How to preencode videos?

[joako]

I am working with the Sony KDL-46EX501 TV. I am having issues with video stuttering, for some reason .mp4 doesn't work on this TV despite what I read here, but .mpg MPEG 1 works fine, but some videos do not play smoothly.

I am wondering how can I configure PMS to not encode/transcode anything, because I want to prepare the videos myself? Basically how can I set this up to have 720p or 1080p vidoes play on the TV through the network and the server is used as nothing much than a file server. All the other DLNA servers, only PMS was seen by the TV.

[brotherjohn]

Yes, I'm also interested in this.
I try it with this file (mediainfo):

Code: Select all

General
Complete name                    : M:\Test\Test_Video.avi
Format                           : AVI
Format/Info                      : Audio Video Interleave
File size                        : 749 MiB
Duration                         : 1h 44mn
Overall bit rate                 : 1 004 Kbps
Writing library                  : VirtualDub build 32706/release

Video
ID                               : 0
Format                           : MPEG-4 Visual
Format settings, BVOP            : No
Format settings, QPel            : No
Format settings, GMC             : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix          : Default (H.263)
Codec ID                         : DX50
Codec ID/Hint                    : DivX 5
Duration                         : 1h 44mn
Bit rate                         : 898 Kbps
Width                            : 704 pixels
Height                           : 288 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 2.40:1
Frame rate                       : 25.000 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Interlaced
Scan order                       : Top Field First
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.177
Stream size                      : 670 MiB (89%)
Writing library                  : DivX 6.2.5 (UTC 2006-06-16)

Audio
ID                               : 1
Format                           : MPEG Audio
Format version                   : Version 1
Format profile                   : Layer 3
Codec ID                         : 55
Codec ID/Hint                    : MP3
Duration                         : 1h 44mn
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 96.0 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 2 channels
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Video delay                      : 8ms
Stream size                      : 71.6 MiB (10%)
Alignment                        : Split accross interleaves
Interleave, duration             : 40 ms (1.00 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration     : 500 ms


This file were played perfectly from a usb stick connected to the usb port of my Sony Bravia KDL-40EX505.

Because of that, I wanted to use PS3MS to stream (NOT encode) this file from my PC to the TV. But no way
Either I didn't see a thumbnail of the file in the XMB or I played it and the screen remains black.

I used the following .conf file (renderers) from Illico:

Code: Select all

# ps3mediaserver renderer profile for Sony Bravia EX500/EX700 series
# Refer to PS3.conf for help

RendererName=Sony Bravia EX Series
RendererIcon=bravia.png
UserAgentSearch=notusedhere
UserAgentAdditionalHeader=X-AV-Client-Info
UserAgentAdditionalHeaderSearch=(BRAVIA KDL.+EX5)|(BRAVIA KDL.+EX7)|(BRAVIA KDL.+NX7)
Video=true
Audio=true
Image=true
SeekByTime=true
TranscodeVideo=MPEGTSAC3
TranscodeAudio=MP3
DefaultVBVBufSize=true
MuxH264ToMpegTS=true
MuxDTSToMpeg=false
WrapDTSIntoPCM=false
MuxLPCMToMpeg=false
MaxVideoBitrateMbps=0
MaxVideoWidth=0
MaxVideoHeight=0
H264Level41Limited=true
MimeTypesChanges=audio/wav=audio/L16|video/mp4=video/mpeg
DLNALocalizationRequired=true
#TranscodeExtensions=
#StreamExtensions=

#Required to be true for Bravia TVs and Sony Bluray players
ForceJPGThumbnails=true
MediaParserV2_ThumbnailGeneration=false

MediaInfo=true
# [Supported video formats]:
Supported = f:mpegps    v:mpeg2    a:ac3|lpcm|mpa    m:video/mpeg
Supported = f:mpegts    v:mpeg2/h264    a:ac3|mpa    m:video/mpeg
Supported = f:mpegts    v:mpeg2/h264    a:ac3|aac|mpa    m:video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts

# [Supported audio formats]:
Supported = f:mp3        n:2            m:audio/mpeg
Supported = f:wav        n:2            m:audio/L16

# [Supported image formats]
Supported = f:jpg m:image/jpeg


Any help would be much appreciated.

[devildog93]

Did you guys not see the "skip transcoding for following extensions"? Add each filetype you want to SKIP transcoding
for.

Or you could "unplug" all your engines in the big white box on Transcoder settings tab.

Or, go into the #transcode# folder, and choose the "No Encoding" option.

[joako]

Did you guys not see the "skip transcoding for following extensions"? Add each filetype you want to SKIP transcoding
for.

Or you could "unplug" all your engines in the big white box on Transcoder settings tab.

Or, go into the #transcode# folder, and choose the "No Encoding" option.

I am using the Linux version without any GUI, there's no X11 installed on the machine -- commandline only.

In my home I use another uPNP/DLNA media server for my Xbox and same setup Linux w/o GUI, and I never had this issue. In this case I had to install the Windows version of PMS just to see how to create PMS.conf to select only some directories.

Anyways it seems if I use MPEG1 720p or lower it works fine. It would be nice to know how I can encode 1080p for streaming w/o any stuttering (in my case it stutters even from USB hard drive direct to the TV), but it seems to work ok for now.

[ab_iron]

Any chance this is network bandwidth issue? Just thought I'd ask.

[joako]

So it turns out the issue was the encoder. Many encoders and trials later it is working. I was using FFmpegX on Mac OS but it was an AMD machine, on Intel it works fine.

In Windows there is a software SUPER (C) and it works but the issue is the bitrate is too low. If I tell it 12mbps mpeg-1 I get a 4mbps mpeg1 from a 2mbps MP4 source file yields a poor quality video. Forgot the name of the program but the splash screen has some chinese characters and says has a "convert anyways" slogan.

12-18mbps gives good quality depending on the amount of motion. However in every single converted video the aspect ratio is wrong: there are black bars on top and bottom and the image is compressed horizontally.

[joako]

Well I am back to this. I still don't have a method that is 100% working. I move the server including the config files and back to having issues.

By reading the config files I see the TV is supposed to support MPG4/H264. So how can I stream to this TV in this format, instead of having to use bandwidth intensive MPEG2? HOw can I have everything 100% encoded on the server so there is no high CPU usage during playback, simply streaming the correct bits from the disk direct to the TV?

[joako]

I am reading the config file and it shows:

Supported = f:mp4 v:mp4|h264 a:ac3|aac m:video/mp4

Then I have the .mp4 files such as:

Duration: 00:04:44.07, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2135 kb/s
Stream #0.0(und): Video: h264, yuv420p, 1920x1080, 1940 kb/s, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 48k tbn, 47.95 tbc
Stream #0.1(und): Audio: aac, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16, 191 kb/s


Duration: 00:08:34.03, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 3373 kb/s
Stream #0.0(und): Video: h264, yuv420p, 1920x1080, 3179 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 60 tbn, 60 tbc
Stream #0.1(und): Audio: aac, 44100 Hz, stereo, s16, 191 kb/s

If I am reading this right the TV supports directly h264 video with aac stereo (2 channel) audio, and no transcoding is needed? Then why is there 50% or more CPU usage and memcoder or ffmpeg process running on the system?

[ExSport]

I am not sure if I remember right but is it possible that XBOX is limited to 720p?
I also remember that in PMS code there were(maybe it is not true with more recent versions) lot of hardcoded behaviors for XBOX renderer as it is only one which can't use MPEG2 for transcoding but it is using WMV container.
Maybe there is also in code some checkups that higher resolution than 720p is automatically transcoded.
Regarding your posted part from XBOX.conf file, this movie should be streamed natively so something is forcing trancoding as subs or something else.

[joako]

This has nothing to do with an xbox. What is the best way to disable subs and "something else" in PMS?