Transcode only one format for PS3?

Hello,

my video library consists entirely out of videos that my PS3 can play natively (AVI, MP4, MPG, M2TS, etc...), and a handful of MKVs. Since installing Serviio, I've noticed that it pretty much unnecessarily transcodes everything, including the files my PS3 will play natively.

Is it possible to turn off transcoding for certain formats? I would pretty much like if Serviio transcoded the MKVs, but left everything else alone. Is there a way to do this?

[DenyAll]

Yes, by editing profiles.xml located in your serviio/config folder. See http://www.serviio.org/index.php?option ... icle&id=24

Having said that I have a PS3 and haven't seen any unnecessary transcoding (but I may not have your type of files). I presume you have set it to use the PS3 Profile? In the standard PS3 profile:

• AVI's - remuxes only if video type is h264, transcoding audio to AC3 if necessary. Supports AVI's with divx/xvid natively (which is the majority of AVI's);
• MKV's - remuxes into m2ts container, transcoding audio to AC3 if necessary. PS3 does not natively support MKV's so they must be remuxed;
• MP4's - are played natively

There is an exception for all of the above - if the H264 profile Level is above 4.1 then the video is transcoded (see http://wiki.serviio.org/doku.php?id=get_h264_level). Note that this, and a few file types you haven't mentioned (asf, ogg, flv), is the only video transcoding specified by the standard PS3 profile. The others are remuxes (with some audio transcoding), which is simply repackaging in a new container type - far less processor intensive (but still better avoided if not necessary).

I wonder if what you are seeing is only for files where the H264 profile Level is above 4.1?? Use MediaInfo to determine (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4510). These higher profile level files may cause stuttering if the PS3 doesn't support them (hence why they are transcoded). I suspect the profile was written a while ago so newer PS3's may not need this?? - if this is the case, try starting by changing the 4.1 to something higher (either 4.2 or 5.0) or removing this section all together.

Lastly, before doing any changes to the profile you can test whether the PS3 will support natively it by turning off transcoding on the Delivery tab, or by selecting Generic Profile for your PS3 (remember to press save after changing).

[DenyAll]

I found this on another forum. Cannot vouch for its accuracy, but does support my theory re h264 level being supported in the newer (slim) model:

  Code:

The PS3 slims Supports H264 Level 5.1 in M2TS/VOB/MP4 excluding the DRM'ed files
 
H264 level 5.1      Media server   HDD
 
M2TS               yes         yes
VOB               yes         yes
MP4 V1            yes         yes         
MP4 V2 > 4GB      yes         NO
MOV               Not natively supported, only via transcoding media server.
MKV               Not natively supported, only via transcoding media server.
 
The difference that kills files is the Audio formats.
ONLY AAC is supported in MP4 v1 & v2 files on PS3, NO AAC track = NO PLAY on PS3.
DTS support Remains intermittent some media servers will stream it. DTS From the HDD is still blocked for media files
AC3 works only from M2TS/VOB/DIVX not in MP4. NO MATTER how much $$$ Apple.inc throw at it for Apple.tv.. 

With out H264 level 5.1 support its impossible to play the H264 level 5.1 3D 120fps BD Films due later this year. No other profile on PS3 supports the data rate needed..
The Level 5.1 flag block was removed ages ago.

I haven't any 5.1 files to test with - I will download one from the test media site and have a play to confirm this. If accurate, you can remove the two lines from the standard PS3 profile that contain levelGreaterThan="4.1".

Thanks for the reply, DenyAll.

Serviio has correctly auto-identified my PS3 as a PS3. What I'm seeing is that I have several XVID-encoded videos that develop audio sync issues as the video plays. It's fine at the very beginning, but 15 minutes into the video the audio is slightly off-sync and towards the end of the video the audio is completely out of sync by a second or two.

If I watch the same video on my PC or turn off transcoding, the problem doesn't occur. Plus, with transcoding off, every video starts playing faster and the fast forward function works more reliably and faster. Of course, MKVs won't play and I'd rather not have to remux every single one, though I will if I have to.

My server is far too slow to perform video reencoding anywhere near real-time (AMD Turion Neo N54L CPU), but remuxing is fine. I don't have anything that flat-out refuses to play or stutters or anything like that, so Serviio is only remuxing, but like I said, it appears to be doing things with videos that it shouldn't be...

[DenyAll]

Using MediaInfo (see link in my post above) can you list the video and audio types for each type of file that is causing problems - I can the guide you as to what changes to make in the profile. The issue is, most AVI's and MP4's are not transcoded - need to see what combination of video/audio are triggering transcoding in your case.

Hi,

I have picked out a file i know to have caused problems in the past:

  Code:

General
Complete name                            : P:\ServerFolders\TV-Aufzeichnung\Archive\Some Show\Season 02\Some Show - 221 - Some Episode.avi
Format                                   : AVI
Format/Info                              : Audio Video Interleave
File size                                : 349 MiB
Duration                                 : 40mn 58s
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 1 189 Kbps
Writing application                      : cant touch this

Video
ID                                       : 0
Format                                   : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile                           : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP                    : 2
Format settings, QPel                    : No
Format settings, GMC                     : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix                  : Default (H.263)
Codec ID                                 : XVID
Codec ID/Hint                            : XviD
Duration                                 : 40mn 58s
Bit rate                                 : 1 043 Kbps
Width                                    : 608 pixels
Height                                   : 336 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.213
Stream size                              : 306 MiB (88%)
Writing library                          : XviD 1.2.0SMP (UTC 2006-01-08)

Audio
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : MPEG Audio
Format version                           : Version 1
Format profile                           : Layer 3
Mode                                     : Joint stereo
Mode extension                           : MS Stereo
Codec ID                                 : 55
Codec ID/Hint                            : MP3
Duration                                 : 40mn 58s
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 128 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 39.2 MiB (11%)
Alignment                                : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration                     : 24 ms (0.58 video frame)
Writing library                          : LAME3.95
Encoding settings                        : -m j -V 4 -q 3 -lowpass 17.5 --abr 128


As I mentioned before, with transcoding turned OFF, it plays just fine on the PS3, with transcoding turned ON, however, the audio gets progressively more and more out-of-sync as the video plays.

[DenyAll]

Well thats got me - I cannot see what would be triggering transcoding ie. this shouldn't be transcoded. Maybe someone else can see it. If not then we're going to need to dig further. Can you turn on detailed logging and then play the file. Post the log file and lets see what serviio is doing.

It may also pay to do an ffmpeg -i on the file to see what ffmpeg thinks the file is.

Of course, MKVs won't play and I'd rather not have to remux every single one, though I will if I have to.

I found it best to remux them to a MP4 container outside of Serviio. This gives best playback on the PS3 (although Serviio will remux them on the fly, doing it outside and to an MP4 container gives you better scanning, forwarding and rewinding). You can do this quite "quickly" with this batch file (if a Windows user - you may also need to adjust the location of your ffmpeg file) - save it (as Convert.bat for example) in the folder with your MKV's and run it. All mkv's are left untouched:

  Code:

@echo off
REM convert all MKV in current folder to MP4, video and audio copied

FOR /R %%I IN (*.mkv) DO CALL :ffmpeg "%%I"
pause
exit

:ffmpeg
  "C:\Program Files\Serviio\lib\ffmpeg.exe" -i "%~nx1" -vcodec copy -acodec copy "%~n1.mp4"
GOTO :eof