Java PS3 Media Server for dummies – chapter 4a configuration

Does your PS3 run fine with PMS after basic configuration? I hope so. Now let’s have a closer look to this excellent software…

Attentention! To save changes in configuration permanently you have to press the Save/floppy-disk icon. You need to press Quit icon and start PMS once again to activate changes.

Most default values are chosen wisely by Shagrath, some of them can be optimized. In the following text important values are marked green, less important values are marked blue. Values which you can leave untouched in most cases are default black color..

General configuration

• language: choose your native language if available
• start minimized (checkbox): apply if you want PMS start to tray (window minimized)
• install as a windows service: press if you want to run pms as a service, further configuration needed, doesn’t work properly on every system regarding PMS forum
• force network on interface (dropdown): Perhaps PMS sends network broadcasts on the wrong network card. If PMS doesn’t detect your PS3 choose your correct network card.
• force port of server: if TCP/IP port 5001 already is in use set a free alernate port number like 6001
• Use IP-filter: set IP-address of allowed streaming client (PS3), all other will fail to connect
• HTTP Engine v2: brand new feature which is very experimental – a new code to communicate for PMS which should be deactivated when communcation problems appear (new engine should improve network performance and better support for alternate streaming clients)
• prevents OS from sleeping when streaming: you can make sure that your computer won’t go to stndby while streaming

Navigation/Share settings

• thumbnails generation: activate for automatic creation of thumbnail pictures of your media files
• thumbnail seeking position (in seconds): Most video files begin with some seconds of a black background before the movie starts. You can set the time in seconds for the video thumbnail position.
• Use mplayer for video thumbnails: the tool mplayer sometimes gets better results for thumbnail creation then default way, so just try it…
• audio thumbnails display (dropdown): You can chose default behaviour (search for thumbnail pictures in filesystem) for audio thumbnails or let PMS download album art from Amazon or Discogs.
• alterate video cover arts folder: chose your folder in filesystem which contains cover art
• browse .rar/.zip/.cbr archives: If activated PMS is able to show content of archives. If a media file in archive is chosen for playback it will be decompressed before streaming starts
• hide # video settings # folder: There is a virtual folder available called # video settings #.  You can navigate to this folder on your PS3 and change some values for PMS online. You can hide this folder if you don’t want to confuse your girlfriend.
• hide file extensions: some people might get confused if they see file extensions like jpg or avi, so you can hide them
• hide transcoding engine names: PMS can stream your media file with different technologies. You can chose the technology (transcoding engine) in virtual folder # transcoded #. The default transcoding engine for playback is displayed after the name of each media file. You can hide that of course.
• enable media library: When you browse folders on your PS3 PMS scans each folder in real time and displays the results on your PS3. Additionaly there is an builtin media database which can be activated. If you scan your hard drive for media files additional infos for each file will be collected, e.g. MP3-tags (title, album name, …) for MP3 audio files. You can browse the media library in a virtual folder on your PS3 after scanning.
• reset media library: If the media database is corrupt you can use this feature to reset the content of the database.
• sort file method (dropdown): chose if you want your file list on PS3 sorted by name or date
• shared folders: All local drives are made available to PS3 by PMS. In a more secure environment you might want to chose the folders which are presented to your PS3. Press green + icon to add folders for access by PMS/PS3. Select folder and press red – icon to remove access to a folder. Press up and down arrows to change order of these folders.
• magnifying glass: Start first scan on your hard drive for media files to collect infos about them in a media library.