WD TV Live HD looses MPEG2-ability

I’m really dispaired.

Via the media player (latest firmware 1.02.21) I reproduce different kinds of videos to my HDTV.

Every now and then it doesn’t read  any more.mpg or .vob videos, just black. No idea why.

After a reset of the system it works again, until it fails another time, and so on.

Very annoying!

Does anybody have an idea of the pro blem: same experience/how to solve it?

Read FAQ section 4H.

Sorry, I don’t see any relation between this and my issue.

H) I have some MKV files that the WDTV doesn’t play.  Either there’s video but no audio, or vice versa, or doesn’t do anything!

The Matroska specification allows for a form of compression called “Header Removal,”  that before recently was rarely encountered.  The WDTV Live players do not yet support this form of compression, and may not give an error if it’s encountered. 

Recent versions (Version 4.1.0, July 1, 2010 and later) of the popular MKVMerge tool (which is used to create many MKV files) turn this feature ON by default on audio and certain video tracks.

If you suspect that this is your issue (MEDIAINFO will report the Writing Library as MKVMERGE Version 4.1 or later) you can correct it by loading the file into MKVMERGE, then selecting the track(s).   Click the Extra Settings Tab and set Compression to NONE.  Re-mux the file.  This turns OFF the Header Removal Compression and restores the file.

The MKVInfo tool will also explicitly state the form of compression used for each track.

If you EVER play one of the MKVs that have that issue, anything that follows will usually not work correctly either, be it MKV or any other video format, until you reset the player.

Just to clarify what Tony is saying, you need to examine the file(s) you are playing that doen’t work – use the freeware MediaInfo and if it reports it was muxed with MKVMerge greater than 4.0 (or if it reports mkvtoolkit greater than June) then you know that’s the issue.

Remuxing will solve the problem.

Basically I believe that any ‘bad’ file can hang up the unit. So somewhere you have a file which is ‘bad’. It appears that the unit cannot give up or back out gracefully and therefore hangs up and will not play anything until it is reset etc. See if you can find this ‘bad’ file. I say ‘bad’ because no doubt this file will play OK on the PC etc but the WDTV does not like it.

I have the same issue,basically I tried an mkv file and it locked up my player,now it won’t play any files regardless of type. I can navigate the menus etc but the minute I try to play a video file it goes to a black screen.

I think I’m going to try to install an older version of the firmware to see if it fixes the problem. Unless sommeone else has a better solution.

Jeepers…  Six times today.   :slight_smile:

Read FAQ section 4H and 4I.

thanks a lot, folks.

In my case it goes on playing all my avi, mp4, mkv without problems, just no mpg or vob.

So you are saying that badly made mkv is ruining the device’ capability to play some ‘regular’ videos, right?

Can’t  there be a solution by a firmware revision? Does WD know about the problem?

chritu wrote:

thanks a lot, folks.

In my case it goes on playing all my avi, mp4, mkv without problems, just no mpg or vob.

So you are saying that badly made mkv is ruining the device’ capability to play some ‘regular’ videos, right?

Can’t  there be a solution by a firmware revision? Does WD know about the problem?

Its not badly made as such but has things implemented that the WDTV cannot cope with. WD do know about it and will no doubt issue a firmware update at some point. As I pointed out the real problem is that the WDTV believes that it can play the file and does not back out gracefully which causes the unit to hang up.

sscott4 wrote:

I have the same issue,basically I tried an mkv file and it locked up my player,now it won’t play any files regardless of type. I can navigate the menus etc but the minute I try to play a video file it goes to a black screen.

 

I think I’m going to try to install an older version of the firmware to see if it fixes the problem. Unless sommeone else has a better solution.

 

 

 

 

Did you actually read any of the other posts above yours. The solution has been given. You reset the player and remux the mkv.

resetting the unit didn’t fix my problem.

sscott4 wrote:

resetting the unit didn’t fix my problem.

Do the following

reset via the side paperclip button

reset to factory defaults via the internal menu

unplug the unit from power for some minutes (not seconds)

Do all 3 before using your unit again.

Play a known good file. Do not play the ‘bad’ mkv file or you will have to do all the above again.

Is it now working. If it is then you remux the mkv with MKMerge version 4.0.0 or below.