Since this was a new topic, I thought I would start a new thread...

I am using dvdfab to create high quality mp4 files. I have been using
the ps3 profile and set it to 3000-4000 bitrate with a 848x480 resolution.
I have tried both 29.97 and 30fps

When I play the files back on my ps3 the quality is superb, but there
are many scenes that seem a bit jerky, especially in fast pan shots.

Is there any way to minimize this?
Is it possible the PS3 wants a lower framerate?

Thanks!

I was actually looking at the superstardust HD demo video out of the PSN a couple days ago and I noticed how good it looked for a compressed file. Mind you, it's 1080p and only like a minute long but 135MB.
That's about 17mbps at CBR but if you press select and look at the instant bitrate it goes all the way up to 35mbps at times, depending on how busy the screen is.

So I guess the answer to your question is no, I don't think it's the video rendering capabilites of the PS3 but more of an encoding issue.

Encoding is a fine art... I just wish I knew what sony uses for creating their MP4's

Hi guys. I think sony probably uses dedicated hardware encoders to create their files. Some players will start to get jerky if the framerate or bitrate is set to more than it can handle. Test this by doing some short 1 chapter rips of an action movie like Casino Royale. One of the early chapters in that movie has a chase scene that I used for testing. Leave the framerate at the default for now and try reducing the video bitrate in 10% steps. If you get to the point where the picture starts looking grainy, reduce the framerate and start over again. I think that screen size is larger than the PS3 native and probably does not gain you anything (and may be part of the jerky problem). Some players have a fairly narrow sweet spot of framerate/bitrate/screen size where things really look good, just takes some experimenting to find it for optimum results. You can also test for bit starvation in the player by trying a short rip using the "Fixed File Size" option, which I think yields a variable bitrate encode.

Get VLC Media Player (free) and try the files in that to see if they are jerky. It will also report on dropped frames, framerate, input read rate, stream bitrate etc. in real time under View-->Stream and Media Info-->on the "Advanced" and "Statistics" tabs. I would be very interested to hear your results on some of this.

Hmmm, so it sounds like the bitrate is definitely within a "normal" level
for the PS3. I guess I will try lowering the framerate to see if that helps. I will
let you guys know how my tests go this weekend.

Signals - have you tested with the PS3 before? Just wondering if your results
might save us some time. Also, can you give us a little more info on what
"bit starvation" is? I was fiddling around with the fixed file size option and I
did now know it could create a variable bitrate....

thanks!

Sorry, busy with work this morning. No, unfortunately I don't have a PS3. Send me yours and I'll be glad to find the sweet spot. Shouldn't take more than a year or two. I've made this offer several times and nobody has taken me up on it yet. I have done some test encodes just to see how it worked and played them back on the PC.