DVD playback from PS3 Hard drive

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marmel

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#45881 4-Nov-2009 14:01

I have been ripping my kids DVD's and putting them on my PS3 hard drive. If I don't do this you can be sure that within a week or so the DVD's are so scratched they don't play anymore, you just can't explain these things to a 3 year old!

So I rip the dvd, merge it into one VOB and copy it to the PS3.

Most of their DVD's are Barbie stories which mostly have a DD 5.1 soundtrack which is pretty cool. When I rip the movie I only include the DD 5.1 track.

The only issue is that the PS3 appears to downmix it to stereo for some reason even though if I flick through the display options it shows that the audio being played is DD 5.1.

I have my PS3 connected via HDMI to my amp, bitstream option.

If I put the original dvd's in they play with DD 5.1 fine.

Does anyone know of aworkaround for this issue?

Mark

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#270106 4-Nov-2009 17:47

Hi there,
Apparently the PS3 sucks quite a bit in getting it to play digital audio from ripped sources.

Here's what I'd do.

1) Ditch using .VOBS, it's a horrible waste of space and using a good H.264 video encoder and bitrate you'll barely notice any difference.
2) Get an Application such as "Handbrake" http://www.handbrake.fr
3) Read the manual for Handbrake :-)
4) Use Handbrake to rip your video using the "PS3" preset
- tweak the output file size to your liking (700mb is good for 1hr 30mins length movies, adjust bigger or smaller depending on your video)
- change the Audio to "AC3 Pass-thru" - actually with this you will need to bump up the size of the video file as audio will take 448Kbit, so in for a 1hr 30min movie maybe a filesize of 1200mb

Se how that goes :-)

Regards

Mark

marmel

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#270238 5-Nov-2009 09:52

The problem with handbrake is it takes hours to do the converting. I tried the latest version last night and decided to see how it would go with a slightly larger file size so set it at 3gb. Well it started off with process eta of 3 hours 30 minutes, 1 hour later it was still at 3 hours 12 minutes so I gave up. This was using the PS3 preset with AC3 option.

I can rip a dvd into one vob file in about 20 minutes.

Jaxson

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#270252 5-Nov-2009 10:12

I tend to agree on the DVD rip thing. I got handbrake a while back when I was trying to do the same thing and it just takes forever. The PS3 should be able to play some sort of ripped DVD without having to re code to MPEG4 from an MPEG2 source.

I have to do this again soon for my kids copy of Buzzy Bee which is not a long DVD anyway so I'll keep an eye on this and see what others recommend. Cheers all!

marmel

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#270262 5-Nov-2009 10:28

I'm currently trying dvdFAB to rip to a PS3 mp4 profile, I will let you know how I ge on.

CYaBro

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#270272 5-Nov-2009 10:44

As ripping a DVD is illegal in NZ you can't really complain when the PS3 doesn't support it.
Or is there now an allowance in the law, as for music CDs, that allow you to format shift movies?

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

marmel

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#270351 5-Nov-2009 14:25

Ok just had a look at the movie done with dvdFab. Turned out to be a 1gb mp4 file. Stil no dolby digital playback and it looked like s**t.

A huge difference between the vob version and this version which is what I would expect given it is a quarter of the size of the vob.

This was also using the same coverting codecs as Handbrake so I would expect similar results from both.

Not sure how you could put up with watching a movie in that quality but I certainly couldn't.

I will be sticking to 100% quality vob files for now and hope the Sony allow dd playback from these files in the future. At the end of the day storage is dirt cheap these days so why would you want to compromise quality so much anyway?

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stevenz

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#270354 5-Nov-2009 14:37

Check that the audio output settings are set for Bitstream not LPCM (or vice-versa, I forget which is which) - the wrong one causes incorrect output which can result in stereo rather than surroundsound (at least, it does with my receiver over HDMI).

Go grab a copy of DVDShrink - it'll reduce the filesize of a DVD significantly while still remaining in a compatible format without too much quality loss. It hasn't been developed for years but still works well. DVD Fab does the same thing but you've got much more control with DVDShrink. Rip it with DVD Fab first and then convert the resulting file(s) with DVDShrink afterwards. You can get it from filehippo.com or afterdawn.com. Marvellous app.

I don't give a rats if it's "illegal" to port media I own to another device that I own, I'm gonna do it anyway for the sake of convenience. I still own the original and can only watch one at once. They're starting to hand out those "Digital copies" with newer movies which other than the DRM removes need for additional ripping.

If you want, you can use the DOS command;

COPY /B VTS_01.VOB + VTS_02.VOB + VTS_03.VOB + (etc.) /b Outfile.VOB

to join all the .VOB's into 1 big file. It's then just a semi-regular MPEG file with multiple audio streams.

Also, check that it's saying "Dolby Digital 5.1" and not just "Dolby Digital" or whatever it refers to regular stereo AC3 as.

marmel

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#270373 5-Nov-2009 15:28

Yeah I have been using DVDShrink for years but have found lately that it wont rip some movies which dvdfab will.

It shouldn't matter if I select lpcm or bitstream, sine the last firmware update the ps3 will do both over hdmi. Mine is set to bitstream though.

If I play a movie the audio is showing as dolby digital 5.1.

I have done a bit more research and it appears to be a current limitation so there probably isn't much we can do about it at the moment.

Mark

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#270377 5-Nov-2009 15:47

Interesting .. I've never used DVDFab myself (got a Mac), on my 2Ghz Mac Mini it'll rip and rencode a DVD to H.264 format (2 passes) at about 50fps on the first pass and 30 fps on the second pass. So an 1hour long movie comes out taking maybe 1hr 30mins (ish).

I also rip Anamorphic and have the bit rate generally at 1024Kbit ... and on my 47" TV polaying via the AppleTv or the PS3 there is no real difference between the MP4 and the original DVD .. it's all down to the bitrates, the settings flags and the version of the encoder.

When you ripped did you tell DVDFab to do AC3 passthru ?

If you like .. send me a USB stick and the DVD and I'll rip it for you :-)

Regards!

Mark

marmel: Ok just had a look at the movie done with dvdFab. Turned out to be a 1gb mp4 file. Stil no dolby digital playback and it looked like s**t.

A huge difference between the vob version and this version which is what I would expect given it is a quarter of the size of the vob.

This was also using the same coverting codecs as Handbrake so I would expect similar results from both.

Not sure how you could put up with watching a movie in that quality but I certainly couldn't.

I will be sticking to 100% quality vob files for now and hope the Sony allow dd playback from these files in the future. At the end of the day storage is dirt cheap these days so why would you want to compromise quality so much anyway?

clevedon

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#270401 5-Nov-2009 16:37

Since the day our kids were born they learn't never to go near any AV equipment, can't see why anyone would lets kids near that type of gear anyway. PS - I thought original movie DVD ripping was illegal in NZ as well.

marmel

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#270407 5-Nov-2009 17:06

clevedon: Since the day our kids were born they learn't never to go near any AV equipment, can't see why anyone would lets kids near that type of gear anyway. PS - I thought original movie DVD ripping was illegal in NZ as well.

Not sure how old your kids are but I have a 3 year old and a 5 year old who are both typical kids of that age. They want to do things for themselves which is all part of growing up. Being able to put their own movie in the slot and work the PS3 control is very important to them.

I'm not advocating letting them start wiring up speakers or interconnects but I would never stop them trying to learn things for themselves.

Yes their DVD's get scratched over time but there is a lesson in that for them as well and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Besides telling kids somethings is off limits is only going to raise their curiosity about said item and one day when you aren't around they might decide to feed your dvd player a barbie because they don't know any different.

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clevedon

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#270427 5-Nov-2009 17:54

marmel: Not sure how old your kids are but I have a 3 year old and a 5 year old who are both typical kids of that age. They want to do things for themselves which is all part of growing up. Being able to put their own movie in the slot and work the PS3 control is very important to them.

I'm not advocating letting them start wiring up speakers or interconnects but I would never stop them trying to learn things for themselves.

Yes their DVD's get scratched over time but there is a lesson in that for them as well and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Besides telling kids somethings is off limits is only going to raise their curiosity about said item and one day when you aren't around they might decide to feed your dvd player a barbie because they don't know any different.

Kids are 6 and 9 now. They hunt, fish and ride motorbikes, sit on the digger with me and move piles of dirt and do all the things country kids do, but when it comes Dads Home Theatre - sorry that's off the list, too much time, effort and money has been spent there. Ask anytime and Mum or Dad will set it up for them, they know how to do it but respecting that this particular activity is not for them is just how it is in our house. The nine year old actually cooks most of our BBQ's with us now which is great.