I've been doing a lot of experimenting with the PS3 and it's video playback capabilities within the XMB. So far this is what I've been able to discover. Consider it a Starter Guide.

Although PS3 says it supports many formats it's extremely particular with how it handles video. You must comply with Filename, File Extension and Formatting. Since this is an HDTV guide, I will only cover those aspects tested with regards to HDTV. In order to maintain the original quality of a HD TS Capture, i will not be covering any sort of re-encoding or transcoding methods (however there is a PS3 video converter available free here http://www.redkawa.com/videoconverters/)


Getting the Video onto the PS3

You have 3 options to get Video onto your PS3, Burn the files to a DVD-R, DVD-9, DVD-RW (all tested). Put the video files on a USB thumb Drive (FAT only), USB HArd Drive (No NTFS), Download it via the built in Web Browser (I recommend Red Kawa - http://www.redkawa.com/fileserver/) Red Kawa is a freeware file server that will let you download files from your computer from the PS3, this is the quickest way to test.

When using Red Kawa to download, you must ensure that you ahve the latest firmware 1.11 on your PS3, and you must have .MPG as the file extension in order for it to download to the video's section of your PS3. .TS files will only give you the option to save to memory stick or a USB storage device not the PS3 Hard Drive itself. IT's also important to note that it will not download any file names with spaces - dashes or such characters. Underscores are okay. ie. Transporter_2_hd.mpg (is okay)


Video Formatting
While you can rename a standard HDTV discussion in .TS format to .MPG and it will detect as video on the PS3 you will likely find that the Audio will not work for you. The video will play without audio. If you check the information on the video file by pressing triangle, it will show as 1920x1080 MPEG2-TS and nothing for the audio. I'm not quite sure why this is. So far the only way I have been able to get AC3 audio to play is to convert it to an MPEG-PS using HDTV2MPEG2. This will then detect in the PS3 as a 1920x1080 MPEG2 with Dolby Digital Audio. I have tested both 5.1 and 2.0 and they seem to be working. Please note converting using VideoRedo does not work at all. I have tried every combination of saving as ts or as mpeg and for some reason the PS3 detects it as unplayable or corrupted video. Again I'm not sure why.

I have also noticed that the PS3 is not able to play 1920x1088 video, or 1280x1088. I'm guessing that the PS3 does not like anything but standard hdtv formats.

I don't understand enough about H264 to try to convert it without re-encoding to a format that the PS3 can use, perhaps someone else could try a few things out and get back to me.


Comparing Video output with Xbox 360 Media Center Streaming.

I have directly compared discussions using the sin city cmore 50hz and transporter 2 as a comparison playing them simultaneously on the PS3 and the Xbox360. I find that the PS3 gives a more true representation of colour and blacks. However Both consoles do a great job with HDTV. I have always found Xbox360 to be slightly "overbright" when using the 360 with a plasma its difficult to always readjust brightness settings, when all the other devices Xbox1/DVDplayer/Satellite Receiver - all seem to have the black levels correct. I notice this also while watching dvds on the xbox 360, the blacks are often more of a dark grey than a pure black.. The ps3 seems to be outputting a better pure black. After doing a little more research it seems that the xbox360 pedestal is in fact set a 7.5 at least through component which is causing the "overbrightness"

More on the Xbox 360 Brightness (http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?articles=125&function=search)
"The 360 passes a below black pluge, but its default black level is 7.5 IRE with no way of adjusting it to 0 IRE. You’ll have to adjust your display accordingly, as black levels will appear elevated. The white level of this player is a tad low at 98 IRE but still within our passing criteria. I wish manufacturers would pay closer attention to their output levels, as a properly calibrated display will have to be re-adjusted for these issues.
"

Blu-Ray Authoring to DVD+-9R/RW (unsuccessful)

It is possible to author a Blu-ray disc onto DVD-R/RW/+-9 however I have not found a working solution as of yet. These are the steps taken so far.

So far I have made a few attempts using Ulead VideoStudio 10.0 (pre-removal of blu-ray authoriing).
Load up Video Studio, go to the Share tab, then click on the Create Disc Button. On the next screen add your media (which must be in MPEG PS format) Click the bottom drop down box and choose blu-ray, and set your settings checkbox to Do no re-encode compliant video files.


You can chose to create a menu. (however I have found that while the menu background page will come up, you can not navigate or use any of the menu controls).

Go to the next step, since you do not have a blu-ray burner, you will not be able to burn directly to disc, but you can create the disc image as an ISO and burn it with nero. Please remember I have been completely unsuccessful in burning a Blu-ray disc to DVD+-9 aside from being able to see the menu background. If anyone has had any better luck, or a working tutorial please let me know.


Conclusion. There is much more experimenting to do with regards to HDTV video playback on the PS3. Linux will hopefully offer us a competative media center to XBMC but this will take some time. Hope this has helped some get started with HD playback on their PS3


Xbox 360 is still currently the only console solution for "network streaming" of Video content to your HD connected console

PS3 is currently the only solution(xbox-hddvd aside) for burning HD .TS files to DVD/DVD9 for playback, but involves a conversion to PS MPG


[UPDATE 1] It seems that even after converting the HD .TS to a PS stream, the PS3 will play the audio, but not send it as bitstream to your AV receiver, or at least I have been unable to get the AC3 decode to come on for my receiver, it seems Prologic at best. I've also noticed the same problem with the Downloadable Trailers from Sony, when playing through the XMB it seems all you will get is Prologic, if you boot into a blu-ray or a game (ie. motorstorm game demo) it will flip to the Dolby Digital Decoding right away.

If anyone has some more information with regards to H264 TS files and how they may be losslessly converted to Mpeg4 or another PS3 compatible format, please share your ideas in this thread.

There also may be some errors with time remaining/playing on larger Mpeg2 TS files, ie. i have seen 40 minute clips show up as 5 minutes, if this occurs you can only skip ahead to the 5 minute mark, you will have no ff rw features beyond the 5 minutes, however you can watch the entire clip, even if the play time clock is stopped.

Additionally for those who don't know the PS3 defaults to resuming where you last left off in the video, which is a nice feature, however you can always skip back to the beginning by pressing triangle and using the pop up menu option. This also stands true for blu-ray movies, provided you do not eject the movie. ie. you could be watching a blu-ray movie, exit out to message a friend or play a game, then go back to the same spot where you left off in the movie. (360 added this feature in the spring update)

I've successfully installed the official sony approved version of linux yellowdog 5.0 for ps3. It's a very smooth install and and seems to be a good start into the homebrew scene for ps3. Currently hardware acceleration is not supported within linux, hopefully this will be added in future updates. Here is a good link showing video running in VLC and mplayer plus some installation instruction
http://forums.qj.net/f-ps3-linux-283/t-how-to-play-videos-on-yellow-dog-50-81670.html

I have also noticed that the PS3 is not able to play 1920x1088 video, or 1280x1088. I'm guessing that the PS3 does not like anything but standard hdtv formats.
nice guide but this is pathetic considering you'd have to reauthor all your files to play on the PS3, even if it DID stream over the network.

houston, we have a problem.

nice guide but this is pathetic considering you'd have to reauthor all your files to play on the PS3, even if it DID stream over the network.

houston, we have a problem.

Agreed. Although the official support should be MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 SP and MPEG-4 AVC/H.265 video formats. Audio formats included are: AAC, Wav, MP3 and ATRAC. and image formats JPEG, PNG, BMP and GIF.

The hardware formats supported are BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, Super Audio CD.

So either we're missing something or Sony needs to continue to work on it's firmware. Granted Xbox360 was not much better at it's launch. Requiring Media Center, and having to install HDTV pump to even get started with HD .TS streaming. Lets hope sony is able to shed some light with regards to their supported formats.. the .TS files almost play - it just can't detect the audio unless it's converted to PS. Regular mpeg1 and mpeg2 videos seem to play okay.. It's the HD stuff that has been more tricky

Hey,

I guess I'm just lucky. My Fusion HDTV card captures HD as native Mpg so I don't have to convert any of it. If all goes well,... I'll build a library of HD movies as Mpg's on a PC and transfer films when I want to watch them via the free fileserver to the ps3.

-Brian

puppy, good work! Keep us uptodate with the experiments and the firmwares.

Brian, hope you'll conduct your experiment soon.


fuad

23 more days unless... She gives in.

I'll see what I can do :)

=Brian

23 more days unless... She gives in.

I'll see what I can do :)

=Brian
I have no idea what that means. :D :D :D

But this should be a sticky and modded by puppy.


fuad

So what's the proper file/directory format to watch an HD MPEG-2 file when watching from a USB drive, etc?

IE:

G:\videos\file.mpg

How should it go?

So what's the proper file/directory format to watch an HD MPEG-2 file when watching from a USB drive, etc?

IE:

G:\videos\file.mpg

How should it go?

It should be g:\VIDEO\file.mpg

Blu-Ray Authoring to DVD+-9R/RW (unsuccessful)

It is possible to author a Blu-ray disc onto DVD-R/RW/+-9 however I have not found a working solution as of yet. These are the steps taken so far.

So far I have made a few attempts using Ulead VideoStudio 10.0 (pre-removal of blu-ray authoriing).
Load up Video Studio, go to the Share tab, then click on the Create Disc Button. On the next screen add your media (which must be in MPEG PS format) Click the bottom drop down box and choose blu-ray, and set your settings checkbox to Do no re-encode compliant video files.


You can chose to create a menu. (however I have found that while the menu background page will come up, you can not navigate or use any of the menu controls).

Go to the next step, since you do not have a blu-ray burner, you will not be able to burn directly to disc, but you can create the disc image as an ISO and burn it with nero. Please remember I have been completely unsuccessful in burning a Blu-ray disc to DVD+-9 aside from being able to see the menu background. If anyone has had any better luck, or a working tutorial please let me know.


Conclusion. There is much more experimenting to do with regards to HDTV video playback on the PS3. Linux will hopefully offer us a competative media center to XBMC but this will take some time. Hope this has helped some get started with HD playback on their PS3


Xbox 360 is still currently the only console solution for "network streaming" of Video content to your HD connected console

PS3 is currently the only solution(xbox-hddvd aside) for burning HD .TS files to DVD/DVD9 for playback, but involves a conversion to PS MPG




Currently, there is only one BD format that the PS3 will accept and that's \BDAV (no menus, limited bps). I'm hoping the March update will allow \BDMV's, you will also need the latest version of software to correctly create \BDAV's, I don't know about Ulead (contact them to find out), but Cyberlink Power Producer you need the latest version (which is not the version that came with the BD drive :( )

Thanks for that info! Useful! :)

I would like to add couple items.


PS3 plays back .M2T files perfectly. And you don't have to convert anything.
.M2T files are MPEG-2 TS files in HDV format with 1440x1080i video and MPEG Layer 2 audio produced by HDV camcorders.
I have Sony HC1 HDV camcorder and I tested playback of .M2T files on PS3 from BD-RE and DVD+RW, it's beautiful.
.
You can copy MPEG file with more than 4GB file size to internal HDD on PS3!.
I tried it. So, I assume format of internal HDD is NOT FAT32, may be NTFS!
AND PS will play the whole file, it's just that you won't have any navigations means when playback reaches time at 4GB size point.

I would like to add couple items.


PS3 plays back .M2T files perfectly. And you don't have to convert anything.
.M2T files are MPEG-2 TS files in HDV format with 1440x1080i video and MPEG Layer 2 audio produced by HDV camcorders.
I have Sony HC1 HDV camcorder and I tested playback of .M2T files on PS3 from BD-RE and DVD+RW, it's beautiful.
.
You can copy MPEG file with more than 4GB file size to internal HDD on PS3!.
I tried it. So, I assume format of internal HDD is NOT FAT32, may be NTFS!
AND PS will play the whole file, it's just that you won't have any navigations means when playback reaches time at 4GB size point.


Data disk on BD-R/RE are fine (they work great on the PS3) but I'm not sure if standalone players can handle it? But it would nice to have a menu, etc...

I took my burned BD-RE data disk with MPEG files to BestBuy and tried to play it on Samsung that was on the shelf. It didn't.

I took my burned BD-RE data disk with MPEG files to BestBuy and tried to play it on Samsung that was on the shelf. It didn't.

It's good to know! So if your target is standalone players you might have to go with \BDAV or wait for a firmware update to allow \BDMV with BD-R/RE.

I took one of my MPEG2 files with 5.1 audio, and was able to make a BD-RE in BDAV mode using Powerproducer. It didn't need to transcode the file at all and started buring the disc within 30 seconds. So this means the MPEG2 file is left untouched. The kicker is that it only plays back in 2.0, not 5.1, on the PS3 even though itt shows up as Dolby Digital multichannel audio. Is this a current limitation of the PS3 firmware, since it does the same thing with MPEG2 5.1 files played back from a USB device? If I try this BD-RE in a standalone player, should the 5.1 stream play?


Marc.

The kicker is that it only plays back in 2.0, not 5.1, on the PS3 even though itt shows up as Dolby Digital multichannel audio. Is this a current limitation of the PS3 firmware, since it does the same thing with MPEG2 5.1 files played back from a USB device?

Marc.
Yes.

There are rumors that March firmware update will fix that. But it is rumors only.

Yes.

There are rumors that March firmware update will fix that. But it is rumors only.

Thanks for the reply. I figure it had to be the PS3 , since there's no way that Powerproducer was doing anything to a 20gig file in 30seconds. The picture quality looks amazing so if the patch can fix the 5.1 issue, we will be set.

Marc.

I still have suspicion that Powerproducer re-encodes the audio, and (may be) video when it authors BDAV. I need to do more test.

And it would be great if Sony enables BDMV playback on PS3.

The video is definitely staying as is, but it was the audio that was worrying me. To test the video, I put a small chunk of my mpeg2 file on a usb stick, and played it back directly on the PS3. I made a note of the bit rate levels as they varied in the scene. The BD-RE made with powerporducer has the same bit rate levels at precisely the same spots. And the picture quality looks identical. That and the fact that it starts burning 20gigs within 30 seconds, I don't see it doing anything to the file at all. It was just the 2.0 audio that has me concerned, but as you stated, it's probably the PS3 firmware thats is to blame.

Marc.

For the audio issue, you use the optical out right? Maybe it will output the correct DD5.1 (or decoded in 5.1 LPCM) over HDMI?

Currently it's not really a issue of outputing in only 2.0. The PS3 actually downmix the DD track to 2 channels PCM via optical output. It simply does not output the DD track in bitstream, at least not over the optical connection.

regards,

Li On

For the audio issue, you use the optical out right? Maybe it will output the correct DD5.1 (or decoded in 5.1 LPCM) over HDMI?

Currently it's not really a issue of outputing in only 2.0. The PS3 actually downmix the DD track to 2 channels PCM via optical output. It simply does not output the DD track in bitstream, at least not over the optical connection.

regards,

Li On

Interesting , Li On. I never thought that it might pass the 5.1 over HMDI. I'll see when I upgrade my reciever next month (unless Sony releases a patch before then)

Marc.

When I play DVD on PS3 I get DD 5.1 surround sound through the optical to my Sony receiver.

But when I play SD/HD MPEG-2 file from the data disk with DD 5.1 surround sound audio track PS3 down converts it to 2.0 channels.

And this is the issue (for me at least) because I don't have HDMI in my receiver.

There is no point to do that. PS3 should be passing through DD bitstream like with DVDs.

For the audio issue, you use the optical out right? Maybe it will output the correct DD5.1 (or decoded in 5.1 LPCM) over HDMI?

Currently it's not really a issue of outputing in only 2.0. The PS3 actually downmix the DD track to 2 channels PCM via optical output. It simply does not output the DD track in bitstream, at least not over the optical connection.

regards,

Li On

Presumably the 2.0 PCM via optical issue is only for MPEG2 file replay, and not for DVD and BluRay replay, which is still a 5.1 Dolby Digital bitstream if the source is DD 5.1?

Is it just that the PS3 transcodes everything to 2.0 PCM for optical in XMB file replay? (Wouldn't you expect the HDMI audio to be identical in this case?)

Presumably the 2.0 PCM via optical issue is only for MPEG2 file replay, and not for DVD and BluRay replay, which is still a 5.1 Dolby Digital bitstream if the source is DD 5.1?

Is it just that the PS3 transcodes everything to 2.0 PCM for optical in XMB file replay? (Wouldn't you expect the HDMI audio to be identical in this case?)

It probably does the same downcoversion over HDMI, but it has yet to be comfirmed by anyone. The strange thing is the files (and my BD-RE disc) show up Dolby Digital Multichannel audio , on the screen info while being played, but it still only outputs 2 channel. It makes me wonder if Sony is doing this deliberately. Then again, their own Mpeg4 movie trailers on the Playstation store only playback in 2 channel.

Marc.

I have successfully converted .ts files with HDTVtoMPEG2 to play on the PS3. However, these have only been about 1GB in size.. Last night I tried it with a 4GB file and it didn't detect the file... Is this a known issue? Or perhaps there is something else I did wrong.. But if it's a known issue please let me know so I don't waste a lot of time trying to figure out what could be causing it ;)

Oh I think it's because my drive is NTFS... And stupid Windows won't format a volume larger than 32 GB if you want to use FAT32 :(

Oh I think it's because my drive is NTFS... And stupid Windows won't format a volume larger than 32 GB if you want to use FAT32 :(
Try Fat32format:

http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/fat32format.htm

I formatted 80 GB hard drive and PS3 recognized it no problem.

1080i MPEG-2 PS no longer works for me after installing the 1.60 firmware. The preview icon works, the file information shows all the correct info, but when I try to play a file, it stops after half a second and gives the error code 80028818

:mad:

1080i MPEG-2 PS no longer works for me after installing the 1.60 firmware. The preview icon works, the file information shows all the correct info, but when I try to play a file, it stops after half a second and gives the error code 80028818

:mad:


The problem is you are using hdtvtompeg. The new firmware (1.6) has apparently tightened up playback even more. One of the big issues with hdtvtompeg written by forum member Cris Moore is that the timestamps of the new mpeg2 file are not correct. Hence before the update to 1.6, people were unable to FF past a certain point in the ps file. The lesson is don't use hdtvtompeg for PS3 conversions (or any for that matter).

By far, the best program for ts to ps is VLC media player. I have had absolutely zero problems with VLC transcoded files on firmware 1.6. Use the wizzard on VLC, skip the covnersion part, and then you will be able to select the output for transcoding (choose ps).

I have not updated to 1.6 but read that it now supports M2TS files okay.. has anyone tried taking a .M2TS from a blu-ray disc decrypted and run it on the ps3 via XMB?

Also can anyone confirm if they have 5.1 audio going through the bitstream via XMB video yet? I still can't believe that they have all of their blu-ray trailers and movie trailers in 2.0 audio, due to lack of bitstream output from the cross media bar.

ps. VideoRedo is great for proper conversion of mpeg streams.

Also can anyone confirm if they have 5.1 audio going through the bitstream via XMB video yet? I still can't believe that they have all of their blu-ray trailers and movie trailers in 2.0 audio, due to lack of bitstream output from the cross media bar.

No changes. Only 2 channel with previews and/or working mpeg2 files.

The problem is you are using hdtvtompeg. The new firmware (1.6) has apparently tightened up playback even more. One of the big issues with hdtvtompeg written by forum member Cris Moore is that the timestamps of the new mpeg2 file are not correct. Hence before the update to 1.6, people were unable to FF past a certain point in the ps file. The lesson is don't use hdtvtompeg for PS3 conversions (or any for that matter).

By far, the best program for ts to ps is VLC media player. I have had absolutely zero problems with VLC transcoded files on firmware 1.6. Use the wizzard on VLC, skip the covnersion part, and then you will be able to select the output for transcoding (choose ps).
Using VLC the problem is the same. Converting it to MPEG-2 PS, Video looks perfect, audio is working in stereo, but after about 5 seconds, it stops working. Converting to TS, the video works, but there is no sound, and it still stops after 5 seconds.

Does anyone else have any conversion tips that do not require re-encoding?

By the way, M2TS files work PERFECTLY with 1.60! Simply copy the .m2ts file over to \VIDEO\ and you can play it no problem

Unfortunately, sound is STILL downsampled to stereo :mad:

no hd movies are released in the .mpg video file format so ps3 is useless for hd movies.

at least 360 plays wmvhd

when is ps3 going to be able to play x.264?

no hd movies are released in the .mpg video file format so ps3 is useless for hd movies.

at least 360 plays wmvhd

when is ps3 going to be able to play x.264?

PS3 plays H264 HD material already - and has done for a number of firmware revisions.

PS3Video9 has a facility to remux H264 in a .MOV container to a form that the PS3 will play without transcoding the video, and TSRemux allows H264 off-air recordings (for those of us in Europe with H264 HDTV broadcasts) to be converted to M2TS (aka AVCHD) format without re-encoding.

It is also possible to remux MPEG2 HD TS streams to replay on the PS3 I believe, again TSRemux may be your friend.

Biggest issue is that AC3 5.1 audio is replayed as 2.0 when you replay video files on the PS3 - so no proper surround playback.

i know it does h.264, so does 360

i said X.264

but yeah 360 only play h.264 in 2 channel sound as well, but wmvhd and other formats are in full suround.

I wish it would play the audio stream on ts files. The video component plays fine, however I get no audio what so ever, this is wth a direct HDMI link to my Sharp LCD. All other sources play both the audio and video compoenent.

Also is there any planned support for FLAC? With Over 1 billion IPODs out there one will think this will be a priority.

do hfs+ formated ext. usb hard drives work with the ps3 like they do on the 360? this still hasn't been answered. and if not are there any other hard ddrive file format that will play larger then 4gb files as with the fat32 limitation. what if you put a 2.5" in the ps3 and had the ps3 format it to its file format. i guess then your pc can't read it? but if so you could just use all 2.5" internals in an enclosure when not in the ps3 and just have your ps3 format them, as long as your pc can read the hdds of that format. otherwise it will suck if there is no file format that can do over 4gb files that the ps3 can read. maybe a linux hdd file format?

i know the hard drive based hidef camcorders that record in avchd work on the ps3 and i know that video recorded on a mini dv camcorder will playback on the ps3 but it takes an extra step or something to transfer the video and its slow to transfer off the mini dv to pc.

but footage recorded on a mini dv camcorder can be edited much easier while there really is no support for avchd

plus supposedly the hd pq is much better on a mini dv camcorer like the Canon HV20 over a hard drive based one like the Sony HDR-SR7.

I am between those 2 and the HV20 comes highly recommended but i'm thinking ease of playback on ps3 is more important to me then editability and slight better pq so i'm really on the fence.

supposedly the mini dv based hidef Canon HV20 is the better choice but i'm still second guessing it that i'd rather have a hard drive based hidef cam like the sony sr7. both around same price though ultimately i think i can get the canon cheaper;

still no answer on if the ps3 can read from hfs+ fomated hdd like the 360 or not.

if so, can it play from he ext. usb hdd or must the video file be transferd to he ps3 internal hdd.

seems like the only use of ps3 for me will be playback of avchd video files from an hdd camcorder.

i have no need for bluray as i watch hddvd & bluray rips converted into wmvhd through my 360 (streamed rom pc or from an ext. usb hdd or burned to a dvd9 disc)

no need for ps3 games as i have tons of games for 360 which look bettr & are cheaper (the cost of a dvd+r dl basically)

so buying $500 ps3 just to playback sony hdd avchd vid cam footage doesnt seem worth it especially when i can use a superior canon mini dv vid cam & convert the footage file to vc1 for playback on 360.

yet due to convenience of playback of raw vid cam footage from either the avchd hdd cams or the mini dv .m2t files without converting, im really thinking about it.

i just wish there was something else the ps3 did that was of any use or interest to me. i guess you can pop in an sd card from your digi stil cam & view pics? or mut those be transfered to he ps3 internal hdd first also or have to have the files in a certain folder on the sd card to view?

if sony could just allow x.264 support (NOT H.264) in full surround plus allow the files to be played from an hfs+ formatted ext. usb hdd, that would be the greatest thing ever & sony would sell a ton of ps3's probably surpassing the 360 & even wii console sales. instead they are in last plce with a console noone that knows anything really wants or cares about.

i know it does h.264, so does 360

i said X.264

but yeah 360 only play h.264 in 2 channel sound as well, but wmvhd and other formats are in full suround.

Ah - I had assumed, from what I'd read, that x264 was an encoder that produced H264 encoded video - albeit containered up in a wrapper that wasn't m2ts?

How does x264 video differ from H264 at Main or High level?

AIUI Sony support H264 in its standard variants - as used for broadcasting, BluRay and AVCHD Camcorders?

Isn't x264 an "enthusiast implementation" rather than an official standard ? As such there isn't a lot of chance of it being specifically supported unless it is compatible with a standard standard.

It is like xVid or similar being supported...

What legal content is being produced in x264? Isn't almost all of the x264 stuff either DVD/HD-DVD/BluRay rips or off-air recordings of TV shows downloaded via P2P or Usenet? Can't see Sony going out of their way to support this...

I'd expect continued support for official standards : MPEG2, MPEG4/H264, MP3, WAV, AAC etc. in standard containers like m2ts, mp4, ts etc.

If a PVR/DVR USB2 tuner option appears then I'd expect better support for ts and proper 5.1 AC3 audio for HD broadcasts.

I wish it would play the audio stream on ts files. The video component plays fine, however I get no audio what so ever, this is wth a direct HDMI link to my Sharp LCD. All other sources play both the audio and video compoenent.

Also is there any planned support for FLAC? With Over 1 billion IPODs out there one will think this will be a priority.

FLAC? iPods only support this with 3rd party firmware don't they? Far fewer than 1billion iPods with a replacement OS running on them I'd have thought.

AIUI the lossless formats that iPods play are Apple Lossless, WAV and AIFF audio. The PS3 plays WAVs - but they are entirely uncompressed.

I'd like it if the PS3 played Apple Lossless as well - but I don't see it happening.

So, has anybody figured out if the PS3 will send the Dolby Digital AC3 stream from MPEG PS files via HDMI? I am in the market for a new reciever which will be HDMI capable and I would love if this were the case. Using VLC to take .m2t files I capture on my MAC and turn them into MPEG PS files has worked very well so far, other than of course the 5.1 to 2.0 audio issue.

what did the ps3 fw version 2.0 add?
i heard it adds full 5.1 sound for .mpg .mp4 and .vob.
that should help but its still very confusing what file types it plays and if the ps3 can stream from a pc or not like the 360 and if not, what is the best way to get the files to the ps3.

i have a raw bluray files decrypted and i want to play them on the 360 or ps3 and think it will actually be easier on 360 by streaming or from an hfs ext. hdd.

i think both 360 and ps3 play mpeg2

supposedly you are
"able to convert he M2TS file in 1 single step using only Elecard Xmuxer Pro
Again only works on Mpeg2 Blu-ray
Open Xmuxer Pro, Drag M2TS into the Remux secion, click double arrow, click output chose MPEG Program Stream, then click Start. Thats all.
To make it more compatible, and usable for xbox 360 streaming, chose only 1 audio file before clicking start.

to make it usable on ps3, you will need to chop it into < 4GB parts
you will still not get AC-3 audio in the XMB with any posted solutions.
Preliminary tests only, Your Mileage may Vary."

sounds like it will be quicker easier less steps on 360.

Quatre

I read your posts on maxconsole.net and your problem to get playback on PS3. I just got this working last weekend. Your procedure is correct, all you have to do is load the .m2ts files from your hdd into tsremux. Select the main video and audio files and remux into a new .m2ts. Then split it into <4GB chunks, then copy to ext usb hdd. Then play on PS3. Works for me!

Does the PS3 play .vob files now under 2.2?

Does the PS3 play .vob files now under 2.2?

I have run into problems running .vob files with firmware v2.2. I get a lot of "The data is corrupted" or "This format is not supported" error msgs when trying to stream a .vob or .ts file.

The funny thing is that the errors are not the same across all files. But I've noticed that they have occurred somewhat more since v2.2.

I've observed playback on .vob, as well (since at least the previous firmware vers)- no obvious problems (though I didn't wait to play through the entire file). Granted, it was just one file that was handy on my thumb drive, that was not particularly large (only 307 MB). So I cannot comment on how reliable the ps3 the playback is over many .vob files or particularly large files.

My vob's under 2.2 are very "shaky". I play the same files in VLC and they are perfect. I know they were perfect before the latest update. Very weird.

I have a PS3 (40Gb) with up to date firmware, and a NAS box with MS compatible network shares. On the NAS box are a number of (my purchased) ripped DVDs in original MPEG2 format.

The PS3 sees the NAS box ok, and I can navigate to the directories containing the .mpg video files, but all except 1 give the "Data is Corrupted" message. I don't know what the difference between the 1 that works and the rest is. It can't be size, as the 1 that plays is 5.5Gb, and others are smaller.

So why is the PS3 not able to show the others?

I'm trying the PS3Video9 converter, so will see how that goes.

You would think that Sony of all organisations could make an expensive box like the PS3 able to play video of pretty much any format, and also able to dynamically download new codecs for those it can't.

Come on Sony, you can do MUCH better than this. If not, open up the box and allow others to provide the capability, or even provide an app store like the iTunes one where you get a rev share, but please let us use our boxes as we want to, and not cripple us just because you can't get a competent media player together.