Failure with really big files

[Kamiboy]

I set up the server and it works fine with rather small files, I tested up to a 100MB files I think. However what I really want to do is transfer some of the mpeg2 HD movies I got to the PS3.

Those files are about 8-16GB each. When I try to download these to the PS3 via the server something goes wrong. When I choose them in the PS3 browser instead of getting the download screen quickly the browser seemingly stalls for a very, very long time. At least 3-5 minutes and then it reports some error has occured.

The server on my computer seems to be doing something crazy while this is going on. The HDD goes nuts and my free space starts to fall rapidly. It is almost as if the huge file is being copied into a temp folder while the PS3 is trying to access it, perhaps to try and see how large the file is.

I don't know if its the PS3 or the file server at fault here, but it sure would be nice if it worked. I really wanna transfer those files to the PS3 and the server is the only way how.

Does the PS3 perhaps have a upper limit to how large a file it can handle? If so then how big would that be?

[Red Kawa]

We don't think this is a PS3 issue, but rather something to do with the File Server. It is likely choking while trying to serve that file indirectly.

You can try serving it directly. To do this you need to go to the:
C:\Program Files\Red Kawa\File Server\core
directory, create a new directory likes "files", place you video there and then go to:
http://local ip:8192/files/
and try downloading it from there. The PS3 may or may not recognize the file properly to download.

Otherwise you are going to require a USB HD to get it onto your PS3.

Are these MPEG-2 files actually ATSC MPEG-2 TS captures (aka OTA HDTV)?
During our video tests, we confirmed that as Sony stated, the PS3 can't play AC3 in TS files, so you won't be hearing any audio from these captures. You should try it yourself with a much much smaller clip.

[Kamiboy]

We don't think this is a PS3 issue, but rather something to do with the File Server. It is likely choking while trying to serve that file indirectly.

You can try serving it directly. To do this you need to go to the:
C:\Program Files\Red Kawa\File Server\core
directory, create a new directory likes "files", place you video there and then go to:
http://local ip:8192/files/
and try downloading it from there. The PS3 may or may not recognize the file properly to download.

Otherwise you are going to require a USB HD to get it onto your PS3.

Are these MPEG-2 files actually ATSC MPEG-2 TS captures (aka OTA HDTV)?
During our video tests, we confirmed that as Sony stated, the PS3 can't play AC3 in TS files, so you won't be hearing any audio from these captures. You should try it yourself with a much much smaller clip.

I will try that later tonight.

And yes they are ATSC MPEG-2 TS captures. And I do know that AC3 audio wont work with those and I have solution to that. The process of converting a MPEG-2 TS file into a MPEG2-PS file is quite easy, fast and lossless.

I use VLC to convert the TS file into a PS a file after I have joined all the TS file togeather. I guess tonight I'll find out if the PS3 will play them or not.

[Red Kawa]

Well I'm glad to hear you can easily conver to MPEG-2 PS. According to the official list you can play AC-3 in MPEG-2 PS on the PS3 and our tests have confirmed this as well.

[Kamiboy]

Well, I finished running my tests.

First I took a 100mb piece of a ATSC MPEG-2 TS capture and converted it to PS. I then placed both files in the "files" directory that I created and tried downloading them via the PS3 browser, the way you described.

It worked but it had some peculier behaviors. Firstly it once again takes a long time from me clicking on a file till the PS3 presents me with the download screen. Then when I accept and it starts downloading the file the download progress indicator starts being 100% from the begining. And then a very, very, very long time goes by before the download is finished. It is quite annoying that the progress bar is 100% from the begining as I then cant see how long it has progressed. But what worries me more is how long it took, much longer than it should have given the fact that is was just a 100MB file being downloaded over a local network.

The TS file did not have any sound (firmware 1.3) but the converted PS file played with sound, so TS to PS conversion with VLC works.

Next I tried with a bigger 1.8GB file it seems to be downloading as well. Of course I have no way of knowing that since it is so slow and the download indicator is stuck at 100%. I cant imagine how long it will take to copy a 10GB file over.

This is not as ideal or smooth as I though it would be downloading files to my PS3. Why are the download speed so slow? Does doing it through the a web server that much slower than just copying it over a network? I suspect the culprit might be the PS3s browser as it also take too long downloading demos from the PlayStation store.

Can the progress bar thing be fixed? And why does the redkawa try to copy a file to a local folder when the PS3 tries to download it normally, cant it just read the file from where it is on the hdd?

One last thing, for me the USB hdd solution is not workable. The only USB hdds the PS3 can read are FAT32 formatted ones and FAT32 has a upper file size limit of 4GB. Needless to say that that is way too small for a file sizes of mpeg2 HD movies. Unless they are split into smaller parts, which I am not a fan of.

[bhampster]

I'm hoping this can be fixed or enhanced as transfering big files is exactly why I'm interested in this file server.

I can record HD on my PC via a HDTV card and the average movie weighs in about 10GB. Since USB hard drives are limited to FAT32 and therefore 4GB the file server method of transfering the files was my beacon of hope.

I hope it will work the way I imagine it should.

=Brian

[jdawg]

Has anyone tried saving large files to the HD of a 30Gb or 80Gb iPod and using that connection to transfer those files to the PS3?

There shouldn't be a file size limit with those, right?

Just a thought.
-jp