After browsing for almost a week over different forums and websites for a reliable and workable solution for PS3 compatible video conversion, I am posting my own queries and confusions over here. Hope any of you would be kind enough to give it a look and reply with practical and tested methods.
My configuration ;
- PS3 40GB Firmware 2.17 (Latest Release) (Using wireless connection)
- Samsung LCD TV 32? LAR32R81 (Connected to PS3 via HDMI)
- Yamaha YHT-185 Home Theatre 5.1 Sound System (Connected to PS3 via Optical Out SPDIF, using Linear PCM sound output from PS3 at the moment)
- Linksys WRTSL54GS Wireless Router with USB Port.
- DSL Home Modem connected to Linksys router.
- External HardDisk Seagate 500GB (As media storage, connected to router USB port)
- 3.6 Ghz, 2GB RAM Dell Optiflex Desktop system running TVersity Media Server. Connected to Linksys router via wired connection to efficiently catalog the audio/video/image media stored. (Since Linksys WRTSL54GS is only UPNP compliant and PS3 needs DLNA enabled devices, so have to put a dedicated PC with TVersity as DLNA media hub)
I have these queries,
Question 1 :
Which AVI Files with XVID play on PS3 and what are their specs. I have tried streaming a number of XVID files to the PS3 , to my surprise some of them work and some don?t without a valid reason. I have installed ?MediaInfo?, an excellent program for having a detailed look at your media. I cannot really establish the difference in specs of the XVID movie files which play and the ones which don?t.
All XVID files are encoded with XVID Project Final Version. Audio is MP3 by LAME Encoder and mostly are 2 channel. Only two files have 6 channel audio with unknown codec. (I guess it would be AAC or AC3). Some of them play and some don?t although I have not noted which files don?t play, but as I have read files with resolutions (Width * Height ) not divisble by 16 cannot be played. Is it correct and can be the only factor making them unplayable. I will check if this can be the case. My XVID files have varying sizes starting from 720 x 400 to 512 x 288.
Question 2 :
How can I make the unplayable XVID files playable. I have the following softwares , but not sure which one to use and what are the settings for having minimal degradation in quality when re-enconding in XVID, any presets which are working would be a big help. A direct video stream copy cannot be done in my opinion if resizing needs to be done.
I tried using SUPER with various options to do AVI to AVI conversion which is compatible with PS3 but so far I am unable to do it correctly. Any suggestion and optimal settings regarding which which audio and video codec to use?.
Question 3 :
How to watch High Definition MKV files on PS3. I have tried conversion using Mkv2VOB and GOTSent with various options for Video and Audio. However the same file converted by these two softwares plays too fast on my PC, and NO AUDIO stream is converted thus did not try it on the PS3. . I have read the 4 or 5 step method to convert MKV using various (De)Muxing/Encoding softwares but that seems a lengthy task plus MKV2Vob and GOTsent run all these tasks in batch, just the fact that they are unable to output any sound.
Then tried SUPER to do the same job and AUDIO was converted but file was running too fast in the media player and the whole audio was garbled. Don?t understand what is this problem. Maybe it?s the bitrate being too high, but what should be the correct bitrate. Does PS3 support AAC audio streams.
SUPER Settings for MKV
AVI Container
Codec AVC / H.264 tried DivX/XVID as well.
Audio is MP3 LAME 2 Channel tried AC3 5 Channel (since original file has 5 channel AAC audio)
Mkv2VOB and GOTSent
MP4/MPG/VOB Video having H.264 Video
Mp3/AC3 Audio
Please guide me a conversion method to retain the high quality video (720p) and 5 Channel audio and get a file which is playable on PS3.
The specs of my input file are ;
General #0
Complete name : D:\Media Downloads\backup143\1408_directors_cut_hdrip_x264_[Linkfire.org].mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 1.43 GiB
PlayTime : 1h 52mn
Bit rate : 1821 Kbps
Writing application : mkvmerge v2.1.0 ('Another Place To Fall') built on Aug 19 2007 13:40:07
Writing library : libebml v0.7.7 + libmatroska v0.8.1
Audio #0
Codec : AC3
PlayTime : 1h 52mn
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Rear: L R, Subwoofer
Sampling rate : 48 KHz
StreamSize : 103 MiB
Thank you for reading my post. I am actually all confused in the things video conversion for PS3 so tried writing down everything in detail. I also need guidance about the various combinations of Audio and Video Codecs (which are playable on PS3), I mean can I convert using any combination of video and audio codecs (Divx / AC3, XVID / MP3) of my choice as available in SUPER converter or there is a specific selection always have to be made every time.
