1080p MKV Quality

[reddevilmeuk]

Hi,

I used to use TVersity, but was blown away by this product yesterday.... I used to convert all my MKV to MPG or MP4 using mkv2vob.. however I dont think this is necessary anymore...

Can someone please answer these questions..

1. Streaming an MKV to the PS3 do you loose any quality when it's transcoding?
2. What is the difference between TSMuxer and Memencoder?
3. What happens if the MKV has DTS? does it also encode on the fly, what is the pro's and con's for this?

Thanks for reading

and can i just say this app rocks

red

[reddevilmeuk]

anyone?

[shagrath]

1- I would say no, but you will have some artifacts due to the mpeg2 encoding (some macroblocking in dark/noisy areas), like mkv2vob
2- tsmuxer = no reencode: much faster, but no subtitles and dark screen with some Level 5 mkvs
3- nothing special, it will be converted to AC3 or PCM if you want (pcm being not perfectly handled right now)

[reddevilmeuk]

not 100% sure on the reply to question 1...

the mkv2vob author seems to think you'll loose quality when transcoding?

all i want is to have the best way to watch 1080p on my ps3 is that too much to ask

[shagrath]

well, if you were to ask the tversity guys, they would answer that their application is the best
hard to answer this without make a detailed comparison image by image etc.

all i want is to have the best way to watch 1080p on my ps3 is that too much to ask

honestly... if you want best quality........... GO BUY THE BLU RAY

[reddevilmeuk]

hehe i hear you however i wasnt asking if TVERSITY was better than PMS, I already know that answer

I was asking whether i should remux the mkv's or stream the mkv's for best quality

thanks

[ExSport]

Re-muxing = video part is not re-encoded/transcodec = no quality loss at all
Transcoding/re-encoding = always you loss some quality, you can't reencode something wihout any modification to the video stream and it meand some loss of details.
If I will be more descriptive: You will loose some quality because AVC --> mpeg2 conversion have to be done. Mpeg-2 as a format have some problems with macroblocks sometimes, 1Mbits AVC original will be always "better" than 50Mbits MPEG-2. "Better" means more details but not that you will spot it Because that you have "Crazy Bitrate" option in PMS to achieve maximum possible quality(almost lossless).
So If you don't need subtitles and your AVC video stream is compatible with PS3(level 4.1 max) then tsMuxeR is the best(remuxing). If you see black picture or need subtitles, you need to reencode(transcode) with MEncoder which means more CPU power needed for transcoding and also higher bitrate will be generated(due to less efficiency of mpeg-2 format). So it also means that 1080p video playable on WIFI via tsMuxer will not play via MEncoder because bitrate will be up to 10times bigger = 10Mbit/s AVC --> 90Mbit/s MPEG-2 ==> WIFI throughput is about 10-15Mbits max on PS3

[JaffaTheCake]

I would also like a clear answer to this question.

When watching mkv files via a PS3 using ps3mediaserver, are they transcoded (video quality loss) or simply remuxed (no video quality loss, a la mkv2vob).

This app looks brilliant, am wanting to replace my Vista Media Center with this + PS3.

[ExSport]

I don't know how to say it clearer. Did you read my post?????????
Also if info on PS3 when file is played says AVC, then it is remuxed only!

[JaffaTheCake]

Ahh ok, so I guess ps3mediaserver gives you the option to either remux or transcode? But remuxing may not work if the PS3 doesn't support either the audio or video format?

I understand you may have given me enough information to answer the following question, but I'd like to be sure before I go out and buy a PS3, download and donate to this project...

Would the PS3 be able to play an mkv with a single x264 video stream and a single 5.1 AC3 audio channel, when remuxed by ps3mediaserver?

Many thanks.