PS3 Video Server, Media Server Preliminary Setup and Tests

[wbassett]

dloose wrote:

I just tried this weekend to rip and stream a couple of DVD to a new 40 Gb PS3 with 2.35 firmware. First thing I noticed was that playing the ripped VOB file on the PS3, it did not fill the whole screen horizontally (as it dis when the disk was played on the PS3), as was posted by others above. Both TRUELIES and INDEPENDENCE day did this. Both are ~ 2.35 aspect ratio so there will be bars top and bottom but should fill the screen horizontally. I don't think the image is "cropped" but I'll have to do a close A B comparison. I can expand the image with WIDE on the TV (Sammy HTS-5687); my point is the ripped file and the original are not behavig identically. More digging

Are you streaming from a media server or using a USB drive? I don't use a media server so I am not in a position to really give you a good answer on that if you are. If you have a USB drive you can try this... try putting it on the USB drive and see if it works that way. If it does, then we have a streaming issue and we'll have to look into that.

I just finshed (well a couple months ago) putting the entire Highlander TV servies and all the movies on a 500GB MyBook without any problems whatsoever, and I still have around 200GB free! When I get time I plan on putting the rest of my 'sword genre' flicks on that drive.

Some question why do this, but when you have over 1000 DVDs, it's nice to consolidate some to a small footprint space wise like this. Plus since most either end up with no compression or very little, they all are still DVD quality. If I really like a special feature I'll grab that from the disc too but mostly I just get the movie itself.

One thing that does have me a little miffed though is they changed the look of the My Books now. I like things to look the same and not have a mismatched look sitting there. Maybe it's just me on that though!

@ wbassett

Thanks a lot for replying, I really appreciate it. This is seriously one of the most informative ps3 related threads on the web right now and I hope that it continues to grow with information. If you have those two movies, i would really appreciate it if you could give them a try and let me know the results on your end. I used anydvd software to break the encryption(which usually does a good job) but i still get the same results as if i just used dvdshrink. Not sure what's the deal, but with more people trying maybe we can narrow down and isolate the problem. Tia

[dloose]

wbassett wrote:

Are you streaming from a media server or using a USB drive? I don't use a media server so I am not in a position to really give you a good answer on that if you are. If you have a USB drive you can try this... try putting it on the USB drive and see if it works that way. If it does, then we have a streaming issue and we'll have to look into that.

I've tried putting the file on a USB and it behaves exactly the same way. Using "Full screen" in the "Screen Mode" option scales it fine. I'm amazed at how well streaming wirelessly from Tversity works; but I've only experimented with 3 DVDs.

One reproducible problem I've run into is loss of sync between audio and video (streaming or USB). It seems to occur on scene changes that may be DVD chapter breakpoints on the disk. I would expect
there is a lot of metadata at these points and that may be causing the problem. It does not happen at every chapter break. It can be resolved by stopping playback, falling back to the main PS3 screen and then resuming. Reminds me of a first generation Sony DVD player I had that did the same thing LOL.

I have an AMD 3000+ (~ 2.5 GHz) PC and it takes about an hour to rip a 120 min DVD with DVD shrink. Intel processors may work better for this.

I know what you mean about organizing media collections. I have ripped about 600 CDs (more than 6000 tracks) and having a database to browse, either in TVersity (not a great interface, new one promised soon) or Media Monkey (better) is wonderful; much nicer than getting down on hands and knees to find a disk, especially in the dark! If you haven't done it already, you might consider either Tversity or MM to create a database; you've done the tedious part of creating the data.

[dloose]

I ripped Star Wars IV (remastered version) without using any compression - file size was 6.4 GB. Obviously couldn't put this on a FAT32 drive the PS3 can use, but it streams OK from Tversity. The video library on my PC is NTFS, so that's one way around the 4 GB limit. Bad news is that I get an occasional dropout streaming the uncompressed file. Bandwith requirement is about 7-8 Mb/sec, probably right at my wireless limit (yeah I know it should be 27 Mb/s in theory and more like 19 Mb/s in the real world but mine's not that fast). The other bad news was the video artifacts, even uncompressed were horrible. White credits shimmered and wiggled; in the early scene in the white hallway, all the white lines in the walls were horrible black jaggy lines. The DVD played straight up was gorgeous from the PS3.

[wbassett]

dloose try this...

Try playing it locally on your PC and see if you have the same problem. Really there should be no difference between putting the DVD in or watching the archive, especially now that the PS3 can handle .vob files.

The only issues that could come into play would be compression (I do know if a file is compressed too much, aside from video quality hits, sometimes there are playback issues), copy protection, and then a bad archive.

The Shrink method isn't doing any video conversions, so as I mentioned there should be no difference in audio or video playback. When I run into a problem I always check it out on my PC to see if the problem follows the player. That's a real quick way to determine if it's the file itself or the PS3 is the issue.

I don't stream, my situation isn't practical for streaming, so I can't discuss any streaming problems from first hand experience.

I don't know where your video artifact issues are coming from. Like I said, it really should be a 'Is it live or is it Memorex' thing.

[dloose]

wbassett wrote:

dloose try this...


The Shrink method isn't doing any video conversions, so as I mentioned there should be no difference in audio or video playback. When I run into a problem I always check it out on my PC to see if the problem follows the player. That's a real quick way to determine if it's the file itself or the PS3 is the issue.

I don't know where your video artifact issues are coming from. Like I said, it really should be a 'Is it live or is it Memorex' thing.

Thanks for the response. I REALLY wondered where the artifacts were coming from in the UNcompressed file. I'll try the PC connected to my HDTV and have a look.

[dloose]

dloose wrote:

Thanks for the response. I REALLY wondered where the artifacts were coming from in the UNcompressed file. I'll try the PC connected to my HDTV and have a look.

THe video is perfect from my PC sending 1028x720 to my monitor which upscales to 1080p. So something is misconfigured in the PS3 which is upscaling the file at 720x480 (p or i?) to 1080p. The disc in the PS3 is perfect. What output from the PS3 are you using?

[wbassett]

dloose wrote:

THe video is perfect from my PC sending 1028x720 to my monitor which upscales to 1080p. So something is misconfigured in the PS3 which is upscaling the file at 720x480 (p or i?) to 1080p. The disc in the PS3 is perfect. What output from the PS3 are you using?

I am using the HDMI output to a 55" 1080p Sony SXRD. Both the PS3 and SXRD are set to 1080p.

Is this just a couple of movies or everything?

What Firmware version is your PS3 at and what outputs are you using and what resolution setting? This is a strange one.

[dloose]

wbassett wrote:

I am using the HDMI output to a 55" 1080p Sony SXRD. Both the PS3 and SXRD are set to 1080p.

Is this just a couple of movies or everything?

What Firmware version is your PS3 at and what outputs are you using and what resolution setting? This is a strange one.

Seeing artifacts with first 3 movies I've done. That's why I tried no compression.

HDMI from the PS3 (v 2.35, brand new 40 G) at 1080p/24 (or 60, that's not it) to a Denon 3808ci (scaling turned off), HDMI from Denon to Samsung HLT-5687S. My first try will be different resolutions out of the PS3; I'm new to the PS3 but I've been doing this stuff for a while and agree it's strange. If I could figure a way to send 10 sec of the file, I would. Maybe with Nero....

[Kagolu]

Hey Guy,

New to the forum and this great thread. Thanks for all the great info. I've been wanting tinker around with this for some time and since I've had the flu all week I finally got a chance.

I've only done one movie(Something about Mary) and It worked great. Is there a way to enable Subtitles? I checked them when intially ripping the dvd but it is not an option when I try to play it back on the PS3. I need them for my wife.

And had anyone figured out how to keep it from freezing up when you do a long fast forward. I figured it is because the file is so large( I set it to compress to 3999mb).

Thanks again guys!

[sslamster]

Hey guys,

Just registered to get in on this thread; great info! I have ripped about 20 or so movies to my WD 500GB external HD so far and everything has gone great. Thanks for the great instructions! Before PS3 FW2.4 the video quality was so-so. But after the FW update the video quality has improved when playing back those movies off the external HD. Anyone else experience this?

[sslamster]

Kagolu wrote:

Hey Guy,

New to the forum and this great thread. Thanks for all the great info. I've been wanting tinker around with this for some time and since I've had the flu all week I finally got a chance.

I've only done one movie(Something about Mary) and It worked great. Is there a way to enable Subtitles? I checked them when intially ripping the dvd but it is not an option when I try to play it back on the PS3. I need them for my wife.

And had anyone figured out how to keep it from freezing up when you do a long fast forward. I figured it is because the file is so large( I set it to compress to 3999mb).

Thanks again guys!

I had that same issue, I assume you are leaving the filename extension as .VOB? I tried renaming the files with a .mpeg extension and the FF problem has disappeared!

[Doogz007]

Hi guys, I am new to the forum & registered specifically for this great thread. Thanks Bill & to all who have contributed.

I was trawling the net looking for information on how to do exactly what is be discussed here & stumbled across this thread. So I bought a Western Digital 1TB external HDD & have started backing up my DVD collection.

I have backed up around 20 movies with no issues, works a treat!

I have a few questions that I would appreciate if someone could answer or point me in the right direction.

1. Is there a size limit on the folders of the external HDD? The reason I ask is that I had 10 moves in one folder which I had called GANGSTER & copied another 5 or 6 movies to the folder as they were the same Genre. When I looked in the folder via the PS3 I could only see the first ten movies. I made another folder calling it GANGSTER_2 & moved the 5 or 6 "hidden" movies to it & I could see them via the PS3 with no issues. Not a problem, just curious.

2. Is there a way to get a thumbnail of the movie onto the PS3 along with the movie or add it later? I am very happy that I can see the title & play the movie but my wife is not impressed that she can see a section for a still shot & yet there is nothing thereSo I said I would ask & try & find out. I have to keep her happy she is the boss


3. Seems to have escaped me at the minute but there is another question I have.
Thanks Dougie

[scrub]

First post. Great forum and topic here. Thanks for the hard work and information provided...

sslamster wrote:

Hey guys,

Just registered to get in on this thread; great info! I have ripped about 20 or so movies to my WD 500GB external HD so far and everything has gone great. Thanks for the great instructions! Before PS3 FW2.4 the video quality was so-so. But after the FW update the video quality has improved when playing back those movies off the external HD. Anyone else experience this?

Here's why movies from the HDD look better after 2.40 and 2.41.

Video
You can now use the [Frame Noise Reduction] and [Block Noise Reduction] settings for video content that is saved on the hard disk or storage media.
You can now play upscaled video content that is saved on the hard disk or storage media. When the video content is played, it is upscaled automatically to match the screen size.
Upscaling of Blu-ray Disc (BDAV) video content is now supported.
For DTS playback on DVD-Video and Blu-ray Disc media, DTS-ES and DTS 96/24 for DVD-Video and DTS-ES Matrix for Blu-ray Discs are now supported.*
* "DTS" is a trademark of DTS Inc.

The PLAYSTATION®3 system software version 2.41 (with 2.40) update includes the following

[Doogz007]

Doogz007 wrote:

2. Is there a way to get a thumbnail of the movie onto the PS3 along with the movie or add it later? I am very happy that I can see the title & play the movie but my wife is not impressed that she can see a section for a still shot & yet there is nothing thereSo I said I would ask & try & find out. I have to keep her happy she is the boss

A 15 second video preview can be added to thumbnail, search you tube for "add thumbnail to ps3 movie"
for a demo on how to do it. ( I can't paste the url as I have less than 10 posts)

I tried this method but it did not work for me, I think possibly because I left the copied movies as .vob files extension & this shows up on PS3 as MPEG2. The example on you tube is MPEG4.

Anyway I would like to add STILL thumbnail like the DVD cover to my movies so if someone know how to do this & can tell me that would be great.

Cheers Dougie.

[stickboy3k]

The latest firmware has indeed fixed all video quality issues I have been having. Unfortunately I'm having some audio sync issues.. possibly because I'm playing off of a 2.5" notebook drive powered by the usb port?

[Kagolu]

Thanks, I'll try renaming.

[stickboy3k]

Thank you all for this thread! Found the post regarding letting the drive "Spin up" or "warm up" I just paused for a few minutes and restarted and it was all synced up.

[Doogz007]

Doogz007 wrote:

1. Is there a size limit on the folders of the external HDD? The reason I ask is that I had 10 moves in one folder which I had called GANGSTER & copied another 5 or 6 movies to the folder as they were the same Genre. When I looked in the folder via the PS3 I could only see the first ten movies. I made another folder calling it GANGSTER_2 & moved the 5 or 6 "hidden" movies to it & I could see them via the PS3 with no issues. Not a problem, just curious.

I don't know what I did but I obviously did something incorrect above as since then I have added way more than 10 movies to a folder & been able to see them all.

You may find this interesting. I ran across a problem where the time to rip the movie to HDD doubled to tripled from 20-30 mins to 60-90 mins. I ran like this for a day or two & then checked it out.

So if any of you have a similar issue you can google "How to enable DMA" .Sorry again butI cannot add URL due to post counts being <10. Basically one of my IDE devices(external HDD, I think, no idea really) had slipped into PIO mode which basically eats up lots of CPU processing power & slows things right down. Switching back to DMA mode & re-booting the PC worked first time & restored the rip time to 20-30mins thankfully.

Cheers Dougie

[wbassett]

counter5th wrote:

My first attempt was with The Matrix (trilogy box set edition) and it failed to play properly on the ps3. It shows two files of the same length and size in dvd shrink If i select and output one file it shows the incorrect time length in the ps3(about 1 hr and 15 min) and has trouble fast forwarding. I havent sat down and watch the whole file but it seem like it contains the beginning and the end of the movie. it's really weird.

If i try to output both files, i get two .vob's and that's not the result that i'm going for as i dont want to stop in the middle and select the next .vob.

Same thing happened with the Incredibles except that one has 3 files of the same size and length in dvd shrink.

Sorry about the delay in getting back on this. I've been swamped with work and other projects.

Right now I'm running through the Matrix and then I'll try the Incredibles. When I get time I'll try some of the other movies some people are having trouble with.

I'll report back later.

[scrub]

counter5th wrote:

My first attempt was with The Matrix (trilogy box set edition) and it failed to play properly on the ps3. It shows two files of the same length and size in dvd shrink If i select and output one file it shows the incorrect time length in the ps3(about 1 hr and 15 min) and has trouble fast forwarding. I havent sat down and watch the whole file but it seem like it contains the beginning and the end of the movie. it's really weird.

If i try to output both files, i get two .vob's and that's not the result that i'm going for as i dont want to stop in the middle and select the next .vob.

Same thing happened with the Incredibles except that one has 3 files of the same size and length in dvd shrink.

My third attempt was with Dumb and Dumber(original dvd release) This one worked flawlessly. Didnt need any more compression as the original was under 4 gb and i didnt even change the .vob to mpeg.

So i'm getting the feeling that newer dvds that have the movies spread over two layers are going to be harder to transfer over, i still cant figure out how to do it. Both the matrix and the incredibles were well over 6 gigs on a dual layer dvd while dumb and dumber was only about 3.5 gigs on a single layer(The dvd is actually dual layer but one of the older ones that you have to flip over and it contains the 4:3 version).

Any help with this would be much appreciated. If anyone has had success with any of these two titles please let me know so i can maybe trouble shoot from my end. here is my pc hardware spec:

Custom pc
Mobo- asus p5ld2
Pentium D 3.00
2 gb ram
dual booting Vista/Leopard OSX

I had a similar problem with the time and fast forward/rewind. I had to change my process for ripping movies. I still use shrink but I set the vob output to the 1gb chunks. Then I use a program called vob2mpg. This program will merge the smaller vobs into one .mpg (no selecting the next vob to play). I tried vob2mpg with the 1 vob output of shrink but vob2mpg didn't like that so back to 1 gb vob chunks from shrink.

This will correct the timing and FF/RW issues. As for extra time to perform the step it takes an additional 10 minutes on top of the 10-15 minutes to use shrink. Well worth it in my opinion because now I get the correct time, movie view thumbs on the xmb (internal movies only), and FF/RW issues are fixed. All this for an additional 10 minutes is fine by me.

Not sure about the layered movies. I've shrunk movies over 5.5 gigs with no problems yet.

Hope this is helpful.

Greetings, fine posters:

I originally stumbled across this thread several moons back, but since the ability to include subtitles isn't possible with this method, I went in other directions. Well I'm back (obviously ) and come bearing troubles.

I've had mixed success with this vob extraction method when it comes to preserving aspect ratios, specifically 1.78. When I extract from a 1.33 or 2.35 source, the resulting vob is displayed perfectly on my PS3. When I extract from 1.78, I get BIG black borders on the top and bottom of the screen. It looks like a 2.35 that someone stepped on. I'll note that when I play back the same file on my PC, it displays perfectly in 1.78.

Any ideas?

Just as a follow up:

I tried another 1.78 source and this time the vob displayed properly on the PS3. Could be something with the first set, so I'll try multiple 1.78 sources and post results here.

First thread here, just bought a PS3 and Samsung LN46A650 and will be doing the HD set-up. I have been wanting something like this for years and it will only improve.

First off thank you for creating this great thread and still here, still strong.

Few questions?

1. Has the new Firmware able to let you create sub folders?
- I just want folders titled 'Action' - 'Comedy' - 'Drama' - 'Thriller'
Can this be done?

2. Subtitles - The only reason I ask are all my Kung-Fu flciks. I rather not learn Chinese

3. I have ripped some of my blu-ray movies on my PC, and is no big deal as I have only 6, but I know down the road but DVD collection sickness will bleed into Blu-Ray. So is there a way to get them playing on a PS3?

4. Thumbnails. I know others have asked, but havent seen an answer. Has there been a way to view them yet? Perhaps changing the icon itself with the 'perfect icon' program.

5. Bill - I read that you want to split up your episodes. Perhaps 'Magic DVD Ripper' can have a solution, it you can convert DVD's into many different files and also split up episodes on those DVD's. I did with my South Park DVD's and converted them to IPod. - Check it out

Also-
Has anyone hooked up their HDD by firewire instead of USB. It's faster


Thanks and keep up the great work.

Went to the store to get the My Book either the 1tb or 500gb, but I was scared off with the My Book world Edition II with the networking options. I was thinking there might be a confliction . Would I have to format the My Book with a third party software? Or can this actually work? It would be nice to access and store my DVD's from my PC with the EHDD attached to the PS3 in the other room.

Has anyone have this model or any success?

It is really 2 500 GB built in one, is this still OK?

-Update-
I have been reading some really bad reviews about that drive, will end up buying....
Western Digital - My Book Home 1TB External FireWire/USB 2.0/eSATA Hard Drive
Model: WDH1CS10000N