x264 - H264/AVC - incompatible data?

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Fredd-E
Posts:1
Joined:Tue Dec 02, 2008 11:26 am
AV Hardware:PS3
x264 - H264/AVC - incompatible data?

Post by Fredd-E » Tue Dec 02, 2008 1:05 pm

I am a former TVersity user and due to its latest unstable update I wanted to try TwonkyMedia. It seems to be a better choice cause it's more lightweight and seems to be faster and easier as well. But I ran into a problem when playing some video files. I think the problem has to do with the decoding possibilities of the PS3, but still I'd love to make a post about it over here... someone could shed a light perhaps.

Research on the PS3 led to the following compatibility:
MPEG-4: MP4 Audio MPEG-4 Part 3+ AAC Low Complexity (unprotected), MP4 Video MPEG-4 Part 2, + Simple Profile (MPEG-4 SP; MPEG-4 ASP is unsupported as of now) + DivX (in AVI), MPEG-4 Part 10 (also known as H.264/MPEG-4 AVC)+ Main Profile+ High Profile
I have a lot of videos encoded from my Canon Isux 850IS with x264 - H264/AVC by using VirtualDub.

Image
Image

The problem is pretty straightforward. When I play the original AVI from the camera with TwonkyMedia it works fine. When I play the x264 encoded one the PS3 says incompatible data. Even though research learnt me that the PS3 should be able to play H264.

What could be wrong? Perhaps the x264 encoder makes incompatible h264 ps3 avi's? Is there another 264 encoder i should try?

Extra info:

1) works
2) does not work
3) works
  1. Image
  2. Image
  3. Image
Thanks in advance for any possible insights.

PS: This is a situation where it would be great if twonkymedia also offered a method of transcoding all media, just like tversity offers. Would be ideal to circumvent this limitation of having the PS3 to be able to decode all media you are sending in with TwonkyMedia; even though this would slow down the process obviously...

probedb
Posts:34
Joined:Tue Oct 14, 2008 1:16 pm
AV Hardware:PS3

Re: x264 - H264/AVC - incompatible data?

Post by probedb » Fri Dec 05, 2008 2:13 pm

Not sure the PS3 supports h264 in an avi container?

Try demuxing them and putting them in an m2ts container or a vob. All my h264 stuff is either .ts, .m2ts or .vob.

zenkinz
Posts:47
Joined:Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:16 pm

Re: x264 - H264/AVC - incompatible data?

Post by zenkinz » Tue Jan 06, 2009 7:47 am

btw, does your AVI file (straight from the camera) play on PS3 w/o changing the file extension? I have to change the file extension to ".MPG" before PS3 can play. If I leave it as AVI it says unsupported file format.


@probedb, how to demux them and put them on a different container? I have a H264 movie too but it doesn't play. Does changing file extension suffice, or do I need to use another tool to demux (and which tool will that be?)

gosi
Posts:7
Joined:Tue Jan 20, 2009 6:35 pm
AV Hardware:PS3, Twonky Media Server

Re: x264 - H264/AVC - incompatible data?

Post by gosi » Tue Jan 20, 2009 6:53 pm

well, the PS3 only supports the Profile Level 4.1 for h264, not any newer one and prolly never will since that would require hardware changes as far as I know. Anyhow, look out for that in your encoder and try if that is the problem. Might help ...

Hearush69
Posts:1
Joined:Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:12 pm
AV Hardware:AMD64 UPnP Server
PS3
XBMC on XBOX2 x iMacs

Re: x264 - H264/AVC - incompatible data?

Post by Hearush69 » Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:16 pm

Levels > 4.1 support resolutions higher than 1080p at 30fps so really shouldn't be an issue for many people.

On thing at least of the last PS3 firmware update is that there are several h264 options that don't work on the PS3. The most important I found was "Large File Support".

I use Handbrake to encode my movies and I use the default preset and turn of that, turn on Decomb and Denoise and my h264 encoded files play and look great on PS3 connected to a 1080p plasma.

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