PS3 Media Server for dummies / tutorial howto documentation

[meskibob]

Troubleshooting - PMS - Subtitles
Error: Native subtitles are missing for the non-native parts of a native audio movie (eg English subs for a non-English part of a mostly English movie, like the Russian spoken in "Hunt for the Red October")

Solution: Play the movie with the UND language subtitles, either directly from the #Transcode# folder or add them to the "subtitle priority" setting under the MEncoder settings.

If there is no UND language subtitle track, you'll have to either:
a) manually select the proper language subtitle track from the #Transcode# folder
b) edit the subtitle tracks in the file (change language code, remove other tracks, reorder, etc....) - this is not available through PMS

[otmanix]

question:
Is there a list of supported media renderers (streaming clients) for PS3 Media Server?

answer:
At the moment the PS3, XBOX360, and Philips (networked) TVs are well supported. There is experimental support for Sony Bravia and Samsung Wiselink tvs, XBMC (e.g. on XBOX), PopcornHour, FreeboxHD, and Realtek chip based media renderers. Other media renderers may work. You have to create a conf-file in renderers subdirectory of PMS installation directory.

First of all have a look at the changelog of current beta: http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/source/browse/trunk/ps3mediaserver/CHANGELOG

Also have a look at the already existing renderer config files in current beta: http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/source/browse/#svn/trunk/ps3mediaserver/renderers

Finally read this thread about new media renders: http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2099

supported media renderers / ready to use conf-files:

PS3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ps3

XBOX360: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox360

Sony Bravia tv: http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/bravia/block/6/subblock/1

Samsung Wiselink: http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/learningresources/media2.0/dlna_introduction.html

Freebox HD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freebox

PopcornHour: http://www.popcornhour.com/onlinestore/index.php?pluginoption=whatisit

XBMC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbmc - for XBMC on XBOX 1 use T3CH XBMC 2009-06-01 9.04.1 stable build from http://t3ch.yi.se for example

Philips Aurea TV and Net TV: http://www.consumer.philips.com/c/televisions/33092/cat/gb/

Realtek media players (Asus O!Play, Xtreamer, AC Ryan PlayOn!HD, Brite-view CinemaTube)

In order to get new renderers working he gave this hint:

Maybe other DLNA profiles are required...
To get profiles supported by TV, You can use Intel upnp tools: http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/isn/ ... ogy_v2.zip:
1. install tools
2. run Device Spy
3. expand: TV name > ...ConnectionManager...
4. doubleclick GetProtocolInfo and click Invoke
5. copy Sink response and add it to this thread (with TV model name)

Best regards, Otmanix

[rustyjarz]

This page really needs to be a sticky. It's got all the info or links to all the info you need.

[otmanix]

Troubleshooting - PMS - Renaming PS3 Media Server

Error: There is no option to rename PMS in GUI. I want to run more than one PMS instance in my home network and identify them easily.

Solution: There is no easy solution. One has to change sourcecode and compile PMS in order to get a renamed version of it.

How to compile PMS sourcecode on Windows:
I wrote a howto some months ago ... but only in German language: http://otmanix.de/2009/02/07/ps3-media-server-unter-windows-kompilieren/
There is also an English howto available in this forum: http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=392&p=1874
The difference is that I use TortoiseSVN instead of SlickSVN. Of course you can use your favourite SVN client...

step 1 - download sourcecode with your favourite svn client from http://ps3mediaserver.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ps3mediaserver/

step 2 - customize downloaded version of pms.xml: http://ps3mediaserver.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ps3mediaserver/resources/PMS.xml

Code: Select all

<friendlyName>Java PS3 Media Server</friendlyName>
<manufacturer>PMS</manufacturer>
<manufacturerURL>http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com</manufacturerURL>
<modelDescription>UPnP/AV 1.0 Compliant Media Server</modelDescription>
<modelName>PMS</modelName>
<modelNumber>01</modelNumber>
<modelURL>http://ps3mediaserver.blogspot.com</modelURL>
<serialNumber/>

step 3 - compile PMS with ant

step 4 - compiled version has new name when being installed...

It's nearly the same stuff to do on Linux:
- all software packages needed here should be available at the software repository of your linux distribution
- install current JavaSE developement kit (JDK)
- install Apache ant
- install svn client
- set ANT_HOME, JAVA_HOME and PATH variable to useful values
- checkout PMS sourcecode with your svn-client, e.g. svn checkout http://ps3mediaserver.googlecode.com/sv ... diaserver/
- customize xml-file with your favourite text editor, e.g. vi
- run ant to compile PMS
- use the new tar.gz-file for installation

P.S.
Compiling source code, etc. is no topic for beginners. Please don't annoy Shagrath if you don't get it...

[otmanix]

Finally this howto/faq thread is a sticky. Thanks to Shagrath!
http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4088

I hope lots of questions for PMS newbs will be answered with help of this thread. Everybody is invited to participate. So write a feedback or publish your solution for certain problems...

Best regards, Otmanix

[otmanix]

Troubleshooting - PMS - hanging Java

Error: I installed PMS, started it and PMS found PS3 immediately. Next time I started PMS and PS3 couldn't be found.

Solution: PMS is programmed in Java. Sometimes the Java Runtime environment (JRE) doesn't shut down all Java processes properly after stopping PMS. If this happens stop all other Java based applications, start Windows task manager and kill all javaw.exe processes. After that start PMS once again and PS3 will be found. If that happens regularly update to latest version of JRE: http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp

[karl123]

Philips TV's are supported by PMS

The new PMS (PS3 Media Server) now also supports Philips networked TV's.
For this you have to use the PMS version 1.11.366, which contains a Philips TV configuration file.

(It took a while in searching and testing. With the great help of Shagrath and Tomeko the on-TV browsing was fixed and finally the streaming was fixed.)

There are two sorts of Philips networked TV's: the models like e.g. the Aurea and the NetTV models.
Both have the same basic networking capabilities and are quite similar to PMS.
The NetTV's have more native play (i.e. no transcoding needed) capabilities than the Aurea.

How to start?
- Connect the TV to your network. A wireless network works, but for streaming a cabled network is better.
- Install PMS PMS version 1.11.366. You can get it here: http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3217
- Switch on the TV and start PMS on the PC. After little time you see at the main PMS screen (Status Tab) an Aurea TV picture
called "Philips Aurea TV NetTV".
- If the TV is not found then check in the Traces Tab which network has been used.
You can force the correct network in the General Configuration Tab.
At "Force network on interface"you can select your favorite network here.
(This is needed e.g. when you did install a virtual machine like Virtual Box or VMWare on your PC.
Such virtual machine adds a new network definition that is often chosen by PMS.
Also this can be used for selecting the best network connection for PMS e.g. forcing to use the cabled and not the wireless network.)
- In the same General Configuration Tab you can select your favorite language.
- Select your video (and audio and photo) folders in the Navigation Tab.
- In Transcoding Settings Tab set number of audio channels to "2 channels Stereo". You can also disable Tsmuxer
- DO NOT FORGET to push on the Save button to keep your changes!

At the TV side
- Now select on your TV remote control "Source" and select "PC-network" from the list.
You should see the browser screen on TV and you can select a media server e.g. "PS3 Media Server"
- Now browse to your favorite media folder with video, audio or photo content.
Just learn by playing around!
- There is a special virtual #-TRANSCODE-# folder. Just browse in it and find for all video different transcoding options.
The Philips TV can only play so called Program Streams.
Just select a MEncoder type, but "MEncoder {Audio:AC3/Undetermined}" will always play.
- Click on your favorite video and its should start play on your TV.
- Audio and photo's are similar, but much simpler.

Native capabilities of Philips networked TV's
The current generation Philips networked TV's can only play Program Streams (no Transport Streams).
(Program Streams are simpler and Transport Streams have more error correcting. So the latter is used in e.g. broadcasting. But for local usage a Program Stream works fine.)
Programe Streams are output by some transcoders and "MEncoder {Audio:AC3/Undetermined}" will always play.

Philips Aurea native formats:
Video: MPEG-1, MPEG-2
Audio: LPCM, MP3
Photo: JPEG

Philips NetTV native formats:
Video: MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, AVI, H.264/MPEG-4, WMV9/VC1
Audio: LPCM, MP3, WMA
Photo: JPEG

Configuration file Philips.conf
See the philips.conf file in the renderer folder. Here you can experiment with configuration settings.

The following settings in the philips.conf are required for the Philips TV to work properly with PMS:

The current generation Philips networked TV's can only play Program Streams (no Transport Streams).
Mencoder and avisynth/mencoder will output MpegPS when TranscodeVideo=MPEGAC3.
Tsmuxer will always output MpegTS and cannot be used. http://ps3mediaserver.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2099&start=260#p18487
TranscodeVideo=MPEGAC3

The Philips TV needs to receive a transcoded video with minimal delay (this TV has a very small timeout delay).
If not set, the TV will abort the play with "Not available" due to a "detected" time-out.
TranscodeFastStart=true

The size of the transcoded file is required to be -1 for the PS3, but this will crash the browsing for other TV rendererers.
For the Philips TV it need to be a positive integer, and we had better make it large:
TranscodedVideoFileSize=100000000000

Formats that cannot be played native like MKV, need to be transcoded, e.g. MKV, Flac, PNG
For the Aurea you specify formats that are forcefully transcoded:
TranscodeExtensions=avi,wmv,mkv,wmv,ts,m2ts,tp,iso,mp4,mov,hdmov,hdm,flac,fla,dts,ogg,asf,asx,m2v,av,m2p,mts,gif,tif,tiff,png,bmp
Many are not needed for Philips NetTV that can handle many formats natively

Questions, discussions, remarks? Use this forum.

[herbie_53]

For Italian Users... Here there is a guide to configure PS3 MediaServer (@Moderators: I don't know if it's against the rules(I havent found it in teh FAQ) of this forum to publish an external link, i'm only try helping people. However if i can't publish that link remove this post)
Per gli utenti italiani... Qui è disponibile una guida per configurare PS3 MediaServer

http://newscienza.netsons.org/2009/10/23/ps3-media-server/

Merged into the tutorial thread, but will keep this post separate from Otmanix's main post

[otmanix]

Troubleshooting - PMS - manual setup of Windows firewall
Error: PS3 can't be found by PMS because Windows firewall is blocking connections.

Solution: PMS needs incoming port 5001 tcp/udp to run properly. Instead of that one can also set up an firewall exeception for Java program javaw.exe (JRE/JDK) and wrapper.exe if PMS is running as a service. Windows firewall settings can be changed by GUI or command line. It would take lots of screenshots so I prefer to give you a list of commands to set up Windows firewall.

Windows 7 and Vista firewall settings

You have to start command line as Administrator.

Open required ports (incoming port 5001 tcp/udp):

Code: Select all

C:\>netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="allow PMS - UDP" dir=in protocol=udp localport=5001 security=notrequired action=allow
OK.
C:\>netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="allow PMS - TCP" dir=in protocol=tcp localport=5001 security=notrequired action=allow
OK.

Let's look if the result is as expected:

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C:\>netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name="allow PMS - TCP"
Regelname:                               allow PMS - TCP
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aktiviert:                               Ja
Richtung:                                Eingehend
Profile:                                 Domäne,Privat,Öffentlich
Gruppierung:
Lokales IP:                              Beliebig
Remote-IP:                               Beliebig
Protokoll:                               TCP
Lokaler Port:                            5001
Remoteport:                              Beliebig
Edgeausnahme:                            Nein
Aktion:                                  Zulassen
OK.
C:\>netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name="allow PMS - UDP"
Regelname:                               allow PMS - UDP
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aktiviert:                               Ja
Richtung:                                Eingehend
Profile:                                 Domäne,Privat,Öffentlich
Gruppierung:
Lokales IP:                              Beliebig
Remote-IP:                               Beliebig
Protokoll:                               UDP
Lokaler Port:                            5001
Remoteport:                              Beliebig
Edgeausnahme:                            Nein
Aktion:                                  Zulassen
OK.

If you have installed PMS as a service you have to allow wrapper.exe (path depends on 32/64bit):

Code: Select all

C:\>netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="allow PMS service" dir=in program="C:\Program Files (x86)\PS3 Media Server\win32\service\wrapper.exe" security=notrequired action=allow

Let's look if the result is as expected:

Code: Select all

C:\>netsh advfirewall firewall show rule name="allow PMS service"
Regelname:                               allow PMS service
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Aktiviert:                               Ja
Richtung:                                Eingehend
Profile:                                 Domäne,Privat,Öffentlich
Gruppierung:
Lokales IP:                              Beliebig
Remote-IP:                               Beliebig
Protokoll:                               Beliebig
Edgeausnahme:                            Nein
Aktion:                                  Zulassen
OK.

If you're not satisfied with the result delete the firewall rule:

Code: Select all

C:\>netsh advfirewall firewall delete rule name="allow PMS service"
1 Regel(n) wurde(n) gelöscht.
OK.

Instead of opening ports you can also allow javaw.exe from JDK/JRE (path depends on 32/64bit and version of Java)

Code: Select all

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="allow PMS - JDK" dir=in program="C:\program files\java\jdk1.6.0_16\bin\javaw.exe" security=notrequired action=allow

or

Code: Select all

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="allow PMS - JRE" dir=in program="C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre6\bin" security=notrequired action=allow

You may also want to disable firewall completely:

Code: Select all

netsh advfirewall set currentprofile state off

Syntax of netsh command has change in Windows 7:
How to use the "netsh advfirewall firewall" context instead of the "netsh firewall" context to control Windows Firewall behavior: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947709

Windows XP firewall settings

Open required ports (incoming port 5001 tcp/udp):

Code: Select all

netsh firewall add portopening protocol=TCP port=5001 name=”allow PMS - TCP” mode=ENABLE scope=SUBNET
netsh firewall add portopening protocol=UDP port=5001 name=”allow PMS - UDP” mode=ENABLE scope=SUBNET

If you have installed PMS as a service you have to allow wrapper.exe:

Code: Select all

netsh firewall set allowedprogram "C:\Program Files\PS3 Media Server\win32\service\wrapper.exe" allow_PMS_service ENABLE

Instead of opening ports you can also allow javaw.exe from JDK/JRE (path depends version of Java)

Code: Select all

netsh firewall set allowedprogram "C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin" allow_PMS_JRE ENABLE

You may also want to disable firewall completely:

Code: Select all

netsh firewall set opmode mode=disable

I didn't have the opportunity to test it on Windows XP. Please write a note if there syntax errors or sth like that...

[Gareee]

Thanks! This thread and the links in it resolved a number of issues we were running up against.