Help playing mp4

I have the SMP, running the latest firmware, and output via hdmi to a yamaha receiver that supports AAC input.

When I play an MP4, I have to switch the “audio output” to “stereo” on the SMP.

This is inconvenient because then I have to go to the SMP settings and change “audio output” to “hdmi” for everything else.

I don’t remember having to do this before.

Here is an example of the MP4:

General
Complete name : C:\Temp\Vid123.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 397 MiB
Duration : 56mn 13s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 986 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2014-01-18 07:21:47
Tagged date : UTC 2014-01-18 07:21:47

Video
ID : 2
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 : 56mn 13s
Source duration : 56mn 13s
Bit rate : 867 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 12.8 Mbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 404 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.099
Stream size : 349 MiB (88%)
Source stream size : 349 MiB (88%)
Writing library : x264 core 140 r2377 1ca7bb9
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=18 / lookahead_threads=3 / 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
Encoded date : UTC 2014-01-18 06:19:39
Tagged date : UTC 2014-01-18 07:21:49
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 56mn 13s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 115 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 164 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 46.1 MiB (12%)
Encoded date : UTC 2014-01-18 07:21:47
Tagged date : UTC 2014-01-18 07:21:49

Should I have to keep going into “Settings” and changing the “Audio output” to “Stereo”, or should this just play?

Thanks for any help!

Hello,

Take a look at this link. The User had a similar issue.

http://community.wd.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Streaming/Problem-playing-audio-with-AAC-2-0-Movie-files/m-p/623953#M24762

1 Like

HDK - thanks for the link.

I tried the fix suggested, but it didn’t work.

After reading that thread I see that I am not the only one having this problem - it looks like the last firmware update caused this.  Hoping the next update corrects this.

Thanks!

Hi, pc123

Can you please provide the Model Number of your Yamaha Reviever so myself or others can look up the User Manual to see if there are any settings / configurations / specifications that may be the cause of the problem ?

Another thought …    (i have a live hub, but it should be similar)  are your setting the HDMI Auto Manually >

Setup > Audio/Video Ouput > Audio Output > Digital Pass-Through via HDMI Only > Manual Setup

Then tick    AAC capable reciever     

You can multiple tick any others your reciever supports eg. Dolby Digital,DTS,Dolby TrueHD etc  then press right to highlight the confirm arrow and press OK.

JoeySmyth - the receiver is a Yamaha RX-V371.  I tried to copy the specs from page 96 of the manual which is a PDF file, but it is password protected and wouldn’t allow me to do so.

But I typed in what is listed on page 96 - there is a lot more, but I think this is the only info that is related to this problem:

HDMI:

AUDIO FORMAT:

  • Dolby Digital

  • DTS

  • DSD 6ch

  • Dolby Digital Plus

  • Dolby TrueHD

  • DTS-HD

  • PCM 2ch-8ch (Max 192 kHz/24 bit)

Content Protection: HDCP compatible

COMPATIBLE DECODING FORMATS:

Decoding Format:

  • Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus

  • DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD High Resolution, DTS Express

  • Dolby Digital

  • DTS, DTS 96/24

Post Decoding Format:

  • Dolby Pro Logic

  • Dolby Pro Logic II Music, Dolby Pro Logic II Movie, Dolby Pro Logic II Game

  • DTS Neo:6Music, DTS Neo:6 Cinema

Also, my usual settings are to set up HDMI manually as you suggested with AAC capable receiver ticked.

That used to work, but it seems to have stopped working and I now have to manually switch to stereo when I want to play the above referenced mp4.

And FYI, the only changes that have occurred since I played an MP4 (about a month ago) are:

  1. I upgraded to the latest firmware so that I could play DTS-MA (which works!),

  2. this is a recent MP4 - maybe it is of a different format than the previous ones that worked - that is why I uploaded the specs of the MP4 file so that someone with much more knowledge than I have can see if there is a problem with the MP4.  Unfortunately I didn’t keep any of the older ones that worked.

Thanks very much for any help!

Where in the manaul / specifications does it say it has AAC decoding capability?

“Where in the manaul / specifications does it say it has AAC decoding capability?”

It doesn’t and I am sorry for my lack of knowlege of this and I would really appreciate any help anyone can give to educate me:)

I am still confused.  When I set the SMP to “Stereo”, what does the SMP do to enable the Yamaha receiver to play the sound?  Is the SMP sending something other than AAC to the Yamaha receiver?

I apolgize for wasting peoples’ time due to my lack of knowledge - I really do not remember having to mess around with changing the SMP setting to “Stereo” to get the MP4s to have sound.

pc123 wrote:

When I set the SMP to “Stereo”, what does the SMP do to enable the Yamaha receiver to play the sound?  Is the SMP sending something other than AAC to the Yamaha receiver?

If you set the output mode to STEREO, the WD will convert every supported format to 2-channel PCM (which every receiver under the sun understands.)  It will do this regardless of how it’s physically connected.

If you’re using HDMI, the WD should detect automatically the audio formats understood by the receiver down-stream, and send “native” formats (DTS, Dolby, WMA-Pro, or whatever) without any modification.

For formats that are not understood by the receiver, the WD will convert them to PCM (with some limitations) and again, send PCM format to the receiver.

If you’re using Optical, there’s no way for the WD to detect what the receiver can do, so you must configure the formats manually.

1 Like

“For formats that are not understood by the receiver, the WD will convert them to PCM (with some limitations) and again, send PCM format to the receiver.”

Tony, I am connected via HDMI to the receiver.  If AAC is a format that the receiver doesn’t understand, shouldn’t the WD convert it to PCM and and then it will be playable?  Or is that one of the limitations you referred to?  When I play this file without the “Stereo” setting, the receiver displays PCM.  

Sorry for being dense - I’m still trying to fill in the gaps of my not understanding.

Thank you for taking the time to educate me!

You’re right – If you select AUTO after selecting HDMI Passthrough, and the AAC is not ticked, then the WD is detecting correctly.  

If you still get no sound, then there’s a bug somewhere…

OK - thanks for your help!!!