PS3 preset

HandBrake for Mac support
Forum rules
An Activity Log is required for support requests. Please read How-to get an activity log? for details on how and why this should be provided.
Post Reply
Mikael2009
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:40 am

PS3 preset

Post by Mikael2009 »

Cany one tell me whats so special about the ps3 preset.

I mean, i use it for my dvd rip encodes, but i read on the forum, that in the next version the developers will get rid
of the PS3 preset

so are there any other presets that look great on the PS3 - that are mp4 and not mkv or m4v?
User avatar
s55
HandBrake Team
Posts: 10350
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2006 1:05 pm

Re: PS3 preset

Post by s55 »

You'll need to try them and see what works for you. One would hope the Normal preset would work.
Deleted User 11865

Re: PS3 preset

Post by Deleted User 11865 »

In my experience, as long as you play the file locally (e.g. from a USB key or the hard drive, but not streaming), just about any x264 setting should work. The PS3 doesn't like AC3 tracks though (usually won't play the file at all if it has an AC3 track). For example, you could use create a custom preset based on the Universal or AppleTV presets, but make sure to remove any AC3 passthrough. If you don't intend to ever play your files on iPods or AppleTVs, you could even use other features such as Pyramidal B-Frames, CABAC, and maybe even 8x8 DCT.

Here's my "Advanced x264 Option String", for example:

Code: Select all

ref=3:mixed-refs=1:analyse=all:me=umh:no-fast-pskip=1:bframes=3:b-pyramid=1:subq=7
I also use "Same as source" framerate, Strict anamorphic and always make sure that the file's dimensions after cropping are multiples of 16. As long as I don't include any "AC3 Passthru" tracks, the files I encode with HandBrake this way play fine on my brother's PS3*.

Note that .m4v and .mp4 are different extensions for the same container format, so you should be able to just change .m4v to .mp4 and be good to go. IIRC, the reason why HandBrake uses the .m4v extension when you choose to create chapter markers is because some Apple applications and/or devices seem to disable chapter markers when the extension is .mp4.

* "Disclaimer": All files I'e tested on the PS3 come from DVD sources, and were never complete rips, only clips ranging from 30 seconds to 11 minutes.
Deleted User 11865

Re: PS3 preset

Post by Deleted User 11865 »

Funny thing, I just did a few 4-minute test encodes (HandBrake 0.9.3) using various settings, and the only one that the PS3 will play is Universal w/out AC3. Talk about unpredictable results…

One thing I did notice it that it doesn't seem to matter whether the extension is .m4v or .mp4. I put 8 files on my USB key, 4 encodes with .m4v extension, and 4 copies with .mp4 extension. The one encode that would play (Universal w/out AC3) played in both .m4v and .mp4 "form".
Deleted User 11865

Re: PS3 preset

Post by Deleted User 11865 »

Rodeo wrote:Funny thing, I just did a few 4-minute test encodes (HandBrake 0.9.3) using various settings, and the only one that the PS3 will play is Universal w/out AC3. Talk about unpredictable results…
OK I figured out what was happening with these encodes. When selecting the AppleTV preset, I enabled the "Large file size" setting, which carried over to the next two encodes (so only my Universal-based encode had this disabled).

Apparently, the PS3 doesn't like this setting. So I re-did the three encodes that wouldn't work but made sure "Large file size" was disabled. The three new encodes worked fine on the PS3.

So basically there's nothing so special about the PS3 preset. You can choose any preset you like, but make sure to disable AC3 Passthru and Large file size.

Note, however, that "Large file size" should be enabled when the output file is over 4 GB. This shouldn't be a problem with most standard definition sources, but something to consider when encoding from HD sources…
MerlinDE
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2009 1:11 pm

Re: PS3 preset

Post by MerlinDE »

After reading many articles, I found, that AC3 just isn't defined for MP4 containers, they just support AAC audio.
What you can do is put h.263 video (that is XVID/DivX; not h.264) into an AVI container and add AC3 audio tracks. That usually works very well, even with older receivers that don't support AAC multichannel audio (mine also doesn't).

What is really weird about this is that it sometimes works and sometimes not. I looks like it worked with Handbrake 0.9.2, but not with 0.9.3 if you have more than one audio track. The latest SVN version has dropped AVI support, so I can't try with that (PLEASE bring AVI support back!!!).
User avatar
s55
HandBrake Team
Posts: 10350
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2006 1:05 pm

Re: PS3 preset

Post by s55 »

MP4 container does support AC3 audio. Hence why the AppleTV preset has AC3 in MP4. (Maybe your saying the PS3 doesn't support it?)

AVI support won't be coming back.
User avatar
JohnAStebbins
HandBrake Team
Posts: 5712
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 7:21 pm

Re: PS3 preset

Post by JohnAStebbins »

MerlinDE, you didn't search hard enough. Here is a list of codecs supported by mp4 and links to the documents that define how that support is implemented. http://www.mp4ra.org/codecs.html

The relevant standard for ac3 in mp4 is ETSI TS 102 366 v1.2.1 Annex F.
Deleted User 11865

Re: PS3 preset

Post by Deleted User 11865 »

I was just reading this topic:

http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=10552

and noticed that Stacky is apparently able to play a file which has both an AAC and AC3 track:
Stacky wrote:I tried switching audio tracks when playing back on the PS3 and couldnt seem to switch over from the AAC to the AC3...so that why im asking my question should i just drop the AAC and go with AC3 only?
So maybe it's OK to leave the AC3 track in the file (although the PS3 won't play it ATM, so you still need an AAC track if you want to hear something). Now that I think back, I may have gotten my "PS3 won't play file if AC3 track present" statement from a test where I was using the Apple TV preset, which also has "Large file size" enabled…

(Note to self: be more careful when testing PS3 compatibility)
MerlinDE
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2009 1:11 pm

Re: PS3 preset

Post by MerlinDE »

Well, the sad truth is, that the PS3 doesn't support AC3 tracks in MPEG4 containers. So, if you don't have an amplifier with a built-in AAC decoder that can handle multi-channel AAC, you have to stick with VOB (no fast-forward, MPEG2 big files), MP2TS (rather uncommon, MPEG2 big files) or AVI (only h.263 but AC3 support).

The point is, that AVI seems to still be the best format for video with digital multi-channel sound on the PS3. It would be great, if Sony would finally listen to the market and add AC3 support to MPEG4 playback, but until that happens...

So again, I'd really appreciate AVI coming back to Handbrake.
Post Reply