PS3 Video Server, Media Server Preliminary Setup and Tests

**Blaser** · **05-10-09, 01:36 PM**

I agree DH, but I must say I am friend with both. PCH is a far better movies tank but PS3 is far supperior in photos and a much better music tank.
I don't believe it would be right to discuss one vs the other simply because they were not designed to do the same tasks (they are not competitors). But they basically complete each other:
I use PS3 for:
- BD playback
- Music playback
- Photo playback
- Games

I use the PCH for:
- movies storage / playback (excellent, the YAMJ's a free software that makes the job of several thousand dollar machines!!)
- downloads

The PS3 is a much faster machine with very fast processors, while the PCH is more delicate to deal with.

If I should advise someone to buy one over the other, I'd really consider what he needs to do, but I think (and that's my opinion) the PS3 should come first (BD/DVD playback comes to mind), then a PCH is an excellent add-on...

**dh2005** · **05-10-09, 01:58 PM**

Yeah, I'd probably agree with that.

I bought the PS3 because I wanted to watch Blu-ray discs. It was only when I discovered this thread, and I began faffing about with DVDShrink, that I realised it might be possible to archive my DVD collection to hard drives and 'retire' the discs. After spending six or seven weeks trying to force my PS3 to be something it wasn't, I then began looking elsewhere and stumbled upon the Popcorn Hour A-110... so, you could say that I bought a PCH because I'd bought a PS3! As a natural consequence, as it were.

You're right about YAMJ. Absolutely gorgeous, and completely free. Somebody should kiss those guys...

**Blaser** · **05-10-09, 02:11 PM**

DH,

Exactly! Couldn't agree more

**dh2005** · **05-10-09, 02:43 PM**

And you know, I think it's only fair to express some criticism of the PCH. Just to give a balanced view:

1). Ahmed described the PCH as "delicate to deal with". He was being polite. It's actually a royal pain the backside, sometimes. It's got next-to-zero processing power, so anything vaguely complicated makes it plod. And setting it up can take ages if you don't know what you're doing.

2). Sometimes perfectly good files just don't run. For no reason at all. They just don't. It's very rare - I think I have ten files out of almost 800 that don't run, but every single one is irritating.

3). It's surprisingly rubbish at playing music. Not because it doesn't sound good, but because the music software's awful. If you think the PS3's is bad, check out the PCH...!

4). Frankly, it looks tacky, and the remote's a bit lame. It's nothing like as polished and smart as the PS3.

I'm sure there are other complaints... but mostly, PCH machines are awesome.

**wbassett** · **06-02-09, 02:22 PM**

Quote:

WRYKER wrote:

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.

Something to keep in mind... the 4GB and FAT32 restrictions as well as the video 'bumps' I reported with BD files is only if you are connecting to the PS3's USB ports. If you are streaming, these issues go away. In that sense then the PCH may have a tougher fight with the PS3 in that arena because the PS3 can also be streamed too, plays a wide range of file formats, and is also a BD player and game console. The only thing missing is Netflix.

Honestly, if you are already streaming, and have PS3's... why not try streaming to them? If I already had a stand alone BD player I certainly wouldn't buy a PS3 just as a media player, but since I already have one, I'm trying to get it to work as a media player across the board.

**wbassett** · **06-02-09, 04:38 PM**

Quote:

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

Blazer also answered this...

I personally haven't seen any delays with standard def discs and .vob files... just with m2ts files. I'll have to go back and play around with some more SDVDs and see if there is a delay, but none that I noticed so far. Trust me on this one, any delay or even the slightest audio sync issue and I usually notice it before anyone else does. Probably because I am looking for it though, but I do pick up on things like this.

Next bit of news/updates...
Of course as mentioned streaming is a very viable option. However not everyone may have a PC setup for streaming, or like me, can't easily run a network cable. If it is available though, it probably is the easiest solution to everything mentioned throughout this thread.

Next I looked at what can be done on the PS3 side of things? The options I was looking at:

Upgrading the internal Hard Drive.
Adding a secondary OS

Upgrading the internal drive is definitely an option, but there is a cost factor- You have to buy a new 2.5" drive. The pros are that the PS3's internal drive is isn't FAT32 (not NTFS either) and it can support files over 4GB! Replacing the internal drive is also a breeze. The con... very large 2.5" drives can be a bit on the expensive side and those larger drives tend to have a higher failure rate than smaller drives. Also when you run out of space you can't just add another drive.

However HD content from the Hauppauge PVR 1212 is amazingly small in size. I just recorded a high definition movie and the file size was a surprisng 6.82GB m2ts file. Playback looked absolutely stunning, and yes it also retains the 1080 resolution as well as 5.1 sound. With that said, a larger internal drive can hold an awful lot of HD content! If the plan is to archive BDs to that drive, well it's going to fill up real fast.

Next in consideration is a secondary OS. Yellow Dog Linux (YDL) is designed for many types of systems, including the PS3! It really sounded like a great option but there were a few things the site wasn't clear about, so I called.

First the support team at YDL is very good, and they don't keep you on hold forever either. I explained what I wanted to do, and they had quick and clear answers. Sadly, Linux isn't going to be a solution for us, at least not right now. There were some issues with USB support, so that right there was a problem, but they have gotten USB drives working. The next problem is it still is only FAT32 support, so we won't gain any ground there either. Plus when I inquired about the media player, YDL (or RedHat for that matter as far as I know) can't access the NVidia hardware in the PS3, so we lose the excellent upconverting that the PS3 does.

Conclusion- YDL isn't an option. Even if it did work with NTFS and upconverted like a bandit... I think the learning curve for installing a secondary OS is probably more than the average person wants to deal with. Still it should be mentioned that only the PS3 can be setup with a secondary OS and be used as a fully functional PC... no other media center can do that... Well, except for an HTPC, but if we had one of them in our system we wouldn't be talking about any of this! (Being the owner of a full blown HTPC in my upstairs setup, I can say we'd be discussing totally different issues! Nothing is perfect.)

Supposedly someone actually got Windows running on a PS3, but it was dreadfully slow... so slow it was essentually useless. But it was done!

So I continue on my quest... and I do feel that the PS3 has the power to do everything we want, but Sony won't unlock certain features. The PS3 SDK has found its way out to the internet though!

What exactly does that mean? Well the number one complaint about the WDTV by some was that it doesn't have network support... The WDTV also has its code out on the net and there are a lot of talented people writing new firmware updates for the WDTV, and yepperdoodle, it supports networking now! (I also tested a WDTV with a USB hub and can state for a fact that hubs work too with the official WD firmware even though they say hubs aren't officially supported). We could be looking at some home grown firmware updates for the PS3 that break down some of the barriers we're talking about here.

I wouldn't hold my breath on a home brew PS3 FW update anytime soon, but mark my word they will be coming. Even when they do arrive, well... I'd be less afraid of updating the firmware on a $99 WDTV than I will be on my $500 PS3 (That's what I paid two years ago).

I have a few more things I am going to try, and if they don't work, my solution will be to stream from my arcade PC. I do like the WDTV though based on its size, price, and what it can do. I'm just having a tough time right now of the thought of adding another device to my setup just for m2ts/HD files when I can still just throw those into the player... and the fact that I only have around 60 HD DVD/Blurays and 1500 SDVDs...

**Avus_M3** · **06-27-09, 12:32 PM**

I have a weird issue. I used DVDFab to pull the titles off of some demo disc I have so I could store the various scenes on the PS3. All the videos play great but I only have sound on the Dolby encoded (AC-3) tracks. The DTS doesn't play audio? I changed from linear pcm (over hdmi) to bitstream and that didn't work either? When I play them on my PC they play fine? Any thoughts?

I have a 500gb ext3 formatted hd attached via USB to my router which acts as a NAS. Works great so far!

**wbassett** · **07-11-09, 09:06 PM**

Dave I don't have an answer for you about the DTS vs AC-3 playback issue. Can you select the DTS audio track with the remote?

Question for you... What router are you using? Brand and model number? A NAS setup would be perfect for me too as long as it supports NTFS formatted drives.

**myrddin** · **07-21-09, 12:39 PM**

I use an app called playon to stream to my viewing area. It works well... you can get netflix, hulu, cbs, espn and more... You can also load plugins to get more like adult swim, local files (plays images from your PC) and much more...

interested in what your thoughts are:

look up ( the media mall . com) - playon

plugins - playonplugins . com

sorry first post cant link...

just thought I would add what works for me... I love the PS3 - great player and game console.

let me know what you think?

also I use Nero for all editing great program and will dump blue ray, as well as allow me to add custom start animations like welcome to my HT and so on...

**Kagolu** · **08-07-09, 03:27 PM**

Has anyone figured out subtitles yet?

**WRYKER** · **08-07-09, 03:36 PM**

I gave up on trying to use the PS3 to stream BD's or HDDVDs and bought the A110 Popcorn Hour and I'm mc-luvin' it. My PS3 can see the PCH and I can stream the ripped BDs & HDDVDs to it but it chokes on the file and plays 1 second, pause, second second, pause, etc - and no sound.
But it was interesting to see that it can 'see' the files being broadcast.
For SD DVDS I've ripped those and use Tivo to watch them VOD-style. So my PS3 is barely touched now.

**dh2005** · **08-09-09, 08:50 PM**

Yeah. I must admit, as lovely a piece of kit as it is, I've not used my PS3 in ages because I can't afford to buy games for it, and my A-110 achieves (almost) everything I want at the media end of the equation.

**wbassett** · **09-06-09, 11:47 PM**

Sorry to hear you guys are not happy and went to different tech.

I'm still with my PS3 and what I've done is one I don't buy games when they first come out... smart advice to any console owner!

You can rent a game at Block Buster or online, and I highly recommend that because you could get nailed with a stinko title for $60 like I did! Rent it, play it and see if you like it. If you do, then buy it when it drops in price a few months later. That's the smart thing for games. Oh... I forgot, BD players and PCH don't play games! People that own those... never mind!

PCH and WDTV... I truly love the WDTV. I think pound for pound and for the price it is the slickest thing I have seen. Thing is, neither play Bluray discs, so if you're in the market for a BD player and want to play archived content from hard drives, neither of these will satisfy that.

The PS3 won't do everything, as in it won't DVR things, but it really does come the closest to anything to doing everything. It's not perfect, but I will also say nothing is... and neither is the PCH or the WDTV.

**dh2005** · **09-07-09, 08:34 AM**

Hello Bill,

Yeah, I agree that there's nothing currently available that can do everything... but the Popcorn Hour C-200 is shipping this week. This device threatens to do the PS3 out of business as a media streamer, unless Sony can improve the functionality through firmware.

I'm not here to pimp, so I won't provide a link. Those who are interested should look it up.

**wbassett** · **09-07-09, 04:54 PM**

The main thing is that I already own a PS3 so my mindset is to use what I have instead of spending a couple hundred more on something that does the same thing... or in this case part of the same thing

I really can't speak for the PCH since I don't have one and don't know anyone that does so I can review one. I have seen the WDTV up close and personal and it is probably the slickest thing I have played with in years. For $100 I was tempted to go out and buy one, but again... I have a hard time justifying that when I already have the tools to do the same thing.

The PCH would need to really blow the PS3 away in my opinion in order to justify the price and lack of BD playback. If the new WDTV is priced right (around the $130 mark) it will put a hurting on the PCH. That certainly isn't slamming the PCH, I really am open minded on other ways of doing things, but price and performance/features are high on my list. I would not recommend a PS3 to someone that already has a Bluray player, but I certainly would to someone that is looking to get into the BD world! Especially with the $299 price tag now.

I've said it before and the one thing that really hurts the PS3 is the lack of NTFS support, but it does work extremely well with a media server. My current project is setting up a NAS with 20 terabytes of storage (10TB as RAID backup). Once that's done I will pick up one of the new WDTVs and maybe a PCH and put one in each room with a TV as a media center hub (the PS3 of course being part of the main theater/media room).

**sub_junkie** · **10-31-09, 11:25 PM**

I just tried converting Tranformers Revenge of the Fallen using DVD Shrink. I get this error message when it starts Analyzing the DVD. I also have DVD 43 to decode the dvd or something. I can't remember right now...

**eugovector** · **11-01-09, 01:07 PM**

Are you trying to rip using DVD shrink as well? I'd say you have a copyright protection problem. Here at the HTS, I don't think we want to head down the road of discussing how to circumvent copyright protection, but a google search will likely yield some answers.

**sub_junkie** · **11-02-09, 09:59 PM**

Ok, I understand

Has anyone else had this problem yet? Or if someone has Transformers 2, can you try ripping it onto the PS3 via an external HDD?

**wbassett** · **11-02-09, 10:19 PM**

ANYDVD should do it

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