Sony PS3 Ver 1.80 as HD media extender

[petertgreen]

Sony updated the PS3 to ver 1.8 software and it has the ability to play content stored on my SageTV server. I am now able to view and playback all of my SageTV captures on the PS3, including HD content. Thanks to Sony I no longer have to buy a upconverting DVD player or a HD media extender. Sure it does not give me a SageTV interface, but I just needed a HD media extender to play back content that is captured by my scheduler. However, with the web interface to SageTV, I can also use the PS3 web browser to set up and control SageTV server. Today is a happy day and the investment in the PS3 is continuing to pay off.

Oh, I am running orb to give me DLNA so I can see the SageTV content. Any chance of SageTV server being DLNA.

Some details here....

http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2007/05/24/...ble/2#comments

Peter Green

[emok]

I think you meant "I am now able to view...".

This is great news. I downloaded the update this morning but haven't had a chance to play with it.

I was hoping that we'd get a sage client for PS3, but I guess this will have to do for now. =)

[mohanman]

The device would be sweet as a sage client. Quiet, looks cool, plays games, psp stuff

Imagine the possibilities!

But I say "imagine the possibilities" every week

Mo

[GbrNole]

a PS3 user at another forum posted up some screen shots of regular dvd upscaled with the new update and it's quite an improvement over the previously pathetic quality.

sony is trying their hardest to make me part with cash here - now if only the sage boys would announce the HD extender and do the same...

[BruenerXII]

I got it working with Media Player 11, but it would be better if sage was the DLNA server itself. Not everyone has Mplayer11 installed and apparantly its a pain in the ass to get working if you don't.

From the PS3 1.80 instructions

"Using the DLNA client feature

You can now display images or play music or video files that are stored on a personal computer or digital video recorder with DLNA Media Server functionality over a network.

What is DLNA?
DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) is a standard that enables digital devices such as personal computers, digital video recorders, and TVs to be connected on a network and to share data that is on the connected DLNA-compatible devices.

DLNA-compatible devices serve two different functions. "Servers" distribute media such as image, music, or video files while "clients" receive and play the media. Some devices perform both functions. Using a PS3™ system as a client, you can display images or play music or video files that are stored on a device with DLNA Media Server functionality over a network.

Notes
To use a PS3™ system as a DLNA client, you must first enable [Media Server Connection] under (Settings) >
(Network Settings).
Within the network you can connect devices that are compatible with DLNA such as Sony Room Link, Microsoft® Windows® XP, or Microsoft® Windows Vista™ personal computers that have Windows Media® Player 11 installed. For details on setting up a DLNA-compatible device, refer to the instructions supplied with the device."

[alphaman]

I'm doing the same with TVersity and it works great. The only thing I don't like about TVersity is that it can only refresh the library at fixed times, and when it does, the server is disabled. Seems that a competent programmer could figure out how to create a separate thread to scan for files and update the db while keeping the server thread alive... My fresh recordings may not appear in the library for up to 24 hours since I refresh in the wee hours of the morn...

Does Orb do this?

[Mahoney]

There doesn't seem to be any prospect of DLNA supporting TV type stuff, such as an EPG that allows you to schedule recordings, sadly.

[alphaman]

I don't see that we need that -- it already works through the SageTV webserver. We can see the EPG and program shows. What this update gives us is the ability to watch those videos without downloading them. This really completes the solution -- we already had the EPG and now we've got video streaming.

[mohanman]

I couldnt believe the quality of the dvds that I played in the ps3 after getting the patch. Not even my $2500 home theater pc could look that good! I am sooo impressed. I tried zoolander and return of the jedi, again the image was unbelivable! It almost looked as if I was watching and hd-disc. Anyway, I have therefore decided to use that as my main dvd player, and hopefully when the sage hd extenders come out, use that as my pvr/videos/music player.

Mo!

[Mahoney]

This really completes the solution

That may be your idea of a complete solution, but it isn't mine.

[alphaman]

That may be your idea of a complete solution, but it isn't mine.

I can see your point. In retrospect, I'm not 100% satisfied with this "solution" either; I was tainted by my excitement at being able to stream to the PS3 finally.

I see 2 possible solutions:

1) Sage embraces the use of the PS3 and builds in its own web server with support for the PS3 and streaming.

2) The current web interface is extended to support streaming to the PS3, which would probably mean a UPnP implementation added to it.

I think option #2 might be easier in the short run. I'd love to see Sage implement a complete solution including a web server and streaming in their product in the long haul. That would convince me to buy an upgrade from v5!

[Juncti]

Has there been any more progress with this? I just decided to modify/upgrade my setup with football season approaching. So I got a PS3, upgraded to the latest build of Sage and got an HDhomerun to add some HD tuners.

I managed to get my sage recordings to stream to the PS3 using media player 11, only problem is I get no sound on any of the recordings. I get the picture and it's beautiful. I find the quality better than on my computer via the video card, but without sound it's a dead end for me at present.

It wouldn't help me that much with football games anyway at present because I'd rather watch them live or slightly behind live, and thusfar it seems I can only find video files once Sage is done completely recording them, it doesn't find recordings in progress.

I'd definately prefer using the PS3 to view my HD recordings, but just doesn't seem to work at present.

Any ideas or success from anyone else?

[alphaman]

Which card are you using? What quality video are you using?

I've got a PVR350 and use the near-dvd quality setting. I get both video and audio without any problems on the PS3.

[Juncti]

HD Homerun at max quality (5.9 gig an hour I think) recording only the HD Channels.

Files play fine on the computer and have audio, but I tend to run into deinterlacing problems, and jittery playback depending on what I'm watching.

The HD video streaming to the PS3 was pristine. Just didn't play the audio for some reason.

[bcjenkins]

Can the PS 3 use the SageTV webserver and watch the files live using the VLC transcoder? By that I mean you will want to define a VLC transcode which does nothing other than pass the video and audio through.

B

[Juncti]

I'm not sure how to set that up. I just upgraded from Sage 5 to the latest build of 6 last night so I'm still learning.

My last 3 years of use with Sage has just consisted of Sage running and recording from analog, the PC hooked directly to a projector and that's about it.

So I wasn't even aware of a webserver. Is it installed by default? Do I just enter the IP of the Sage computer into the PS3 browser?

This sounds like an interesting solution so I'd definately like to try it. Any help is appreciated. Thanks

[alphaman]

Originally Posted by bcjenkins

Can the PS 3 use the SageTV webserver and watch the files live using the VLC transcoder? By that I mean you will want to define a VLC transcode which does nothing other than pass the video and audio through.

No, it won't work with the webserver -- I tried. I was unsuccessful in getting any streaming going until the v1.80 update. There may be a way to get it to work, but I was never able to get the VLC transcoder working on my system, and once v1.80 came out, no longer had a need to.

What did work via the webserver was the ability to download TV shows to the PS3's local hard drive. Fortunately, I was able to queue up several downloads and let them run in the background.

[ChePazzo]

Is there any way to get it to work with the Linux version of Sage?

All of my media is on Linux boxes. I don't keep anything on the Windows.

Vista doesn't seem to allow me to share network folders or mounted drives and I tried creating shortcuts in the shared folders, but that doesn't do it. The only videos I've been able to play on the PS3 are those that I copied to the Windows HDD.

Any ideas?

[bcjenkins]

Windows Vista can symlink to network shares. Check out the mklink tool from the cmd prompt. This was how I was able to get playback of ripped DVDs with a Linux server to a Windows client.

B