Certain MKV files of a TV series do not play audio. Need help

I have a TV series, with all episodes being in MKV format, 5.1 AC3 audio.  I am using an HDMI cord for picture, and a Dolby Digital optical cord for audio.  The video works fine on all MKV files, however, only the first 2 episodes play with audio.  I have tried everything I can think of and nothing has worked.  I’ve been looking for a solution for hours and am desperate for help.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I got the same problems. I don’t have sound on all files by the group “immerse”, but everything else plays fine. They play well on VLC and if I recode the audio with VLC it works well. Anybody has any idea?

If any of these files got encoded with MKVMerge 4.1 or higher, there’s a good chance that they used “Header Removal Compression” (which is now DEFAULT) and none of the WDTV players of any generation support that.

Mediainfo can confirm.

Thats exactly it Tony!  The two episodes that work were encoded with mkvmerge 4.0 and all of the ones with no audio were encoded with mkvmerge 4.1 and up.  Thanks alot for discovering the problem, now do you or anybody else have any ideas on how to fix this.  As in, how to now encode the files with mkvmerge 4.0?

Thanks again.

peteyb wrote:

As in, how to now encode the files with mkvmerge 4.0?

I searched looking for info on exactly this issue with immerse 720p files. After reading this thread (thanks to all for the info!), I simply remuxed a problem file with an earlier version (mkvmerge GUI 3.3.0) and all was right with the world, at least so far as the WDTV player is concerned. Annoying that this is required, but at least no transcoding is necessary.

ANY version of MKVMERGE will work.

Here’s what you need to know, though:

Versions 4.0 and EARLIER do NOT use header compression.   So, with those versions, you can just load up the file and re-mux immediately.

Versions 4.1 and HIGHER DO use HEADER COMPRESSION by DEFAULT, but it CAN be disabled.

Load up the file.   Select the Audio Track(s).  Click the “Extra Options” tab (I think that’s what it’s called) and select COMPRESSION:  NONE.

Remux.  Done.   Total time:  A few minutes at most.

Yes, it is annoying.  The creator of MKVMerge knows that it’s pissing people off, but he doesn’t care.   Despite the fact that it only saves VERY LITTLE space, he insists on using that behavior by default instead of making it OPTIONAL.  He’s a religious zealot.   But, he does write one of THE most POPULAR, useful tools out there, so he “has the power.”

WD Is aware of the issue; only time will tell if they resolve it for the platforms that are still supported.   Theoretically, it’s an easy fix.  It might actually require SIGMA (the chipset manufacturer) to fix it in THEIR software; I don’t know who owns what in these boxes… :slight_smile:

1 Like

TonyPh12345 wrote:

 

Click the “Extra Options” tab (I think that’s what it’s called) and select COMPRESSION:  NONE.

 

Wondering if there’s a global setting to change this behaviour, or if an older version of the GUI would work with a newer version of the command-line software.

Me, I’m sticking completely with 3.3.0 (both), since it has yet to fail me.

TonyPh12345 wrote:

 

He’s a religious zealot.   But, he does write one of THE most POPULAR, useful tools out there, so he “has the power.”

Um…mkvtoolnix is open-source, so it would be trivial to build a **bleep** with this arrent behavior corrected. The only “power” he has is that given him by those of us (yeah, I include myself) too lazy to do so.

Edit: Wow, this software is a lttle conservative when censoring words, isn’t it? I meant nothing profane, just a seperate branch of the software using a perfectly innocent word to describe it like a splitting in the road. Sheesh.

WD,  wd hd gen 2 owner here. Please fix this problem. A lot of people on a lot of forums are getting very upset and wdtv is really gaining a bad name on the forums that most of your customers hang out on. You have a good product but updating your product so it stays working is very important to making your customers become repeat customers and building a good reputation. Reputation’s take a life time to build but only a moment to destroy. please enable header compression support

blong579 wrote:

 

Please fix this problem.

Um, you might want to read this thread again. It isn’t WD’s fault that they don’t support a relatively non-standard method of storing audio, and the problem is easily worked around in any event. I’m pretty certain WD won’t get a bad rep simply because one capping group doesn’t have the sense to turn this silly and relatively useless setting off.

CharlieSummers wrote:

 


blong579 wrote:

 

Please fix this problem.


 

Um, you might want to read this thread again. It isn’t WD’s fault that they don’t support a relatively non-standard method of storing audio, and the problem is easily worked around in any event. I’m pretty certain WD won’t get a bad rep simply because one capping group doesn’t have the sense to turn this silly and relatively useless setting off.

I have read this forum and many many other forums on this problem and yes I know WD did not create this problem but there is loads of people pissed off that there wdtv is not working and others laughing at them and saying they should have bought XYZ product. Since this looks like it might become a standard and wd says they support mkv then they should release an update to the unit. Myself and a lot of others are not mad that WD didn’t have a crystal ball a see this coming but we will be mad with them if they don’t put out an update to keep there box working as advertised. Charlie you are welcome to your opinion but please don’t try to correct mine.

blong579 wrote:

 

Charlie you are welcome to your opinion but please don’t try to correct mine.

 

Ignoring how rude it is to address someone by their first name when uninvited, I agree with you. Everyone is welcomed to an opinion, no matter how misguided or uninformed. In future, I will simply ignore you, as I ignore other trolls who sign up to boards to rant instead of sharing information and providing assistance and workarounds.

But if you do insist on blaming WD, then complain directly to them  - instead of wasting your time here on a user’s board, contact corporate, or at the very least customer support. The folks here have no power to change things the way you seem to believe is your due.

And finally, *plonk.*

Alright, settle down, kids… :wink:

It’s not just the WDTV that has this issue.   Of COURSE you’ll see people squawking about the WDTV in specific forums that cater to that product.

You’ll see other people squawking about other media players in other forums, too…  

WDTV DOES need to address this.   While it is a rather obscure portion of the standards, it IS part of the Matroska standard and has been for long enough to have considered it.    Let’s just cross our fingers and keep voting on the IDEAS LAB that deals with this.   :slight_smile:

We know that the WDTV does not use open source libraries for Video decoding because it’s not part of the GPL code bundle that’s publicly available.    So, someone is going to have to re-write some code; and it may not be WD that has to do it.   It may be SIGMA that dropped the ball.  

CharlieSummers wrote:> * * *

TonyPh12345 wrote:

 

He’s a religious zealot.   But, he does write one of THE most POPULAR, useful tools out there, so he “has the power.”


Um…mkvtoolnix is open-source, so it would be trivial to build a [separate **bleep**] with this arrent behavior corrected. The only “power” he has is that given him by those of us (yeah, I include myself) too lazy to do so.

 

 

No doubt.   In fact it’s VERY easy; I just did it as an exercise.   But, people are getting hacked at having to set an option in the existing tool; very few people will be willing to go compile their own builds.  Unfortunately, doing that can be counterproductive; it adds noise and confusion if someone says (by way of recommendation)  Go download MKVToolnix, but only use BlahBlah’s build.

Our better option is to continue to NAG WD to support the feature, while simultaneously nagging the Matroska community to CHANGE the DEFAULTs. 

Hi,

I tried to Remux in mkvmerge 4.2.0 and set the compression to none.

The output file gets a bit smaller than the original and my mediaplayer

treats it as sound. It also blocks all other working files on the connected

drive I am using. Any idea what I am doing wrong?

TonyPh12345 wrote:

 

Unfortunately, doing that can be counterproductive; it adds noise and confusion if someone says (by way of recommendation)  Go download MKVToolnix, but only use BlahBlah’s build.

 

It can be, but it can also be benifical for a seperate…er…you know…to be created when there are significant disagreements on the end-result of the programming or the definition of “bugs,” i.e. PeerBlock. A competitive branch can also spur both lines to greater heights by the simple act of competing. There are lots of UI bugs in the GUI, IMHO (can’t set much of anything to default where the user wants) - frequently it’s easier to re-use a terminal/Command Prompt comand line when running multiple files with different settings than muck with the GUI.

Right now, there’s only one real option, so the person or group maintaining it can do anything he/they want. Alternatives are almost always a good thing.

+1 to I hope Western Digital release a fix for this.

It clearly states that it should be able to play MKV files, and in it’s current form it cannot. Yes it’s not there fault but really if they don’t keep updating this stuff the device would become pretty useless within months. Media standards are changing constantly, this is the game they have entered into.

Well, your right!   I had the same problem as you using version 4.2 of mkvtoolnix  because I only reset the compression to none on the audio track.

You must select the video track and set compression to none and also the audio track and set compression to zero.

I then could play the remuxed file with audio on my first generation WD media player.

CAN ANYONE TELL me where to download mkv merge(mkvtoolnix) version 3.3 for windows???

I would rather use this version as I understand you would not have to go through these steps before remuxing ythe file??

Appreciate any help!

tallfire wrote:

 

CAN ANYONE TELL me where to download mkv merge(mkvtoolnix) version 3.3 for windows???

 

YES I CAN!

(Sorry, couldn’t resist.) Videohelp.com keeps old versions of almost everything video-related. For this, go to:

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MKVtoolnix/old-versions

tallfire wrote:

 

I would rather use this version as I understand you would not have to go through these steps before remuxing ythe file??

 

That is correct; 3.3.0 defaults to no (and doesn’t allow, for that matter) compression settings in the Advanced tab.

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Charlie Summers replied:

YES I CAN!

(Sorry, couldn’t resist.) Videohelp.com keeps old versions of almost everything video-related. For this, go to:

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MKVtoolnix/old-versions

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Thanks alot.  I searched around for this prior to asking but only found the 4.2 version.  And , oh by the way, sorry for those caps!!

    • *> netbuster wrote:> The output file gets a bit smaller than the original> * * *

I’m really confused by this, since the ones I remux are also consistantly smaller than the originals, not larger as one would expect if this header compression was a good thing.

Are we really having our devices (not just WDTV) broken because of a default that makes the files larger by a meg or two? Or am I missing something?