MCEBuddy

 MCEBuddy has been a great program for some time now and I have been wanting to encode some Mpeg2 files from the dvr-ms. I have tried some configurations in the mencoder with no luck. I am not really looking at having a massive compression from the dvr file just about 10-15%. Any tips would be great.

Scooter:

 MCEBuddy has been a great program for some time now and I have been wanting to encode some Mpeg2 files from the dvr-ms. I have tried some configurations in the mencoder with no luck. I am not really looking at having a massive compression from the dvr file just about 10-15%. Any tips would be great.

As the DVR-MS stream is really MPEG2 anyway you would get a 0% size benefit.  There are a few utilities around to strip the MPEG our of the DVR-MS wrapper.  Most of them are on thegreenbutton.com and xpmediacenter.com.au.

As for mencoder, I'll have a look around for you while I'm hunting for a solution to the XBox 360 problem.

Cheers

Derek 

I realized that DVR-MS is just about like a container for mpeg; it is just convenient to have comskip right there while many other programs don't, with the exception of having to activate it manually. 

OK, I'll see what I can do.

MPEG2 is really useful for linking with other systems because it is a highly portable format. It would be particularly useful to bridge to a PS3, as it is extremely fussy as to which formats it will play. MPEG2 is ok.

 Theoretically WMV is compatible too, but I have had no success in exporting WMV from MCEbuddy into the PS3, all formats fail. Could we have a format that is compatible please? This would be very powerful and this would make MCEbuddy a unique bridge between 2 of the super powers in video recording. (Do Apple TV too and it would be awesome).

 To that end it would also be useful to have some flexibility on read/input format as this tool could then act as a general purpose automatic bridge between many currently incompatible systems. That would be awesome.

 Keep up the good work, its great software!

ps one other through is could we please have an option to filter the files processed to be below a certain age. That way you could restrict processing to only the newer stuff recorded.

davewhughes:

MPEG2 is really useful for linking with other systems because it is a highly portable format. It would be particularly useful to bridge to a PS3, as it is extremely fussy as to which formats it will play. MPEG2 is ok.

 Theoretically WMV is compatible too, but I have had no success in exporting WMV from MCEbuddy into the PS3, all formats fail. Could we have a format that is compatible please? This would be very powerful and this would make MCEbuddy a unique bridge between 2 of the super powers in video recording. (Do Apple TV too and it would be awesome).

 To that end it would also be useful to have some flexibility on read/input format as this tool could then act as a general purpose automatic bridge between many currently incompatible systems. That would be awesome.

 Keep up the good work, its great software!

ps one other through is could we please have an option to filter the files processed to be below a certain age. That way you could restrict processing to only the newer stuff recorded.

I've added an MPEG2 profile to 1.0.8.  However, I have not been able to copy the video stream for some reason and needed to convert to MPEG2 instead.  This has led to significantly smaller files, but being MPEG2 an equivalent drop in quality.

Cheers

Derek 

Amazingly rapid response! Both of these formats work just fine on the PS3. Now have a seamless conduit between Windows Media Centre and PS3 (and my Apple iTouch).

This really is quite an achievement and a welcome breath of sanity amid the general lunacy of restictive/incompatible file fomats between the major brands. Thanks.

regards

David

davewhughes:

Amazingly rapid response! Both of these formats work just fine on the PS3. Now have a seamless conduit between Windows Media Centre and PS3 (and my Apple iTouch).

This really is quite an achievement and a welcome breath of sanity amid the general lunacy of restictive/incompatible file fomats between the major brands. Thanks.

regards

David

Excellent.  Does that mean the PS3 profile works for you?  I've got another report saying it doesn't.

Cheers

Derek 

Both the PS3 and mpeg2 profiles work fine with the PS3.

I have had no success with the WMV (or the DIVX) profiles, which the PS3 says it supports, but I think it is a v narrow profile that is acceptable, by the look of it. However with PS3 and MPEG2 profiles working, it is not so critical.

 regards

 David

davewhughes:

Both the PS3 and mpeg2 profiles work fine with the PS3.

I have had no success with the WMV (or the DIVX) profiles, which the PS3 says it supports, but I think it is a v narrow profile that is acceptable, by the look of it. However with PS3 and MPEG2 profiles working, it is not so critical.

 regards

 David

David, 

Its good that the PS3 profile is working.   I'm not surprised that the others don't work as the 'compatibility' of both the PS3 and XBox 360 for DivX is not exactly robust.  As for WMV, we're using WMV2 and neither do that either.

If you have the PS3 profile working what do you think this person is experiencing?

Cheers

Derek 

It all depends on how the files are being fed into the PS3. If they are being streamed over the network via a UPNP server of some sort, it has been my experience that the DLNA standard is not always adhered to by various servers. This can result in perfectly good files not showing up or being recognised as corrupted, or even just doing unpredictable stuff.  

I started using a D-Link DSM-600 NAS server which didnt work over UPNP very well. I have now moved to a Twonkymedia server, tested on both a PC as a trial download and also now on a QNAP NAS, which so far has been terrific. Both worked perfectly. So Twonkymedia seems to be compliant and works as expected as a way of getting converted files accessed by the PS3. Files converted with 1.08 of MCEBuddy work fine when using the PS3 option via this server.

 Also he should check that the PS3 is up to date on firmware as the latest release adds a number of new video format compatabilities.

 regards

David