DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

You are correct... There is a folder limitation for the PS3... The only solution is to not have too many folder levels.... No other way about it....

The PS3 has a few other limitations as well, like a 2gb limit for video files not encoded with DivX... For DivX encoded files, there is no limit to filesize... When i mean no limit, i mean that the video will be played right to the end and not cut off somewhere in the middle...

Minglarn wrote:

Are you sure about this?! I've read this mail from D-Link to a user in a another forum:

"There is a 2 GB transfer limit on the DNS-323. Unfortunately, this is a limitation of the Linux module being used in the unit. This transfer limit may be resolved in future firmware upgrades, but there is no resolution at this time... The indexing service cannot exceed approximately 2GB at a time. You need to divide the folder to smaller ones, and the server will be able to handle them. If the server still has an issue with particular folders, it could be one of the files in the folder."

If this is true... Well then it does not matter whatever it is a divx or mp4 file.

The 2gb limit is not for the 323 but for the PS3... The 323 can transfer files of any size (i've transferred 9gb ISOs from my desktop to the 323)... I was referring to playing of video files on the PS3 streamed from the 323... If the video file is not encoded in DivX, there is a 2gb file limit... For example, supposed you have a 3 gb Mpeg4 video file that runs for 2 hours... The PS3 will stop playing at say, 1 hour and 30 mins because of the 2gb file limitation... DivX encoded files do not have this limitation... They will play to the end irregardless of the file size...

BTW, where did you find that quote and what firmware was it referring to? My 323 shipped with 1.02 and i've never encountered problems transferring files over 2gb before...

Last edited by mihar (2008-05-18 20:19:43)

Minglarn wrote:

Link to the forum: http://discuss.extremetech.com/forums/2 … hread.aspx

You are right about transfers... I've put 10gig movie files without any problems, but when you "stream" it to the PS3 the file size is reported as 2048meg. It's the streaming part that sucks.

Are you sure about the 2gig limit?

Well, just make sure your files are under 2gb for non DivX encoded... You can always split the video files for other type of codecs...

Sony was kind enough to include DLNA support so i guess i can't complain much...

The 2gb limit is unfortunately true... i have Spiderman 3 at 3gb++ encoded with Xvid and AC3... PS3 would only play 3/4 of the movie.... So, i got DivX converter from www.DivX.com, reencoded it with DivX and it works fine... It's a hassle but it works... There are other quirks about playing videos on the PS3 like, it will only recognise ISO certified Xvid codec and not the 1.10 Final version... I have spent hours on end reencoding video files just so that they play fine on the PS3... There are also some files which no matter how you reencode, will not play on the PS3 for god knows why...

noisuf wrote:

thanks mihar. so it's a ps3 limitation and not a dns limitation.

No problem... glad to help.

Also, if you do intend on streaming music/videos from the 323 to the PS3, i recommend using the wired connection... Wireless streaming on the PS3 is rather very dodgy... I spent a lot of time troubleshooting the wireless connection until i came to the conclusion that wireless streaming to the PS3 sucks balls big time...

I beg to differ... The limitation has always been on the PS3's side... For example, the same 3gb Spiderman 3 Mpeg 4 encoded AVI will only play up to 1 hr and 30 mins on the PS3 and yet when streamed and played on my laptop/desktop, the movie will play till the end...

As of version 2.20 of the PS3, this 2gb limitation was removed for DivX and WMV files... Of course, it will also depend on what the PS3 detects the video file as... MP4 had always been natively supported on the PS3 and PSP system so there might not be any limitation considering Sony favors this particular codec over all others... The documentation on video support for the PS3 is not exactly comprehensive... I have encountered situations where a video file which i know is properly encoded and SHOULD play on the PS3 but yet does not and no amount of reencoding will work...

I have most often encountered this limitation when playing back Xvid encoded file... Xvid, despite being based on DivX is detected as Mpeg4 and will play just fine on the PS3(most of the time anyway)... A properly encoded MP4 file would be detected as AVC on the PS3...

But i do agree with you that any issues may or may not be attributed to the DLNA protocol... However, whether the screw up is on Dlink's side or Sony is anyone's guess... I'm thinking it's Sony but that's my opinion...

Anyway, just my two cents worth...

Last edited by mihar (2008-05-19 15:21:08)

noisuf wrote:

Hi,

I am trying to avoid having to modify my DNS by installing telnet and Twonky/Mediatomb to stream from the DNS to the PS3.

The inbuilt av server in v1.05 and plays video. It's very simplistic when I'm use to Tversity but it works. I have specified it to refresh from root.

However, the only gripe I have so far is when I view media via the "Folders" mode, there seems to be a limitation on the number of levels of folders you can view. Please see the following illustration of an example what I am experiencing...

PS3 XMB Video -> Dlink AV Server -> Video -> Folders -> mnt -> HD_A2 -> {Folder Level 1, eg. Family Video} -> {Folder Level 2, eg. 2008} -> {Folder Level 3, eg. March} -> {Folder Level 4, eg. Easter 20080321} -> (Cannot view folders or files from this point. All levels prior to this is ok when playing video.)

Looking forward to your advice.

Hi,

I have experienced the annoying folder depth issue as well :-) One way to gain yourself three extra folders indepth is to create yourself a symbolic link in the mediatomb startup script point to the root directory. It does not fix the PS3 issues but for me having three extra levels has allowed me to use my existing directory structures.

My media tomb startup script now looks like:

#!/ffp/bin/sh

# PROVIDE: mediatomb
# REQUIRE: LOGIN

. /ffp/etc/ffp.subr

# Create symbolic link to media directory at root to remove path levels for PS3 level limitations
ln -s /mnt/HD_a2/data/media /media

media_dir="/media"

name="mediatomb"
command="/ffp/bin/$name"
mediatomb_flags="-d --interface egiga0  --home /ffp/var --cfgdir mediatomb --add $media_dir"

run_rc_command "$1"

Cheers

Robert

This is somewhat related to this topic:

Has anyone had the problem on their PS3 that when you go to stream a video from the DNS 323 it tells you the file format is unknown or unsupported?  Even though the file IS supported?  Usually a reboot of the DNS 323 (and sometimes both the 323 and the PS3) fixes the problem, but it seems to crop it somewhat randomly.  Anyone else have this experience?

And it even shows the correct time for your videos.

There is definately a flaw in the native DNS-323 UPnP media catalog generation and I have been hounding Dlink about it regularly since the beginning of March.  The file scan routine "prescan" that generates the upnpav.db database file has an unsigned 32-bit integer bug so the filesize saved in the DB is the remainder of filesize/4GB.  The DNS-323 uses sqlite for the DB.  The DB is all alpha and alpha delimited format so it's not a bug in the DB field definition.  On my box running FW 1.05, the db file is located at /mnt/HD_a4/.systemfile/.upnpav-db/upnpav.db
You can download sqlite from http://www.sqlite.org/ if you would like to look at or manipulate the .db file on another system.

Cheers!
bspvette


<edit>
PS: Over simplified demo of sqlite below
sqlite> select * from video_tbl where Real_fname='DSCF0106.AVI';
No|Real_Path|Real_fname|UTF_Path|UTF_fname|EXT_fname|Creattime|Filesize|Width|Height|Bitrate|Format_type|Totaltime|Subtitle|Title|Co
mments|layer|reserve1|reserve2|reserve3
149|/mnt/HD_a2/Media/Pictures/2006/07/2006_0720/|DSCF0106.AVI|/mnt/HD_a2/Media/Pictures/2006/07/2006_0720/|DSCF0106.AVI|avi|2006-07-
19T15:09:42|988446|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|4|0|0|0
</edit>

Last edited by bspvette86 (2008-07-18 06:02:09)

lament wrote:

Minglarn wrote:

And it even shows the correct time for your videos.

Got Twonkymedia 4.4.3.1 working on my DNS-323 with the modified 1.05 firmware with added FTP.

I'm streaming to my PS3, but it's showing incorrect times like 519 minutes. Because of this, I can't use the Go To option.

anybody else having this issue?

First, upgrade to the latest version, i'm using Version 4.4.9 dont have any problems with m2ts files.

bump?