PS3 Video Server, Media Server Preliminary Setup and Tests

[wbassett]

Interesting, the other software had final file sizes around 2.3GB in size and there was a dramatic drop in quality.

What settings do you use?

[bob1029]

As far as specific settings, I wouldnt know about the ps3. I believe on doom9.org forums there is a discussion about profiles for the ps3 using those 2 pieces of software, and even a gui written specifically for this purpose. The encoding time will probably be higher with this software (close to 1x or slightly slower) depending on the hardware involved.

[wbassett]

bob1029 wrote:

As far as specific settings, I wouldnt know about the ps3. I believe on doom9.org forums there is a discussion about profiles for the ps3 using those 2 pieces of software, and even a gui written specifically for this purpose. The encoding time will probably be higher with this software (close to 1x or slightly slower) depending on the hardware involved.

When you say 'close to 1x or slightly slower' are you refering to it taking the same amount of time it took me to do the 21 plus DVDs (between 6-7 hours from start to finish and actually watching them) or the same amount of time that PS3 to DVD Converter took, which was 9 hours for one movie?

I can definitely see a benefit for file sizes that are half the size or smaller, especially when I am looking at doing the complete Highlander TV series which has six seasons with between 6-9 DVDs per season. I must say though that I don't relish the idea of it taking me 6-9 months to do it. I'll have to do a test run and see how long it takes to do one DVD.

Oh question, do you need one continous VOB file for the conversion or do you do them individually and then recombine them after the encoding is done? For me personally, hard drive space isn't an issue at all. If I have to extract one continuous VOB file first anyway, since drive space isn't an issue I'm fine with just the simple rename method. I can see though that others would be very interested in conserving hard drive space and possibly getting twice the amount of movies on the same drive.

Would you be willing to do up a tutorial for the method you're talking about, that way people will have more than one option to go with, and I am all for people having options.

[bob1029]

Yeah I can probably work on a tutorial here in a few days when I get some downtime. About the 1x thing, I was referring to it taking about the same amount of time it would be to play back the dvd. Also, it would be best to have all of the vob files you want combined together, BUT if you are trying to do a tv series and not a movie, typically you have multiple episodes per disc, so it would be best to see if the vob files are split by episode, then just encode them seperately and name the files as needed.

[wbassett]

bob1029 wrote:

Yeah I can probably work on a tutorial here in a few days when I get some downtime. About the 1x thing, I was referring to it taking about the same amount of time it would be to play back the dvd. Also, it would be best to have all of the vob files you want combined together, BUT if you are trying to do a tv series and not a movie, typically you have multiple episodes per disc, so it would be best to see if the vob files are split by episode, then just encode them seperately and name the files as needed.

Yep that is exactly how I am going to tackle TV series, split the VOB files out into their individual episodes.

So the conversion time for your method doesn't sound bad at all. No where near what I experienced with the other two software methods. Don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking them, and in actuality PS3 Video 9 is meant more for smaller clips than it is for an entire DVD.

Still if you can do a tutorial (no rush, whenever you have the time) that would be excellent. That way people can have a variety of ways to pick from and decide what works best for them. Some may only feel comfortable with a simple rename method while others will want to conserve maximum hard drive space. This would satisfy both sets of users.

Thanks for providing your input and this is starting to become an interesting topic with lots of potential and a variety of ways of achieving it.

[bob1029]

Ok, ive been messing around with a lot of x264 encoding tools, and so far the quickest and least buggy one is handbrake. During my preliminary tests, I encoded minority report (2:25:04 length) to a 2000 meg file, which includes a 320 kbps (44.1kHz) 5.1 channel audio track. The video quality was more than acceptable in my opinion, but that is for everyone else to decide. The best part about it is that the encode time was about half the movie run time. I am unable to confirm that the generated mp4 file actually plays on a ps3 as I do not have one available right now, but it plays back wonderfully on a pc, so if you simply have a htpc setup, this is still something to seriously consider.

A quick cost analysis (assuming the 2000 meg file avg):

To store 1000 dvds on a hdd setup:
4 drive esata enclosure: 200$
4x500gb: 520$

720$ for enough storage to maintain a 1000 dvd collection seems to be a fair deal to me. If you dont need the external enclosure and can mount the drives internally, you could cut the cost to 520$... This sounds very tempting to me. If you are concerned about data integrity, you could always store 500 dvds with the assurance that your collection is 100% safe by using raid 0+1 on the external enclosure.

I will post more details later.

[mechman]

Excellent work Bob! The only thing that would convince myself would be how it looks on my 100" screen. That's where any problems with the video compression would reveal themselves to me. I'll have to give it a shot sometime and report back.

[wbassett]

My son came home to visit for the week and him and a friend are over tonight playing games on the big screen. His friend happens to have an XBOX 360!

So of course I had to hook up the USB drive to it and check it out. It detected the drive and we were able to navigate through the directories, but it won't playback mpeg2 files. I'll have to check what format the 360 uses, but it can also be used as a media server with an external HD.

My son's friend though said after seeing the PS3 running through a 1080p set and how easy it was to put flicks on the external drive that he may sell his 360. I told him I wouldn't if I was him, but if he does to let me know and I might buy it!

Format neutral and console neutral!

wbassett wrote:

if he does to let me know and I might buy it!

Format neutral and console neutral!

yeah, let us know if he decides to sell, I wouldn't mind having a 360 around too!

I broke down and picked up a PS3, loving it so far, although from an integration standpoint, I still want a way to power it on without using a controller or the bluetooth remote.... I am using the USB-PS2 adapter with the PS2 remote and it works great, learned all the codes into my T2+ and can do pretty much everything, except I need that stupid PS code that allows you to power on and off the unit and such.

I could see the PS3 becoming a main hub for entertainment in the HT realm, with some minor tweaks and whatnot.

I was able to get my photos and music streaming via the net with no big issues, so I am happy with that.

[wbassett]

What did you use for the server streaming side?