Using a PS3 for home videos -- how's this work?

[CMD is me]

First off, I know zero about the PS3. I have a AVCHD camcorder, iMovie 08, (obviously) a Mac and a 1080i TV. I'm waiting to see if Apple updates the TV to 1080, but in the mean time researching the PS3. I have little to no interest in YouTube, Flickr, or movie rentals. I just want a means to view home videos and photos. It'd be especially nice to view the pre-edited AVCHD videos and photos at 1920x1080. I've read the PS3 can play AVCHD files as well as 1080i videos (much better than TV's 540p). So how's this all work?

I shoot an hour or so of video and want to watch it before editing. If I transfer the contents of my SDHC card, will the PS3 play it as though I was just playing them through my camera (a series of clips = a 1hr video)? And how do you transfer the files?

When importing AVCHD to iMovie and editing, what file format do you need to export as to view through a PS3.... Quicktime .MOV?

Once the video is edited in a PS3 friendly state, how do you get it to the PS3? Can you plug an external drive into a PS3 or do you need to stream them from your Mac?

 

[BlackMax]

I don't know about home movies, but I know regular movies (DVDs) have to be encoded for use on the PS3 or else the PS3 will not recognize them. I use Handbrake for this purpose. Handbrake has a PS3 profile I use to encode my DVD collection to MP4s and then I stream them to my PS3 using MediaTomb. You can also use MediaLink from Nullriver if you're not up to compiling MediaTomb.

So mp4 is the format I would try first, but I believe you can use DivX too and possibly other formats.

 

[Cmu93]

CMD - I do what you are asking about all the time. You didn't mention what kind of AVCHD camera you have, but I can tell you what I do with my Canon HF100.

After capturing some video, I just take the Memory Card out of my HF100 and put it in the Ps3 and the videos will play back as is. If I transfer the AVCHD files to the Mac first, import them to iMovie08 and do an edited flick, I will then save that movie as the highest quality Quicktime.

Then, I will take all the Quicktimes I've made and use Roxio Toast to burn a standard DVD of AVCHD quality. You create a Blu Ray video disc on a standard DVD. It looks great, but of course, not as good as the original unedited footage.

Tom

 

[spatry]

mplayer/ffmpeg now play mbaff interlaced videos too

Hi,

not related to PS3 but I just wanted to let you know that latest version of mplayer and ffmpeg can play raw avchd (.mts or .m2ts) natively with a single double click (if configured with apple script)... or through the command line

It's not as fast as coreavc to decode so I scale the video to 960x540 (half full hd) by using the below command:

mplayer -vf scale=960:540,lavcdeint -framedrop -vfm ffmpeg -lavdopts lowres=2:fast:skiploopfilter=all:threads=8 -vo quartz -fps 59.94 <video file>

works pretty good!

 

[CMD is me]

I also have the HF100. Does the PS3 play the clips as a continuous movie or put a gap between each clip?

What export settings do you use for export and how much footage can you put on a DVD at 1080?

 

[Cmu93]

I actually just plug the memory card directly in, as I have the Ps3 that has the card reader in front. But yes, a USB card reader adapter will also work. It puts just a second or so pause in before the next clip plays... they are pretty much continuous.

The most I've put on a standard DVD at 1080i is about 23 minutes, personally. I was told you can do about 30 or so... and that's just on a DVD-R. I haven't burned to a DVD-DL yet, as I haven't had that much to show yet.

 

[CMD is me]

Toast sounds promising. If you can fit 23-30 minutes on a DVD-R then you should be able to fit 45 minutes or so on a DL.

 

[CMD is me]

Trying out a friends PS3 but can't get it to play

I've exported a few MPEG-4 H.264 (.MP4) files and .MOV files and they won't play. The .M4V AppleTV default export plays fine, however I can't find a way to export it over 540p. Any suggestions on getting the MP4 files to play?

On the plus side, playing the raw HF100 clips off the SD card via USB reader worked as though they were on the camera -- no stops in-between clips. BUT copying the folder structure to the PS3 hard drive didn't. I can play the clips, but only 1 at a time, not a grouping.

Can you burn the SD card's AVCHD folder to a DVD for PS3 playback? Wonder if they'd play the same as a SD card?

 

[mkjj]

I have posted this before but I have a Sony TG3 (TG1 in the US) and inserted the memory stick in the PS3 and copied across and can view files in full HD, no need to convert or anything.

They do show up as slips but as stated only a small gap, easy to play and all your files are then backed up!