VLC Transcoding...

mgillespie · Post by **mgillespie** » Sat Jun 09, 2007 10:03 am

I am trying out VLC transcoding. But I get a blank stream on my PS3.

It accepts the stream, and plays it, but it's playing nothing..

Any tips? Anyone get this working on a PS3, what output format did you choose? I tried them all... I'm using DivX as my input source...

starhubble · Post by **starhubble** » Wed Jul 25, 2007 10:29 am

I'd like to try this but I can't quite figure out how to do it.

I've put the "vlc.import.playlists" file in the DB-directory and set up VLC to stream the selected video file via HTTP to port 8080. How/Where do I access this stream on the PS3? Obviously there is something else I need to do.

Would you mind writing a little step by step guide mgillespie?

starhubble · Post by **starhubble** » Tue Aug 07, 2007 11:20 pm

Bump!

mgillespie · Post by **mgillespie** » Wed Aug 08, 2007 9:07 am

I'll have another go this evening, see if I can get it working again.

starhubble · Post by **starhubble** » Sat Aug 11, 2007 12:43 pm

How did it go mgillespie?

mgillespie · Post by **mgillespie** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 9:33 am

Not able to get it working on PS3, I can get a blank stream.

There are quite alot of combinations of streaming and transcoding options in VLC, I have tried quite a few, and it makes little difference.

I have also tried changing the format of the stream file from MPG to MP4 and using the MPEG4 container and AVC encoding options with little success.

If I show the process here, perhaps others may be able to get it to work.

1/ Download and Install VideoLan ( http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ )
2/ Add the following file to your twonkymedia.db directory and do a database rescan. (it should read the file in, and delete it)

http://www.twonkyvision.com/Support/Dev ... .playlists

3/ Open VideoLan, Select File, Open, Select your file, tick the Stream tickbox, click Settings.

4/Select HTTP, Localhost, port 8080 in the stream settings, and the encapsulation/transcode options are what you need to experiment with.

5/ Click OK to close the stream dialog, OK again to close the File Open dialog, the file will then be streamed to the Twonkyserver.

6/ On you client, select to view video, there will be a new option to pickup the VLC playlist item. Play this. In theory, you should see your transcoded video. IN practice however, certainly on PS3, all I get is a blank stream.[/img]

mgillespie · Post by **mgillespie** » Sun Aug 12, 2007 9:35 am

Things to try:

change the playlist import type:

#VIDEOLIST
#NAME:VLC
#TITLE:VLC - Stream
#DEFAULT-EXTENSION:mpg
http://127.0.0.1:8080

from #DEFAULT-EXTENSION:mpg to #DEFAULT-EXTENSION:mp4, and use MP4 encapsulation, and some MP4 compatable transcoding options.

However, I noticed once you have imported the VLC playlist item once, it will never import it again, without deleting everything and starting again.

starhubble · Post by **starhubble** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:59 am

Thanks! I'll try it again and see what I can do...

Come on people, let's get this working.

Greystone · Post by **Greystone** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 12:21 pm

Hi!

I just bought a Twonky Vision license to get something like this working. Have you had any luck yet?

guigui84 · Post by **guigui84** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:52 pm

Hi all,

i finally have it WORKING, so i share my experience in case it would also work for others.

i started by following mgillespie's instructions. I personally had much more luck with Audio Codec : mpga 128 2, cause otherwise some of my movies didn't have sound. But only a few worked. I saw some errors and warnings in the vlc messages, and after some googling found the parameter that, at least for me, changed everything : fps=25

You can add this parameter in the target field, or launch your movie directly from the command line with :

Code: Select all

vlc -vvv "toto.avi" --sout '#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,fps=25,scale=1,acodec=mpga,ab=128,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ts,dst=:8080}}'

and now ALL of my movies are streamed correctly !

I'm running twonky 4.4.2 under kubuntu. When i launch the VLC playlist i have a strange error message telling "A netwok error occured (80710716)". After a few seconds the movie starts playing JUST FINE.

for those running KDE and interrested in having a simple servicemenu create a file stream2ps3.desktop in ~/.kde/share/apps/konqueror/servicemenus containing

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
ServiceTypes=video/*
Actions=stream2ps3
X-KDE-Priority=TopLevel

[Desktop Action stream2ps3]
Name=Stream to PS3
Icon=tv
Exec=sleep 15; vlc -vvv "%U" --sout '#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,fps=25,scale=1,acodec=mpga,ab=128,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ts,dst=:8080}}'

you then just have to right-click your movie, choose "Stream to PS3". You then have 15 seconds to go to your tv set, launch the VLC playlist and enjoy your movie.

Hope it can help some.
Regards.

EDIT : it seems we won't have to play long with these 'tricks' anymore, as it's now OFFICIAL that the PS3 will natively support divx files. GREAT !! But in the meantime streaming this way is still probably the best to do