PS3 Video Server, Media Server Preliminary Setup and Tests

[wbassett]

Well so far all I can find on PlayTV is it is over the air HD reception only and not yet available in the US.

That puts me out on both counts... first I can't get one, and second where I live I can't pick anything up over the air.

One interesting thing about the WD TV is it doesn't have the FAT32 restriction, meaning no 4GB file size restriction.

[jet757f]

jbryngelson wrote:

Great Thread, and my biggest thanks is for your attention to keep helping out - EVEN BETTER!

I have followed the directions, and copied 6 movies over to a FAT32 external USB HD, and connected to my PS3. All works great. My goal is to copy the remaining 300 DVDs to the unit, but I have some questions/concerns.

1) The naming convention requires only 8 character due to FAT32 - Correct? Makes it hard to create movie names I will recall in a year or two... Any suggestions on what to do to make these names longer?

2) Compression, this is going to be viewed on a Projector based system (120" screen), so quality is KEY. Every one of my movies had to be compressed to get them to under 4GB. I have not critically watched, but I am not liking 25-35% compression of a movie. Is this common? I am only copying the main title and the english DD-2.0 or DD-5.1 soundtrack.

3) Media Server - I have an extra XP system and could put a couple 1.5Tb drives into it, and just copy the movies there. I assume then I do not have 4Gb file size, or naming convention problem. What is necessary to make sure it easily sees the XP system, and the Video files associated with it?

Again, thanks for this effort. The PS3 and all its features really amazes me.

Jeff in Detroit

I dont think you are limited to 8 characters when renaming. I have used many more than that with no problems.

[jet757f]

I have been away from this for awhile but started putting more DVDs onto my external WD 1TB.
I notice we dont have to change to mpeg anymore which Im going to try. This eliminates a time consuming step.

Im still having issues with TV Episode type DVDs like "King of Queens" for example where there is not just 1 or 2 main movie titles when you go to the re-author step with DVD Shrink. Instead there are many main titles making it almost impossible to do. Anyone else have this problem and found a fix for it?


UPDATE: Yes not having to rename change to mpeg does save time especially with these TV series type discs where Im finding I have to do the procedure for each individual episode instead of just once like regular movie.
So this brings up the question of the subfolders on PS3. I have found that with the external hard drive I can create a main folder "King of Queens" and then put the episodes in subfolders and they will open no problem on my computer.
When I try this on the PS3 they will not open. What am I doing wrong?

[DonkeyDave]

Thanks for the tutorial, but I'm having problems at the Command Prompt. When I type in the destination of the ripped DVD i get the following message in Command Prompt " D:\VIDEO is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file"
Where am I going wrong?

[wbassett]

jet757f wrote:

I have been away from this for awhile but started putting more DVDs onto my external WD 1TB.
I notice we dont have to change to mpeg anymore which Im going to try. This eliminates a time consuming step.

Im still having issues with TV Episode type DVDs like "King of Queens" for example where there is not just 1 or 2 main movie titles when you go to the re-author step with DVD Shrink. Instead there are many main titles making it almost impossible to do. Anyone else have this problem and found a fix for it?


UPDATE: Yes not having to rename change to mpeg does save time especially with these TV series type discs where Im finding I have to do the procedure for each individual episode instead of just once like regular movie.
So this brings up the question of the subfolders on PS3. I have found that with the external hard drive I can create a main folder "King of Queens" and then put the episodes in subfolders and they will open no problem on my computer.
When I try this on the PS3 they will not open. What am I doing wrong?

Someone else is reporting having some problems with a TV series. One thing I noticed is those of you that are having trouble it seems to be with newer TV series/DVD releases. I suspect maybe they changed some of the encryption or format. I hate it when they do that. The Fairness act does allow us to make one backup copy for personal use, mainly to keep the original DVD from getting damaged and becoming unplayable.

SubFolders- Are you putting them in the /VIDEO folder? You can have one level below the /Video directory but no more than that. Another thing I noticed is after doing a firmware update I have to select my external drive and then do a refresh before I see everything on it. I didn't have that problem with FW 1.8. I can't recall off the top of my head which button you hit, but if the subfolders are in the correct place, there is a button/option that will refresh the display and then everything comes up for me.

[wbassett]

DonkeyDave wrote:

Thanks for the tutorial, but I'm having problems at the Command Prompt. When I type in the destination of the ripped DVD i get the following message in Command Prompt " D:\VIDEO is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file"
Where am I going wrong?

Try going to your D Drive first. I get the same message if I try to go straight to the path-
C:\Documents and Settings\Bill>d:/PS3 DVD
'd:/PS3' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Bill>D:
D:\>
Then go to your directory...

D:\>cd PS3 DVD
D:\PS3 DVD>

[DonkeyDave]

wbassett wrote:

Try going to your D Drive first. I get the same message if I try to go straight to the path-
C:\Documents and Settings\Bill>d:/PS3 DVD
'd:/PS3' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

C:\Documents and Settings\Bill>D:
D:\>
Then go to your directory...

D:\>cd PS3 DVD
D:\PS3 DVD>

I must be doing something wrong here. My ripped DVD is in a folder on my D Drive. The folder is called VIDEO_TS, and inside that folder are 3 VTS folders and 2 VIDEO_TS folders.
I go to command prompt and make sure I have D:\>
I then type VIDEO_TS, after that prompt, but am still getting the not recognized error!

What I type in is the following D:\>VIDEO_TS
I also try D:\>D:\>VIDEO_TS and I get access denied.

Wonder where I'm going wrong!!

[wbassett]

DonkeyDave wrote:

I must be doing something wrong here. My ripped DVD is in a folder on my D Drive. The folder is called VIDEO_TS, and inside that folder are 3 VTS folders and 2 VIDEO_TS folders.
I go to command prompt and make sure I have D:\>
I then type VIDEO_TS, after that prompt, but am still getting the not recognized error!

What I type in is the following D:\>VIDEO_TS
I also try D:\>D:\>VIDEO_TS and I get access denied.

Wonder where I'm going wrong!!

Three VTS and two VIDEO_TS folders?

Is this your Shrink folder or your external USB drive that you are connecting to your PS3?

Here is a typical look at what my Shrink output directory looks like:
D:\ShrinkTarget>dir
Volume in drive D is Storage
Volume Serial Number is 484A-ECB8

Directory of D:\ShrinkTarget

12/05/2008 06:40 PM <DIR> .
12/05/2008 06:40 PM <DIR> ..
08/10/2008 02:38 AM 30 Default.PLS
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 12,288 VIDEO_TS.BUP
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 12,288 VIDEO_TS.IFO
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 92,160 VTS_01_0.BUP
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 92,160 VTS_01_0.IFO
11/30/2008 01:33 AM 9,975,808 VTS_01_0.VOB
11/30/2008 01:36 AM 1,073,739,776 VTS_01_1.VOB
11/30/2008 01:39 AM 1,073,739,776 VTS_01_2.VOB
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 765,700,096 VTS_01_3.VOB
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 14,336 VTS_02_0.BUP
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 14,336 VTS_02_0.IFO
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 45,113,344 VTS_02_1.VOB
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 14,336 VTS_03_0.BUP
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 14,336 VTS_03_0.IFO
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 19,326,976 VTS_03_1.VOB
15 File(s) 2,987,862,046 bytes

I'm confused as to why you have multiple subdirectories.

[DonkeyDave]

wbassett wrote:

Three VTS and two VIDEO_TS folders?

Is this your Shrink folder or your external USB drive that you are connecting to your PS3?

Here is a typical look at what my Shrink output directory looks like:
D:\ShrinkTarget>dir
Volume in drive D is Storage
Volume Serial Number is 484A-ECB8

Directory of D:\ShrinkTarget

12/05/2008 06:40 PM <DIR> .
12/05/2008 06:40 PM <DIR> ..
08/10/2008 02:38 AM 30 Default.PLS
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 12,288 VIDEO_TS.BUP
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 12,288 VIDEO_TS.IFO
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 92,160 VTS_01_0.BUP
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 92,160 VTS_01_0.IFO
11/30/2008 01:33 AM 9,975,808 VTS_01_0.VOB
11/30/2008 01:36 AM 1,073,739,776 VTS_01_1.VOB
11/30/2008 01:39 AM 1,073,739,776 VTS_01_2.VOB
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 765,700,096 VTS_01_3.VOB
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 14,336 VTS_02_0.BUP
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 14,336 VTS_02_0.IFO
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 45,113,344 VTS_02_1.VOB
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 14,336 VTS_03_0.BUP
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 14,336 VTS_03_0.IFO
11/30/2008 01:40 AM 19,326,976 VTS_03_1.VOB
15 File(s) 2,987,862,046 bytes

I'm confused as to why you have multiple subdirectories.

Its my shrink folder mate. Could it have anything to do with the option of choosing "Create VIDEO_TS and Audio_TS subfolders" when backing up? Should I choose this option?
Thanks for the help btw.

[DonkeyDave]

Still having problems at Command Prompt. Any ideas.

[dloose]

I have used DVD-Shrink on quite a few (~20 DVDs) and it works great. AMD processors seem to handle this chore more slowly than Intels. It takes about 40 min to do a 2 h DVD (AMD-3000). When I copy the VOB file to the PS3, the file is there an plays fine, but the icon box is black. Does anyone know how to create a file that the PS3 will display as an icon in the video section?

[Harpmaker]

dloose wrote:

I have used DVD-Shrink on quite a few (~20 DVDs) and it works great. AMD processors seem to handle this chore more slowly than Intels. It takes about 40 min to do a 2 h DVD (AMD-3000). When I copy the VOB file to the PS3, the file is there an plays fine, but the icon box is black. Does anyone know how to create a file that the PS3 will display as an icon in the video section?

While I can't help you with your stated problem, 40 minutes for a DVD rip is a long time. I suspect your DVD drive may still have the factory rip-lock activated limiting the speed at which it will read a disc. I'm currently ripping my discs with DVD Shrink on a lowly 1.7GHz Celeron PC. My avg. rip time is half of yours.

[marois]

Hi Everyone this is my first post.

First, a big thanks to Bill for taking the time to document and continue supporting this project.

I have not yet tried this setup, but I just read that firmware v2.53 support sequential playback of videos. This is a paste from uk.playstation.com/help-support/ps3/movies/detail/item124721/Sequential-Playback/

[Sequential Playback] is an option under Settings > [Video Settings].

You can set the PS3 system to sequentially play multiple video files that are saved on the hard disk or storage media.

Off: Videos are not played sequentially.
On: Videos are played sequentially.

Hint
This feature is not available for some video content types, such as content with parental control restrictions or rental content with a restricted playback period. The PS3 system will skip over these content types to play the next video in the sequence.

This would seem to imply that, with a proper naming convention, one should no longer have to compress the VOB files. There are many utilities for splitting VOB into 4G chunks to deal with the FAT32 limitation.

Jean

[marois]

A note on FAT32: FAT32 does not handle fragmented files very well, so always copy multiple files with a single copy command, whether using copy & paste or drag and drop. In other words, do not start a second copy&paste before the first one is done. It also a good idea to defragment the drive occasionally if you delete files. Fragmentation could be the cause of choppy playback on slower drives.

[marois]

What I type in is the following D:\>VIDEO_TS
I also try D:\>D:\>VIDEO_TS and I get access denied.

Wonder where I'm going wrong!!

In a DOS command shell (CMD.EXE), use the CD command to change folders(aka directory) and the drive letter followed by ':' to change drives, e.g.:
C:>D:
D:>cd video_ts
D:\VIDEO_TS>

[audio newbie]

I just noticed that you can purchase and download HD movies from the playstation store. These are all more than 4GB. Sony must have a seamless way to get over the 4GB limit. Maybe the sequential playback that was mentioned earlier is allowing this?

Thanks for all the great info so far!

[wbassett]

marois wrote:

Hi Everyone this is my first post.

First, a big thanks to Bill for taking the time to document and continue supporting this project.

I have not yet tried this setup, but I just read that firmware v2.53 support sequential playback of videos. This is a paste from uk.playstation.com/help-support/ps3/movies/detail/item124721/Sequential-Playback/


This would seem to imply that, with a proper naming convention, one should no longer have to compress the VOB files. There are many utilities for splitting VOB into 4G chunks to deal with the FAT32 limitation.

Jean

Jean thanks for this update information because this is HUGE! It's one of the playback features that was always lacking on the PS3. I'll try to download the update this week and play around with it over the New Year's break!

This should resolve a lot of the quirky issues some have had to deal with as well as any compression issues. Personally I've only had a few movies where the compression was noticeable, but I know others have mentioned they see artifacting in their archives. Alot has to do with the content and how much it is being compressed. Like I said this should eliminate that!

The only things lacking now are:

1. NTFS support- but don't hold your breath on this one. Sony and Microsoft would need to come to an agreement and I doubt that is going to happen anytime soon if ever. If we truly can play sequential files now, that's a bit of a moot point though.
2. Adding the ability to stream NetFlix 'Watch it Instantly' movies. From what I hear this is definitely coming. NetFlix already has over 12,000 movies and TV series to watch instantly and the list is constantly growing. Now they added Starz and soon will be streaming HD content. I just watched an episode of Sliders and I was really amazed at the playback quality. I know part of it had to do with the HDTV and it also upconverting the image, but it was very good quality, definitely DVD quality, maybe slightly better. (Note: The PS3 already can stream content from a computer and acts as a media device)
3. DVD menu playback- In otherwords the ability to playback the menu and all special features as if the disc was in the drive. Again I wouldn't hold my breath on this either.
4. Cable playback and DVR type recording- This is one item I doubt we will ever see since the PS3 doesn't have a built in tuner or a way to DVR content. For me it's not a big issue since my cable box records content, but if the PS3 could ever do this as well then it would be a very good media server solution!
5. Last, and this is also a big one that they should be able to provide with an update- Nested folder support. By that what I mean is video content has to be under the 'VIDEO' folder and then you can have one level below that. For intance the TV series 24; Currently I have /VIDEO/24 and then the episodes. It would be nice to be able to add additional folders for each season such as /VIDEO/24/Season1 ... /VIDEO/24/Season2 and so on. This one should be coming if it's not already included in this update.

The only negative I can think of is bigger movie sizes equals less room on our drives. Also the hassle of redoing anything that was already put on an external drive but here is my mind set on that- If it works now and the video quality is the same as the DVD already... don't mess with it! I personally will only be redoing anything that didn't look good because of compression.

[wbassett]

audio newbie wrote:

I just noticed that you can purchase and download HD movies from the playstation store. These are all more than 4GB. Sony must have a seamless way to get over the 4GB limit. Maybe the sequential playback that was mentioned earlier is allowing this?

Thanks for all the great info so far!

If I recall correctly (I'll have to look this up to be sure) DiviX files can be larger than 4GB but only on the internal drive. Most of the downloadable content goes to the internal drive doesn't it?

[wbassett]

WARNING! DO NOT DO A FIRMWARE UPDATE TO v2.53

I just spent the past couple of hours reading though the official PS3 forum on Sony's website and I'm glad I did before updating my firmware.

Many people are reporting major issues after updating to FW v2.53 that basically renders the PS3 unusable. There are many symptoms but the biggest problem is the drive quits working.

Sony is turning a blind eye and blaming it on hardware failure. The people that have mentioned others have had the same problem immediately after the firmware update and the Sony reps say it's the first they heard of a problem. Many people are getting the same response and this has been going on since the update was released at the begining of December.

To add insult to injust, Sony is charging people $150 to fix a problem caused by the update.

The problem is affecting all the PS3 models, so it is a wide spread problem. It does work for some people and they really like the update, but it is crashing a lot of systems so beware.

[Blaser]

I was about to do it later today... I like/need the features of the new firmware, so I guess I'll wait.

[wbassett]

Blaser I was going to do it last night so I could try out the sequential playback.

Something told me to check the forum out. I haven't had one issue with a firmware update yet, so I was about to just pull the trigger on it and apply it. I guess I wanted to see what others were saying about the sequential playback. Instead I saw a huge thread 'Update V2.53 ruined my PS3'

I started reading and was looking to see if they updated via the internet. Most firmware update problems occur from internet updates. I also wanted to see if it was a specific model. Turns out it happens to people regardless of the model and doesn't matter if it's a web update or through a flash drive. Some are able to recover by completely restoring the system (takes around four hours) and others are reporting no success even after a complete restore.

Sony is stating it has nothing to do with the latest FW update however everyone was working fine until they applied the update. Sony maintains it is just a coincidence. What really bothers me is the number of people reporting this problem and Sony keeps saying they never heard of any issues with the v2.53 FW update. Then there is that $150 fee to have them fix your system if it's not under warranty. Interestingly when they send your system back, it doesn't have v2.53 on it, they roll it back to v2.52. That right there tells me they know something is wrong with the update. Why they don't pull it... nobody knows.

Wait for v2.6 and even then make sure to check the forums and make sure people aren't having problems.

[Blaser]

Sure Bill! I'll never risk to having a problem with my PS3. I'll definitely wait.

[avaserfi]

When did 2.53 come out? I am pretty sure I have it on my PS3 no problems...guess I got lucky.

[marois]

I've been running 2.53 since it first came out without any problems.

I did have a failure six months ago, system overheated, since then I've been using the new auto shutdown feature. I used to always leave the system running the protein folding, but no more. It cost me $150 for a new unit, which only took a week to get back once they recieved my dead system.

[avaserfi]

Just checked, I have 2.53, no issues here at all.