[SOLVED] MythTV and PS3

jmpetre · 06-24-2009, 04:42 PM

Hello,
I want to setup a dedicated MythTV server in my office, but I want to play the recordings on my PS3 so I can watch them on the big screen. I know I can do this since the videos will show up in the PS3 OS as a media server. My question is, what media format/codec should I record in to best work on my PS3? The PS3 will be the primary video player for the MythTV box.

pljvaldez · 06-24-2009, 04:49 PM

From the mythtv wiki:

Quote:

# Sony PS3 - Firmware 1.80 added the ability to stream music, pictures and video from DLNA-compatible devices. The UPnP server version 0.20.2 of MythTV is compatible with the PS3. TV Shows and mp3 Music should play just fine. Your mileage with your video collection may vary, depending on how your videos are encoded

* I have no videos, can someone confirm this? Does mythtv transcode these to work? -Ribs
* I encode to MPEG2 with Hauppauge PVR[23]50 cards and they stream very nicely to the PS3 -dvhart.
* All of my mpeg2 content (hauppauge pvr, atsc) plays without issue. Divx (v4 or better) and Xvid in an avi container are supported (2GB limit). H264 is supported, however there are some strict requirements, and I have been unable to encode anything and get it to play. -wagnerrp (PS3's only support H.264 level 4.1 and below encodings. Unfortunately mencoder and many other encoders put a default level of 5.1 into the encodings. For mencoder use "-x264encopts level_idc=XY Where XY is the level". See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264 for description of levels)
* Read my article about how to transcode for UPnP to a PS3 -Travis Collins, DreamingWell.com

Looks like mpeg2 or H.264 level 4.1 or lower. Mythtv is currently version 0.21 so somethings may be a bit different (as this talks about 0.20.2).

jmpetre · 06-24-2009, 05:53 PM

Ok, great. Thanks for the info. When I go to pick out a TV Tuner card, do I need to make sure it will work with linux (like some wireless cards), or will it generally just work? Any recommendations?
Thanks.

jmpetre · 06-24-2009, 05:59 PM

Nevermind, I've answered my own question with this:
http://www.mythtv.org/docs/mythtv-HO...capture_device

Thanks!

pljvaldez · 06-24-2009, 06:03 PM

At home I have a single tuner Hauppauge PVR-150 that works well on analog TV (cable without a cable box). My only regret is that it is single channel, so you can only record one thing at a time. If I had it to do over again, I'd probably get at least a dual tuner card so that overlapping shows could be recorded. Also, in the USA there's been a switch to digital TV (if you live here), so if you don't have cable you'll want one with a digital tuner built in (or you'll have to figure out how to get it to change channels on your satellite box). Also, I guess with the move to HD stuff, you may want one that does onboard encoding to H.264 format (i.e. Hi-def format).

Generally, Hauppauge seems to have pretty good linux support. I think generally onboard mpeg2/H.264 compression is good (frees up your CPU and RAM). I'd go look at the Mythtv Wiki I linked to and poke around the hardware section. Before you buy a card, I'd check the wiki, google for it, and see if it's been reported as working.

newbuyer17 · 06-25-2009, 01:08 AM

There is also a transcode job you can set up (I think it is just mythtranscode or something like that) which will automatically convert a file as soon as it is recorded. I used this to convert everything to .avi otherwise it takes up a lot of space. Can also convert to mp4 etc.

Have a look around for it and if you can't find it I'll see what I can dig out.