Mac Mini

[st1lez]

Hi everyone.

Ok, so first of all this program rules as we all know. I have a:
Mac Mini Core 2 1.83 ghz
2GB Ram

I'm trying to transcode 1080p mkv files to my ps3, I can go wired or wireless no problem. I know my poor little mini isn't a mac pro godzilla so I'm just wondering if anyone else out there has a mini and does 1080p mkv transcoding, and of course what settings you're using. Thank you.

[Gigabit]

most of the mkv don't need to be transcoded. so your mini should handle that fine
try this build
http://files.exonet.nl/ps3/pms-beta-r316.zip

if you have not allready tried it.

make sure keep dts audio in stream is check

[st1lez]

I'm definitely sad I took so long to see this reply. I had my settings off so it didn't email me when I received a reply, fixed now but Thanks.

So I just grabbed the latest beta r323 and the additions sound enticing, at least the ones I understand I'm going to start playing with the settings again.

One question about checking the keep dts audio in stream, I am running over hdmi and all but I don't actually have a surround sound system at the moment, the hdmi is just going into the tv and the ps3 outputs the sound in stereo. So does keeping that dts audio simplify things for my computer and the ps3 simply downmuxes it to stereo alleviating my computer from having to? Or should I just stick with stereo to begin with in the program? If so what bitrate, 128? 256?

Really thanks in advance. I'm trying to find that g-spot of transcoding goodness for my poor little mini.

[st1lez]

Results...

Okay so I've been playing with the settings and such and noticed WAY BETTER RESULTS.

As opposed to before it seems what Gigabit said about the ps3 just playing the video codecs natively started to work. It may be some thing that changed in the beta but in the other version I was using (latest official 1.10.5) I had to transcode everything so my mini was hurting. Now I watch the buffer status on the screen fill almost instantly as it seems to just be doing the audio or something, video is perfect on the tv and I have all the settings set to the defaults so it's amazing quality. The only things I changed were under

Transcode settings:
Audio channels: 2 (I only have the tv for sound, no surround yet)
Audio bitrate: 128 (I think that numbers popular for stereo)

Mencoder Settings:
Enhanced multicore support

Everything else I left default. I would love any suggestions or tips, thanks.

So things look like they're going to go well. I'll use on a natural basis and let you know if anything goes awry but THANK YOU for the heads up on the beta and to the creator, whatever you're doing new in that beta is working smooth like melted butter wrapped in butter, keep up the good work.

[epiovani]

Hmm, no mkv down here yet, but just for the sakes of it: Mac Mini Core2Duo 2.15 2GB RAM 250 GB HD (no, you won't find it at the Apple Stores). I got my TP input fried, so I am talking WiFi with a router, and the router goes cabled to the PS3 in the living room.
Issues:

First of all, it seems WAY FASTER than a paid competitor (Nullsoft's Medialink), but there is one unnerving bug that baffles me: I use inserted legends on DivX files, and sometimes it garbles the screen and makes it un-watchable. Next morning the same file plays fine.
Bad fluids? Oh, and it always happens in about the 10th minute of the movie, and in BOTH servers.