PS3 Media Server and PS3
My blog readers already know that I’m a user of PS3 Media Server. I use PMS in order to stream media files to my PS3.
But there are some disadvantages in this solution when watching HD-videos. Either I have bad wifi-performance (54Mb/s) with my PS3 or I have to unplug my dreambox in order to use 100Mb/s LAN. Also my pc hardware isn’t up to date (AMD Athlon 64 X2 5050e / 2,6GHz). Reducing CPU load by using CoreAVC with CUDA for decoding doesn’t help in any case. I also dislike having my pc running all the time.
There are lots of HD media players available, most of them use chips from Realtek or sigma Designs. Support of formats and codecs is really good in current devices.
Syabas Popcorn Hour NMT A-200
So I bought such a media player some weeks ago. I chose Syabas Popcorn Hour NMT A-200 because one can run both 2,5” and 3,5” hard disk drives. Also Syabas offers a certified WLAN-adapter (IEEE 802.11n). The builtin fan is really, really annoying. But the french Popcorn hour reseller offers a metal case. The A-200 is able to operate fanless after reassembling the parts in the alternate case.
original case:
reassembled fanless A-200 in Moovika metal case:
P.S.
One should have assembled at least pc cooling before reassembling the A-200 
quick start guide for A-200
- First of all read the installation instructions. It’s also clever to read what to do when updating Firmware of NMT A-200 fails…
- startup A-200 and do configuration (at least network config)
- update A-200 firmwareupdate (it’s simple via internet when using menu)
- mount 2,5” or 3,5” SATA hdd
- install NMT apps (it’s simple via internet when using menu)
- activate FTP, NFS and SMB for file upload/download
- activate UPNP in order to enable NMT A-200 as streaming server
- download and install NMT Community Software Installer (CSI)
- download and install Lundman Shell and PHPterminal via NMT CSI, download and unzip netcat for Windows (tools for using A-200 shell)
- download and install filemanager via NMT CSI (filemanager with root access)
- software for NMT C-200 should also work on A-200 (same CPU type). But libz library is missing on A-200. Copy tar-file to /share/Apps/Qt/lib and unzip it there (don’t unzip within Windows because tar-file contains symbolic links).
- download and install CSI Gaya via NMT CSI (replacement for NMT CSI, use it via tv or browser)
- There’s a known bug with HDMI synchronization which troubles HDMI connections with certain tv models. Workaround: change your video output settings from auto to e.g. 1080p 50Hz (choose best setting appropriate for your tv).
- There’s another bug with HDMI CEC. Once you have started playback of a video on your NMT you cannot switch to another input source on your AV receiver. You have to shutdown the NMT to cleanup the situation. Workaround: turn of HDMI CEC on your AV receiver.
Lundman Shell
- change to local shell (Windows command prompt)
- netcat nmt 2222
- sh
PHP Terminal
http://nmt:9999/phpterminal_web/
You may have to disable authentication because of a bug.
change file \\nmt\share\Apps\phpterminal\webui\index.php with text editor
function checkPassword($passwd)
{
//if(!isset($_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER'])||
// !isset($_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_PW']) ||
// !isset($passwd[$_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER']]) ||
// $passwd[$_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER']] != $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_PW'])
// {
// @session_destroy();
// return false;
// }
// else
// {
@session_start();
return true;
// }
}
Filemanager
http://nmt:9999/FileManager_web/
install libz for C-200 apps
- copy libz.tar to \\nmt\share\Apps\Qt\lib
- change to A-200 shell (Lundman shell or PHPterm)
- cd /opt/sybhttpd/localhost.drives/SATA_DISK/Apps/Qt/lib
- tar -xf libz.tar
CSI Gaya
http://nmt:9999/CSI%20Gaya_gaya/
P.S.
replace “nmt” in URLs mentioned above with IP-address of your NMT A-200
PS3 Media Server and Popcorn Hour NMT A-200
You can use PS3 Media Server also as streaming server for NMT A-200. Do not wonder when the A-200 device is discovered as “WD TV live”…
Both devices use similar chips of Sigma Designs (NMT A-200: SMP8643, WD TV live: SMP8655). Please use current PMS beta-version…
Hi Otmanix,
All the effort you’ve put in this project is much appreciated even though I haven’t managed to get the PMS to work on blu-ray yet.
I’d like to ask you a couple of questions regarding Popcorn. 1) Is it able to display the dvd menus? 2) I presume it plays blu-ray (coded as .m2ts files) allright? and 3) Where did you buy your A200 from?
Thanks and kind regards,
Chiew
Hi chiew!
1) If you’re playing an DVD from local hdd (iso or dvd folder) or usb dvd drive you will get full DVD menu. If you’re straming a DVD from your pc with e.g. PMS to your Popcorn hour then you will get no menu.
2) I only have one mkv blueray rip which plays fine.
3) I bought it from a German reseller.
P.S.
One of the reasons for buying the Popcorn hour was a feature which is rare on hd media players: an UPNP-A/V streaming server. I use it to stream music from Popcorn hour to my Philips internet radio. I also wanted to connect an internal hdd. With popcorn hour A-200 you are able to connect either an 3,5” or 2,5” internal SATA HDD.
If you don’t need these feature I would rather recommend a WDTV-live. You can connect an external disk via usb. The chipset is nearly the same as A-200. There is also a project for alternate firmware. There’s no loud fan. And it’s much cheaper than A-200…
Thanks for your prompt reply, Oto. I had been looking at WDTV, but it doesn’t display menus. But, you’re right, the price is off-putting and so is the loud fan… the option of connecting an internal hd is appealing, but as long as I can connect an ext hd, then maybe it isn’t so important.
I was thinking of this (or similar) as a solution for my new LED tv rather than hoping the tv’s built-in DNLA client is suitable for the wife to use – my PS3 is in the “game room” and for this I use PMS to access stuff on th PC (Linux of course).
What is you verdict after a few month of use?
Cheers for a good blog,
Mik
The A200 is doing its job, so I’m satisfied. But the fanless case modification is a must have… There’s a major update probably available in a few weeks which will improve usability with an alternative gui. Beta is already out now for C200. I wanted the A200 because of the possibility of an internal hdd and the integrated UPNP server.
The best device you can get for a much lower price is WDTV live.
OK, thanx for the extra input.
Only minor thing with WDTV and the A200 – no wifi.
There is wifi support when using custom firmware WDLXTV with USB WLAN adapters.
http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=59.0
http://b-rad.cc/wdlxtv/
There’s also a wifi adapter for A-200 available. I use it quite a while successfully.
2 questions.
1. if i am connecting a 3.5″ drive internally are the connections (power and data) inside the a-200 sata (i have a spare drive with sata conectors that i want to use)?
2. how would i download a HD file to the NMT through my wireless connection or is only thru FTP/other?
Thanks very much.
@cannon
1)
Attach hdd with screws and insert it into the SATA data/power-plug.
http://www.mediasmartserver.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ResizeIMG_3521.jpg
http://files.syabas.com/popcornhour/download/PopcornHour_A-200_Installation.pdf
2)
You can either setup a wired connection or a wireless connection with the A-200. You will need a wifi-usb-adapter from syabas for wireless connections. After setting up network and initializing the hdd (partitioning and formatting) you can store media files. You can either do this via network (wired or wireless, SMB or NFS or FTP) or USB (you will need a operating system or filesystem driver which is capable of using an ext3 filesystem).
This tutorial is fantastic – thanks for all your effort.
In looking at this thread I see I am having the same issue that you initially state with HD content – what is ideal wifi-performance? I am running with 67 mbps and MKV files with resolution/codec of 1) 1280X528 mpeg2 2.2 mbps and 2) 1280X720 mpeg2 1.8 mbps start then stutter….then stop
With my popcorn hour I use a directly attached USB hdd, so Wifi is nice to have for me, almost no streaming anymore. On a PS3 with 54mbit/s Wifi you may reduce quality which also reduces need for bandwith. you may also set bandwith limit option which reduces quality if needed. But that costs a lot of cpu power in order to get poor quality. You may connect a Wifi bridge to your PS3 ethernetport which is able to use 802.11n high bandwith connection to your router.
You can see there’s no solution which fits for every case. But it is sure that 802.11g is too less bandwith for streaming hd videos in good quality.
One more hint: with ps3mediaserver and tsmuxer engine videos are sent “as is”, called streaming. With other transcoding engines like mencoder bandwith limit and quality settings may be set – but it will cost cpu power. Transcoding to mpg2 in good quality may need more bandwith thanoriginal video if that is for example h264 with better compression than mpg2.
Hi Otmanix,
Excellent explanation till “You can use PS3 Media Server”.
How do I install “PS3 Media Server” in A200? Or I got something wrong?
@rasty
You can install PS3 Media Server on your PC/Mac and Popcorn hour will be recognized as streaming client. That means you can browse and watch media files with your A-200 which are located on your PC/Mac via LAN/WLAN/DLAN. So you don’t need to transfer media files from PC/MAC to an usb hdd.
Hi Otmanix,
Thank you for explanation. I was looking for replacement for default Popcorn’s upnp server. I got an impression that ps3 media server will run on pocorn.
@rasty
PMS isn’t easy to configure when running headless (without gui). NMTs processor is too weak for transcoding (on the fly converting) which is a main feature of PMS. PMS is based on Java technology which isn’t available for NMTs processor type.
Best solution for you would be mediatomb which is available for NMT. Mediatomb is a great upnp server which I have already used and configured for Opensolaris and Linux. For NMT install CSI first, then install ipkg (package “local”) via CSI. Mediatomb is available via ipkg repository http://sourceforge.net/projects/c200ipkg/files/. Administration for ipkg is easy done via Webinterface http://nmt:9999/local_web/ (replace nmt with IP address of your NMT). /share/Apps/local/ is the place for installed ipkg Software. Startup scripts (*.sh) are located at /share/Apps/local/etc/init.d/.
Hi Otmanix,
Thank you for the hint (http://sourceforge.net/projects/c200ipkg/files/). It is good resource, unfortunately I didn’t find it earlier.
I installed Mediatomb (per instructions from its Web-page, not from sourceforge), it comes without transcoding configuration. I do understand why people think that it is better than NMT’s basic AV server, I probably oversee something.
I did some research on inet and found generic encoder for mips – I do not believe that it will do on the fly transcoding without help of NMT’s DSP.
There is another level of complexity – switch between multiply sound tracks and subs. Maybe you will have some idea?
Thanks,
Rasty
@Rasty
I installed and tested mediatomb about 3 years ago. There’s a blog article about it (sorry, but only in German language available): http://otmanix.de/2008/10/19/mediaserver-fuer-ps3-media-tomb-unter-opensuse-110/
I don’t think that NMTs cpu is powerful enough for transcoding. But you may want to have a look at these config examples with subtitles: http://mediatomb.cc/dokuwiki/transcoding:transcoding#piggybacking_subtitles_in_your_stream and http://www.vanalboom.org/node/11
The problem with this example is that afaik mencoder binary isn’t available for NMT. You may use ffmpeg. Syntax will be ffmpeg -i inputfile -i inputsubtitle … copy outputfile
Hope that helps…
Otmanix
Hi Otmanix,
Thank you very much – I’ll try out of curiosity.
best regards,
Rasty
Hello Otmanix,
I would like to stream movies stored on the HDD of a Popcorn A-210 to my son’s PS3. The Popcorn is “seen” by the PS3 but whenever I try to access it, I’ve got a DLNA protocol error 2101. Do you have any idea how to fix this?
Thanks for you help and best regards.
broZer