Fast forwarding streamed video

[al99]

Am having issues with fast forwarding when watching files from the Synology 211j on the PS3. I have no special setup or anything. Just using the out of the box media server on the Synology through a wired connection to the PS3.

Videos play fine, pause fine with no skipping etc during playback but as soon as I go to fast forward, rewind or use the 1,2,5 minute interval search on the PS3 it just locks up and eventually bombs out.

When doing the Square Button preview it actually comes up with the 1,2,5 minute option and allows you to change the minutes but the preview snapshots never display and it bombs out.

I kind of thought originally that this was just a limitation but after quick search it seems it should be able to do this.

Particularly frustrating if you have to stop a movie halfway through as the only way you can get back to the start position is to watch it again.

This happened on DSM 3.1 and I have since upgraded to the Beta 3.2 and issue continues. Same behaviour on the MKV playback but is also on AVI files.

[al99]

Anyone have any idea on this yet? If it can't be done then I am going to start looking at alternatives to the PS3. From what I can find it seems it is the way it is with the PS3. Basically makes it useless as a media player.

Just had another movie crash out after we paused for a couple of minutes and no way to return to place we were at. Tried the goto feature on the PS3 and didn't work either.

Any help appreciated.

[krimson]

I am having the exact same issue. Mine will let me fast forward at 1.5x but that is not really useful if you are 3/4 into a movie and want to restart it.

I am trying to watch a new MKV file and within the first 10 or 15 minutes, it craps out at one specific part, and I can't seem to get past it, but when I play it on my computer it works fine. Was hoping that the FFWD would skip over it, but no such luck.

I am assuming that since MKV is still new to the DSM transcoding/remuxing/etc software, better support will come, but like you said, it may be a PS3 limitation, but this is the first file I cannot FFWD, as all my divx/xvid/etc files skip just fine... This is also the first MKV that actually has worked, so at least we are making progress!)

Any devs or others have any suggestions or comments?

[rampar]

I have the same problem. I am a bees d*ck away from buying a boxxee box.

[krimson]

Synology folks,
Any response on this? There has been an update since the initial 3.2 release, and I saw nothing mentioned in the changelog about the mkv remuxing or transcoding or whatever you want to call it.

Are you aware of the fast forwarding trouble with the ps3 and mkv?

I understand that it is still a beta feature or whatever, but there should be some kind of error handling if there is a hiccup in the file, to just drop frames and move on.. crapping out halfway through a 2hr film and then not allowing fast forward is a kick in the teeth when I am trying to relax and watch a movie.

Thanks!

[mickwall]

Any news on a fix for this? I've just had a file crap out on my an hour in, but there is now way to get back to where we were without watching it all again........ obviously not an option.

[peterat]

I'm having the same issue. It's very frustrating and I'm sure it's to do with the transcoding from NAS for MKV files. Fast forward and rewind work perfectly fine for all other video file types.

SYNOLOGY - can you please help!!???!!!

[tonynibbles]

+1, also in this painful situation.

Very hard to FFW on my TV's media player also, painfully slow.

[krimson]

It appears that Synology developers don't seem to care much about this. They had a perfect chance to update stuff in the newest 4.0, but it seems support for codecs is worse.. I had better luck getting things to run on the 3.2 DSM software.

I wouldn't hold your breath on a fix to anything video streaming/codec/etc related, it just does not seem like a priority.

Too bad, its probably something that is an easy fix, but just like with adding native support on the XBOX an PS3 in the first place, the requests/complaints simply fall on deaf ears.

[Dj_asbost]

I've just registered on here to research this issue.

Shame there doesn't seem to be a fix, or even any interest from synology...

Just tried to rewind a bit of a movie, 1 hr 20 in and it crashed. Gonna have to plan 1 hr 20 in advance when I wanna finish off watching it now. Shame it was a good film.....

[odessouky]

any solution to this?

I am experiencing this with DS412+ and PS3??

FF ok at 1.5x, but anything else crashes??

Also...why are MOST of the files seen as CORRUPT, when they play OK on the computer??

I tried all codecs...with no avail...

[krimson]

any solution to this?

I am experiencing this with DS412+ and PS3??

FF ok at 1.5x, but anything else crashes??

Also...why are MOST of the files seen as CORRUPT, when they play OK on the computer??

I tried all codecs...with no avail...

The corruption and non-fastforwarding files are files that are encoded in a container or codec that the ps3 does not like. Certain mpeg4, mkv, etc. files wont play natively on the ps3. The media server on the Synology **SHOULD** trancode/transmux/whatever term you want to use, but it doesn't do a very good job with some of the formats. So, the ps3/xbox/etc is to blame for not natively supporting them, Synology is to blame for not transcoding them correctly, and DLNA is to blame for such loose specifications on what "supported devices/codecs" means. Basically, if something works in any particular way over network streaming devices, it becomes DLNA compliant, but it could be only compatible with a small set of devices/codecs/file types to still be included.

I have found that my Xbox plays some files better than the PS3 and vice versa. The xbox seems to like mpeg4 better, and the ps3 seems to like mkv better. Both play .avi divx files just fine.

You basically have to cherry pick the videos you "acquire" and read comments or specs to find out how compatible they are with your ps3.

It's a huge PITA, and Synology could truly do a much better job with minimal effort, and it would be a great way to satisfy a lot of complaints with the media station streaming software. Granted, the Xbox and PS3 could also do this small bit of effort to support them, and that would probably be a much better solution, but that's not going to happen any time soon, if ever.

Maybe the ps4, xbox 720?, Wii U(not likely) or DSM 5 will see these improvements.

[odessouky]

any solution to this?

I am experiencing this with DS412+ and PS3??

FF ok at 1.5x, but anything else crashes??

Also...why are MOST of the files seen as CORRUPT, when they play OK on the computer??

I tried all codecs...with no avail...

The corruption and non-fastforwarding files are files that are encoded in a container or codec that the ps3 does not like. Certain mpeg4, mkv, etc. files wont play natively on the ps3. The media server on the Synology **SHOULD** trancode/transmux/whatever term you want to use, but it doesn't do a very good job with some of the formats. So, the ps3/xbox/etc is to blame for not natively supporting them, Synology is to blame for not transcoding them correctly, and DLNA is to blame for such loose specifications on what "supported devices/codecs" means. Basically, if something works in any particular way over network streaming devices, it becomes DLNA compliant, but it could be only compatible with a small set of devices/codecs/file types to still be included.

I have found that my Xbox plays some files better than the PS3 and vice versa. The xbox seems to like mpeg4 better, and the ps3 seems to like mkv better. Both play .avi divx files just fine.

You basically have to cherry pick the videos you "acquire" and read comments or specs to find out how compatible they are with your ps3.

It's a huge PITA, and Synology could truly do a much better job with minimal effort, and it would be a great way to satisfy a lot of complaints with the media station streaming software. Granted, the Xbox and PS3 could also do this small bit of effort to support them, and that would probably be a much better solution, but that's not going to happen any time soon, if ever.

Maybe the ps4, xbox 720?, Wii U(not likely) or DSM 5 will see these improvements.

Thanks for your reply...

I have noticed something interesting...

On my PS3, TWO media servers come up:

THE YELLOW ICON for PLEX

THE BLUE ICON for SYNOLOGY built in media player..

I normally like to use Plex server for its better interface, BUT I NOTICED THAT WHEN I USED THE SYNOLOGY SERVER PLAYER TO PLAY THE VERY SAME VIDEOS, FF WORKS!!!

On ANY file, even up to 120x???

So, it must be something in the Plex software and PS3?

[krimson]

any solution to this?

I am experiencing this with DS412+ and PS3??

FF ok at 1.5x, but anything else crashes??

Also...why are MOST of the files seen as CORRUPT, when they play OK on the computer??

I tried all codecs...with no avail...

The corruption and non-fastforwarding files are files that are encoded in a container or codec that the ps3 does not like. Certain mpeg4, mkv, etc. files wont play natively on the ps3. The media server on the Synology **SHOULD** trancode/transmux/whatever term you want to use, but it doesn't do a very good job with some of the formats. So, the ps3/xbox/etc is to blame for not natively supporting them, Synology is to blame for not transcoding them correctly, and DLNA is to blame for such loose specifications on what "supported devices/codecs" means. Basically, if something works in any particular way over network streaming devices, it becomes DLNA compliant, but it could be only compatible with a small set of devices/codecs/file types to still be included.

I have found that my Xbox plays some files better than the PS3 and vice versa. The xbox seems to like mpeg4 better, and the ps3 seems to like mkv better. Both play .avi divx files just fine.

You basically have to cherry pick the videos you "acquire" and read comments or specs to find out how compatible they are with your ps3.

It's a huge PITA, and Synology could truly do a much better job with minimal effort, and it would be a great way to satisfy a lot of complaints with the media station streaming software. Granted, the Xbox and PS3 could also do this small bit of effort to support them, and that would probably be a much better solution, but that's not going to happen any time soon, if ever.

Maybe the ps4, xbox 720?, Wii U(not likely) or DSM 5 will see these improvements.

Thanks for your reply...

I have noticed something interesting...

On my PS3, TWO media servers come up:

THE YELLOW ICON for PLEX

THE BLUE ICON for SYNOLOGY built in media player..

I normally like to use Plex server for its better interface, BUT I NOTICED THAT WHEN I USED THE SYNOLOGY SERVER PLAYER TO PLAY THE VERY SAME VIDEOS, FF WORKS!!!

On ANY file, even up to 120x???

So, it must be something in the Plex software and PS3?

Nice!
There are some videos that work like a champ. They will FF/RW completely fine on the Xbox and PS3. But then I will get another video that seems to be the same encoding and everything, and they cant FF past 1.5x and often they will just stop in the middle of playback. It seems really spotty, and it's very frustrating when you get very little time to watch shows, and you sit down to relax, and then have to spend an hour troubleshooting video playback problems. I got the Synology for DLNA and mkv/divx/mpeg support that was plastered all over the site and boxes, but DLNA is a joke, and the support from Synology has been mediocre at best.