One plays, other doesn't

This issue MUST have been covered a zillion times, but I don’t see the answer. Please link me to the relevant discussion if so. issue is this— file will not play(“can not play selected file…”) while other files that seem to have same codec will play. 720p will play, but 1080p with same codecs will not.

this will play -

General
Unique ID                                : 220220911059428200695425217116927672087 (0xA5AD0133F373A554A0942F4CC85FBF17)
Complete name                            : E:\not seen\Stargate\Stargate.1994.EXTENDED.CUT.720p.BluRay.X264-BARC0DE.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 2
File size                                : 6.42 GiB
Duration                                 : 2h 9mn
Overall bit rate                         : 7 078 Kbps
Encoded date                             : UTC 2013-02-14 20:10:07
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v5.8.0 (‘No Sleep / Pillow’) built on Sep  2 2012 15:37:04
Writing library                          : libebml v1.2.3 + libmatroska v1.3.0

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames
Muxing mode                              : Header stripping
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 2h 9mn
Bit rate                                 : 5 644 Kbps
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 528 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.348
Stream size                              : 4.93 GiB (77%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 112
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=5644 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=3 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Mode                                     : 16
Format settings, Endianness              : Big
Muxing mode                              : Header stripping
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 2h 9mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 509 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 1.37 GiB (21%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

this will not -

General
Unique ID                                : 206948257410116784945121392030294103672 (0x9BB0C8DACA920CFFB1BA15DA02625678)
Complete name                            : E:\not seen\Vanishing Point\Vanishing.Point.1971.1080p.Bluray.X264-BARC0DE.mkv
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 2
File size                                : 7.93 GiB
Duration                                 : 1h 38mn
Overall bit rate                         : 11.5 Mbps
Encoded date                             : UTC 2013-04-08 16:50:27
Writing application                      : mkvmerge v5.8.0 (‘No Sleep / Pillow’) built on Sep  2 2012 15:37:04
Writing library                          : libebml v1.2.3 + libmatroska v1.3.0

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC                   : No
Format settings, ReFrames                : 2 frames
Muxing mode                              : Header stripping
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 1h 38mn
Bit rate                                 : 10 000 Kbps
Width                                    : 1 920 pixels
Height                                   : 1 040 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 1.85:1
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.209
Stream size                              : 6.74 GiB (85%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 112
Encoding settings                        : cabac=0 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=umh / subme=5 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=0 / open_gop=0 / weightp=0 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=10000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=3 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color primaries                          : BT.709
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.709

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : DTS
Format/Info                              : Digital Theater Systems
Mode                                     : 16
Format settings, Endianness              : Big
Muxing mode                              : Header stripping
Codec ID                                 : A_DTS
Duration                                 : 1h 38mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 509 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 1.04 GiB (13%)
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

even though they appear to me to have same codecs.

Hi,

The majority of time when this message occurs it means that you are attempting to play unsupported media. It may also occur if the file your are trying to play has become corrupted.

If your files are not corrupted they may be unsupported. Media can be unsupported for reasons including unsupported codecs, unsupported bit-rates, or unsupported resolutions. A list of supported media can be found in the device user manual. http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705062.pdf

In your case, the second file is not fully supported since the bit rate is to high.

Bit rate                                 : 10 000 Kbps

You will need to downgrade the Bit rate of the file.

That bit-rate is far from high.   That’s DVD bitrate.

BD’s are often 4-5x that and play fine.

However, given that these are torrents, there’s not much folks here can do about it…  With torrents, you get what you pay for.

Tks Help4All for taking the time to answer.

     Don’t know how to change the bitrate, but from the searching i did it seem like way to much work for an old man with no children to show me how to manipulate such new technology.

     Have enjoyed my TV LIVE quite a bit, will watch other movies.

Again tks for response.

Tks TonyPh12345

not torrents, though not retail either.

Can we say internet downloads!

It’s an MKV so just run it through mkvmergegui. It will remux the file. That has helped me in the past with pesky files that wouldnt play.

If you don’t want to change the original file, then make a copy first and run the copy through mkvmergegui.