"unable to play selected file" only on network share

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
1

Hi there. Ive ben having this problem for weeks now and have been able to find no solutions through various google and other searches. 

Ive had my WDTV live for almost 3 years now. Ive always connected to my laptop over a network share. I watch almost exclusively MKV files on it and until recently have had little to no issues. Now all of the sudden, with about 75% of my files, when I try to play them I get the “Unable to play selcted file. Please see the User manual for a list of supported files formats.” message. 

Now the thing is, if I copy that exact same file to my external hard drive, plug that into the WDTV live and connect through local storage, I can watch the file just fine.

Any ideas why it would work one way and not the other? The only thing I’ve really tried so far is resetting the media player to factory default. I’m at my wits end.

Thanks

Weez

2

Hi there and welcome to the WD community.

On this case try to reset the unit either by pressing the reset button on the bottom of the unit for 3 to 4 seconds, or by going to settings and then, under the system category you can do a device reset and see if after this you are able to play the files.

Here is a link that will help you with the reset process:

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3646

3

Hello and thank you for the welcome, and the response.

I have done the reset through the settings in the past, and have tried it multiple times for this issue also recently, and it did not help. I did not know about the reset button under the unit, and tried that this time, but alas, it still did not help me with my problem.

Any other possible solutions?

Thank you again for your time.

4

I’m not a network expert, but … doing a bit of searching on Google and here on the Forum

http://community.wd.com/t5/forums/searchpage/tab/message?page=1&location=forum-board%3Astreaming_discussions&q=unable+to+play+selected+file&search_type=thread&filter=labels%2Clocation

one thing that popped up several times was to check the “Permissions” on your Network Shares (on your Laptop)

5

I’m not sure what you are directing me to here, I see no posts with an answer to my problem.

How could it be a permissions problem when some files play and some dont? Dont you give permission to the whole folder, not each indiviual file? 

6

like i said, i’m not an expert … was just posting something and a search link to the error message that may have offered some clues … since no-one else has bothered replying (except for ArMak)

Anyways, apologies … you’ll  have to wait until an “Expert” posts a solution to your problem. Hope you get it sorted soon.

7

No need to apologize, I appreciate the effort. I thought maybe you found something and I missed it.

I’m no expert either. Far from it. I guess that is why I’m in this quandry. lol

Thanks for the well wishes.

8

So I thought I’d post some media info here and maybe someone with more knowledge than I have can get some information from it. I dont know if it will help, but I guess it cant hurt.

These files are both MKVs downloaded this morning, about 5 minutes apart. File 1 plays just fine, File 2 gives me the error.

File 1 WORKS** :**

Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 895 MiB
Duration : 41mn 56s
Overall bit rate : 2 984 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2015-01-14 13:08:51
Writing application : mkvmerge v6.5.0 (‘Isn’t she lovely’) built on Oct 20 2013 12:50:05
Writing library : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 41mn 56s
Bit rate : 2 541 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 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) : 0.092
Stream size : 762 MiB (85%)
Writing library : x264 core 144 r2525 40bb568
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=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 41mn 56s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels

File 2  DOES NOT WORK:

Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 163 MiB
Duration : 25mn 25s
Overall bit rate : 898 Kbps
Writing application : HandBrake 0.10.0 2014112200
Writing library : Lavf55.12.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Main@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 25mn 25s
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 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
Writing library : x264 core 142 r2479 dd79a61
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=hex / subme=2 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=0 / threads=6 / 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=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=10 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=20.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=20000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
Color range : Limited

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : A_AAC
Duration : 25mn 25s
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Title : Stereo
Default : Yes
Forced : No

9

as for permissions

they can be set at both the folder level or file level and the folder vs file permissions can be different

you don’t say if you’re using nfs or smb

and if your on linux or windows, etc

permissions should be something relatively easy you can check

it’s probably not what’s wrong, but still worth checking to rule it out

as for the media info

I’ll let somebody else comment on that, but I can easily see some difference, just not sure, if it’s enough to cause a file to be unplayable

10

Sorry, I am using Windows 8.1.

I dont know if I am using nfs or smb, or what that even is. That is something I have never had to deal with in the past.

I guess I’m in over my head here.

11

smb = samba = cifs = windows shares

those are all names for th same thing

since we now know you’re on windows

you’ll want to look at the file permissions, and make sure it says “inherited” as in it takes whatever permissions were set on the folder

if it’s not “inherited” then the permissions are specific to the file

1 Like
12

KAD79 you are my hero.

When I went into advanced permissions on the  files  I saw that inheritence was disabled on the file that didnt work, enabled on the one that did. As soon as I enabled inheritence on file #1, it worked!!! I tried another file that hadnt been working for me for a few days, same result! I then went back to the main folder and set it so all files in it will inherit the permissions.

A thousand Thank Yous KAD79. I’m pretty bad with this kind of stuff and the time you took just cured me from a lot of headaches. 

Thank you to everyone else for trying to assist Me also.

Problem solved!

13

so it was “Permissions” related after all  :wink: