Gizmodo
The PlayStation 3 2.10 update is here, bringing with it not only Blu-ray Profile 1.1 support (which adds picture in picture among other things), but DivX and WMV playback as well. Unfortunately, DivX support means DivX support, and doesn't include XviD as some of us hoped according to readers includes XviD support, but the files we have tested don't work at all. We threw our normal battery of files at our PS3, and came to the conclusion that it's not quite as good as the Xbox 360 implementation. Here are our notes.
Update: We've found that XviD playback does work, but only on burned DVDs and external hard drives. See here for an update and a workaround.
DivX and WMV play back fine. Just as they claimed, the PS3 now can play back DivX files and WMV files. No problemo.
XviD does not work. Again, no XviD support at all. You'd be surprised how many of your files are actually XviD and not DivX, especially if you've been "obtaining" TV shows and movies over the years. Often times the files aren't labeled with the codec type in the name, so you'll have to try and play it back to know whether or not it's supported. If it's not, the file name will change to "Unsupported Data." [Some readers are reporting that XviD support works. Others have written us saying that some files work, others don't. Jason has tried this with a few XviD files and none of them worked. -JD]
Streaming only works off of Windows Media Player 11 shares, not Windows Media Connect or SMB (regular Windows folder sharing). This one could be a biggie. The PlayStation 3 doesn't actually support SMB network shares, which is the default Windows folder sharing network protocol that both Linux and OS X understand. This means you're going to have to install Windows Media Player 11 (or something similar, like Orb) in order to stream video from your home computer. Windows Media Connect, which sits on our Windows Home Server that housed most of our video files, didn't work. WMP11 did.
You can play files off a burned CD/DVD. If your PlayStation 3 isn't connected to a network, or if it's hooked up to a Wi-Fi network that's too slow to stream big files without dropping out, you can burn your flicks to a DVD. This is a hassle, but ensures that your movie experience won't be interrupted by someone microwaving popcorn.
The quality is pretty good. When we got the network streaming to work and found a compatible DivX file out of all our XviDs, playback was smooth and (for the most part) artifact free.
Video dimensions stretch well. The PS3 knows exactly what aspect ratio your files are and stretches them to fit your screen without distortion. The 360 couldn't quite handle that without a little coaxing.
The first time you play back a WMV file, you need to activate WMA playback first. Not a huge deal, but kind of a pain that you have to go to the System Settings screen and activate WMA playback before you can watch any WMV file that uses the codec.
Playback controls are gimpy. This isn't the fault of the new DivX support, but of the way the PS3 handles all video playback. It's usable, but it's not as polished as the Xbox's (which wasn't all that great to begin with.) UI isn't Sony's strong suit.
It's not all bad news though, as the PS3 is actually entirely DivX certified—unlike the Xbox 360. This means that the console natively supports the codec, so games can play back DivX files as their in-game cut scene movies. However, this fact doesn't help out the rabid downloader that's expecting it to play back most of his media files—like the Xbox 360 does. If you're looking for a machine to replace that aging Xbox Media Center (XBMC), the 360 is the current winner.
Comments
All of my Xvids works fine for some reason. And that includes movies and TV shows. So yea, just throwing it in there.
does renaming things to .avi help?
Oh and I play these Xvid files through my external harddrive instead of Media Server. I've tested about 10 xvid files so far, all of them work. You may want to retest your files through an external harddrive or flash and correct this article.
I can confirm that Xvid works. Tansfered lots of xvid files to my usb stick and all of them works just fine.
[www.n4g.com]
Seems like Xvids work fine for other users as well as you can see from the comments here. This article needs to be taken down before more people are mislead by false information.
Yeah, I actually downloaded a couple of XVID tv shows and they all work fine so....gizmodo gets modded down by me!
On a side note, seems like some old Xvids that I downloaded about 3-4 years ago don't work. But the Xvids I've download in the past 1-2 years work so far.
This is not true at all. *Some* xvid files do not work, but others appear to work fine. I have examples of both.
Xvids seems to work fine for me... nice going Gizmodo.
Jason, how is the Divx playback not as good as the 360 when you just said Divx plays back fine? It's Xvid you had trouble with not Divx. Sony doesn't even advertise Xvid support. Xvid and Divx are different codecs. Most people have had their Xvid videos play back fine.
I'm sorry, did you completely just pull this article out of your ass?
Xvid works perfectly fine. Prove it doesn't. Compress a movie with the latest release.
Copy it to your HDD, by SD card. And tell me Xvid doesn't work.
How can this even get approved?!
Streaming works fine. With:
TVERSITY
Nero
and any other streaming software outside of MICROSOFTS PRODUCTS
Gain some credibility.
I agree with other posts here, I have just lost a bit of respect for Gizmodo, you guys need to do some (better) research before making such bold claim. I understand it is important to be the first to do a review, but it is even more important to make sure your claims are accurate
I just tested a dozen videos such as Heroes and Top Gear (both in xvid) on flash drive, external HDD, and DVD-R, they all play instantly and flawlessly, great video quality and even the "time jump" function works butter smooth, which I thought was really amazing.
i've tried about 20 different cd and dvd data discs with xvid/divx files on them and every single file worked. i don't know which xvid files jason tested, but if you download from piratebay and eztv, your xvids will work on the ps3.
Wtf are you guys talking about? Xvid works fine for me in fact most of my crap is Xvid. The Divx files on the other hand are the ones acting up. All my Bleach or most of it anyway is Divx and half don't work unless I encode them to Xvid.
I agree with CHILICOKE. I just lost a lot of respect for Gizmodo. Making quick judgments without proper knowledge or research is simply bad. It almost sounds like you guys are being bribed by Microsoft or something. Shame on you!
I tried the files from my 500GB HDD, so far, all of them working. Music videos and videos, all are working.Playback control? I actually like PS3's than 360's.
Sorry guys. We tested a few files and none of them worked. Likely the files or user error on Jason's part. Forgive us, it's been a long day. Clearly, the XVid is working for all of you, so let us reevaluate things a bit more in the morning. Goodnight.
B
Quoted from Wikipedia.org
"Xvid encoded files can be written to a CD or DVD and played in a DivX compatible DVD player. However, Xvid can optionally encode video with advanced features that most DivX Certified set-top players do not support. Files encoded with global motion compensation, Qpel, MPEG quantization, multiple B-frames or files that exceed the VBV limitations may not play back properly on DivX Certified hardware devices."
Link: [en.wikipedia.org]
Maybe the videos you guys are trying to play have some of those quoted features which isnt letting you play your test videos... dunno exactly but almost all of my videos work
[img213.imageshack.us]
Wow look, its XVID WORKING!
Brian,
How about you not rush out BS next time, and fully test it in the future? How many other things has your team rushed to conclusions on. Tested a "few" files? Christ sake.
And you say the 360 is better? WHAT IS THIS BASED ON IF YOU COULDN'T EVEN FIGURE OUT XVID?!
So your team HALF-ASS Reviews a feature, and deems the 360 version better? That makes absolutely no sense.
BRIAN LAM don't listen to the people who "lost respect for you"... Your article is still informative. It's clear that not all XVid files work which is all we really need to know. Be quick to judge all you want, it's your website and your opinions. If someone posts a negative comment, who gives a crap? They can go run their own site with their own opinions.
@fusiongt: Thanks for the support.
@chilicoke: Chilli, you sound like you went pretty deep on the research for this one. Care to drop the details in the comments? I think it could be really useful for the rest of us.
@fusiongt: Well it's not an issue of losing respect for him, the point of the matter is that they posted a rumor that it didn't support xvid first, and (through speculation) tested a couple of files that didn't work to confirm this rumour. What's odd is that I had tested quite a few of my own files all but one of which worked. They were very quick to judge who's better than who based on this fact without doing the proper testing, and the same goes for those talking about the Gizmodo.
@ssjmichael: That's the real question now, they were quick to bring it down a peg compared to xbox, but without doing everything they needed to. At the very least this leaves a bit disappointed with the article, hardly losing respect though, too many cool gadgets out there heh
@fusiongt:
Are you freaking serious? The article stated "NO XVid support at ALL!" And you think it's ok to post something totally wrong like that then stating that another eletronic product is superior based on this completely false accusation?? This is why people have no respect for online journalism these days! I've always thought that GIZMODO is on the other side of the fence, but I guess I was wrong.
It's fine to make mistake, but it needs to be corrected as soon as possible before more damage is done. Right now, this article still states PS3 has no Xvid support, why is this not being corrected? Is this part of Microsoft's FUD compaign?
@happycamperjack: look what time it is dude...wait till the day actually starts...
Well, these kinds of mistakes, epscially after the HD-DVD article can seem a bit odd, but they can happen. Especially when you have to write the amount of news that come up here.
As for me, I believe PS3 just became the ultimate media center.
How hard is it to pull an article that is obviously wrong? 1 click? 2 clicks? And it's day time right now for half of the world, means there are people being mislead by this article right now!
@Ph30nix: Don't they purposely staff people from around the globe don't avoid the "time" issue so they have writers working around the clock?
@Brian Lam:
Just for the record, I meant to harm nor disrespect for Brian Lam, his site, or any other Gizmodo staff. As a tech blog, many people rely on informations posted here for reference and judgments. Jumping on conclusions is never a good thing, and with the current status of the console war, mis-information of any kind (especially sensitive informations such as features) would eventually turn into another meaningless flamewar, and that's the last thing I (I'm sure others as well) would like to see here on Gizmodo.
@Brian Lam:
Although I'm a great enthusiast, I am definitely no export on video codecs, hopefully someome more knowledgeable can provide more information on the technical side.
The videos I've tested were TV shows downloaded from the web. The two I've mentioned are both .avi and according to GSpot, one is "XviD 1.2 SMP, AVI v1.0 container" and the other is "XviD 1.1.0 Beta 1, DivX Style 'packed bitstream' AVI". Both are encoded in "MPEG-1 Layer 3" audio.
Interestingly, even though GSpot identifys both videos as XviD, PS3's XBM labels both as "Dvix".
clumsy me, it should have been "I meant NO harm" instead of "I meant to harm" in my previous post.
=)
Thank you Brian, for pulling the article. You did the right thing.
I wish that there was .MOV support for h.264/AAC. While .mp4 support for h.264 is well established, .MOV does not exist yet. And the thing is, in the "h264 market share", half videos are .mp4 and half are. mov. I personally download lots of HD videos legally from Vimeo.com and sometimes some Apple trailers too. I would like to enjoy these on my big TV via the PS3, but .mov is not supported even if the underlying h.264 format is. Unfortunately, to transcode .mov to .mp4 is not free, Quicktime Pro costs some money.
I hope Sony adds .mov support for h.264 soon.
@Eugenia: mov is mp4. Read the MPEG specs, they are the same container format (MOV became the container format for MPEG when Apple pushed it as a standard). I'm pretty sure you can force playback or rename your videos.
I was disappointed that the only WMV codec support was VC-1. I have a good bunch of videos using WMV 8 which I can't play on the PS3. All the DivX (and XVid) I threw at it played.
Anyone know if you can connect a USB HDD to the PS3 and play video content from it?
Yes you can. That was how I tested my Xvid files. I've even tested it through remote play. Remote play + DiVX/Xvid support FTW!
I'm confused. If the PS3 allows you to copy Xvid/Divx movies directly to the hard-drive. How much exactly is Microsoft paying you guys? First jump out the door with "NO DIVX SUPPORT" now... "Well, our readers claim.." here this image might help with xvid issues. [img213.imageshack.us]
What, no XB360 fanbois jumping on here. Hey, did they get a new game or something?
@w00zzy: Please tell me you're fucking kidding. For once, a post has not yet become a flame war from any other fanboys popping their heads in and saying "______ System is better nao!!! ROFL!!!!" and you ASK FOR IT??
fucking brilliant.
@everyone bitching about lack of info:
"The Media" nowadays is all about who can get what out first. If you don't have the info first, you lose. The Gizmodo boys DID do tests, albeit not to YOUR standards, but tough. People make mistakes. Chill. They aren't out to get YOU spesifically.
@Gizmodo: You guys are doing a fantastic job. Entertaining & informative. Mistakes happen, and its cool.
This all makes me snort-laugh. Part of being on the cutting edge, means sometimes you get cut. Thanks for the efforts Giz!
To the naysayers (always wanted to use that word) - if you have a ridiculously low tolerance for error, in the interests of managing your blood pressure you should rather use a non-on-line resource...one should be out in a week or so. Being 7 days behind the cutting edge in technology terms, shouldn't be so bad, I mean in human terms it probably just means you're an amoeba floating in the primordial ooze...and who wouldn't be happy with that.
My xvids are working just fine! Gettin so giddy about my ps3! Now all we need is to get that PVR tuner state side! As for the post about .mov wrapped h.264 files, it is something that just comes down to partnerships and licensing. I work in the encoding market, and as much as i love QT, it seems to never really propagate outside of apple. For instance, i bought a Dlink media player a couple years back that supported .mov (video) files, but had no support for h.264 wrapped files. Although, boxes like those rely more on chip-sets than software for the decode. In a perfect world everything we own would be able to decode and encode every format, but that reality would not drive the sort of market that currently surrounds set top boxes or "from pc to tv" solutions. In a world of infinite storage and bandwidth, i think everything would be rocking a high bitrate mpeg2. Still the standard in most broadcast and production archives, mpeg2 can look totally money, the only problem is the data rate and final storage sizes. Everything i archive is in mpeg2, and then i transcode out to the platform i need. Seeing as how cheap sata drives are these days, it is making it a lot easier for me to not delete old content.
YAY... now this is what i think:
PS3 = DivX storage, DivX storage = Porn, Porn = good sales xD zomg
just joking, i love this new update, ive got so many movies yet to watch, now i just copy it to my usb and PLAY IT :D (H)
Seriously, all you people calling for this article to be pulled need to re-evaluate your priorities... if all the XviD videos they tried didn't work then in their experience that is no XviD support at all. It's nice that they've updated the article now though. This is a problem I see a lot where people mistake a blog for a news site, the purpose of Gizmodo isn't to report the news it's to offer opinion and share their experience... and some times their experience differs to yours. So if your XviD files play then woop for you, there's didn't yet over it. Keep up the good work Gizmodo.
@Eugenia:
Hey Eugenia. Have you tried PS3 Video9? It's a free conversion software that allows you to change the container on .mov or .mkv files to .mp4 files. Just use the ".mov passthrough" option. It's really fast and works flawlessly (so far at least). If you do a search for "PS3 Video9," you should be able to find it easy enough.
Why is Gizmodo so adamant about putting the PS3 down and tinting everything as a negative?
-XviD is fine. All the popular and ccommon XviDs like axxo DVD rips and Anime fansubs are fine. I have had issues some random porn rips.
-Playback is *NOT* limited to WM11. Any number of completely free UPNP mediaservers available for both Windows and Linux work just fine. SMB support would be nice but lack of it is a negligible loss as a mediaserver simplfies and streamlines everything.
@Shadowcast: "Seriously, all you people calling for this article to be pulled need to re-evaluate your priorities... if all the XviD videos they tried didn't work then in their experience that is no XviD support at all."
You need to re-evaluate your understanding of english and common sense as you directly equate anything less than all to none.
I'll be that guy.
This is why I like my PC over a console.
Maybe it doesn't play the same games, but I still have an awesome selection. -and my choice of hardware and configurations.
-and it's built for multimedia already! VLC FTW!
Okay I'll shut up now.
@strider_mt2k: And that is why I LOVE using VLC in Linux ON MY FREAKING PS3.
Sweet. Now I can watch nothing but "America's Next Top Model" all day!
(reference to PC Magazine article about hacking the Apple TV) cough.
what he says about the sharing thing is BS. u dont need media player 11 if just install nero media server u can stream anything and i mean anything just fine from ure pc to ure ps3. pictures audio movies. maybe that xvid thing is true i just have to check it out. or he messed up his ps3 for some reason. i have media player 10 installed and i just watched how i met your mother and 2 and half men ust fine. and no im no t a fanboy for any of u whose wondering :p
@WildWon: about w00zzy: I agree. No need to fan any flaming.
Here is a suggestion.
In every video format including Divx and Xvid (which are actually quite similar in respects to v4 and v5 of the Divx codec) a FOURCC header is embedded into the file. This header much like a TCP header identifies what the content of the video file is.
There is software out there that will let you change this FOURCC header to reflect whatever codec you want. Just google "FOURCC editor" or something similar.
For those of you with Xvid files not working this may work for you.
The video games are really interesting, but there are other types of games that also are it. Like for example the U.S Army All-American Game or the U.S. Army All-American Bowl, as also it is called.
I'm having a 1:1 correlation between playback on PS3 and 360. All XVID works, neither machine plays back anything before Divx 5, and clearly neither play 3.11. They both may be using the same decoder from Divx.
[blogs.msdn.com]
16. "Why don't some of my older versions of DivX® files play? (on the Xbox 360)
Since we only support Mpeg-4 compatible codec implementations, we will not be able to play video files older than DivX® 5.0.
Both Xvid and DivX is supported. The only codecs that are not supported are the ones using Divx 3.11 or older, and the equivalent version of Xvid. Meaning very old movies, or movies encoded with very old codec are not supported.
So far I haven't found a single Xvid file not supported this far.
@radikaled: That's not the problem. The problem is that some XviD movies are encoded with a custom matrix. These movies appear to be the ones that are not working.
As long as an XviD is encoded with a Default matrix (H.263 or MPEG), it should play just fine.