My sister's family was very kind to give PS3 for Christmas. I have looked everywhere for a guide on using PS3 with a Mac, but nothing definitive.
Here's my month-long impression.
Streaming seems to be the least painful solution. For details on streaming, there's a helpful thread on using open sourced PS3 Media Server. 1.10.5 (March 2009) is the latest stable version, but I found the beta build 382 (January 30, 2010) to be stable enough and more pleasant to use. PS3 Media Server is a Java app, so the user interface isn't the greatest.
In short, streaming apps allow your Intel-based Macs to act as a DLNA server that PS3 can understand, transcoding audio and video on-the-fly as needed. (It would be nice if iTunes adds DLNA streaming in the future.)
Nullriver's MediaLink is an alternative with much nicer UI (resides on the Preferences pane). But it's a $20 commercial app. The latest version (2.0b6) is in beta (and therefore seems to be essentially free for now).
PS3 video implementation: Although PS3 uses Linux-based file system for internal hard disk (probably EXT2), it allows only FAT-formatted USB storage. FAT does not support file size larger than 4 GB so to get around it, you will need to use one of the streaming apps, either stream or copy files into internal hard disk over the network (triggered by the triangle "option" button when browsing video files).
On the whole, PS3 does pretty good job upscaling video to whatever resolution you need, and the overall playback performance is smooth and responsive. On the down side, there aren't a ton of playback options (e.g., cannot force aspect ratio) and there's no playlist for video (just one big huge list of video files).
I am using $20 BD remote from Sony, which improves the user experience tremendously. But the UI remains so so still. And it is inconsistent at remembering the last played position. Sony releases firmware update every few months, so I am hoping the situation will improve.
Since PS3 supports wider range of codecs than Apple TV, I assumed using Handbrake to rip my DVD collection would work. I quickly learned that just about every codecs and containers it supports have a gotcha or two.
MP4 container: PS3 allows only H.264 High Profile video with AAC LC audio. I like using AC3 passthrough to maintain original multichannel audio but if you transcode this way, PS3 will only display images without sound. If your receiver has HDMI multichannel PCM support, you will be able to use multichannel AAC option, but mine doesn't and I hesitate to transcode lossy audio into another lossy format. In addition, PS3 does not support subtitle nor chapter stops within MP4 container.
AVI container: My wife watches international programmings in DivX container (yes, these contents are legal). PS3 seems to support most DivX files fine (with MP3 or AC3 audio), but increasing number of contents are using Xvid with H.264, which it doesn't support consistently. If you are looking for most space saving container with AC3 audio, AVI is probably the way to go, but I haven't found a good app that does this for Mac.
DVD VOB: DVD's VIDEO_TS directory contains a bunch of files with .VOB extension. I rip my DVD collection using RipIt, a $20 software. If you rename them into .MP4, PS3 will play them. But it does not let you change audio or select subtitle. In addition, chapter search won't work. And because most DVDs have multiple VOB files for main feature, you will need to name the MP4 files with a numerical postfix (e.g., "Cars - 1.mp4") and enable "sequential playback" option hidden in PS3's settings.
MT2S: This appears to be the best solution. I use MakeMKV app (free) to convert ripped DVD into MKV container (it supports BD as well). This process does not transcode audio nor video in anyway, 100% identical in quality as the original. I normally select only the main feature and audio that I am interested in. MakeMKV isn't super stable yet, so ripping some titles may not work.
If you prefer to play files locally (if you prefer streaming, PS3 MediaLink will mux MKV on-the-fly), I "mux" MKV files into MT2S container using tsMuxeR. If you are using Snow Leopard, look for comments from VoxMac or his/her page at Use tsMuxeR on Snow Leopard. VoxMac built a version that won't crash (you may need to follow his other comment to delete or rename two Korean fonts as well). Select M2TS as the output and mux away. The final file (with .M2TS extension) will play in PS3 in full original quality. Chapter stops won't function but I found 5-minute scene jump to be good enough.
Here's my month-long impression.
Streaming seems to be the least painful solution. For details on streaming, there's a helpful thread on using open sourced PS3 Media Server. 1.10.5 (March 2009) is the latest stable version, but I found the beta build 382 (January 30, 2010) to be stable enough and more pleasant to use. PS3 Media Server is a Java app, so the user interface isn't the greatest.
In short, streaming apps allow your Intel-based Macs to act as a DLNA server that PS3 can understand, transcoding audio and video on-the-fly as needed. (It would be nice if iTunes adds DLNA streaming in the future.)
Nullriver's MediaLink is an alternative with much nicer UI (resides on the Preferences pane). But it's a $20 commercial app. The latest version (2.0b6) is in beta (and therefore seems to be essentially free for now).
PS3 video implementation: Although PS3 uses Linux-based file system for internal hard disk (probably EXT2), it allows only FAT-formatted USB storage. FAT does not support file size larger than 4 GB so to get around it, you will need to use one of the streaming apps, either stream or copy files into internal hard disk over the network (triggered by the triangle "option" button when browsing video files).
On the whole, PS3 does pretty good job upscaling video to whatever resolution you need, and the overall playback performance is smooth and responsive. On the down side, there aren't a ton of playback options (e.g., cannot force aspect ratio) and there's no playlist for video (just one big huge list of video files).
I am using $20 BD remote from Sony, which improves the user experience tremendously. But the UI remains so so still. And it is inconsistent at remembering the last played position. Sony releases firmware update every few months, so I am hoping the situation will improve.
Since PS3 supports wider range of codecs than Apple TV, I assumed using Handbrake to rip my DVD collection would work. I quickly learned that just about every codecs and containers it supports have a gotcha or two.
MP4 container: PS3 allows only H.264 High Profile video with AAC LC audio. I like using AC3 passthrough to maintain original multichannel audio but if you transcode this way, PS3 will only display images without sound. If your receiver has HDMI multichannel PCM support, you will be able to use multichannel AAC option, but mine doesn't and I hesitate to transcode lossy audio into another lossy format. In addition, PS3 does not support subtitle nor chapter stops within MP4 container.
AVI container: My wife watches international programmings in DivX container (yes, these contents are legal). PS3 seems to support most DivX files fine (with MP3 or AC3 audio), but increasing number of contents are using Xvid with H.264, which it doesn't support consistently. If you are looking for most space saving container with AC3 audio, AVI is probably the way to go, but I haven't found a good app that does this for Mac.
DVD VOB: DVD's VIDEO_TS directory contains a bunch of files with .VOB extension. I rip my DVD collection using RipIt, a $20 software. If you rename them into .MP4, PS3 will play them. But it does not let you change audio or select subtitle. In addition, chapter search won't work. And because most DVDs have multiple VOB files for main feature, you will need to name the MP4 files with a numerical postfix (e.g., "Cars - 1.mp4") and enable "sequential playback" option hidden in PS3's settings.
MT2S: This appears to be the best solution. I use MakeMKV app (free) to convert ripped DVD into MKV container (it supports BD as well). This process does not transcode audio nor video in anyway, 100% identical in quality as the original. I normally select only the main feature and audio that I am interested in. MakeMKV isn't super stable yet, so ripping some titles may not work.
If you prefer to play files locally (if you prefer streaming, PS3 MediaLink will mux MKV on-the-fly), I "mux" MKV files into MT2S container using tsMuxeR. If you are using Snow Leopard, look for comments from VoxMac or his/her page at Use tsMuxeR on Snow Leopard. VoxMac built a version that won't crash (you may need to follow his other comment to delete or rename two Korean fonts as well). Select M2TS as the output and mux away. The final file (with .M2TS extension) will play in PS3 in full original quality. Chapter stops won't function but I found 5-minute scene jump to be good enough.
