I’m currently running:
I’ve spent hours attempting to resolve an issue where some of my movies (both mkv and mp4) will play briefly, with no sound, and freeze completely at around 20 to 30 seconds. The only common denominator that I’ve been able to identify is that the issue is with files that have AAC audio. **It is worth mentioning that these files play fine on the PC and when streamed to the PS3 via ps3 media server.
Initially I battled with a number of programs to convert files until I came to the conclusion that I would rather return this device before converting 100’s of files. I have since defaulted to transcoding the movies via ps3 media server.
Although inconvenient to have to go into another directory and select the proper file, they now successfully play with excellent video and audio quality. If you attempt to access one of these movies in their raw form without transcoding them the movie of course doesn’t work and then EVERYTHING is then “unsupported”. Only fix - Restart the WD.
My question is this - Is there a way to avoid ALL of your content coming back with the standard “unsupported” error message without restarting the WD Live TV?
I get it, the WD TV Live cannot play certain ACC 5.1 audio files. That’s truly unfortunate, but surely there is a way around the device incorrectly thinking that EVERY file it then touches after accessing one it cannot handle is corrupt.
Any insight on this matter is greatly appreciated.
If anyone is interested, these are a list of movies that have no audio and freeze within the first 20 to 30 seconds. I’ll also include one at the bottom that ironically does work just fine as ACC 5.1. It even displays “ACC” when you hit audio ont he WD remote.
===============**This movie does NOT play (mp4)**================
Format : MPEG-4
Format_Commercial_IfAny : XDCAM EX 25
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 5.60 GiB
Duration : 3h 48mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 3 516 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-10-29 07:50:30
Tagged date : UTC 2011-10-29 07:50:30
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format_Commercial_IfAny : XDCAM EX 25
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 3h 48mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 3 196 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 25.0 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 800 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
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) : 0.087
Stream size : 5.09 GiB (91%)
Title : LOTR Ep 1
Writing library : x264 core 114 r1924 08d04a4
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=7 / 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=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=3196 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=25000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / nal_hrd=vbr / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2011-10-29 07:50:30
Tagged date : UTC 2011-10-29 08:00:20
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 3h 48mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 317 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 336 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 518 MiB (9%)
Encoded date : UTC 2011-10-29 07:59:19
Tagged date : UTC 2011-10-29 08:00:20
===============**This movie does NOT play (mkv)**================
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 1.70 GiB
Duration : 1h 39mn
Overall bit rate : 2 450 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-12-27 06:39:02
Writing application : mkvmerge v4.9.1 (‘Ich will’) built on Jul 11 2011 23:53:15
Writing library : libebml v1.2.1 + libmatroska v1.1.1
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 39mn
Nominal bit rate : 2 000 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 688 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.860
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.095
Writing library : x264 core 116 r2074 2641b9e
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=1 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=2.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=3 / 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=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=2000 / ratetol=2.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : A_AAC
Duration : 1h 39mn
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Text
ID : 3
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No
===========This movie however, DOES play… (mp4 AAC 5.1)===============
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 1.45 GiB
Duration : 1h 40mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 2 068 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2012-01-08 21:00:13
Tagged date : UTC 2012-01-08 21:00:13
Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 9 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1h 40mn
Bit rate : 1 787 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 8 572 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 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) : 0.081
Stream size : 1.24 GiB (86%)
Writing library : x264 core 120 r2120 0c7dab9
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=9 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-4 / threads=6 / 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=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=42 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1787 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2012-01-08 21:00:13
Tagged date : UTC 2012-01-08 21:00:49
Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 1h 40mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 288 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 352 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 202 MiB (14%)
Encoded date : UTC 2012-01-08 21:00:44
Tagged date : UTC 2012-01-08 21:00:49
Hypknox wrote:
I get it, the WD TV Live cannot play certain ACC 5.1 audio files. That’s truly unfortunate, but surely there is a way around the device incorrectly thinking that EVERY file it then touches after accessing one it cannot handle is corrupt.
Apparently not. There’s been a lot of annoyed people over this and it still hasn’t been fixed. So I guess, the only way to work around for now is to identify these files that cause the trouble and not use them.
Thanks for your reply Tech, much appreciated.
I’m new to this device and these boards, I did read on the latest firmware update that there were others mentioning a similar issue. How long has this issue been around? The duration on a bug that large is very important to me as I am still within my 30 day return range…
Also, I didn’t mention this earlier but I still sort of feel cheated by having to transcode via the PS3 media server. I had hoped to use this device exclusively. One big downside to running the the PS3 media server when transcoding is the duration of the film is for whatever reason capped at 18:18 rendering it impossible to navigate around in the film. And fastforward or rewind while transcoding? Forget it… You’re just asking for a freeze followed by the unsupported format message… Here comes another WD restart because now no file is viewable.
I understood this system to be a device that I should, in theory, be able to throw anything at it (format wise) and that it “should” handle it.
It’s hard for me to believe that there isn’t some way around this. Even at the loss of quality, like some form of automatic downscaling to adjust the original files unsupported codec to something the device can handle. Is there not a way to install customer “add ons” or something that would allow for the support of currently unsupported codecs?
It’s hard for me to believe that there isn’t some way around this… Is there not a way to install customer “add ons” or something that would allow for the support of currently unsupported codecs?
No hardware-based media player has that capability.
Only HTPCs have that opportunity.
Would anyone be able to tell me what the issue may be with the first two files that I have listed above? I have the audio output set to “Sterio” in the WD setup options. Other movies play just fine (even some that are AAC 5.1 like the third file I listed above). Again the issue is no sound, and about 20 seconds in the movie freezes and then renders every other piece of content as unsupported until a system restart.
According to the user manual this device should be able to play the files I have listed above. Am I missing something?
Audio – MP3, WAV/PCM/LPCM, WMA, AAC, FLAC, MKA, AIF/AIFF, OGG, Dolby Digital, DTS
- AAC/Dolby Digital/DTS decodes in 2 channel output only. You will need an audio receiver capable of decoding these codecs for additional channels.
