Workflow for PS3

[void_ptr]

Folks,
Proud owner of a new HV20.
Trying to figure out what the workflow should be like to get my clips on to the PS3.
This is what I did -
Captured my footage using iMovie HD.
Dragged a clip to a folder (.mov file). Used quicktime PRO to convert the clip into a mpeg-4/AVC file (used H.264 for encoding).
Copied the .mp4 file to my PS3 (using a SD card) and voila!

The encoding step (.mov file -> mpeg-4/AVC) was very tedious :(
Is there any other option available? Can we get rid of the last step or at least shorten it.
The other thing I noticed of course is that the resulting AVC file is obviously not as sharp as the HDV footage (played directly off camcorder). I tried to tweak the compression parameters but didnt make much difference.

I also tried MPEGStream Clip but that was equally slow in encoding the file and the encode quality was as good as QT Pro.

Any recommendations? I understand that one can obviate the need for the encode step if one goes the PC route (Sony Vegas captures the footage as .m2t files which can be directly played off the PS3). I would hate to abandon my mac :(

Thanks

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

Use FFmpegX: http://homepage.mac.com/major4/ although you need to know what you are doing. One other problem on the Mac side is that Quicktime does not de-interlace and I don't think FFmpeg does it correctly either (on fast motion scenes there is the ghosting effect). You would have to use the JES-Deinterlacer and then save through it. Remember though, Apple's h.264 encoder is super-slow, if you want faster results you need to use ffmpegX with the open source x264 encoder instead. But as I said, if you go that route, you will have to do one more pass to de-interlace properly with JES Deinterlacer.

If you were on the PC side instead using Vegas, you could use my tutorial instead: http://eugenia.gnomefiles.org/2007/08/11/from-dvhdvavchd-to-ps3xbox360appletv/

[void_ptr]

Thanks so much. Great blog.
Tried vegas. Not as intuitive as imovie but gets the job done.

BTW, any idea how I can encode the .m2t file as a high quality AVC (want to see if I can efficiently use the hard drive space on the ps3)

[xzu]

hello guys
I've tested several processes for encoding my HDV movies to output on PS3 : it is the only hardware solution I found to allow broadcasting of home movies onto my HD Ready flat screen.
The methods I introduce are the worflow I used for either HD SR videos(from my work) and HDV. All my footage are 25p (HDV shooted with Canon HV20)
All steps should apply to PC programs.

1- Editing and render : both are handled by Final Cut Pro (using AJA card for HD CAM and internal firewire for HDV).
-> master is rendered to the native format of the timeline. Whatever it is, PC or Mac, it has to keep the best quality possible, as close as possible to original format. In case of FCP, the file outputs to HDV PAL preset, using 1080 25p sequence setting.

2- Encoding to MPEG2 : I've tested straight conversion to mp4 (h264) from FCP, and I failed opening on PS3. So I encoded to MPEG2 via compressor (this should be easy to encode to MPEG 2 on PC with the number of free encoders you have). At this point, choose a progessive preset and respect pixel aspect (1440/1080 for HDV, (1920/1080 square pixel for full HD sources and HD CAM/SR). I guess I could have skip this step as the HDV native format is a mpeg 2 already, but I did not find a method yet. For the next step I also need to save elementary stream for audio : just an export of soundtrack as AIFF...the name of the .aif file must be the same like the .mpeg file.

3- Mux to Transport Stream : using MPEG Streamclip both for Mac and PC (http://www.squared5.com/), I create a MPEG TS : both audio and video file has to be in same location, the drag/drop video file to MPEG Streamclip and export to MPEG TS with MP2.
-> you should rename the exported file to .mpg. When you save to PS3 for viewing, PS3 won't see the file with .TS extension.

There it is, I can read my movie. There must be a better and faster solution to encode, but on Macintosh, you don't have dozen of apps to handle and export the file. I guess FFMPEG is fine, but I did not manage to encode with audio, and quality is really poor in MP4 (my opinion only)
Hope it helps

[bmaltais]

hello guys

2- Encoding to MPEG2 : I've tested straight conversion to mp4 (h264) from FCP, and I failed opening on PS3.


Try encoding to h.264 in QT. This will give you a .mov file. No problem. Simply play the file using QuickTime Pro and export as an mpeg4 file using Passthrough for both video/audio. This will essenially just encapsulate your h.264/AAC in a nice .mp4 container that the PS3 should play just fine.

My XBOX360 play those files just fine so...

[void_ptr]

Try encoding to h.264 in QT. This will give you a .mov file. No problem. Simply play the file using QuickTime Pro and export as an mpeg4 file using Passthrough for both video/audio. This will essenially just encapsulate your h.264/AAC in a nice .mp4 container that the PS3 should play just fine.

My XBOX360 play those files just fine so...

This works for me. But a couple of things I noticed -
1) It takes a looooooong time to encode (i use an old powerbook G4)
2) The quality of exported video is not that great. With moving objects I see some kind of lines. Need to double check if my captured video is a problem or whether its getting messed up during the h.264 encode.

BTW, the same video looks great captured as a .m2t by vegas

[bmaltais]

2) The quality of exported video is not that great. With moving objects I see some kind of lines. Need to double check if my captured video is a problem or whether its getting messed up during the h.264 encode.

BTW, the same video looks great captured as a .m2t by vegas

Make sure you apply de-interlacing when you select the "Size" under the video settings of QT (for the h.264 encoding). Not the best de-interlacing in the world but should be better than not de-interlacing ;-)

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

I don't have any de-interlacing in the Quicktime Pro h.264 export dialogs. Where did you see that?

[bmaltais]

I don't have any de-interlacing in the Quicktime Pro h.264 export dialogs. Where did you see that?

1. Open a file you want to convert in QT Pro

2. File->export

3. Select Movie to Quicktime Movie

4. Then click on Options button

5. Click on Settings button

6. Select H.264

7. Configure as you wish

8. Click OK

9. Click Size button

10. Select desired dimention (like 1280x720)

11. Select Deinterlace source video check box

12. Click OK

13. Set Sound settings to AAC as you see fit

14. When done with Movie Settings click OK

15. Click Save

16. Let the deinterlaced encode begin

Hope this help you out.

[void_ptr]

Tried this (after enabling deinterlacing). But I still see the distortion i.e. for moving objects (people walking, moving cars, etc) I see "scan lines". Difficult to describe. Stationary objects look fine. Will try and upload a sample clip.

bmaltais: How do your encodes look?

BTW, it took me approx 2 hours to encode a 1 minute video on my powerbook G4 :eek:
Dropped in at the apple store in the afternoon. Noticed that the encodes are a lot quicker on the new intel machines. Would cough up the dough for a new machine only if I were convinced that I could encode AVC HD files without any of the above mentioned distortions

[Eugenia Loli-Queru]

Ah. Well, I don't want to use .mov for my projects, but .mp4, so they can playback on more devices and OSes. I need the de-interlace option on the MPEG-4 exporting option.

[void_ptr]

On second thought, the distortion isnt that bad. Had a look again at my encoded video on the ps3 and its decent. And in addition, it was half the size. Will look into this a little more and get back to u guys

[bmaltais]

Ah. Well, I don't want to use .mov for my projects, but .mp4, so they can playback on more devices and OSes. I need the de-interlace option on the MPEG-4 exporting option.

Simply re-open the .mov file in QT and this time export to mpeg4 and make sure you use "Passthrough" for both Videa and Audio. QT will produce an mp4 compliant by muxing .mov content in an mp4 container.

Cheers

[xzu]

Try encoding to h.264 in QT. This will give you a .mov file. No problem. Simply play the file using QuickTime Pro and export as an mpeg4 file using Passthrough for both video/audio. This will essenially just encapsulate your h.264/AAC in a nice .mp4 container that the PS3 should play just fine.

My XBOX360 play those files just fine so...

Passthrough for audio is not selectable

[svar]

How big can the bitrate be for ps3?
I tried one file, 50K kbps but the ps says incompatible data.
A 5K file worked fine.