Audio Channel Not Supported

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live & Live Plus
1

I am taking videos with a new Canon 12mp camera. Model Powershot SX100IS. It does high-def videos in MOV format. My WD Player is set up with HDMI output to an LCD TV.
When I play the video created by this camera, the video plays and I can see it. But there is no audio. I get the message displayed briefly: “Audio Channel 1 not supported”.

Is there a way to fix this? And please dont tell me to re-encode this to a different format (that’s a cop-out). I also have WMV movies that play normally in Windows, but dont play at all in this player and am disappointed in this product for that weakness. I shouldn’t have to re-encode them. Anyway, th e WMV problem is a different matter. I would like the audio problem solved for the .MOV movies from my Canon camera. I have the latest firm-ware update.

Thanks for anyone trying to help me with this.

2

Hi there.

The short answer (and solution) is exactly what you don’t want to hear: the audio codec isn’t supported and you need to re-encode.   (please don’t shoot the messenger!)

The long answer is that to better understand the issue with the file, we need to know the exact audio/video codecs used.

Download MediaInfo and post the output for one of the non-working MOV files.

For reference, the WD TV Live manual (freely available online, see APPENDIX p168) states the following support for MOV containers:

Video :

MPEG4

AVC

Audio :

AAC

MPEG Audio

Dolby Digital

You can also check your WMV files with MediaInfo too.  

The WD TV Live only seems to support WMV9 files.  If your files aren’t encoded that way, the only solutions are to re-encode or find another media player.

In the unit’s defence, you really can’t compare a hardware player to a software player.  

It’s very easy to update software and include support for myriad obscure and outdated codecs.  A hardware player targeting (and advertised as supporting) modern codecs and containers (such as MP4 and MKV containers with h.264 / AAC codecs) has a much narrower range of support built-in, and you can run into limitations of the chipset, not to mention the licensing costs of handling these codecs (and WD has to pay these).  This was something I also had issue with originally but have come to terms with given the majority of my files play fine and look fantastic.  I spent some angry hours setting up re-encode jobs but once encoded into a format the unit accepts, they play great.

FWIW, it seems that the files that most DV cameras produce are not universally compatible with the majority of set top media players (go check competing products’ forums and you’re bound to find similar threads as this).

It’s unfortunate that the product does not seem to be a good fit for you at this time.  If you are willing to consider re-encoding, there are free tools available and it may be possible to automate / batch queue the process.  The MOV files in particular should be a relatively quick re-encode job given you only need to change the audio stream.

Let me know if that’s something you’d like to know more about.  ;)

3

Thanks for the reply. I ran MediaInfo and this is the info it reported.

I dont want to shoot the messenger, but I was trying to make a point that this is a brand new camera, and presumably the latest software from Canon. It should be supported by WD.

====

General
Complete name                    : C:\Users\username\Videos\2010-03-24 Alex Dancing\MVI_0008.MOV
Format                           : MPEG-4
Format profile                   : QuickTime
Codec ID                         : qt 
File size                        : 33.5 MiB
Duration                         : 11s 733ms
Overall bit rate                 : 23.9 Mbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-03-24 20:11:53
Tagged date                      : UTC 2010-03-24 20:11:53

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : Baseline@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC           : No
Format settings, ReFrames        : 1 frame
Codec ID                         : avc1
Codec ID/Info                    : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                         : 11s 733ms
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 23.2 Mbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate mode                  : Constant
Frame rate                       : 30.000 fps
Resolution                       : 8 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.839
Stream size                      : 32.5 MiB (97%)
Language                         : English
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-03-24 20:11:53
Tagged date                      : UTC 2010-03-24 20:11:53
Color primaries                  : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
Transfer characteristics         : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients              : BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M

Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : PCM
Format settings, Endianness      : Little
Format settings, Sign            : Signed
Codec ID                         : sowt
Duration                         : 11s 733ms
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 705.6 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 1 channel
Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
Resolution                       : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 1 011 KiB (3%)
Language                         : English
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-03-24 20:11:53
Tagged date                      : UTC 2010-03-24 20:11:53

General
Complete name                    : C:\Users\username\Videos\2010-03-24 Alex Dancing\MVI_0008.THM
Format                           : JPEG
File size                        : 10.6 KiB

Image
Format                           : JPEG
Width                            : 160 pixels
Height                           : 120 pixels
Resolution                       : 8 bits

General
Complete name                    : C:\Users\username\Videos\2010-03-24 Alex Dancing\MVI_0036.MOV
Format                           : MPEG-4
Format profile                   : QuickTime
Codec ID                         : qt 
File size                        : 222 MiB
Duration                         : 1mn 17s
Overall bit rate                 : 23.9 Mbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-03-24 22:02:39
Tagged date                      : UTC 2010-03-24 22:02:39

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : Baseline@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC           : No
Format settings, ReFrames        : 1 frame
Codec ID                         : avc1
Codec ID/Info                    : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                         : 1mn 17s
Bit rate mode                    : Variable
Bit rate                         : 23.2 Mbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate mode                  : Constant
Frame rate                       : 30.000 fps
Resolution                       : 8 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.840
Stream size                      : 215 MiB (97%)
Language                         : English
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-03-24 22:02:39
Tagged date                      : UTC 2010-03-24 22:02:39
Color primaries                  : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
Transfer characteristics         : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients              : BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M

Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : PCM
Format settings, Endianness      : Little
Format settings, Sign            : Signed
Codec ID                         : sowt
Duration                         : 1mn 17s
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 705.6 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 1 channel
Sampling rate                    : 44.1 KHz
Resolution                       : 16 bits
Stream size                      : 6.54 MiB (3%)
Language                         : English
Encoded date                     : UTC 2010-03-24 22:02:39
Tagged date                      : UTC 2010-03-24 22:02:39

General
Complete name                    : C:\Users\username\Videos\2010-03-24 Alex Dancing\MVI_0036.THM
Format                           : JPEG
File size                        : 9.99 KiB

Image
Format                           : JPEG
Width                            : 160 pixels
Height                           : 120 pixels
Resolution                       : 8 bits

4

Forgot to ask…

What free GOOD encoding tools would do the job?

Thx

5

The audio is PCM and it appears that the WDTV does not support .mov with PCM audio.

It matters not a jot how new the camera or software is, its all to do with standard and popular formats plus overall design decisions. As it is the WDTV is positively reviewed for the large amount of files that it can play.

6

Out of interest are you sure it is a Powershot SX100IS, as I can only find an old 8mp model under that name.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canonsx100is/

7

I was checking for a video sample to determine the best tools / method for the job but ran into the same problem as richUK; the camera model you mention outputs AVI files, not MOV files.

Canon do market models under different names in the US and UK but despite spending time on google I can’t find any 12MP models with that name.

-edit-

Wait, is it a PowerShot SX 200 IS?

I downloaded the MOV sample from this site:

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/canon_powershot_sx200_is_review/sample_images/

The first time I played it, the audio kicked in immediately but then fizzled out and playback became disjointed.

I then stopped the video and replayed it from the beginning.  This time it played back perfectly, audio and video both present (and supported).

Are you using the latest firmware?  (1.02.21)

If so, have you done a factory reset?  As far as I can see, these files should work (admittedly there are issues)…

8

I also downloaded the sample movie which when looking at with mediainfo appears to be exactly the same type as the original posters with PCM sound. It played OK on the unit (running .24 firmware). It originally ran with a bit of difficulty but after a couple of goes it ran perfectly - both sound and vision. So this video and sound is supported by the WDTV and you can disregard what I said above except for the model of camera

I think that the WDTV stores the complete video with something this short and therefore if you leave the first run to go to the bitter end and then run it again it uses the built in cache.

9

To avoid any issues, though, the easiest thing to do would be to convert either the video or audio (I’d start with the audio) using (if on the PC) ffmpeg (freeware).

I’d change it to an AC3 stream, with something like this:

ffmpeg -i inputfile.mov -sameq -acodec aac outputfile.mkv

that should do it without changing the quality of either audio or video.

10

Look here:

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/canon-powershot-12-1-mp-digital-camera-sx200-is-blue-best-buy-exclusive/10120748.aspx?path=97399e8f0ed7bce8fe6bb2e14f5c0a64en02

11

It appears that I have the older model WDAVN00BN. I’ve downloaded the last firmware # 1.03.01