dlna logo

A NAS such as the Synology can be used as a DLNA / UPnP media server. So, a little explanation about DLNA and UPNP is required. We also talk about Windows Media Player and PS3 Media Server as well.

A concrete example

Before buying my Synology, my videos were stored on my computer (Windows 7). On this computer, I used Windows Media Player as a media server. As we will see later, I faced some problems, especially with MKV files. This prompted me to use PS3 Media Server on my PC.

UPnP / DLNA standard

WMP (or Windows Media Player) is a compliant UPnP / DLNA media server (not officially certified). In theory, when you buy a DLNA network multimedia player, it means that it is able to read audio and video files distributed by a DLNA server and vise / versa.

DLNA home network model: servers and players

Indeed, certification guarantees a number of basic rules inherited from UPnP:

• Readers (your TV, PS3 …) and connected servers (WMP, MediaTomb, Twonky …) connected to the same network automatically discover each other.
• The standard describes how the directories are organized (for examples, on the PS3, the top level folders are video, picture… and we find the corresponding file types in each directory).
• In the easiest cases, the reading is done without problem (view JPEG photos, MPEG video view, read MP3).

Beyond the standard: field problems

In practice, things are not so idyllic. For where it starts to jam is when the multimedia player cannot read the file format provided by the server. The standards says that the reader sends a list of what it can read and (this is the case with PS3 Media Server) the server transcodes – if able – on the fly the source file (not supported, e.g. MKV file stored on a computer) into a file format supported by the multimedia player (e.g. MPEG-2 on the PS3).

WMP does not support this mechanism (called transcoding).

Synology does not support this feature in the case of videos (the CPU is not powerful enough), but it can transcode some audio file formats (see below).

One could choose to convert problematic video files, as explained in one of my posts tsMuxer. The idea is to choose a file format compatible with most of DLNA readers (all the DLNA multimedia players that you own).

PS3 Media Server

PS3 (that you can download here) is a UPnP / DLNA media server that runs on on Windows or Linux. It has many advantages, for example:

• It is capable of transcoding on the fly files not supported by DLNA players.
• It manages subtitles overlay (on the fly: automatic overlay of a matching srt file).
• It has many playback options.
• It is easy to use. After installation, all the media files stored on your computer are available on your DLNA player.

But it has some disadvantages as well:

• It has been developed to operate at 100% with the PS3. He can talk with other readers. But it will not work with the Panasonic VT20 or GT20E.
• Transcoding requires a lot of bandwidth and computing power. In practice, if it is suitable for low-resolution sources (DivX, AVI 348P or 570p), it freezes a lot when reading 1080p files. I’ve even seen jerks with 720p sources. The quality of your network can also degrade the performances: first generation CPL network adapters are not fitting for 1080p sources.

What about Synology?

This NAS embeds a DLNA / UPnP media server. Except for audio files, Synology does not have a transcoding mechanism. Thus, as explained in one of my posts about tsMuxer, I chose to convert my MKV and MP4 videos into M2TS, which has the advantage of being compatible with Sony and Panasonic TVs.

As explained previously, the Synology has audio transcoding functionality. It’s limited, but interesting. To activate it, go to the Control Panel, then media server and in the tab “DMA Compatibility” check the following options:

Enable audio transcoding from Synology DLNA server

What will work perfectly for the PS3, but not for other media players such as Panasonic VT20 and GT20E. Note that “OGG” refers to an audio file compressed with the Vorbis codec and not to a video file.

Links and references

Here are some links for additional information:

• Video files supported by the PS3.
• Audio files supported by the PS3.
• Wikipedia page on DLNA.
• Various audio samples.

The post UPnP and DLNA in 5 minutes appeared first on Computer and Gadgets.

Having settled my NAS (a Synology), I wondered which video formats to choose between AVI, MKV, DivX and the others. Most of the low definition video files are available in AVI encoded with XVID codec, but most of HD videos (720p or 1080p) are available as a MKV or MP4 file.

The fact is that my PlayStation 3 cannot read files MKV and my TX-P42GT20E plasma TV neither. And I had the unpleasant surprise to notice that if my TV could read a file MP4 on an USB key, it could not read it when it’s streamed via the multimedia server (integrated in my Synology).

The solution is AVCHD

The AVCHD (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) is an high-definition recording format designed for video digital storage. It was worked out by Sony and Panasonic (great !). The file extension is either MTS or M2TS. The purpose of this tutorial is not to go into the detail of all the possible configurations, but to see how to implement it quickly.

Convert a MKV or MP4 file into M2TS

To convert your files into this format, don’t rely on the solutions such as Miro Converter and the others. tsMuxer or mkv2vob (in case we would like to convert the audio flow DTS or DTS HD towards AC3) will do a better job and quicker.

The txMuxer solution

You can download tsMuxer here. Start tsMuxerGUI.exe and drag & drop the MKV or MP4 file you want to convert on the GUI :

Example of tsMuxer usage

Realizing the conversion is pretty simple:

1. Choose “muxing M2TS “.
2. Select the directory where the converted file will be saved (by clicking “Browse”).
3. If the audio codec suits you (see lower), click “Start muxing”.

The software will warn you by a sound signal at the end of the conversion.

If the audio codec is “AC3” (As in the image below), you will have no problem (nor by reading from the telly or from the PS3):

Example of a MKV file containing an AC3 audio track

You can have a problem with DTS audio tracks :

Example of a DTS audio track in a file MKV

Because in that case, your PS3 or your TV must be connected to an amplifier which can decode this format (sound configuration of PS3/TV must be correct regarding the output as well. Especially if you choose to output the sound from the PS3 optical socket). If the sound of your file converted in M2TS doesn’t work or if you don’t wish to use of amplifier, we’ll examine what to do with the following paragraphs (how to convert the audio track from DTS into AC3 with mk2vob).

A spare wheel with mkv2vob

mk2vob can be downloaded here. The first thing to do is to configure it in a way that it always converts the audio track from DTS into AC3. This configuration can be made once for all. This, as long as we don’t decide otherwise by returning in the screen of the options, all the converted videos will have their DTS audio track transformed into AC3. Click the tab “Configuration”  and choose “Always transcode DTS”:

Configure mkv2vob so as to convert a DTS audio track into AC3

The usage is as simple as with tsMuxer (on which it leans):

1. Choose the directory where the converted file will be saved (by clicking on “Browse”).
2. Drag & Drop the file to be converted in the upper part of the window (to simplify, try to aim the drop into the field “Source File”).

Addition of a file to be converted by mkv2vob

The software starts the conversion and displays progress in real time:

Example of a video file conversion by mkv2vob

The post Convert a MKV or a MP4 for the PS3 or Panasonic TV appeared first on Computer and Gadgets.

When you take a photography, you choose on which object you will make the focusing. With an electronic camera it can be automatic (using face detection feature, for example); according to the orientation of the camera (the camera detects the target object) or still different with a recent camera with touch-sensitive screen (such as the DSC-TX10 Sony). Such devices allow you to click on the object on which you want to focus.

On this photography, the object on which you focused is clear, unlike the other objects on the foreground or in the background which are fuzzy. The idea of focus stacking is to assemble a stack of images (on which we chose each time a different object to be focused) so as to obtain a totally neat image, without vague shapes.

A concrete example

Let’s take the example of this totally clear image (click on the image to view the image in its original size). The text of the felt-tip pen on the foreground is precise. The logo and the keys of the keyboard are also clear. This image is in fact an assembly of two other images by the method of the focus stacking.

Final result with CombineZP

On this first image (source #1 of the focus stacking), the text of the felt-tip pen in the foreground is precise, but the logo and the keys of the keyboard are fuzzy.

focus on the felt-tip pen

On this second image (source #2 of the focus stacking), the text of the felt-tip pen in the foreground is fuzzy, but the logo and the keys of the keyboard are precise.

focus on the background

How does it work ?

Technical Principle of focus stacking

As we see with this figure, the principle is to select a series of images (the stack). Then the focus stacking software – according to its capacities – is going to make someprocessing:

1. User selects a list of image to be put together.
2. The focus stacking software determines the ideal alignment (some software are unable to do it). This feature is very useful when photos were not taken with a tripod because the software is capable of harmonizing the frame of the images as well as the light variations due to various angles of capture.
3. The software detects the various zones of the image and determines the best exposed pixels (those who are not fuzzy).
4. The best zones stemming from the stack of images are assembled in the final image, of equal neatness on all its plans.

Tutorial : Quickstart with CombineZP

Toolbar of CombineZP software

To get a quick result, open CombineZP and select the images that you want to combine. Either the software proposes you a dialog box (for you to select the images from the filesystem) at the opening, or you can choose them by clicking on the button “New” from the toolbar. This stage consists in choosing the images of the stack.

In the drop-down list, choose “All methods”. With this choice, all the algorithms of CombineZP will be applied one after one (alignments, light harmonization…). Then click the button Go.

After few minutes of processing, the final image appears. We can crop it (because the result image is bigger than one of the images from the stack). Don’t forget to save the result image.

Conclusion

There exist other free and paying focus stacking software (for example, Adobe CS4), but among freeware, CombineZP is the simplest of use and it allows you to obtain a quick and decent result in a click (Hugin is uneasy and you’ll spend a lot of time before having a disappointing result).

Anecdotally, this post was inspired by the reading of a Wikipedia article about the Curiosity Martian rover (Mars Science Laboratory). One of its equipment (MAHLI) is a camera (for microscopic pictures) completed by a focus stacking software.

With the progress of the CPU embarked on ourdigital camera, I don’t doubt that this feature will become available for the general public in the years to come. At the moment, instead of a stacking focus function, high-end devices have an anti-fuzzy mode which simply consists in selecting the least vague image among some shots taken in burst mode. I think that before ten years, cameras will feature a more intelligent multi-focus mode.

This new feature would be faster than CombineZP because of the information already available on the digital camera and novelties which are inevitably going to come:

• The digital camera software knows the information on the focal opening, the zoom as well as the zones that were focused…
• The increasing integration of GPS chips in the APN allows to store the geo-localization of a picture in the embedded information of the picture file. I think that the coming cameras will embark a digital compass as well as a three axes gyroscope. Users will be able to reconstruct a panoramic view of their pictures in 3D (in the style ofGoogle Streetor PhotoSynth) in a few clicks. So the calculations of alignment and harmonization of the angles of capture would be accelerated.

Going farther

• Download the CombineZP software.
• Definition of focus stacking on Wikipedia.

The post Focus Stacking in a click with CombineZP appeared first on Computer and Gadgets.

You can fin a lot of tutorials about MEncoder on the Web. They explain how to obtain the video of your dreams with the good size and format, the proper codec, etc. If it is easy to find the optimal line of commands for every case, One  who doesn’t use Linux may be blocked by a simple problem: how to obtain MEncoder for Windows?

Mencoder for Windows

MEncoder is distributed with MPlayer. It exists several versions of MPlayer for Windows, but all of them doesn’t contain the utility menconder.exe. As shown on this screen shot, in the section Download of the site, it is necessary to choose the second line.

It exists different package of MPlayer for Windows

I’ve found a great website of someone who compiles several versions of MPlayer for Windows. The page may be a little bit puzzling, that’s the reason why I wrote this article. In order to find quickly the utility, go down to “Build selection table”:

Various build configurations of Mencoder for Windows

The site contains several versions optimized for various microprocessor models. For example, if you are equipped with a recent Intel CPU, choose Intel Pentium4 (p4). If you want to know your model of CPU, right click on the computer icon of your desktop. Know that you are probably not equipped with a 486 (or your PC is 15 years old).

What you will download is not a setup.exe file. It’s not an automated installation program, but a file to be unzipped and containing all the files, including the utility menconder.exe.

The post How to get mencoder for Windows? appeared first on Computer and Gadgets.

I’ll answer to these questions one by one:

• PS3 fat or slim?
• Format of output video signal.
• HDMI 1.3 and HDMI 1.4
• Quality of the video.

Which PlayStation?

Since the firmware3.50(September, 2010), PlayStation 3 (slim and fat) consoles support the reading of 3D Blu-rays. The manufacturer (Sony) found some tricks to send the 3D signal through the cable HDMI 1.3, as explained farther.

PS3 slim and fat models side by side

1080i, 1080p, 60Hz, 24p ?

The PS3 sends a 3D signal of maximal definition and frequency in Full-HD 1080p / 24Hz 1080p24 for each eye. It is your television that will, according to its capacities, insert frames between the images of the video signal emitted by the PS3 so as to reconstitute on the screen a video of 1080p / 60Hz, that have 60 images / second for each eye (on 3D active TV, 30 images are sent to the left eye and 30 images to the right eye).

HDMI 1.3 and HDMI 1.4

The HDMI 1.4 is not compulsory for the 3D. This revision integrates some novelties such as audio return, broadband network support (100Mb/s), a wider colorimetric space and new connections. As well as the support of 4K resolution (twice the Full HD definition)… These new functions are not supported by the PS3, whatever is the model (slim or fat).

However, the PS3 chip which manages the interface HDMI 1.3 has some additional limits. For instance, it will not be able to deliver a lossless multichannel HD sound (not compressed: Audio DTS-HD Master’s degree and Dolby TrueHD) via the cable HDMI. To take advantage of your expensive amplifier, and of your 400$ speakers (each), you might use the PS3’s optical output and adjust the PS3 audio options accordingly.

As the console must output the sound and the video signals on the HDMI cable at the same time, Sony chose to emit a 3D signal of maximal definition and frequency in Full-HD 1080p / 24Hz 1080p24. However, most of Blu-ray 3D discs are encoded with this specs (some are even encoded in 1080i, which is of lesser quality).

Quality of the video

The video is of good quality, especially with a decent television that mitigates this slight defect of frequency (remember that a human eye generally doesn’t distinct more than 22-24 images per second).

The active 3D glasses are roughly comparable to sunglasses in the sense that they filter the light. Even when they are in not in the blocked position (remember that active 3D glasses alternate block/unblock signal for each eye, 60 times per second), they reduce the quantity of photons received by the retina. Thus the image will always be a little less beautiful than in 2D (in terms of colour in particular). Despite this fact, I like this immersive effect.

What about 3D file downloaded from the Internet?

This article apply to 3D Blu-ray physical discs. If you are insterrested in the reading of 3D files downloaded from the Internet (AVI and MKV 3D) and that you want to watch them on your 3DTV, I suggest you to read another post of this blog : How to watch an AVI or a MKV 3D on a 3DTV?

The post Does the PS3 read 3D Blu-rays? appeared first on Computer and Gadgets.

Let’s take a simple example with the reading of a mt2s file from a PlayStation 3 connected to a 3D Plasma TV TX-P42VT20E. But the principles explained in this post apply to other devices capable of displaying 3D content.

3D video files

3D video files (MKV-3D, 3D DivX, MPEG4-3D, 3D-AVI) can be downloaded from the web since few years. They are recognizable by their name that contains the assembly method of the image for the right and left eye. The file extension matches the format that you use to find on the web, for example:

• Avatar 3D 1080p Side-By-Side.mkv (or SBS)
• Piranha 3D 720p Top and Bottom.avi

In the order:

• A MKV file that has the image for the right eye next to the image for the left eye.
• An AVI file that has the image for the right eye below the image for the left eye (or vis-versa).

The multimedia player (whether it is hardware or software) sends this file to the TV on which you must specify:

• The assembly method.
• Optionally, if you want to invert the image for the right eye with the left eye.

For example, below is a demo video that you may have seen in a TV Shop (in the title, SBS means Side-By-Side):

MKV3D sample file as sent by the multimedia player to a 3DTV

In oppostion with 3D Blu-Ray, a media player or a PS3 or an HD box or your computer that are directly connected to the 3DTV will read this MKV file and display the result such as shown in this screenshot. You must instruct your 3D TV to divide this video into two images. So as to send an image sequence to your right eye and the other to the left eye (this is the way the 3D effect or relief is simulated).

Consider an example with my Panasonic TV. I start reading the MKV file and I select “Viera Tools” touch on my  remote (see your TV manual for other options or specific settings):

3D playback settings on a Panasonic VT20 or GT20 Telly

In “Viera Tools” menu, choose the type of 3D input format (depending on whether the assembly is Side By Side or Top and Bottom). Shod your active 3D glasses, you can now enjoy this immersive experience.

Other information

Most videos are in MKV format. For compatibility with my equipment, I made the choice to convert m2ts format, as explained in this post. Because you’d need a good network and a good computer to transcode on the fly such a file with PS3 Media Server.

The media player emmbeded in Panasonic TVs is very limited in power and functionality. At the date of the article, I could not play a 3D video in 1080p. So I use my PS3. The Synology NAS via its media server distributes them without problem.

The post How to watch an AVI or a MKV 3D on a 3DTV? appeared first on Computer and Gadgets.

FFMpeg, the Swiss Army Knife

You may be blocked while trying to put into practise a video tutorial explaning how to use ffmpeg. Because the explanations provided relate to Linux. Windows users shouldn’t worry, because there is a version of ffmpeg for Windows . However, there is a catch: a Google search, for example “ffmpeg windows builds” refers to sites from 2009. And it is not better in the comments on the forums. Opening parenthesis, I would say it is the fault of Google: it is based on popularity and less relevance. So as everyone is talking about these old sites, they stand at the top of the search results.
Funny, beacause the project ffmpeg project has evolved since 2009. For example, the version on 2012-06-07 “FFmpeg 0.11.1 Happiness” is out.

Download the latest version

To obtain the latest version for Windows, there is a site that delivers automatic builds (when a new version of ffmpeg out, the site is automatically updated with the latest version):

Choosing ffmpeg windows build

Select column depending on your version of Windows (right click on the computer icon on the Windows desktop):

• Windows 32-bit or no indication -> 32-bit Builds
• Windows 64-bit -> 64-bit Builds

For the choice of the line, it depends if you want to:

• Static: one big exe file.
• Shared: a small exe and dll files. Or get the dll to develop with them.

For example, Windows 7 32bits (standard edition), I chose the first link in the “32-bit Builds (Static)”.

How to unzip a 7z file?

The downloaded file can be decompressed with 7-Zip.

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