I've about gone blind reading up on this but have not found a solution that works for me, so here goes. I have some old 4:3 tv shows that I captured as MPEG2 that I am converting to avi. The resulting files work great on my PC AND on the PS3 as long as I burn them to disk first or stream them through PS3 Media Server. However, when I stream them through WMP 11, I get data type not supported. I am using VirtualDub 1.8.8 to do the conversions. Using AVIcodec here is the information on the resulting file that does not work:
V. codec - XVIDMpeg-4 A. 1 codec name - MPEG Layer-3
F.Info - (this is blank)
V.fourCC - XVID V.aspect ratio - 4:3
fps - 29.97
720*480
I've looked at other files that do work and the only difference that I see is the the F.Info has a value in it like, transcode-1.0.2 or VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.1.
Any help is appreciated. Let me know if you need more information.
Yeah, there are certain types of DivX/Xvid settings that just sorta clash with the PS3. When you stream with PS3MS, it's transcoding on the fly, which is why you experience no issues. With WMP, though, it doesn't do any transcoding, so you get what you see, so to speak.
As for burning them onto discs... are you burning the MPEG-2 files to disc? Or are you converting them, THEN burning those to disc?
That said, I'm fairly sure the PS3 can play MPEG-2 files just fine. Why don't you just stream those?
The size of the files doesn't matter so much as the bitrate and data transfer rate. If you've got a fairly strong PC (can handle high bitrate) with a good wired connection (can handle high data transfer rate), there won't be any stuttering of any kind when you stream the MPEG-2 videos.
As for transcoding, that's a step that takes place when you stream with PS3 Media Server. It's not part of the MPEG-to-AVI conversion process. What PS3MS does is "fix up" the file so that the PS3 can play it.
And I'm not sure why it is that you can play those files on DVD but you can't on hard drive. It's strange... when you say you burn them onto CD/DVD, do you mean that you burn the actual AVI file? Or do you convert the AVI back to DVD?
The size of the file matters to me for storage purposes. I have 100 of these files, or 200GB right now. Once I convert them it will be only 3GB.
I am burning the avi file to a dvd and it works fine in the PS3.
Since, the only way it doesn't work is streaming via MWP, it seems to me that there is something that PS3MS does to the file to fix it, i.e. transcode, so that the PS3 can play it. But since I have other AVI files that work fine, it must be something I am missing in the conversion process, no?
Yeah, there's a certain codec setting that the PS3 just can't play; I'm not sure what specifically it is, though, since I've never taken a good long look at tweaking DivX/Xvid settings.
Those other AVIs play fine because the codec settings they're encoded to all work well with the PS3. The ones that are having problems are encoded using different settings; maybe if you find out what those settings are (maybe finding out what "F.Info" stands for) that screw with the PS3, you'll have better luck in the future.
