Playing some form of captured HD off Sony PS3 hard drive?

[tagull]

I have a new HD Sony camcorder and bought Ulead 10+ to capture and edit the HD video. I know one can go a very expensive Blu-Ray or HD burner/player route, but a quote in a camcorder review says you can also capture HD from this camcorder using Ulead 10, pop it onto the hard drive of the Sony Playstation 3, and play it back to an HD TV directly from there. This implies that some specific capture format Ulead uses is handled by codecs and playback programs on the Playstation.

1. Has anyone done this and if so, what are the exact details?

2. If no one has, then can Ulead confirm that this is possible, and the steps? The quote is shown below, but the basic idea is to do the capture, dump it to a USB drive (big one), read it onto the PS3 hard drive, and then select it for playing like any other video file. It plays back in HD since the format has remained at that resolution.

This pathway would get rid of the need to buy both a burner and player immediately since the HD files could be archived to DVDs and don't need to all be resident in the PS3 simultaneously. So I could get my HD footage to the TV and still have it safely archived for when the burners drop to a reasonable price. I'd coincidentally get a Blu-Ray drive, some secondary Internet browsing, and a game console upgrade for my son. So if this pathway works, it has some real benefits.

Here's the quote that kicked this query off:

"This early camcorder review would not be complete without mentioning the significant value added by using PlayStation 3. The camcorder video is stored in the DV tape in MPEG2 format. After recording, I simply transfer the video into my Ulead VideoStudio 10 Plus which handles HDV files. After that I copy the MPEG2 file into the hard drive of the PS3 using a transportable hard drive. Roughly speaking, one hour of HD recording takes up 10 GB of memory. One can then watch the HD video on the big screen using the handy remote ($25) for the PS3 with fast forward and such so that the overall operation is almost as convenient as if you had burned a BluRay DVD. Also, the fact that the SXRD TV has a 3rd HDMI input in the front makes connecting to the camcorder particularly convenient.... The coupling of the 1080p TV and the PS3 with the camcorder results in a most enjoyable HD experience. "

Thanks / Tom

[etech6355]

I have a new HD Sony camcorder and bought Ulead 10+ to capture and edit the HD video. I know one can go a very expensive Blu-Ray or HD burner/player route, but a quote in a camcorder review says you can also capture HD from this camcorder using Ulead 10, pop it onto the hard drive of the Sony Playstation 3, and play it back to an HD TV directly from there. This implies that some specific capture format Ulead uses is handled by codecs and playback programs on the Playstation.
1. Has anyone done this and if so, what are the exact details?

Tom,
Yes the PS3 will playback HD-Mpeg2 video. The same format written on your HD-Camcorder.
Just make sure to use an external USB FAT32 Formatted disk, you will have a 4 gig file size llimitation but that's good for about 20minutes. The PS3 only reads FAT32 Format for the USB Connections. No need to transfer the video to the PS3 internal harddisk. Plays back directly from the External USB Device. You can transfer the video if you want to the PS3's internal harddisk (not necessary though). You could also burn to a singlelayered dvd for 20minutes of videos or a dual-layered for about 40 minutes.

Just make sure if you edit your hd-mpeg2 video NOT to de-interlace the video. Use "UPPER FIELD FIRST" if you perform any editing and create any new Mpeg2 files. Work with the HD-Mpeg2 using the same rules as Standard Defintion and your videos will look the same as the camcorder connected to the HDTV. So keep your project settings in VS10+ the same from start to finish.

I capture directly to a external usb fat32 disk. Plug it into a PS3 and immediately view them. Only thing with capturing directly to the external usb disk you may have to change the settings on the drive from "Optimize for quick removal" to "Have windows perform write caching".
If capturing to your local drive limit file sizes to 4gig if you want to copy to the external fat32 drive.
PS3 is cool, also nice for pictures & music. Pictures/photo's taken in 16:9 from the Sony Cam look nice.

[tagull]

Thanks greatly for the detailed description confirming not only that it works, but how to make it dance. It sounds like I could skip the Blu-Ray burner for quite a while this way, and it does have all the regular PS3 benefits as well. I'll be getting the PS3 today. / Tom

[etech6355]

1. Has anyone done this and if so, what are the exact details?
2. If no one has, then can Ulead confirm that this is possible, and the steps?

VideoStudio 10+:
When working with HD-Mpeg2 or ANY Video using VS10+ always make you project settings equal to your source video settings.
Example taken from a Sony - HC3 (HDV Unit):
Project Settings: Ulead Video Tab: Perform Non-Square Pixel Rendering = ON, Audio Channels = Stereo
Project Settings: General Tab: Frame Rate = 29.97(Ntsc) 25(Pal), Frame Type = Upper Field First (UFF), Frame Size = 1440x1080
Project Settings: Compression Tab = Media Type = Mpeg2, Quality=70-100, Video_Data_Rate=Constant 25000kbs, Audio type=Stereo/48000hz,384kbs
When you save your video file goto Share -> Create Video File -> "Same As Project Settings"
Always save your project

1) Buy a PS3 (and the game "Resistance - Fall Of Man")

2) Use an external USB 2.0 drive formatted as FAT32 (NOT NTFS) to transport the HD-Videos to the PS3. ONE FAT32 Partition.

3) Using VS10+ or MF5+ Capture files in sizes not larger than 4gigs (fat32 size limitation). If you capture directly to the External FAT32 drive
--- they will automatically be split. 18-20 Minutes is about 4gigs.
--- It is not necessary to edit them and save again in VS10+, you can play the captured files directly on the PS3 in their original captured format.
--- It's your choice, if your files are larger than 4 gigs then use VS to trim them down and create a new video file.
4) Plug the USB Drive into the PS3. Under video, navigate to the external drive & highlight it, press the "Triangle" button & select "Show All".
--- Highlight the video & press the "X" button to select & play video. While video is playing press the "Start" button to view video information (time bar, video format, bit-rate etc)
--- Pressing the "Start" again cycles through some time displays.
--- Use the PS3 Controller buttons to Fast_Forward/Reverse/Start Over/Pause. No need to point the controller at your TV, it's wireless.

Notes:
1- PS3 will play the videos directly from the usb drive or memory cards. You can transfer the video to the PS3 internal harddisk if you want to, not necessary though.
----PS3 plays back directly from external USB Media (FAT32).

2 - FAT32 Partition & File Format Only for USB connected media.Only ONE Fat32 Partition.

3 - PS3 uses a built-in filter for media files. So directly on the root of the drive you can create these directories and put your music, pictures & videos under those directories.
----You can also put them right on the root of the drive.
PS3 Directory Filter Usage If you don't use this method press the "Triangle" button & select "Show All" to display the drives raw directories.
VIDEO - Folders & Sub-Folders containing mpg, m2t, mp4. Program & Transport Streams are supported (NOT WMV or DIVX)
PICTURE - Folders & Sub-Folders containing jpg's etc
MUSIC - Folders & Sub-Folders containing wav, mp3, aac
--- You can play music & view pictures, watch a slideshow at the sametime. When playing a slideshow press the "PS3" button and naviagate to your music.
--- If playing music perform the reverse, press the PS3 button & navigate to your pictures.
--- To play different Slideshow methods pressing the "Triangle" button to naviagate the pop-up menu.

4- DO NOT De-Interlace your HighDef Mpeg2 Video Files. Leave them as they were originally recorded on the tape which is "UPPER FIELD FIRST".
--- PS3 displays 1440x1080i as Full Screen, no need to change your frame size.
--- A few HighDef Tutorials on the web dictate to change the field order to Frame-Based (progressive) after capturing & editing your mpeg2 files.
--- Doing this will change your video from 60 pictures a second to 30 pictures a second. the video will not play smooth and jump with any motion in the video.
--- De-Interlacing or conversion to Frame-Based is only done when making format conversions such as creating a HD-WMV file or a DIVX file for playback on the computer.
--- Irregardless of your TV Display Mode, 1080x1440p/1080x1080i/1280x720p/480p/480i. These are Video_Display_Modes and should not be confused with
--- whether or not your source video(s) are interlaced or progressive. HDTV's and associated media devices are designed to display video best in their original native format.
--- Conversions to display in progressive mode is performed in hardware on the playback device.
5- If you have a AVCHD Camcorder after finalizing the disk put it into the PS3 and it will be recognized as an AVCHD Disk and one can play the videos.

Don't buy any Blu-Ray Disc Movies until you research their quality. Some such as "Crash" are upconverted Dvd's.Some are great.Research on the Avforums before you buy one.
Do not post technical problems related to the PS3 on the ulead website. Join the PS3 Forum and associated networks.

[tagull]

Thanks in particular for the settings review - I would have missed a few on the first couple of passes, I'm sure. Saves a lot of time to have these published!

I tried pretty much everything suggested by both responders, and I'm very happy with the results. I still want to try a double-sided DVD - I don't have any blanks on hand. I almost prefer having DVDs with small files with good names as opposed to standard menus. The USB hard drives and DVDs both play back beautifully, and I'm sure my son is going to love the gaming and also the MP3 playback. We got one Blu-Ray test movie (Ice Age 2) that looks really great. I tried the wireless access but didn't get it going since I'm not using the "first key" and there was no setting for specifying which key to use at first glance. For another day.

Anyway, this looks like exactly what I want. Very interesting that this is positioned for gamers so heavily; it pretty much is that "living-room media box" that Microsoft and Sony wanted to push a few years back. Funny that needing HD video playback capabilities should lead to this option. / Tom

[etech6355]

If you have any questions you can email me.
I like it, don't need a computer to view videos, pictures or play music.
All in HD.

[tagull]

Didn't check the poster name until this morning so I didn't notice both replies were from you (one person).

I'm even thinking of retrofitting a lot of my old video onto a USB drive so I can play any part of it at will instead of having to keep the DVDs handy, select one, load it, etc. I can navigate well-named folders a lot faster than I can switch DVDs and wait for the menus to fire up. / Tom

[etech6355]

I don't want to go off on a PS3 thread because this is a ulead forum. But anyone using HighDef with the ulead products should be interested. The PS3 is a nice multi-media player. Just take your camera pictures and copy them to the harddisk(or read direct from the memory stick, CD/DVD).
If you make the directory structure like I pointed out previously.

USB ROOT DRIVE:
\VIDEO\ (put your mpegs here mpg or m2t etc.
\PICTURE\(put your jpegs here)
\MUSIC\ (put your music here)

Putting your media under those directories then the PS3 will make "Thumbnails" which is really nice to preview them, the thumbnails are large.
You can also naviagate by using the select button "X" and don't have to use the "Show All" feature.

You can put Sub-Directories under those directories, the Sub-Directories will also display as Thumbnails.
The only hitch to remember is EVERY Directory has to have at least 1 media file present to get to the sub-directories.
Anytime you highlight a media file if you press the "Triangle" Button the "Options" screen has a copy and a multiple copy feature to transfer to the harddisk. Vice Versa with content on the harddisk.

I use Linux to repartiton & reformat my external usb drive to about a 160gig Fat32 partition. The rest is ntfs (which the ps3 doesn't read).
Windows makes this hard unless you use a utility program. It's native work for Linux.

I downloaded the trial of MF6. I found out with MF6+ I can change the audio from mpeg to Dolby and customize the HD-Mpeg2 files better. Previous versions of MF and VS10+ you can only save the hd-mpeg2 file with mpeg audio. On many of my videos I drop the vocal audio and replace it with music. Alot of my music files I have converted to 5.1 Dolby so in MF6 I'll replace the original track with the new Dolby 5.1 Track.

According to what I've heard VS11+ will also have this capability.
The PS3 plays back the 25Mbs HighDef Videos with Dolby Audio.