PS3 FW2.20 and TV 4.4.4 = stuttering MPEG4 play!

[ThyMaster]

Hi Folks,

it finally happened:
Sony published an update (FW 2.20) to its PS3 and Twonkyvision has a problem

All of my MPEG4 video files are stuttering like hell when I try to play them via TV 4.4.4 (incl. RC1).
If I play these files straight from a USB stick connected to my PS3 everything's fine.

Now, since the last posting from someone from TV is about 1.5 months ago (and we haven't seen any update, fix or release ever since!) I deeply hope that the TV guys will wake up, make a statement and (if possible) fix it.
Otherwise their software becomes more and more obsolete IMO (at least in the light of the current rise of PS3 sales).

Using TV 4.4.4 and 4.4.4RC1 on SuSE Linux 10.1

Please help!

Regards
Falko

P.S.: I know there were a lot of discussions going on regarding the "real" support, but I cannot find any link, page or hint at their web site to contact support directly (any idea here?)

[Caoimhghin]

Sony published an update (FW 2.20) to its PS3 and Twonkyvision has a problem

It's not TV where the problems lie, but Sony with their buggy firmware releases. I've had a PS3 for about 7 months, bought mainly for its media client potential when streaming from a server. In that time it has failed to play either MPEG-2, MP4 and WMA files at different times, dependent on the particular update, for probably 6 months out of the 7.

Reading other threads in this forum is your friend:

http://www.twonkyforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4909

[mattdaj]

Previous poster is correct, I even tried steaming from my Vista Media server with the same results. One way around this until Sony provides a fix, is to select the movie from the TV server and select "copy", to copy it to the PS3. Delete it once finished watching it.

[ThyMaster]

Hi Folks,

apologies for being so "TV-is-guilty" minded. I should have searched this forum for that problem first hand to see/understand that problems lies at PS3 (and not TV).
I'll get myself a bigger HDD for my PS3 and wil copy my movies there eventually.

But one thing still worries me:
Is there any development/support going on with TV?
I mean I haven't seen any new version, bugfix, statement, posting, website update or whatsoever for more than 1.5 month and I do frankly worry that TV has been abandoned.

And even more:
Where to get qualified support? (I really bought this product, no OEM)

- ThyMaster

[gdaymate]

I'm getting a PS3, so want to know what is the best format for encoding DVDs so they work without stuttering using the current release of the PS3 firmware!

[Canoehead]

The most native format is M2TS, if you can do it. The PS3-friendly VOBs are also good - google mkv2vob - but also hard to do. The vast bulk of my standard def librabry is in MP4s made with Handbrake (there are version for PC and Mac - the Mac is better but PC works) - it has a PS3 setting, you select that, then change the audio to 6 channel discreet - I sometimes bump up the bitrate a bit too, but that is personal choice.

[mgillespie]

MY experience is FW 2.30 fixes MP4 stuttering, AND WMA still works (my worry, was they rolled back the changes that fixed WMA and broke MP4, fortunatly, this was not the case).

No issues so far with FW 2.30, DTS-MA support sounds great on the disc I tried, and the new non-web based XMB store is also very very good, outclassing the 360's marketplace.

Nice update...

[OpethManiac]

MY experience is FW 2.30 fixes MP4 stuttering, AND WMA still works (my worry, was they rolled back the changes that fixed WMA and broke MP4, fortunatly, this was not the case).

No issues so far with FW 2.30, DTS-MA support sounds great on the disc I tried, and the new non-web based XMB store is also very very good, outclassing the 360's marketplace.

Nice update...

Great news, thans for the update

[Phil-L]

MY experience is FW 2.30 fixes MP4 stuttering

Not the case here I'm afraid. MP4 files encoded with anything near a half-decent bitrate still stutter every 5-10 seconds on my 1st gen US 60GB PS3. Not the end of the world by any means, but bloody annoying.

What's worse is that the latest posts from this thread on the official US PS3 boards seem to suggest that Sony aren't going to fix it any time soon...

[zenkinz]

MY experience is FW 2.30 fixes MP4 stuttering, AND WMA still works (my worry, was they rolled back the changes that fixed WMA and broke MP4, fortunatly, this was not the case).

No issues so far with FW 2.30, DTS-MA support sounds great on the disc I tried, and the new non-web based XMB store is also very very good, outclassing the 360's marketplace.

Nice update...

can your TV 4.4.4 able to play AVI and DIVX?

I still cannot play AVI or DIVX through PS3, it shows unsupported data.

I checked that the AVI's video coding format is actually MJPEG 2.0 so I 'm not sure if that's the reason. Renaming these AVI files to extension .MPG will work but the video statistic (date, video length, etc) will be screwed.

Alternatively, I can convert these AVI into DIVX (help to save space as well) but PS3/TV doesn't like this format?!

[mgillespie]

AVI is not a codec, it's a container, there are literally thousands of codecs compatible with AVI containers.

DivX works fine for me. 100% of the time. I use the official DivX networks Pro encoder.

What encoder are you using forDivX?

[TheBrad]

[off-topic]
Mark, which software do you use to encode your movies with DivX? Do you use this DivX Converter that comes with the offical DivX Bundle? Or any additional software (MediaCoder etc.)?
[/off-topic]
I stream DivX to my PS3 without any problems as well, using the .avi container and the present official DivX-codec V6.8. Twonky-Version is the current release 4.4.4

Take care,


Brad

[mgillespie]

I use the DivX converter app that comes with the Pro DivX bundle, use that and the PS3 has no problem streaming DivX.

I suspect people having problems, are downloading abitary files from dubious sources, have no idea what it's encoded using, or even if it's a valid encode, and wonder why it does not work..

There are many XVid files that DON'T work on PS3. The usual culprit is the deblocking options used during encode (although I believe firmware 2.20 improved this vastly).

If people are having trouble, they might want to post some specifics about the files that are causing problems. Use this app to gain extended media information:

http://www.headbands.com/gspot/