Play .MKV Files On PS3

madmoe

Hi all,
Does anyone know if its possible to play .MKV files on the PS3 or do they need to be converted?

I have a load on an external HDD and it would be great to be able to play them.

Cheers,
M

L31mr0d

Yar har, fiddle-dee-dee,
Only a pirate uses mkv
Sony won't support piracy
You are a pirate! (Yay!)

Seriously though. Network up your PS3 and use this:
http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/

AnCapaillMor

Just use mkv2vob, its fairly quick. and if they're big ones, don't forget to split them into files of 4gb or less.

madmoe

I tried TVersity and ps3mediaserver and can't get either of the feckers to work!!

Can the PS3 not see any files bigger than 4Gigs AnCapaillMor??

L31mr0d wrote: »

Yar har, fiddle-dee-dee,
Only a pirate uses mkv
Sony won't support piracy
You are a pirate! (Yay!)

Seriously though. Network up your PS3 and use this:
http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com/

heebusjeebus

PS3 uses the FAT32 file system so any files bigger than 4gb cant be read I'm afraid.

madmoe

Cheers, so if my HDD is NTFS then I would have to convert it?

CodeMonkey

madmoe wrote: »

Cheers, so if my HDD is NTFS then I would have to convert it?

The ps3 won't recognize an external hard drive in ntfs format. It'll also not play media files in a mkv container.

Easiest solution is to stream the mkv using ps3mediaserver like what L31mr0d said. What problems are you having with it?

Keano

madmoe wrote: »

Cheers, so if my HDD is NTFS then I would have to convert it?

As I found out from the guys in here, yes.

L31mr0d

madmoe wrote: »

Cheers, so if my HDD is NTFS then I would have to convert it?

Yes and if you have Vista as your OS then it's going to be a pain as Vista no longer supports Fat32. XP only supports formatting specific size partitions to Fat32.

You'll need to use this:
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?fat32format.htm

I'd recommend just getting PS3 Media Server to work as it does the transcoding on the fly, meaning you won't be waiting around for mkv2vob to finish.

You might also try:
http://sentry23.googlepages.com/

Seems to be faster for quickly changing from mkv to vob as it only changes the container, meaning that no encoding is needed.

madmoe

Cheers lads. I would love to get ps3mediaserver working but I think my NTL Cisco EPC 2425 cable modem\router is the issue!!

If I get it working how does the audio for the .MKV get sent across? Is 2 channel stereo the best you can hope for?

Cheers,
M

This is the one i use. Converts to .mp4 perfect. http://pspvc.nswardh.com/

AnCapaillMor

Nice little app going around called swissknife which formats hd's. I've my 320 WD passport split into 100GB FAt32 and the rest NTFS. Very easy to do with the app.

CombatCow

.mkv files play for me over the windows sharing network, I cant pause or fastforward or rewind but they still play fine :pac:

madmoe

Great! Does the 5.1 surround work as well?

noodler

I don't like to have my laptop on to watch something on my ps3 - would personally prefer to just transfer it over and be done.

That said I have a 720p BR Rip which I am certain exceeds 4GB after I used MKV2VOB on it, whats going on there?

BArra

you need to specify it to fit on say a 4gb usb stick, it has the option in its settings

then it will split the file in two for you

tman

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Nice little app going around called swissknife which formats hd's. I've my 320 WD passport split into 100GB FAt32 and the rest NTFS. Very easy to do with the app.

Seconded... Used that to create a fat32 partition on my 320GB passport (takes up all of it), handy little program!
Just remember, you can't convert from NTFS to fat32 - you'll have to delete whatever is on there and start afresh

madmoe

And does the .MKV play fine? Do you copy across to the PS3 or play from a HDD connected to the PS3?

AnCapaillMor

You'll still need to convert the MKV's.

L31mr0d

madmoe wrote: »

And does the .MKV play fine? Do you copy across to the PS3 or play from a HDD connected to the PS3?

You can't play .mkvs on the PS3, see my original jingle your options are:

1) Convert to a different container on a PC that is supported by the PS3 (i.e. mkv2vob, pspvc... etc)

2) Stream the media over to the PS3 (i.e. ps3 media server, tversity, windows media centre... etc)

madmoe

I understand that they can't be played directly, they need to be converted. All that is cool.

Just wondering about once converted and having them on an external HDD and then plugging that in and them playing etc etc. I have a **** load of them on a 1TB HDD (need to convert first) that it would be great to play from without having to split up etc. Just plug in and play.

Was gonna go spend the money on a WD HD TV Live but if the PS3 can play them once converted then I won't bother.....

Fabritzo

Buy a 10 quid switch/hub and plug the HDD into your pc? ps3media server supports mkv, the last time I tried tversity it didn't. PS3 media server works on the fly so to speak, where tversity has to catalogue everything :mad:

madmoe

Cool, how about the audio? Can it only stream it in stereo?

Fabritzo

There's a 5.1 option in ps3media server, I think it's enabled by default

madmoe

Brilliant!

Otacon

Feature listed on the site: http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/

Current features

- Ready to launch and play. No codec packs to install. No folder configuration and pre-parsing or this kind of annoying thing. All your folders are directly browsed by the PS3, there's an automatic refresh also.
- Real-time video transcoding of MKV/FLV/OGM/AVI, etc.
- Direct streaming of DTS / DTS-HD core to the receiver
- Remux H264/MPEG2 video and all audio tracks to AC3/DTS/LPCM in real time with tsMuxer when H264 is PS3/Level4.1 compliant
- Full seeking support when transcoding
- DVD ISOs images / VIDEO_TS Folder transcoder
- OGG/FLAC/MPC/APE audio transcoding
- Thumbnail generation for Videos
- You can choose with a virtual folder system your audio/subtitle language on the PS3!
- Simple streaming of formats PS3 natively supports: MP3/JPG/PNG/GIF/TIFF, all kind of videos (AVI, MP4, TS, M2TS, MPEG)
- Display camera RAWs thumbnails (Canon / Nikon, etc.)
- ZIP/RAR files as browsable folders
- Support for pictures based feeds, such as Flickr and Picasaweb
- Internet TV / Web Radio support with VLC, MEncoder or MPlayer
- Podcasts audio/ Video feeds support
- Basic Xbox360 support
- FLAC 96kHz/24bits/5.1 support
- Windows Only: DVR-MS remuxer and AviSynth alternative transcoder support

Bolded bit might be of interest. BTW use a wired connection if possible, no major difference just stability.

madmoe

Cheers Otacon!

2smiggy

I use NAT type 1, but for me to be able to run ps3mediacentre i have to change back to NAT type 3 every time. i have not been able to connect using NAT type 2 although i have not tried too hard. you can run the meda server using nat type 2

madmoe

here does one change the NAT etc? Is it on PS3 or on the router?

Otacon

madmoe wrote: »

here does one change the NAT etc? Is it on PS3 or on the router?

This should explain it.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=56986378&postcount=3

Varik

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Just use mkv2vob, its fairly quick. and if they're big ones, don't forget to split them into files of 4gb or less.

mkv2vob is best used when the audio is in ac3 format
use GOTSent for mkv with acc

they can convert from one audio format to the other but the sound channel used in both format aren't the same and will get mixed up in conversion with any thing higher that stereo.

if the mkv has a part 2 video any avi muser will work but it's more likely that the mkv will be using h246



if you just want to play these file and don't care if it's on a ps3 then there are a lot of players for under 100.

KieranIRL

Title really say it all lol

Varik

MKVToolNix for mac
http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/downloads.html#macosx

can't say on the result as i don't have a mac.

just to say if you find another program you want to mux not convert

madmoe

Hi all,
Just last night I was able to get PS3mediaserver working and was able to stream most stuff well except my .MKV files.....it would start and stop all the time :-(

Now the PS3 is connecting wirelessly to my Cisco EPC 2425 router (the latest NTL one) but I would prefer it to be wired to the router as they are side by side under my TV. The thing is for some God only knows reason when I wire it in directly, the PS3 can't then see the PS3mediaserver running on my laptop :-( I'm sure if I could get this working there would be less stutter for the .MKV files.

Anyone else encountered this issue?

Cheers,
M

L31mr0d

madmoe wrote: »

The thing is for some God only knows reason when I wire it in directly, the PS3 can't then see the PS3mediaserver running on my laptop :-( I'm sure if I could get this working there would be less stutter for the .MKV files.

How are you wiring it in? Are you connecting the network cable from the PS3 directly into the laptop or are you connecting via the router.

madmoe

I am connecting the network cable directly from the PS3 to one of the ports on the back of the router.

The laptop is connected via wireless to the router.

L31mr0d

madmoe wrote: »

The laptop is connected via wireless to the router.

Ok well first off, if you want to try and stop the mkv stuttering both the laptop and PS3 will need to be wired to the router (does the laptop have gigabit ethernet?)

madmoe

Laptop is bog standard Dell 6400 so I doubt very much it has Gigabit Ethernet....

Just looking on here - http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3005 and they talk about forcing the IP address or network interface in the settings. Not at home right now so will have to try this and see if it works.

U suing it yourself mate? What is your setup and does it play .MKV's well?? Also, most of my .MKV files are on an external HDD connected to the laptop via USB 2.0, would having them on laptop HDD make a difference?

Cheers,
M

CodeMonkey

madmoe wrote: »

U suing it yourself mate? What is your setup and does it play .MKV's well?? Also, most of my .MKV files are on an external HDD connected to the laptop via USB 2.0, would having them on laptop HDD make a difference?

Streaming off an external hard drive shouldn't cause you any stuttering. I've done this lots of times with 720p movies.

It sounds like your router might be acting as a dhcp server and assigning ip addresses only when connected to it using wireless. When you connect to it using cat5, it might just be acting as a dumb switch and let the ntl modem assign it an ip. This means that connecting to the same router using wireless and cat5 results in different network settings and they won't be able to see each other.

This is just a wild guess of course. I'd check what ip address your ps3 is getting when connected using cat5 and when using wireless. If the 1st 3 segments of the ip (e.g. 192.168.1.xxx) aren't identical then that's the problem.

madmoe

Cheers Code,
I'll give that a check but I am pretty sure when wired into the router the IP address of the PS3 is 192.168.1.15 or something similar and is thus on the same subnet as my laptop. Its totally weird how it works fine on the wireless and not on the wired!

What setup are you using mate?