Hi all
New to this and new to WD TV Live. I have been tempted to buy one of these for some time and decided to dive in and get one. It was primarily to replace an old Asus oPlay HDR1. The WD TV Live is running using the latest firmware as installed this week when I set up the kit for the first time. I even wondered whether I should have declined the firmware update but I did the recommended thing and updated it.
Obviously I want to use the various features of the WD TV LIve (model WDBGXT0000NBK-UESN) but a very important feature I need is flawless playback of my own self edited 1280x720 MP4 video productions. I live in UK and so my MP4s are PAL 25fps - which have been created from Sony Vegas Movie Studio.
My problem is that when I play my MP4 videos there’s a noticeable stutter which seems to happen about once a second and it’s particularly noticeable with video that has subject movement going left or right across the screen (in other words - most of it!!). I have messed about with just about every setting I can and still the problem exists. I have the videos on a USB Hard Drive and have tried two different hard drives (a 500Gb and 1Tb one) and the problem is unaffected. The audio is fine and picture quality good too.
VERY PUZZLING: One evening I had been playing with the WD TV Live settings and I did definitely see smooth playback at one point - and I was delighted. However, next time I turned on the WD TV Live it was back to its problematical self! Very strange. Can’t fathom that one out at all!
I have posted MediaInfo’s report on the MP4 file below in case this helps.
I should also mention these points - which I believe all point to the problem being the WD TV Live and not my video files:
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My old Asus played the videos nice and smooth - but with my new home cinema setup a little audio lag was evident (but I wanted to get rid of the old Asus anyway, for other reasons).
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My new Samsung 3D LED TV has USB sockets and if I plug the USB hard drive directly into the TV the videos play perfectly - no stutters or audio problems visible.
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If I plug my WD TV Live directly into the HDMI on my Samsung TV (i.e. bypassing the Sony AV Receiver) the MP4 problem is still evident - exactly the same ‘stutter’.
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My test MP4 videos play absolutely fine on:
a) Samsung TV - when using direct USB input to TV
b) Minix Neo x7
c) My Windows 7 PC
d) Samsung Galaxy Note 2
e) Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
f) Cyclone Micro 3
g) Asus oPlay (old machine) - slight audio lag but I can get around that by not using HDMI audio from Asus
The above list of devices that seem to have no problem with my MP4 videos really slams home to me the fact that the WD TV Live is not dealing very well with my videos. So frustrating.
If I can’t solve this issue then I think I will have to return the WD TV Live to the retailer - which is a great pity because I really like the interface and it seems to play other thing fine — but it’s crucial that it can play my home-edited videos without issues. I have seen other postings that mention similar MP4 issues but no real solutions (other than convert my videos - which I am not prepared to do). If anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful.
Thanks for taking the time to reads my post.
Regards
TVGeek
_ Here’s some of the MediaInfo report for my MP4s: _
General
Complete name : D:\TEST_720p.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 1.11 GiB
Duration : 19mn 32s
Overall bit rate : 8 145 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2013-07-14 12:22:02
Tagged date : UTC 2013-07-14 12:22:02
Video
ID : 2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L3.2
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 19mn 32s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 7 949 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : NTSC
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.345
Stream size : 1.09 GiB (98%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-07-14 12:22:02
Tagged date : UTC 2013-07-14 12:22:02
Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 19mn 32s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 26.9 MiB (2%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-07-14 12:22:02
Tagged date : UTC 2013-07-14 12:22:02