so I want to use what I have is all.

Wryker if you know an easy way to do HD DVDs please let me know!

**WRYKER** · **05-07-09, 01:34 PM**

My BD/HDDVD drive is en-route to me. I've held off for a while to see what would 'shake out' regarding streaming BD & HDDVD since I prefer 'easy' over a lot of work to stream HD stuff. I enjoy streaming DVDs to my HDTivo's without any problem so I'm probably going to get a PCH and a few NIM100's to make all my rooms 'wired' without needing to run any CAT6 and then either buy AnyDVD or use ToNMT UI (also looks like ToNMT UI does HDDVD's). I, too, would like to get all I can from my 2 PS3's but it just seems like too much work still.

**spartanstew** · **05-07-09, 03:01 PM**

Great Thread, I appreciate all the input.

One quick question.

I burned a partial movie, since I only had a 1GB flash drive laying around and wanted to test it out.

When I click on The USB device in the PS3 it says "no files". I have to use the triangle button and then select all files to see the file that's on there. I then select that and it plays fine.

Is that standard? Will I always have to hit triangle?

Burned the movie using Shrink and left it as a vob file.

**JTDINVA** · **05-07-09, 03:10 PM**

Quote:

Sonnie wrote:

I'll have to look at it and see... I'm not sure if it has USB ports or not. It's an Xbox 360

Sonnie - I'm doing something similar using the 360 and streaming the content from my PC using media center extender and a great interface called "My Movies". If you're interested let me know and I'll get you all the info.

John

**WRYKER** · **05-07-09, 04:29 PM**

Quote:

spartanstew wrote:

Great Thread, I appreciate all the input.

One quick question.

I burned a partial movie, since I only had a 1GB flash drive laying around and wanted to test it out.

When I click on The USB device in the PS3 it says "no files". I have to use the triangle button and then select all files to see the file that's on there. I then select that and it plays fine.

Is that standard? Will I always have to hit triangle?

Burned the movie using Shrink and left it as a vob file.

I can say for music files on a Flash Drive i've used and from what I've read elsewhere that yes, that is the way the PS3 works.

**wbassett** · **05-07-09, 05:41 PM**

Do you have it in a folder named /VIDEO ?

**spartanstew** · **05-07-09, 05:46 PM**

Quote:

wbassett wrote:

Do you have it in a folder named /VIDEO ?

Me? No.

It's not in a folder at all. I figured I would just have the movies on the drive without a folder, so it would be one less access point.

Do I need a video folder?

**wbassett** · **05-07-09, 05:49 PM**

I haven't tried a flash drive other than for updates, but I it should have the same folder structure and the internal drive or an external USB Hard Drive. All your videos should be in a folder named '\VIDEO'

**spartanstew** · **05-07-09, 05:56 PM**

Quote:

wbassett wrote:

I haven't tried a flash drive other than for updates, but I it should have the same folder structure and the internal drive or an external USB Hard Drive. All your videos should be in a folder named '\VIDEO'

Why?

Even with an external HD, I was just planning on putting all the movies on the drive without any folders.

Will having a folder eliminate the need for hitting triangle?

Is there any other reason to have a folder?

For the most part, I'll be doing this to put all of our kids movies (Disney, Pixar, etc.) on a HD so I can stop using DVD backups which get trashed all the time in the kids playroom. One less step for them to access their movies will probably be beneficial (which is why I wasn't going to use folders). But, if it eliminated the need to press the triangle, it might be worth it (and more so if there's other needs/benefits to folders).

**wbassett** · **05-07-09, 06:19 PM**

Quote:

spartanstew wrote:

Why?

To start... that's the folder structure the PS3 uses. It's not that big of a deal on a small flash drive.

Even with an external HD, I was just planning on putting all the movies on the drive without any folders.

Will having a folder eliminate the need for hitting triangle?

As you've seen, you can just throw all your files in one location, but try to imagine a terabyte drive with hundreds of movies and maybe even music (all my cds are on my internal drive) and trying to find something. And yes, it should eliminate the need to press the triangle. I should say at least I don't have to.

Is there any other reason to have a folder?
Sub folders!
In addition to keeping your music, pictures, and videos seperate and sorted, you can make a sub folder under the main VIDEO directory. So for Spiderman I have \VIDEO\Spiderman\Spiderman.vob ... Spiderman2.vob ... and Spiderman3.vob in one directory.

Same goes with my other drives. I have a TV series all in one folder, so if I want to watch Magnum P.I. I just go to the MagnumPI folder and don't have to go through everything else on the drive.

For the most part, I'll be doing this to put all of our kids movies (Disney, Pixar, etc.) on a HD so I can stop using DVD backups which get trashed all the time in the kids playroom. One less step for them to access their movies will probably be beneficial (which is why I wasn't going to use folders). But, if it eliminated the need to press the triangle, it might be worth it (and more so if there's other needs/benefits to folders).

It's really not that much extra work. You have to go to Video from the dashboard anyway, then click the drive and you'll see the sub folders. The one issue I could see is if they are really young and can't read yet. You could just get a smaller USB drive for their movies and have them all in the open for them to select... but honestly if they are that young I personally would not want someone that young messing with a $400 player.

In the end though, set it up however it works best for you!

**spartanstew** · **05-07-09, 10:44 PM**

Quote:

wbassett wrote:

The one issue I could see is if they are really young and can't read yet. You could just get a smaller USB drive for their movies and have them all in the open for them to select... but honestly if they are that young I personally would not want someone that young messing with a $400 player.

In the end though, set it up however it works best for you!

Well, they're 4 and 6. They've (mainly the 6 year old) had the PS3 in their playroom for over a year now, putting in their own DVD's (and taking them out). But, their DVD's get scratched and all the time and I have to reburn them. That's the main reason I'm looking into this. I'm not worried about them wrecking the PS3, they've done fine with it for the last year. The 6 year old can read well, I just wanted to make it as few button presses for him as possible, but since he has to hit triangle this way, it's not much different than selecting a folder, so I'll probably give that a try. I do wish there were images for each file as that would make it so much easier for them (especially the 4 year old), but you can't have everything. I don't need it for my own personal use (yet), as all my movies are in the home theater and I don't have a PS3 in there (and as of now, don't see a need to have anything but the actual disc to play).

Thanks for your help in this thread, I'll try folders when I start putting them all on a large HD.

**wbassett** · **05-08-09, 09:50 AM**

Try it both ways then and let them tell you which is easiest for them to use.

Yeah I've heard the comment on 'Just put the disc in!' by many, and that is a viable option. Aside from the coolness factor, my DVD library is around 1500 movies and TV series. I have a 6' wide by 8' high DVD rack and two small racks, and I am out of room! I've actually lost track of DVDs because I have some upstairs, some in the rack, and some in unknown places!

So it's not about being lazy!

For me it's about organization, and yeah... there is a certain coolness factor about it! Especially when I get my Pronto remote and get it all programmed. Then if I want to watch Miami Vice, or the original Mission Impossible TV series or anything, I just push one button, it turns on my AV reciever, the HD TV or projector, the PS3 and selects the folder, movie and everything starts playing without ever having to dig through hundreds of DVDs looking for something!

**dh2005** · **05-09-09, 01:43 PM**

Hey fellas,

Long time, no talk... and the last time I did talk, I annoyed a couple of moderators. So, I'm very sorry about that.

It seems the versatility of the PS3 has improved since I ditched it in favour of the PCH A-110. Not that I'd be without my PCH... but I was wondering, could someone confirm or deny the following for me:

1. Can the PS3 now play VIDEO_TS and/or .ISO rips of DVDs? That is to say, can it play complete discs with menus, switchable subtitle and audio tracks etc...?

2. If not that, can the PS3 now run 1GB .VOBs in a movie folder sequentially without delays between files?

3. Also, and this would REALLY be a killer addition, does the PS3 now have the ability to read .IFO files? This would resolve all of those dreadful aspect ratio problems that I was having back in November. Without which I probably wouldn't have bought a PCH in the first place...!

I'm asking because a friend of mine has a PS3, and I've been advising him to buy a PCH because it has better DVD playback facilities. But it seems I'm slightly behind the times on the PS3, and I don't want to give him bad advice. For starters, he's a lot bigger than me...!

Cheers,

DH.

**Blaser** · **05-09-09, 04:57 PM**

Hi DH, it's a pleasure to see you around!!

Quote:

dh2005 wrote:

1. Can the PS3 now play VIDEO_TS and/or .ISO rips of DVDs? That is to say, can it play complete discs with menus, switchable subtitle and audio tracks etc...?

From a hard drive... still no.

Quote:

2. If not that, can the PS3 now run 1GB .VOBs in a movie folder sequentially without delays between files?

Yes... not like the original DVD for the delay but not bad.

Quote:

3. Also, and this would REALLY be a killer addition, does the PS3 now have the ability to read .IFO files? This would resolve all of those dreadful aspect ratio problems that I was having back in November. Without which I probably wouldn't have bought a PCH in the first place...!

Things haven't changed a lot since November, the best thing that happened is basically sequential playback.

If your friend only needs to play movies from a hard drive, the PCH is still the way to go....

**cypher_195** · **05-10-09, 04:28 AM**

Hey all,

I'm new ere from Australia n let me apologise for my shortness n abbreviating on the count of left hand typing - I have read right thru this thread while in hospital with a broken hand in search of the true multimedia capabilities PS3 has to offer after getting a glimpse of a friends streaming setup.

Thankyou to Bill for your dedication to this topic...much time I have wasted on less than adequate solutions. Like you, I share above norm shall we say "OCD tendencies" regrding th quality req of my media storage and have found methods used by others (such as mentioned above and throughout) to be primarily much too time consuming and punishing on produced quality.

This as been hands down the most diversely explored and informative thread I have been lucky enuf to locate.

Many of the issues discussed surrounding playback functionality and quality I have witnessed on a friends HT setup using PS3 + WiFi Router + PC with added HDD. Scanning/searching and selection can be valuable to users such as myself who thrive on the simple enjoyment of DVD functionality but with the desire of fingertip access to everything.

My input > I hav not been able to test this on PS3 itself yet - as in hospital with only my laptop - though I would like you if possible to explore the following -
In Reauthor mode > left pane (DVD compilation view) > DVD Shrink 3.2 displays a button with 2 arrows icon (wave cursor over and see label 'set start/end frames').

From what I can see it allows u 2 portion the main title/movie into individual smaller segments of your own custom length/size/time. By using this rather then the 'split to 1GB files' function would it not be possible to essentially recreate 'Chapters' with the added funtionality of PS3's sequential video playback update?

If the above is true we should have the abilty not only to FFW/RW but move between actual scenes - ie: the 'NEXT' button on ur remote/controller would take you to the next small .vob/mpeg file, also avoiding our FAT32 4GB max size nightmare....??

Regards, Chris

**dh2005** · **05-10-09, 12:16 PM**

Hey Chris,

Welcome to the forum. And I second your praise of Bill for his commitment to this cause. Although I was ultimately to abandon the PS3 as a media streamer, I gained considerable knowledge about video compression and playback technologies through this thread.

The wonder of the PS3 as a media streamer is that it's powerful and versatile, particularly given everything else that it can do. The trouble with it is that, because it's not primarily a media streamer, users are forced to make compromises. Those compromises got the better of me, and I defected to Popcorn Hour.

The 4GB file-size limit wouldn't be so much of a problem if .VOBs ran sequentially with seamless buffering. But because they can't, it really handicaps the PS3 as a DVD-archiving solution. Plus, the inability to read .IFO files will cause some video files to lose their timecodes and aspect ratios (and I know not everyone has had problems with this... but I had lots - almost 40% of my discs).

If you don't mind compressing movies, sometimes losing their anamorphism, and occasionally having to remux rips to repair broken timecodes, the PS3 is fine. For people happy to stream content from a PC, I'm told (although I've never tried it myself...) that the PS3 is very good at that. But for someone wanting a (mostly!) painless DVD-archiving experience, in which 100% perfecto disc images are accessible from internal, USB and NAS hard drives, I must recommend the Popcorn Hour machines.

Blaser's experience is similar to mine, I think it's fair to say - we both tried to make friends with the PS3 as a media streamer, couldn't do it, and went for a PCH.

I reiterate - for those willing to make compromises, the PS3 can be a very commendable media streamer, and I'm not here to hijack the thread or offend anyone. But for those with less patience, and the willingness to make the investment, Popcorn Hour machines deserve consideration.

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