Certain h264 MPEG-4 files won't play over network

cross post from Streaming Issues forum

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Streaming-Issues/certain-h264-MPEG-4-files-won-t-play-over-network/idi-p/608047

Running 1.16.13 on my WDTV Live.

Rebooting, power cycling or resetting to factory does not help.

- Which firmware? 1.16.13
- What happened? certain h264 MPEG-4 won't play from network share or via UPnP unless transcoded, they play from USB drive attached to device without issue.
- What were you doing? trying to view h264 MPEG-4 videos
- Does this happen every time? it happens every time on the videos that won't play, other MPEG-4 play fine.
- What hardware and media were you using? Dell SC1430 server running VMWare ESXi 5.1, guest OS WIndows 2008 R2, PS3 Media Server or Windows file sharing/SMB
- Did this happen with previous firmware? not sure
- Does power cycling the unit solve this? NO
- Does resetting to factory defaults solve this? NO
- Have you tried this on other devices? Yes. Same occurs on older WD TV Live Plus HD w/ firmware 1.06.42_B. I am able to play the videos from Android USB stick running XBMC

I periodically receive the unsupported format for H264 MPEG-4 files when trying to play from a Windows network share. Below are the codec details for 2 files I am unable to play:

General
Complete name : E:\media\video\does not play.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 355 MiB
Duration : 45mn 16s
Overall bit rate : 1 098 Kbps
Writing application : Larry Sanders

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 45mn 16s
Bit rate : 973 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 404 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.134
Stream size : 315 MiB (89%)
Writing library : x264 core 138 r2358 9e941d1
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / 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=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=19.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 45mn 16s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 116 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : 80ms
Stream size : 37.6 MiB (11%)

General
Complete name : E:\media\video\does not play2.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 204 MiB
Duration : 21mn 41s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 1 313 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2013-10-02 21:16:03
Tagged date : UTC 2013-10-02 21:16:03

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 21mn 40s
Bit rate : 1 201 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 2 500 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 404 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
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) : 0.172
Stream size : 186 MiB (91%)
Writing library : x264 core 138 r2358 9e941d1
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:1:1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=18 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=19.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2013-10-03 19:41:33
Tagged date : UTC 2013-10-02 21:16:06
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 21mn 41s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 108 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 152 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -223ms
Stream size : 16.8 MiB (8%)
Encoded date : UTC 2013-10-02 21:16:05
Tagged date : UTC 2013-10-02 21:16:06

However if you look at the codec details for a file I am able to play over the network, they appear to be the same:

General
Complete name : E:\media\video\plays without issue.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 164 MiB
Duration : 21mn 15s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 1 081 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2013-10-17 00:06:09
Tagged date : UTC 2013-10-17 00:06:09

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 21mn 15s
Bit rate : 966 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 2 997 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 404 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
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) : 0.138
Stream size : 147 MiB (89%)
Writing library : x264 core 138 r2358 9e941d1
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:1:1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=16 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=60 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=19.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2013-10-17 22:34:59
Tagged date : UTC 2013-10-17 00:06:12
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 21mn 15s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 111 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 142 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : 83ms
Stream size : 16.9 MiB (10%)
Encoded date : UTC 2013-10-17 00:06:11
Tagged date : UTC 2013-10-17 00:06:12

If I try to place these files from my UPnP server (PS3 media server) it also says unsupported format unless I transcode them.

If I place these files on a USB device I am able to play them without issue on my WDTV Live.

Any ideas?

Funny that, i encounted this a few days ago myself…

2 English(British) TV shows …  both would not play

both had this    Writing application: Larry Sanders 

(which ive never seem before … notice your file that plays ok doesent have this)

 

Easy to fix (takes about 30 seconds) drag them into MKVMerge to remux them and they worked fine after that. 

(ignore the aac warning that mkvmerge will show.)

I can only guess, they are muxed incorrectly … because remuxing them fixes them.

Hi Joey,

Thanks, that allowed the videos to play.  The audio is out of sync a little (on the originals the audio is synced), but at least they play.

You can also try My MP4 Box GUI for remuxing (maybe it will work better with the audio)

Google “Larry Sanders torrent” and you’ll see lots of issues. Not just WDTV having problems with them.