PSP v3.30 Video Specs for ffmpegX

[persona1138]

Hey all,
Thought it might help to give some specs that work on the new PSP v3.30 update, when encoding video through ffmpegX.
The new 3.30 update for the PSP allows you to play MPEG-4/H.264 AVC Main Profile video in the following sizes:
720x480
352x480
480x272 (the actual resolution of the PSP's screen)
I've come up with some settings that work in ffmpegX to encode video for these new sizes. (It's not too far off-base from the existing PSP H.264 settings, but I thought everyone should know that it works.) Here are my results...

FOR 720x480 VIDEO,
Under the VIDEO tab, choose:
Video codec - H264 [.MP4] (x264)
Video bitrate - 1213 kbit/s (I'm sure that this can be modified to a higher or lower amount, but I like the higher quality stuff)
Video size - 720x480
Autosize - unconstrained
Framerate - NTSC (29.97)
Under the AUDIO tab, choose:
Audio codec - AAC (MOV/MP4/3GP)
Audio bitrate - 128 kbit/s
Sampling - 48000 Hz
Under the OPTIONS tab, choose:
Use CABAC - ON
Constant bitrate - ON
Trellis (requires CABAC) - ON
Encoding profile - PSP
AVC level - 3.0
LEAVE ALL OTHERS AT THEIR DEFAULTS

FOR 480x272 VIDEO,
Under the VIDEO tab, choose:
Video codec - H264 [.MP4] (x264)
Video bitrate - 640 kbit/s (again, this can probably be raised or lowered)
Video size - 480x272
Autosize - unconstrained
Framerate - NTSC (29.97)
Under the AUDIO tab, choose:
Audio codec - AAC (MOV/MP4/3GP)
Audio bitrate - 128 kbit/s
Sampling - 48000 Hz
Under the OPTIONS tab, choose:
Use CABAC - ON
Constant bitrate - ON
Trellis (requires CABAC) - ON
Encoding profile - PSP
AVC level - 3.0
LEAVE ALL OTHERS AT THEIR DEFAULTS

I haven't tried encoding 352x480-sized video, but I would imagine that the settings would be roughly the same. Once encoded, place your video into the folder labeled "VIDEO" on the top ("root") level of your PSP. Also, remember that you can have the PSP stretch the video during playback to fit the full width and height of the screen (Hit the Triangle button, and choose the display mode to "Full Screen"). For some reason, the PSP doesn't "know" that your 480x272 video should fill the whole screen; you have to tell it to do that. But regardless, the larger video sizes REALLY help with image quality. Please let me know if you guys come up with anything to help improve these settings. Take care!

[mactheknife]

Doesn't work for me

Using these settings, vid just stops encoding at 37%. Then the video is 2x as fast as audio. Tried using "Decode with quicktime" which produces a watchable video in quicktime but can't play on the psp, whether i put it in the "video" folder or "100ANV101"

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[edit: i realised it was a source problem. another file manged to convert using those settings, but the audio was sort of out of sync.. going to continue trying!]

[persona1138]

Weird that your audio was out of sync. I was going from an H.264 source - I haven't tried it with MPEG-4, .VOB, or others yet.
Not sure how to solve the sync issue other than clicking on the "QuickTime" box - But after doing that, the movie's not PSP compatible anymore (ugh...)
Anyway, I'll see what I can figure out... If you find something, please let me know.

[mactheknife]

Ok, I did finally get it to work.

I used the settings for 480x272 above, except that I used NTSC FILM which was the original framerate for the encoding. If a different framerate is used than what was in the source, the audio will be out of sync.

Trellis is absolutely needed (I originally thought it was optional, hence a lot of my problems) and I checked "decode with quicktime". I found out that if trellis is not used, file will not be watchable on PSP. If trellis is used alone without decode for quicktime, then the audio is very out of sync. If decode for qt is used alone, file will not be watchble on PSP. The file will be encoded usign movtoy4m.

Although I've seen some forum posts elsewhere that AVC 4 can be used, for me, it doesn't produce a watchable video either.

As for audio, like other H264 files on PSP, it cannot go below 48kbps.

Resulting video that is produced is of far better quality than 368x208 stretched videos of the previous firmwares, but the size increases by quite a bit also.

Thanks for help!

[persona1138]

Oh, no problem man. Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner - Thanks for finding out the details of it all!
Quality is SOO much better, too. And yeah, the filesize goes up, which is a bummer - But with that difference in quality, I'll never encode to my PSP any other way.
Take care, man!

[Machster]

FOR 480x272 VIDEO,
Under the VIDEO tab, choose:
Video codec - H264 [.MP4] (x264)

This codec does not allow letter boxing under the filter tab, so movies wider than 16:9 can not be watched without being elongated. Is there any other codec that has the letterboxing filter that works?

[persona1138]

Not sure, man. As far as I know, the H264 x264 codec is the only one that the PSP will take.
I'll investigate, but unless we find something else that works, my advice is to encode the video to 480x272 in another format with the letterboxing you want (just choose a different codec), and then re-encode using the settings listed above. It's a hassle, I know, and two encodings isn't the greatest option, but do your first encode with a REALLY high bitrate, so that you're still coming from a decent quality source when you do your second encode.
Regardless, I'll take a look and see what I can come up with. It's a shame the PSP is so picky. When you can get it to work, it's great, but it's so finnicky otherwise.
Good luck, and I'll get back to you soon!

[mactheknife]

Agreed.
Aside from the really high bitrate, you might also want to do the first encode in a 16:9 resolution larger than 480x272, such as 640x352. Thus when the picture is subsequently downscaled during the second encoding, the picture should still remain decent.
Cheers.

[kimiimacman]

Hi,
Thanks to persona1138 for a great post. I guess we've all been waiting for Sony to unlock to video potential of the PSP.
Although I'm fairly new to video conversions etc, I've had no problems to date with the previous 320x240 restriction, getting good results for that resolution but 3.30 has re-whetted my appetite.
I followed your settings to the letter using the latest version of ffmpegx and v 3.30 on PSP and produce a very high quality conversion of either a .mp4 or .VOB file on the desktop but always the PSP shows 'unsupported data'. Any ideas?

[tache]

Okay, so I am not sure what I am doing wrong at this point. I can create easily the old way, but not for the 3.30. It does not seem so far off the original way. What i get in the end is a movie that is cropped on the top and sides, centered, about 2/3 screen. What I am trying to create is a widescreen movie, so I create a 720x480 size, with the letterbox filler. Everything looks ood before ffmpegx step, it plays on the PSP from the Video folder, but with the 2/3 size.[/list]

[mactheknife]

Did u remember to select full screen during PSP playback? All full res videos will initially look truncated on the PSP until u select full screen.

[rqthrottle2]

Hi Guys,

I am very new to PSP video conversion, and have successfully converted a couple movies at 368x208. Took a while to get everything right, but I learned a lot during the ordeal.

So after the 3.30 patch, the PSP is no longer constrained to 76800 total pixels rule?

I am very satisfied with the quality of the videos I have created, but wouldn't mind giving the new settings a whirl.

Will the new settings produce a notable improvement in the quality of the video? Basically, is it worth the likely larger files produced? Are the 480x272 files basically twice the size of 368x208 ?

Any help will be appreciated.

R.

[DarkThunder]

The settings that persona1138 mentioned did not work for me. I am using ffmpegX v 0.9x r1. But luckily thanks to lovedaddy at ps3forums http://www.ps3forums.com/showthread.php?p=1292747 I was able to modify his script to create a watchable 480x272 video on my PSP running firmware 3.30. I placed my video in the PSP's VIDEO directory. Here is the script I used:

/Applications/ffmpegX/ffmpegX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg -y -i ~/Desktop/input_video.avi -f mp4 -title "a title" -pass 1 -vcodec h264 -level 21 -s 480x272 -r 24000/1001 -b 762k -bt 768k -bufsize 4000k -maxrate 4000k -g 250 -coder 1 /dev/null && /Applications/ffmpegX/ffmpegX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg -y -i ~/Desktop/input_video.avi -f mp4 -title "a title" -pass 2 -vcodec h264 -level 21 -s 480x272 -r 24000/1001 -b 762k -bt 768k -bufsize 4000k -maxrate 4000k -g 250 -coder 1 -acodec aac -ac 2 -ab 96k ~/Desktop/output_video.mp4

Notice that I am calling the ffmpeg that is stored inside of ffmpegX. For some reason, the title does not show up on the PSP. I also tested with 4:3 sources, and a resolution of 368x272 worked well for me.

Maybe somebody can help translate the script values into ffmpegX settings.

Thanks all!

[rqthrottle2]

Well, I was able to create a watchable file with EXACTLY those settings posted on the initial post (480x272) using RC1, but unfortunately, it is not something I can recreate consistently with some VOBs.

I am not sure if its the VOB's fault or the conversion. In any case, the latest VOB I tried to convert with a 2-pass (Converted fine on "regular" resolution), ended and I had a mp4.audio and an mp4.video files, instead of the MQ0XXXX.MP4 file. Nice feeling after a long conversion...

Are you using the h264 [x264] codec with those command lines? I can't really tell if it is (I assume so)

is input_video the directory where you have the 3 binaries for the codecs (mcode, ..) ?

Many thanks!

[DarkThunder]

Are you using the h264 [x264] codec with those command lines? I can't really tell if it is (I assume so)

is input_video the directory where you have the 3 binaries for the codecs (mcode, ..) ?

Many thanks!

Yes, my script sets -vcodec h264 which I think tells ffmpeg to use the x264 codec. My PSP says that it is a 480x272 AVC video (but no bitrate is displayed).

Sorry for the confusion, I meant for input_video to mean the source video like input_video.avi or .vob, .wmv, etc. I edited my post to reflect this.

I only tried my script on a few vids so far, but it did work everytime. And it even worked on the video that failed with the settings from the initial post.

Also note that in my script, 24000/1001 = 23.9760... = framerate. So if you have audio issues as mentioned above, then you might want to change this framerate to match the input video. Change both places in my script because there is one for each pass. I have not tested changing the framerate, so there is no guarantee that it will actually work on the PSP. The PSP is very picky about the video's settings.

[tache]

Thanks MacTheKnife - that worked just fine.

I also see that if you name the video a real name, like MyVideo.mp4 and include a jpg like MyVideo.jpg, you will have the thumbnail and a better name on the PSP. You copy the mp4 and jpg to the /Video folder on the PSP.

I use this to make the thumbnail jpg -

ffmpeg -y -i MyVideo.mp4 -f image2 -ss 39 -vframes 1 -s 160x120 -an MyVideo.jpg

ss is the number of seconds into the video to grab the frame - I like to set that to the frame with my main title.

Make sure you have a path to the ffmpeg ... I have it installed via MacPorts, but you can use the one in the ffmpegX app ...

/Applications/ffmpegX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg -y -i MyVideo.mp4 -f image2 -ss 39 -vframes 1 -s 160x120 -an MyVideo.jpg

[Buckaroo]

Where do I plug in this script? I don't see anything in ffmegX for any scripts.

The settings that persona1138 mentioned did not work for me. I am using ffmpegX v 0.9x r1. But luckily thanks to lovedaddy at ps3forums http://www.ps3forums.com/showthread.php?p=1292747 I was able to modify his script to create a watchable 480x272 video on my PSP running firmware 3.30. I placed my video in the PSP's VIDEO directory. Here is the script I used:

/Applications/ffmpegX/ffmpegX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg -y -i ~/Desktop/input_video.avi -f mp4 -title "a title" -pass 1 -vcodec h264 -level 21 -s 480x272 -r 24000/1001 -b 762k -bt 768k -bufsize 4000k -maxrate 4000k -g 250 -coder 1 /dev/null && /Applications/ffmpegX/ffmpegX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg -y -i ~/Desktop/input_video.avi -f mp4 -title "a title" -pass 2 -vcodec h264 -level 21 -s 480x272 -r 24000/1001 -b 762k -bt 768k -bufsize 4000k -maxrate 4000k -g 250 -coder 1 -acodec aac -ac 2 -ab 96k ~/Desktop/output_video.mp4

Notice that I am calling the ffmpeg that is stored inside of ffmpegX. For some reason, the title does not show up on the PSP. I also tested with 4:3 sources, and a resolution of 368x272 worked well for me.

Maybe somebody can help translate the script values into ffmpegX settings.

Thanks all!

[tache]

You enter the commands in the Terminal. Note your path to the application may differ. Mine was located at

/Applications/ffmpegX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg

[AlphaMaven]

Here is the script that I kludged togther from the above posts:

#!/bin/bash        
          if [ -z "$1" ]; then 
              echo "psp-encode.sh input_file_name title_of_video output_file_name"
              exit
          fi

/Applications/ffmpegX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg -y -i $1 -f mp4 -title $2 -pass 2 \
-vcodec h264 -level 21 -s 480x272 -r 24000/1001 -b 762k -bt 768k -bufsize 4000k -maxrate 4000k -g 250 -coder 1 \
-acodec aac -ac 2 -ab 128k $3.mp4

/Applications/ffmpegX.app/Contents/Resources/ffmpeg -y -i $1 -f image2 -ss 32 -vframes 1 -s 160x120 -an $3.jpg

[xx_surfer1dude_xx]

When I try to encode a Mastroka file into H.264 with AAC audio for PSP, ffmpegX fails. Here is the part of the log where it fails:

Input #1, matroska, from '/Users/Jeff/Movies/[a4e]Love_Hina_TV_01-25/[a4e]Love_Hina_01v2[divx5.2.1].mkv':
Duration: 00:21:39.3, bitrate: N/A
Stream #1.0, 0.08 fps(r): Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 704x528
Stream #1.1: Audio: mpeg4, 22050 Hz, 5:1
Stream #1.2: Audio: mpeg4, 22050 Hz, 5:1
Can't resample. Aborting.
Resampling with input channels greater than 2 unsupported.Abort at ffmpeg.c:1628

Another time I got this:

Can't resample. Aborting.
Input #1, matroska, from '/Users/Jeff/Movies/[a4e]Love_Hina_TV_01-25/[a4e]Love_Hina_01v2[divx5.2.1].mkv':
Duration: 00:21:39.3, bitrate: N/A
Stream #1.0, 0.08 fps(r): Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 704x528
Stream #1.1: Audio: mpeg4, 22050 Hz, 5:1
Stream #1.2: Audio: mpeg4, 22050 Hz, 5:1
Resampling with input channels greater than 2 unsupported.Abort at ffmpeg.c:1628


I think it can't resample the audio in the MKV file, which is AAC 5.1. Any ideas? How can I encode this in ffmpegx?

[Case]

I think it can't resample the audio in the MKV file

I think the app barks at the two audio streams.
You may have to demux the MKV file or use some other technique to remove one audio stream.
Maybe Perian and QT Pro combined can do it?

[bibassis]

I'm new to the PSP and very surprised how picky it is regarding video formats. I'm at 3.4 OE and just down-graded to ffmpgx r1.

The PSP built-in setting works fine except it changes the file name to the PSP convention. That's frustrating. The command line script DarkThunder listed works for me. However the audio switches to 64k even though I specify 128k. Can anyone list where to make the changes to ffmpgx that corresponds with DarkThunder's command line script?

Thanks.

[beb78]

hello,

i can 't instal a video in my PSP and i tested all the information write

my psp version is 3.52

so if someone can help me

thank you

[perplexik]

I need to install a video codec called x264 because without it I can't import vidoes into my PSP! It wont work! Even after I import the video with a PSP video converter thingie (I've tried like 3 of them! keeps saying unsupported data on my psp) The problem is, I don't know the first thing about installing codecs, can someone either explain it to me or send me a link where it is explained very clearly. PLEASE!!
I have a program called CodecInstaller but it only recognizes a handful of codecs, it doesn't recognize x264.
I also have K-Lite Codec Pack, not much help either...
Someone please help this is driving me insane!!!

If someone actually answers this plea for help keep in mind that I don't know much about this stuff so use small words ^_^

[boomhaueruk]

I'm on a PSP - Firmware 5.00 (October 2008 - It's now April 2009) and trying to take advantage of the new features in the firmware:
(From the PSP Firmware history):
* The number of file types that can be played has been increased to include MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) Video Main Profile (AVC CABAC) in 640 x 480 pixels. Some video files of this type may not be playable.

I'd like, ideally to be creating video files that conform to this, so I can playback the video on more forgiving hardware (Nokia 5800 or on the mac) without having to have 2 seperate files.

I've tried following the settings above for for 720x480 VIDEO,
Under the VIDEO tab, choose:
Video codec - H264 [.MP4] (x264)
Video bitrate - 1213 kbit/s (I'm sure that this can be modified to a higher or lower amount, but I like the higher quality stuff)
Video size - 720x480
Autosize - unconstrained
Framerate - NTSC (29.97)
Under the AUDIO tab, choose:
Audio codec - AAC (MOV/MP4/3GP)
Audio bitrate - 128 kbit/s
Sampling - 48000 Hz
Under the OPTIONS tab, choose:
Use CABAC - ON
Constant bitrate - ON
Trellis (requires CABAC) - ON
Encoding profile - PSP
AVC level - 3.0
LEAVE ALL OTHERS AT THEIR DEFAULTS

But, like many others, no joy, the file it produces being seen as "Unsupported data". I've tried moving it from the video file, renaming it with the M4V convention..no joy.

Now, oddly, using PSP Video Convert 9 on Windows, I get a working file with quite similar settings;
Here's a working file's settings as taken from Mediainfo Mac:

General / Container Stream # 1
Total Video Streams for this File: 1
Total Audio Streams for this File: 1
Video Codecs Used: AVC
Audio Codecs Used: AAC LC
File Format: MPEG-4
Play Time: 21mn 13s
Total File Size: 175 MiB
Total Stream BitRate: 1 154 Kbps
Title (Tag): testfile
Encoded with: Lavf52.31.0
Video Stream # 1
Codec (Human Name): AVC
Codec (FourCC): avc1
Codec Profile: Main@L3.0
Frame Width: 720 pixels
Frame Height: 480 pixels
Frame Rate: 23.974 fps
Total Frames: 30522
Display Aspect Ratio: 4/3
Video Standard: NTSC
Scan Type: Progressive
Colorimetry: 4:2:0
Codec Settings (Summary): CABAC / 3 Ref Frames
QF (like Gordian Knot): 0.123
Codec Settings (CABAC): Yes
Video Stream Length: 21mn 13s 105ms
Video Stream BitRate: 1 022 Kbps
Video Stream BitRate Mode: VBR
Bit Depth: 24 bits
Video Stream Size: 155 MiB (89%)
Date of Original Encoding: UTC 2009-04-27 11:07:34
Audio Stream # 1
Codec: AAC
Codec (FourCC): 40
Audio Stream Length: 21mn 13s 2ms
Audio Stream BitRate: 128 Kbps
Audio Stream BitRate Mode: VBR
Number of Audio Channels: 2
Audio Channel's Positions: L R
Sampling Rate: 48.0 KHz
Bit Depth: 16 bits
Audio Stream Size: 19.4 MiB (11%)
Date of Original Encoding: UTC 2009-04-27 11:07:34

Maybe the comparison between the two will give someone here the ability to know what to change in those original settings to enable us to convert video in FFMPEGX (oh and I'm using version 0.0.9y, incidentally) in a higher setting.

I'm going to perform a load of trial runs with different settings (quicktime encoding on or off, resolution 640x480, NTSC movie, NTSC etc) and see if I can find a high res that works, but in the meantime, has anyone else had joy with getting higher res settings working than the 480x272 version above? (Which wouldn't be much cop on a mac screen).

[boomhaueruk]

In case anyone's interested, I'm starting a PSP 5.00 firmware specific thread here:

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic367347.html#1961780