Cheinworks,
When using VMS 7/8 selecting mpeg2 appears one has to use the built-in templates. The Options buttons to tweak any settings is always greyed out on my systems. Not so when I run the trial version of Vegas 7.0e, in Vegas I can perform these changes.

BTW - PS3 doesn't break any sweat playing m2t or mpeg @ 25MBS, TS or PS format, but some have reported defective units.

I use the media player on the PS3 which finds the PC on the network and then shows shared files (video, audio and pictures). On the PS3, under video it shows all servers that it finds on the network and can play media from. (You would have had to update the firmware on the PS3 for this option to be available.)

I don't burn them to disk or put them on a thumb drive. Having to do that is a bothersome as all the media isn't immediately available for viewing. (Although I'll try this to see if the PS3 will play the file that way.) Files of this type are shown on the PS3 as a media type which is unavailable (The exact word is "Unsupported Data"). The PS3 extender displays, and plays, the mpg files fine.

Changing the file extension from .m2t to mpg doesn't alter the situation on either the PS3 or Xbox 360.

When rendering in mpeg-2 format, the custom button isn't available. It's greyed out.

I can render in wmv format which the Xbox 360 plays, but not the PS3. I'm trying to create one library of videos which will play on both devices. "Real" mpeg-2 is the format, but Vegas 8 isn't creating it.

I'm using Vegas 8 Platinum.

4eyes, not a problem, that happens when one question builds and builds and sparks other interesting questions!
In the meantime I have taped a local outdoor night time concert. I rendered the 45mins of footage 3 times. 1 - std DV, 2 - 1080-60i, 3 - 720-25p. I think the 720-25p finished product looks best!
I am going to do the same with the wilderness footage I have because the night time footage had some difficult lighting conditions to over come.
By the look of the number posts/replys this is a topic quite a few people are interested in.

Thanks to all!

4eyes, not a problem, that happens when one question builds and builds and sparks other interesting questions! LMI Movieman, What are you playing back your hdv to? The PS3 was recently reduced to $499.00 US (maybe not available in your country). Great multi-media device. I like the 1280x720 format for hd-wmv or hd-divx files. Encoding them at 6mbs cbr-video, cbr-audio, sometimes doubling the frame-rate (Depends on the playback device). I'll use 8mbs max for a 1440x1080 hd-wmv or hd-divx. The compressed video look very good. BTW-PS3 does not play hd-wmv or hd-divx but a AVel LinkPlayer2 will and also stream from a server.

mfoley40, I have drives filled with hdv.m2t files created by VMS7/8. They play great. Text overlays & editing from VMS7/8 look vivid on a hdtv, editing directly in the TS format (.m2t) usually. I did have a 250gig externally connected as the PS3's main drive. Decided I didn't really buy the PS3 to hack it and put the original 60gig back in. There's a good chance your network is to slow to playback the 25mbs video or your media server cannot handle the transcoding (if you have the media server configured to transcode the source materia). I have my media server setup as pass-through so the server doesn't convert the HDV files and simply passes them to the PS3 via the network, this is a gigabit network and the connections are all on the same switching hub downstream of the main router so as not to interfere with other network traffic. If I setup my media server to transcode the 25MBS it also will studder as yours does. So my configuration settings for my media server are setup as do not transcode and leave the same format as the source video(s).
I'm sure you'll get it working, just put some hdv.m2t's from VMS on some media and playback directly on the PS3 to make sure the PS3 is working correctly.

*** LMI Movieman, What are you playing back your hdv to? ***

4eyes - What I did was burn the DVD and put it back into my computer and play it with Power DVD at the same time I played the preview window from VMSP. I arranged them side by side and judged the difference between the original and each of the DVD versions to see which came closest to matching the original.

Yes the PS3 is available up here in the Great White North but ultimately I will distribute copies on std. DVD. The potential client has screened a movie I created of the same area a few years ago and likes the concept but because of the camcorder I was using the image quality is below what is required for producing a DVD for sale today. There in lies the reason behind trying to get the highest image quality possible onto that DVD.

Thanks

Interesting. The PS3 plays the m2t files fine when I bring them over via a CF card. (The PS3 displays them as an MPEG file and plays them fine.) Unfortunately, when I use the media server m2t is an unrecognized format. (Video -> Search For Media Servers -> select Sony VGX-XL3 running Vista Home Premium->browse to video and select one to play.) I don’t think it is a network issue, because the video file is listed as not support and it doesn’t even attempt to play the file. If it was the network, I’d expect to be able to try to play the file and have it do so poorly.

On the PC, Media Sharing is setup in Windows Media Player to allow the PS3 to access content on the PC. All the files are served up, but the PS3 only plays the mpg, not the m2t files.

The Media Server option on the PS3 is relatively new. It appears to be an incomplete implementation. Real bummer.

mfoley40,
but the PS3 only plays the mpg, not the m2t files. Rename the .m2t files to .mpg. If your server is setup to pass the media via the network as is, and your network is fast enough this should work. I'm not aware of many media servers that can re-encode 25MBS video on-the-fly, pretty sure it has to be pass-through mode.
I have to rename my .m2t files to mpg also or the PS3 doesn't even list the media. I think it's probably something in the "Metadata" information that the media server talks to the client (ps3). I don't know, I have to rename the .m2t files to mpg for the ps3 to even list them. I don't like doing this because I like to keep my TS & PS files separate. I haven't been able to fix the filters in the media server nor does it have an alias feature (.m2t = .mpg).
I'm not using the windows media server, the ps3 configuration your using may only be for pictures & music, but I would try renaming the .m2t's to mpg, works on my media server.

Renaming the files doesn't help. (see previous posting on that subject.) I don't see any configuration options in media player for transcoding, passthrough or anything else. I believe it simply shares the file. On the PS3, the file isn't even available for playback; even after it is renamed.

The PS3 definately supports playing shared video from the Windows Media Player as "real" .mpg files play just fine.

My initial question still stands: Is there a way to force Vegas into creating a real MPEG file rather than the m2t variant? If anyone knows how to that, it would be a huge help!

Other software (ULead) has no problem creating this type of file and those videos play fine on the PS3 client from the Windows Media Player server. Unfortunately, ULead doesn't import .m2t files and that is the only format I've been able to get out of my new Sony camcorder. My old HDV that records on tape isn't a problem because ULead can captuer the playback. Now that the new one records to disk and then transfers the file, rather than streaming and capturing in the application I have to use Vegas. However, I'd like to stick with Vegas anyway as I have a bunch of projects in that format...

Changing the file extension from .m2t to mpg doesn't alter the situation on either the PS3 or Xbox 360. Long thread, VMS renders to the TS (transport stream) format. So you are saying that the ulead software works which is the PS (program stream) format. There are a few utilites that can convert the TS to PS format that are fast without re-rendering. I use avidemux2, it's not an easy interface to understand but works.

Thanks! That converter worked fine and the resulting file streams to the PS3 (and Xbox 360) from the Media Center PC.

I think the thread is somewhat long because what should be a simple task isn’t. In my case this is capturing and editing HD home movies and storing them on my home media center for playback on multiple remote PCs as well as the PC. Also being able to burn them to Blu-ray disks to take elsewhere. Since home HD is relatively new, I’ve stuck with the same vendor thinking their products would interoperate. This includes:

• Old and new Sony HD camcorders ~$3500
• Sony PC for video editing and Blu-ray burning ~$2000
• Sony VGX-XL3 home media center PC ~$3300
• PS3 for remote playback ~$600
• Vegas Movie Studio for authoring (v6 and v8) ~$200
• DVDit Pro HD since DVD Architect Studio 4.5 doesn’t support Blu-ray ~$450

(The costs are approximate as I don’t recall the exact pricing.) So approximately $10k invested and post processing is still required to accomplish the simple goal because Sony isn’t consistent in which formats they support.

Anyway, I appreciate the help provided by the members of this forum. It’s great to get this working.