How to play an MKV movie file on a Playstation 3 (PS3)

Posted in Game Consoles on June 6th, 2008

Can a Playstation 3 play an MKV file? The technical answer is no.

The official video file specs are as follows:

  • Memory Stick Video Format
  • MPEG-4 SP (AAC LC)
  • H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile (AAC LC)
  • MP4 file format
  • H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High Profile (AAC LC)
  • MPEG-1 (MPEG Audio Layer 2)
  • MPEG-2 PS (MPEG2 Audio Layer 2, AAC LC, AC3(Dolby Digital), LPCM)
  • MPEG-2 TS (MPEG2 Audio Layer 2)
  • AVI
  • Motion JPEG (Linear PCM)
  • Motion JPEG (?-Law)
  • AVCHD ?.m2ts / .mts?
  • DivX
  • WMV
  • VC-1?WMA Standard V2?
  • Don’t worry, even though MKV is not listed above, an MKV file can be re-muxed into a VOB file which is natively playable on a PS3. The easiest way to accomplish this in Windows XP or Vista is by using a program named MKV2VOB.

    In case you are worried, this process will not re-encode your files. So you won’t lose quality and it won’t take a long time. Most of my High Definition MKV files can be re-muxed into a VOB file in less than 30 minutes.

    Have fun and enjoy playing your MKV movies on your PS3.

The Top 10 Ways To Use VoIP That You Probably Didn’t Think About

Posted in General on October 24th, 2006

Here’s the top ten list of fun and interesting things to do with VoIP.

  1. Caller ID Spoofing – Use Asterisk to spoof Kevin Rose’s home phone number. Call all your friends and tell them you’ll be on the next diggnation.
  2. Beat the telemarketers by implementing Asterisk Zapateller. Their predictive dialer software will think your number is disconnected and you’ll be deleted from their database!
  3. Use a free SIP client like X-lite and Voipbuster to make free calls to Europe.
  4. Signup as a volunteer with your favorite political party. Use Skype to make free “get out the vote” calls to registered voters in swing states.
  5. Torture a telemarketer! Replace your answering machine with Asterisk and setup the Telemarketer Torture dial plan.
  6. Integrate Asterisk and the Google Calendar API. Have Google Calender Call to remind you of appointments.
  7. Make unlimited cell phone calls with Sprint for $5 month.
  8. Use BottleRocket to integrate your X10 system and Asterisk. Have fun turning your lights on and off with your cell phone.
  9. Can’t afford an iPod? Use TrixBox to stream podcasts to your cell phone.
  10. Three-Way Caller ID Spoofing (the ultimate in Caller ID spoofing). Call person A and spoof the CID so it looks like person B is calling. Simultaneously call person B, but spoof the CID for person A. Connect all three of you to an Asterisk Meetme Conference call. Make sure to mute your mic so they can’t hear you laughing. This work even better if you pick two random people that don’t know each other.

Cable TV Hook Up Diagrams

Posted in TV on October 23rd, 2006

Have you ever wondered the correct way to hookup that Cable TV coax cable? This site has a good list of cable tv hook up diagrams.

Including the following:
No Converter:

  • Cable Outlet to TV
  • Cable Outlet to VCR to TV
  • Cable Outlet to TV to Stereo
  • Cable Outlet to VCR to Stereo to TV to Stereo

With Converter:

  • Cable Outlet to Converter to TV
  • Cable Outlet to Converter to VCR to TV
  • Cable Outlet to Converter to VCR to TV (w/ Stereo hook up)
  • A/B Switch Configurations
  • Cable Outlet to Converter to HDTV
  • Game Console Configuration
  • DVD Configurations
  • DVR Configurations (PVR, TiVo, Replay TV, etc.)