The Leaf

PS3 Media Server Configuration

Written by Walid on Saturday, September 19, 2009

PS3 Media Server is a DLNA compliant Upnp Media Server for the Playstation 3, written in Java, with the purpose of streaming or transcoding any kind of media files, with minimum configuration. It's backed up with the powerful Mplayer/FFmpeg packages. With PS3 Media Server, you can stream your favorite video, audio directly to your PS3. No need for a DVI/HDMI cable, all what you need is a connection (Wireless or wired) between your PS3 and your PC.

Current features

• Ready to launch and play. No codec packs to install. No folder configuration and pre-parsing or this kind of annoying thing. All your folders are directly browsed by the PS3, there's an automatic refresh also.
• Real-time video transcoding of MKV/FLV/OGM/AVI, etc.
• Direct streaming of DTS / DTS-HD core to the receiver
• Remux H264/MPEG2 video and all audio tracks to AC3/DTS/LPCM in real time with tsMuxer when H264 is PS3/Level4.1 compliant
• Full seeking support when transcoding
• DVD ISOs images / VIDEO_TS Folder transcoder
• OGG/FLAC/MPC/APE audio transcoding
• Thumbnail generation for Videos
• You can choose with a virtual folder system your audio/subtitle language on the PS3!
• Simple streaming of formats PS3 natively supports: MP3/JPG/PNG/GIF/TIFF, all kind of videos (AVI, MP4, TS, M2TS, MPEG)
• Display camera RAWs thumbnails (Canon / Nikon, etc.)
• ZIP/RAR files as browsable folders
• Support for pictures based feeds, such as Flickr and Picasaweb
• Internet TV / Web Radio support with VLC, MEncoder or MPlayer
• Podcasts audio/ Video feeds support
• Basic Xbox360 support
• FLAC 96kHz/24bits/5.1 support
• Windows Only: DVR-MS remuxer and AviSynth alternative transcoder support

Step 1 - Enabling UPnP on your Access Point / Router
First of all, you need to make sure that UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) is allowed on your Access Point / Router. To do so, login o your Access Point / Router and enable UPnP. In my case, I am using a 3COM device:




Step 2 - Enabling UPnP on your Windows XP box
Now, you need to make sure UPNP network discovery is enabled on your computer. On Windows XP, it's a service called "SSDP Network Discovery", on Vista, it's just called "Network Discovery".

Open the Add/Remove Programs control panel, and then click on Add/Remove Windows Components in the sidebar. Scroll down and find Networking Services, highlight it, and then click Details.




In the Networking Services window, ensure that the Internet Gateway Device and UPnP User Interface options are checked. If they are not, check them to enable them, as shown below, and then close out back to the control panel.




Next, in the control panel, open the Administrative Tools and then open Services. Scroll down until you find the SSDP Discovery Interface. If the Status is not Started, double-click on SSDP Discovery Interface to open the service properties. Change the startup type to Automatic, then close the properties. Now, right-click on SSDP Discovery Services, and choose Start from the popup menu. The SSDP Discovery Service will then be running and start each time you boot.



After enabling UPnP and starting the SSDP Discovery Service, it may take up to 15 so 20 minutes for your router to be discovered and appear in your Network Connections and My Network Places. The Internet Gateway device must be available in your Network Connections control panel, as shown here:

In addition, your router must be available in My Network Places, as shown here: (your specific model may vary)

You're all set now, UPnP is configured on both your PC and on your Access Point / Router. For Windows Vista, please check here.

Step 3 - Installing the latest JAVA Runtime Environment (JRE)
PMS is based on Java, therefore you need the latest JRE to be installed on your PC (there's a big chance that it's already installed on your machine).
You can get it from: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp


Step 4 - Get and Install PS3 Media Server
Get it from:
http://code.google.com/p/ps3mediaserver/downloads/list

And go ahead and install it on you Windows box.


Step 5 - Configuring your local Firewall (ESET Smart Security in my case)
You need to allow UPnP and allow communication between your PC and your PS3. To do so, open the ESET menu and click on Advanced Personal Firewall Setup.




Go to "Personal Firewall" node, then to "IDS and advanced options". Select all the nodes under "Allowed Services":



Now, go to the "Personal Firewall" node itself and select "Automatic mode with exceptions (user defined)".



Finally, you need to add a rule to allow the communication between the PS3 Media Server and your PS3. To do so, go to "Rules and Zones" under "Personal Firewall" and click on Setup:



Now, click on New to define a new rule:




And define your rule as follows:







Where 192.168.1.3 is the IP address of your PS3. Note that this rule will only open TCP port 5001 on your PC for communication between your PS3 and your PC.


Step 6 - Connect!
Start Media Server and wait for the PS3 to connect to it. You will get something like:



Now, in the PS3 menu, you can see your Media Server under Movies, Photos and Audio. You can browse your PC hard drive and play any movie (MKV, AVi...) as well as any Audio. You can also browse your favorite photos on the PS3.

For more info, visit the official PS3 Media Server page, you can also check out their forum here.

Enjoy!

Linux anyone?

Written by Walid on Monday, May 18, 2009

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

Written by Walid on Thursday, April 16, 2009

I've come across this great video that explains the latest sub-prime mortgage credit crisis.

Credit for Jonathan Jarvis's hard work:

http://www.crisisofcredit.com/
http://www.jonathanjarvis.com/

Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS)

Written by Walid on Monday, April 06, 2009

Greetings techy geeks, I recently discovered this new beast and I thought of sharing it with all of you here! Altiris Software Virtualization Solution (SVS) from Symantec is one of the best concepts I've come through in IT. SVS is a software virtualization application which allows you to instantly install, uninstall, activate, deactivate, or reset applications and to completely avoid conflicts between applications, DLL conflicts, registry changes...etc. Altiris SVS works by capturing all changes made during installation of a particular application into managed units called Virtual Software Packages (VSP), which acts as a layer on top of the operating system. Each layer which different application can be loaded independently and with protected access to OS, making any defective or poorly written programs unable to damage the system. In fact, any problematic or troubled software application installed under SVS supervision can just be uninstalled or deactivated easily by turning off, disabling or deleting the layer. How does it work? Let's say I want to install iTunes, which would take a lot of resources and kind of mess my registry and add a lot of DLL. To do so, I first start Altiris SVS and create a new Application layer which I name: iTunes. I will then hit next and point SVS to the EXE of this application. SVS will automatically run the executable and catch ALL changes made to my PC: new files, new folders, registry change, DLL... These changes will be placed in the layer I have created. This layer is now active, in bold. I can now right click on that layer and deactivate it, this will simply "undo" and "delete" everything about iTunes (you will notice the shortcut disappears on the Desktop). I can later activate it and whooops, here it is again! I can make this layer starts automatically when the PC starts, hence making iTunes start automatically, or I can leave it deactivated and activate it once I need it. The added advantage of Altiris Software Virtualization Solution is users can install and use two similar, conflicting or can’t co-exists software of different version into two separate VSP layers, and loads anyone of them alternately as and when needed. SVS can also wipe out a problem program, reset a program to its just-installed state. For example, the user can keep an essential production program in place while also testing a beta of the next version. Even more, the user can transfer an installed program to another SVS-equipped computer simply by transferring the layer. So I can install Firefox 3.1 beta on top of my Firefox 3.0.7, because I have it in a layer that I can deactivate and activate the .1 layer instead! Try it by yourself! Start with simple programs like Winzip and see the difference! This version is the same as the regular commercial product shipped by Altiris, minus the server-side components for centralized management. It is Free for personal use, you will need to get the license from the link below. Download Here License: SVS Personal Use EULA - Altiris, Inc. The World's Greatest SVS Demo | Symantec Connect How to Create an Application Layer using SVS | Symantec Connect SVS Application Capturing Tutorial (in English & Italian) | Symantec Connect Altiris Demo Player Cheers!