PS3 Streaming Movies from Mac Lag Problem

Same issue

I ran into the same thing over the weekend. Bypassed the problem by copying the movie down to the PS3 disk, but not a good long term solution... would much rather stream.

Ctrain said:

Hi,
I've checked around and I'm looking for an answer to a specific problem I have. I have the Nullriver media link working on my Mac so I can wireless network my PS3 to it and stream movies etc. I'm able to access the movies and music from my mac and stream them to my PS3, and it works. However, when I access movie files (MP4's) they start to stream in, but then after a few seconds there's a lag where the movie stops and then starts again. This process is then repeated a few seconds later. Is this problem from my MP4 file format, my router or the Nullriver media link, or is this is as good as it gets? There is no other network traffic slowing the streaming. Please help, I'm unsure as to where to start troubleshooting this problem.

Cheers,
Ctrain

Click to expand...

PS3 Wireless G is nearly useless for higher bitrate movies. What I did was a bit expensive but I had the hardware already.

Internet-->modem-->Airport Extreme --wireless bridge-- Airport Extreme

The first Airport serves as a router with cable and wireless to my computers and NAS. It then talks to the second Airport via wireless N bridge. On the second Airport the PS3 is wired to it via ethernet cat 6 gigabyte. What this does for me is two things -
1) moves me over to wireless N
2) using the 2nd router allows other items later to be connect such as a second NAS or a Mac Min or ATV.

It really is a problem of G simply not being fast enough.

There are other makers of Wireless N routers but you need to make sure that they can work in bridge mode and ideally have more than one ethernet connection. Airport Express works slower than the Extreme and has only one connection by ethernet but costs less.

Hope this helps a bit

- Phrehdd

Thanks

Appreciate the feedback... will give it a try.

Ctrain said:

Hi,
I've checked around and I'm looking for an answer to a specific problem I have. I have the Nullriver media link working on my Mac so I can wireless network my PS3 to it and stream movies etc. I'm able to access the movies and music from my mac and stream them to my PS3, and it works. However, when I access movie files (MP4's) they start to stream in, but then after a few seconds there's a lag where the movie stops and then starts again. This process is then repeated a few seconds later. Is this problem from my MP4 file format, my router or the Nullriver media link, or is this is as good as it gets? There is no other network traffic slowing the streaming. Please help, I'm unsure as to where to start troubleshooting this problem.

Cheers,
Ctrain

Click to expand...

1. Using PS3 wireless for high baud rates = poo
2. I think the movie is too big, i had the same issue on windows media player streaming to the ps3 it works good but for big file sizes it sorta just chokes up.
3. Try wiring it direct.
4. or keep a spare external hdd, that youc an copy files from your mac to your ps3. Thats what i do know, i open torrent, download whatever, place them on the hDD turn on the ps3 and it reconizes it with no issues.

One thing that you can do to improve the speed over wireless-g is to have only one of the two (your mac & ps3) on wireless and the other on a wired connection. Essentially if you have both on wireless, then they are sharing the same bandwidth, if they are on different connections, full speed of either connections can be used. Although this solution might just increase the wait time between lags, but that is why it would be better to move to a wireless-n router if you can afford it.

himansk said:

One thing that you can do to improve the speed over wireless-g is to have only one of the two (your mac & ps3) on wireless and the other on a wired connection. Essentially if you have both on wireless, then they are sharing the same bandwidth, if they are on different connections, full speed of either connections can be used. Although this solution might just increase the wait time between lags, but that is why it would be better to move to a wireless-n router if you can afford it.

Click to expand...

Which shouldnt be much how much they going for now? when i picked mine up b/g/n it was roughly 65 bux. Im pretty sure they cant get more expensive then that which i think its time for me to upgrade. Currently on wireless g and its pretty darn restricting but streaming movies work fine.

i just ran a cable otherwise time to upgrade to wireless N+

... and just to throw a spanner in the works, medialink streams perfectly from my macbook to the ps3. even videoTS folders that are 5 and 6GB c/w multiple VOBs play almost perfectly in 5.1.

and eyeconnect streams just as well from the hacked appletv to the ps3 i.e. the ps3 sees the eyeTV files on the atv.

wireless router is a DLINK 604Tgen2. although, i recently plugged a timecapsule into it and now use the TC to provide the wireless network. the ps3 still streams as good as it ever did. the ps3 shows full network strength and flash video streams from the internet play without disruption or pauses. we have 2 laptops and an appleTV on the network and they can all be 'online' without any problems. the kids watch the atv at one of the house whilst i watch a movie on the ps3 at the other end with the wife using the internet in another room.

many many many many many problems with mp4/ mpgs but rarely the stream.

good luck.

Latest version of MediaLink (1.71) has completely solved the MP4 streaming issues I was having.

melbdean said:

... and just to throw a spanner in the works, medialink streams perfectly from my macbook to the ps3. even videoTS folders that are 5 and 6GB c/w multiple VOBs play almost perfectly in 5.1.

and eyeconnect streams just as well from the hacked appletv to the ps3 i.e. the ps3 sees the eyeTV files on the atv.

wireless router is a DLINK 604Tgen2. although, i recently plugged a timecapsule into it and now use the TC to provide the wireless network. the ps3 still streams as good as it ever did. the ps3 shows full network strength and flash video streams from the internet play without disruption or pauses. we have 2 laptops and an appleTV on the network and they can all be 'online' without any problems. the kids watch the atv at one of the house whilst i watch a movie on the ps3 at the other end with the wife using the internet in another room.

many many many many many problems with mp4/ mpgs but rarely the stream.

good luck.

Click to expand...

Just wondering how you are able to stream movies over 4gb to the PS3 since its a FAT32 drive. Thanks.

Also on another note, I am still having a lag playing HD videos with a CAT6 gigabit cable to the PS3. Are HD movies just too data intensive to play without copying to the PS3?

Thanks.

phrehdd said:

PS3 Wireless G is nearly useless for higher bitrate movies. What I did was a bit expensive but I had the hardware already.

Internet-->modem-->Airport Extreme --wireless bridge-- Airport Extreme

The first Airport serves as a router with cable and wireless to my computers and NAS. It then talks to the second Airport via wireless N bridge. On the second Airport the PS3 is wired to it via ethernet cat 6 gigabyte. What this does for me is two things -
1) moves me over to wireless N
2) using the 2nd router allows other items later to be connect such as a second NAS or a Mac Min or ATV.

It really is a problem of G simply not being fast enough.

There are other makers of Wireless N routers but you need to make sure that they can work in bridge mode and ideally have more than one ethernet connection. Airport Express works slower than the Extreme and has only one connection by ethernet but costs less.

Hope this helps a bit

- Phrehdd

Click to expand...

Airport Express is now Wireless N and can be used as a bridge. Should work the same as your 2nd Extreme connected to the PS3.

I presume the reason that you didn't want to splash out the extra $45 over the Airport Extreme to get an ATV is because you still want your PS3 on the network and it would drag everything down to Wireless G...?

jwilcox09 said:

Also on another note, I am still having a lag playing HD videos with a CAT6 gigabit cable to the PS3. Are HD movies just too data intensive to play without copying to the PS3?

Click to expand...

I don't think this is the case as there's plenty of examples of HD streaming over the internet. Your local network, wireless G or whatever, should be faster.

FWIW, I had the same trouble streaming SD from my Mac to PS3 over a G network (Mac wired, PS3 wireless). It's the main reason I bought an ATV.

jwilcox09 said:

Just wondering how you are able to stream movies over 4gb to the PS3 since its a FAT32 drive. Thanks.

Also on another note, I am still having a lag playing HD videos with a CAT6 gigabit cable to the PS3. Are HD movies just too data intensive to play without copying to the PS3?

Thanks.

Click to expand...

i was wondering why they played too but it is probably because although the videoTS is over 4GB, each individual VOB is only just over one GB.

sound plausible?

rayward said:

Airport Express is now Wireless N and can be used as a bridge. Should work the same as your 2nd Extreme connected to the PS3.

I presume the reason that you didn't want to splash out the extra $45 over the Airport Extreme to get an ATV is because you still want your PS3 on the network and it would drag everything down to Wireless G...?

Click to expand...

The newer Airport Express N, at least in my circumstance was SLOWER than the Airport Express set up identically.
The most obvious real world test was using both, playing a streamed movie thru the wireless bridge. The movie stuttered under the Express while it played gracefully with the Extreme. I tried this with 2 hd movies, and both worked well with the 2 DVD movies (each one large single vob).

I have the Airport Express "N." In my set up I tried both Express and Extreme. The latter worked better. The real world tests - bridging from another Extreme and streaming media files to the PS3.

AExtreme - -wireless -- Express-cable-PS3
AExtreme - -wireless -- Extreme-cable-PS3

Test - 2 HD Files 1080p - Express far more stutter than Extreme
Test - 2 VOB (DVD) Files - both played them well
Test - mp4 - both played them well

Since much of my media is HD, Express is out, Extreme works 80 percent of the time with usable results

I don't have an ATV because the PS3 does similar and plays (unhacked) more kinds of files. IF* I was very interested in Itunes HD rentals/downloads then the ATV would be a good choice. I think the ATV front end is one of the better navigating screens and certainly PS3 is far behind.

For me, I play discs - Blu Ray and DVD. I also play archived media. PS3 in general performs better and again, more file types.

If people are happy with ATV then its an ideal choice for them. It is a neat little appliance and with some of the "hacks" it becomes far more than it is out of the box.

- Phrehdd

Ctrain said:

Hi,
I've checked around and I'm looking for an answer to a specific problem I have. I have the Nullriver media link working on my Mac so I can wireless network my PS3 to it and stream movies etc. I'm able to access the movies and music from my mac and stream them to my PS3, and it works. However, when I access movie files (MP4's) they start to stream in, but then after a few seconds there's a lag where the movie stops and then starts again. This process is then repeated a few seconds later. Is this problem from my MP4 file format, my router or the Nullriver media link, or is this is as good as it gets? There is no other network traffic slowing the streaming. Please help, I'm unsure as to where to start troubleshooting this problem.

Cheers,
Ctrain

Click to expand...

I can't seem to get my PS3 to play a MP4... can someone help me with this?

jfunkmaster said:

I can't seem to get my PS3 to play a MP4... can someone help me with this?

Click to expand...

You have to make sure they are coded correctly. I found that the PS3 is very touchy in its acceptance of mp4s. If its the wrong frame rate or something it wouldn't play them. I think the best way to ensure consistency is to use Visual Hub, or something similar, and encode them all for the same device. I did apple TV and so far they all work now. There might be very slight loss of quality, but not enough for you to notice unless you have a very well trained eye and ear. Hope that helps.

jwilcox09 said:

You have to make sure they are coded correctly. I found that the PS3 is very touchy in its acceptance of mp4s. If its the wrong frame rate or something it wouldn't play them. I think the best way to ensure consistency is to use Visual Hub, or something similar, and encode them all for the same device. I did apple TV and so far they all work now. There might be very slight loss of quality, but not enough for you to notice unless you have a very well trained eye and ear. Hope that helps.

Click to expand...

now for someone that is a bit slow with this, what do I ahve to do to ensure that they are correctly encoded? Proper frame rate?

VisualHub is no longer for sale and I can't seem to find it anywhere.... do you have any other ideas?

jfunkmaster said:

now for someone that is a bit slow with this, what do I ahve to do to ensure that they are correctly encoded? Proper frame rate?

VisualHub is no longer for sale and I can't seem to find it anywhere.... do you have any other ideas?

Click to expand...

Sorry about that. As for proper frame rate all I meant was that if you downloaded movies from different sources they are going to be encoded different. Basically the best way to do it is to just put all your movies and such through Visual Hub and use the appleTV output and they should work. As for where Visual Hub can be found I will PM you a link a little later today.

jfunkmaster said:

now for someone that is a bit slow with this, what do I ahve to do to ensure that they are correctly encoded? Proper frame rate?

VisualHub is no longer for sale and I can't seem to find it anywhere.... do you have any other ideas?

Click to expand...

yes ... get Handbrake. it is FREE! and it is great. there are many presets but it also allows you to create your own. there is ample support on their forum including assisting me to create a preset that codes for PS3 and ATV.

another app you should get ASAP is PS3mediaserver. it is also FREE. it is better than Nullriver by a mile. Google it.

good luck.

Help Has Arrived

I feel I can help shed some positive light on the situation. I had exactly the same question as the initial one for this thread: why is there an audio / visual lag when i stream movies form my Mac to my ps3? I will come out and say I am no rocket scientist. Most of you on this page seem to have a deeper grasp on tricky concepts then I do. But I can tell you how mine works and what I have done to get it there.

I have a Macbook Pro and a PS3. I recently bought a great Netgear N router for $89.99. I ripped all 350 movies onto a 2 TB external HD using Handbrake (which I have nothing but positive things to say about and would highly recommend making it your ripping program of choice. FREE! And highly effective.)

I purchased Nullriver and it set up instantly and gave me some satisfaction. but the lag was killing me. I saw on this thread someone talking about PS3MediaServer as an alternative. DO IT! Extremely easy setup. it is free. But my movies no longer lag when I use it. Nullriver just couldn't keep up with certain movies for reasons beyond my knowledge.

A more specific example was that in Nullriver if I attempted to fast forward, the movie would simply sit idle on whatever frame I left it on and when I resumed play, no change had happened. PS3MediaServer has a very fluid fast forwarding option.

My PS3 is wired to my router, but on another PS3 in the house I get the same satisfaction. The video coding even looks much better with PS3MediaServer to me and my friends. I can't say enough about how great it is vs Nullriver.

Again, a good router, PS3MediaServer, and using Handbrake to initially rip my movies has brought great success to my situation. I hope this can help some of you because everything is exactly how I want it right now.

This thread is evidence of why there is a need for the new Apple TV. I have both an Xbox 360 and a PS3. All of my computers are MacBook. It's too difficult to stream to Xbox from a Mac, so I thought I'd give it a go with the PS3. I downloaded PS3 Media Server and fired it up. The PS3 found my Mac quickly, so I began streaming. To my dismay there was a lot of lag. So, I set up my PS3 with a wired connection to my Airport Extreme Base Station. Lag was gone and quality was good. A couple of problems though. My PS3 was only able to play (see) about 20% of my ripped movies, which I don't understand because they were all ripped to .m4v files using Handbrake on the same exact preset. Also, the PS3 UI is really clunky when searching for files on my Mac.

Needless to say, I pre-ordered the Apple TV and am looking forward to many hours of viewing streaming movies (all without problems, hopefully).

AppleTV IS NOT A SOLUTION, it's far more crippled with the content it can play.

PS3 Media server will transcode on the fly videos that can't natively play on the PS3 ... very cool!

Also instead of all the wireless stuff that can be cumbersome, try some of the HomePlug Ethernet over Main, I stream from a HP Server to my PS3 over two Netgear 200mbps (Branded as 'HD') and it's so much better than Wireless.

The thing with Wifi (even N) is that if you add a device thats only 54g then all the other connections are brought down to that speed (unless you have the newer dualband radios).

Thing with PS3 Media server though: you need a lot of ram / cpu capability.

PS3 is no more difficult to navigate with large libraries than a aTV is.