PS3+Linux potential as media player?

S

Sdw

Newcomer
I'm pondering if a PS3 running Linux has the potential to be a complete media player solution in the same sense that a modded XBox with XBMC is today. I mean, with XBMC you can play just about any format, you can play DVDs straight from iso/img archive etc. etc.
Now, if we could do all this PLUS support HD formats, we would have pretty much the ultimate media player.
From what I've heard so far, the attempts on PS3 has been to pretty much just compile an existing media player, and the results have been so-so (tearing in video playback, unable to decode HD material at full speed etc.) Do you think that these problems will be overcome? As I see it, the following will have to be solved:

* Playback of full HD (1920x1080p) material. For this we will probably need to have decoders that utilizes SPEs. The SPEs are programmable from Linux, but how feasible is it that "the community" will be able to write these decoders? I'm not all that familiar with video decoding, so I can't say if this is a major issue, or if it will be solved once the right people get their hands on some PS3s..

* VSync enabling and switching res/refresh rate. To have nice playback you have to be able to vsync. I think that people have been able to do this in PS3 linux now, right? Also you will need to switch refresh rate I guess to get non-jerky playback. I mean, if I play a PAL movie I want the PS3 to output 50Hz, but if it is an NTSC movie I want 60Hz. As I understand it now you can't switch resolution/refresh rate in Linux, instead you configure "I want to run 1280x720 50Hz" and then you need to reconfigure and reboot to get a new resolution...?
 
I'm not quite sure what programs have already been recompiled successfully for PS3, but I can say that nothing beats my linux-server + xmms and mplayer as a media player. Seeing how far the PS2linux community got with far inferior hardware and linux distro, I can only imagine how well this linux on PS3 will turn out eventually. I say, it's only a matter of time. With linux, anything is possible, everything doable and will offer far more than a limiting XMBC. :cool:
 
Sdw said:
I'm pondering if a PS3 running Linux has the potential to be a complete media player solution in the same sense that a modded XBox with XBMC is today. I mean, with XBMC you can play just about any format, you can play DVDs straight from iso/img archive etc. etc.
Now, if we could do all this PLUS support HD formats, we would have pretty much the ultimate media player.
From what I've heard so far, the attempts on PS3 has been to pretty much just compile an existing media player, and the results have been so-so (tearing in video playback, unable to decode HD material at full speed etc.) Do you think that these problems will be overcome? As I see it, the following will have to be solved:

* Playback of full HD (1920x1080p) material. For this we will probably need to have decoders that utilizes SPEs. The SPEs are programmable from Linux, but how feasible is it that "the community" will be able to write these decoders? I'm not all that familiar with video decoding, so I can't say if this is a major issue, or if it will be solved once the right people get their hands on some PS3s..

* VSync enabling and switching res/refresh rate. To have nice playback you have to be able to vsync. I think that people have been able to do this in PS3 linux now, right? Also you will need to switch refresh rate I guess to get non-jerky playback. I mean, if I play a PAL movie I want the PS3 to output 50Hz, but if it is an NTSC movie I want 60Hz. As I understand it now you can't switch resolution/refresh rate in Linux, instead you configure "I want to run 1280x720 50Hz" and then you need to reconfigure and reboot to get a new resolution...?
Click to expand...

When you talk about decoding full hd material are you referring to downloaded movies or bluray? If it is the latter that may not ever happen, someone would have to crack AACS and BD+. Yes I know AACS has been hacked, but that flaw can and will be fixed. I hope someone figures out how to do it though, as it would be nice to utilize a terabyte NAS as a storage solution fo all the BR movies I would own. I am really curious as to how long before a DeAACS comes along for linux.
 
Ofcourse the potential is there since there is more than enough hardware power and you could make a awsome mediacenter programme for linux if you, or someone other, botherd. But if you talk about potential to the mass consumers, I dont think there is alot. The software doesnt come standard and it has to be about as idiot proof in use as MCE to get to the masses. I still think a HTPC is alot better option. More choices and you know that you can do just about anything with MCE and probably MCE vista. I am suprised that MS didnt do a better job on the x360 though. They should have made it more MCE'ish and allow you to stream almost all formats from a other computer.
 
Sdw said:
* Playback of full HD (1920x1080p) material. For this we will probably need to have decoders that utilizes SPEs. The SPEs are programmable from Linux, but how feasible is it that "the community" will be able to write these decoders? I'm not all that familiar with video decoding, so I can't say if this is a major issue, or if it will be solved once the right people get their hands on some PS3s..
Click to expand...

SPEs aren't really necessary, although it wouldn't hurt to utilize them. Porting existing AltiVec code in opensource projects to utilize an SPE or two is fairly straight forward.
 
hardware video acceleration is not available in linux on PS3, so wouldn't that restrict its use as media center ? Apart from video , what about audio components is it easily accessible ?
 
What kind of media-program would need to use the GPU. I don't really think this matters as long as we got a fast frame-buffer.
 
crystalcube said:
hardware video acceleration is not available in linux on PS3, so wouldn't that restrict its use as media center ?
Click to expand...
Perhaps, if the processor was a media-monster! But part of Cell's intended use is driving media devices. We're told it's already performing exceptionally well in some complex systems, and you can be confident that there's no current format 6 SPE's are going to fall over on.
 
speaking of media, if anybody has a tip
to change hd movies in MKV => PS3 compatible H264 let me know please
a friend of mine already tried lots of things, always playable fine on pc but never on PS3
 
From my point of view a Media Player must be easy to use and the inclusion of the idea in the top of an operating system breaks completely the idea of easy to use.

I am sure that Sony will expand XMB for PS3 throught the time with new habilities, the Linux part exists because Sony isn´t against the homebrew development.
 
It should not be impossible to write a user-friendly media player in Linux, I think there are several examples already running under PC Linux.
I don't think that you should rely on Sony adding all the features and format support that makes a GREAT mediaplayer - they never will (for one thing I imagine there are a number of codecs that they would deem only exist in the "pirate" world and therefor choose not to support).
As I said in the initial post, XBMC has shown what a community created mediaplayer can do, now let's see something similar on the PS3!
 
Urian said:
From my point of view a Media Player must be easy to use and the inclusion of the idea in the top of an operating system breaks completely the idea of easy to use.

I am sure that Sony will expand XMB for PS3 throught the time with new habilities, the Linux part exists because Sony isn´t against the homebrew development.
Click to expand...

I guess I'm a freak, but nothing beats putty on a remote PDA and linux + mplayer connected to the TV (or beamer)... :devilish:

And for those that want it more confortable, it's fairly easy to program a web-interface that controlls a mediaplayer such as mplayer on linux... In fact, I'm thinking a PS3 in the living room with linux running and a PSP as a remote-control (via browser) is pretty unbeatable.

Certainly not for the masses though. :smile:
 
hey69 said:
speaking of media, if anybody has a tip
to change hd movies in MKV => PS3 compatible H264 let me know please
a friend of mine already tried lots of things, always playable fine on pc but never on PS3
Click to expand...

Have you tried setting up a pipeline with gst-launch ?
 
tuna said:
Have you tried setting up a pipeline with gst-launch ?
Click to expand...

to be honest, i dont know anything about linux and mkv conversion, its just a friend of mine tried lots of things on his pc and he asked me a dozen times to test some playback, since he doesnt have a ps3.( he wants to buy one if he knows a simpple way to rip out the movie out of eht mkv container, so there is no re encoding that needs to be done , so very fast) i'l check with him what he exactly does in linux to rip out the video stream
 
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