Muddle over Future Proofing containers!

[phatz]

Hi, am currently in a muddle over what container to go for. MP4 vs ? At present the goal is to remux my mkvs for my ps3 into a different container (I may buy a dedicated system in the future but PS3 is the easy option, especially intersted to know what Ps4 will do.)

I know PS3 supports MP4 container with h.264 and AAC. However if I am going to do this I want to try and use a container that supports both AC3(5.1) and AAC (stereo) so if I upgrade to a receiver in the future I dont have to worry knowing that the surround is available in the container. I tried adding both in to an MP4 container with an H.264 but only get sound on my Ps3 no vid. The H.264 and AAC stereo work fine.
Does anyone have any idea of a container I can punt for which will see me right in 10 years time (maybe thats a bit optimistic) when the kids are at uni and I don't have to mess about with this again....obviously there will probably be something out again then but who knows!

Is MP4 old hat? Is there a good alternative which will cover pretty much anything or just keep with my MKVs and buy a unit that will play them back to save me a headache anyway. Much appreciated

Currently am doing

MKV-->MKVEXTRACTGUI --> Gets DTS Files, Subs, Chapters and H.264
Take DTS Run through XMedia to get both AC3 and AAC files
Mux back in MP4BoxGui. - Does not play vid on PS3

MKV-->MKVEXTRACTGUI --> Gets DTS Files, Subs, Chapters and H.264
Take DTS Run through XMedia to get AAC file
Mux back in MP4BoxGui. - Plays fine on PS3

[Brad]

Drop the pointless AAC stereo track if you are converting everything from 5.1.

H.264 + AC3 in MP4 should work on PS3 and it will downmix if you want it to.

[yoda313]

H.264 + AC3 in MP4 should work on PS3 and it will downmix if you want it to.

But the ps3 has a limited codec support and h264 profile range support. Plus it won't do ntfs harddrives. If you are streaming file size won't be a factor however - except for buffering issues, smaller file sizes would be better but quality could be sacrificed.

mp4 is not as versatile as mkv. But the ps3 does not support mkv so far as I know. It may have recently updated to do so but I don't think that will ever happen - perhaps with the ps4 the new hardware might but not the 3.

To future proof you should look into a settop media player designed to play video files. The wdtv media player series is well respected and can read ntfs harddrives at least up to 2tb in size (I don't think any settop players currently read above 2tb).

They will play just about any file type you throw at it. No conversions needed. They aren't as 100% compatible as doing it on a computer but compared to a video game console it is far superior. It will save you time and hassle by just dumping a bunch of the original files onto a harddrive and playing them rather than converting.

A few sets of files here and there may need to be converted but it won't be as many as needing to constrict the formats to a game consoles need. Well worth it to save the hassle and headaches.