Well, to a point – too many reframes will cause a file to choke.
In general, the best thing to do is to just use the Handbrake High Profile preset. This should correctly convert almost any file to MP4 without issues.
Oh, and you mention sync issues. MP4 files DO have such issues, but they are mostly resolved. However, if you have them, run the file through MKVMerge and on the audio track checkmark the AAC box and that should fix the sync problems.
– too many reframes will cause a file to choke.
Handbrake High Profile preset.
MKVMerge
appreciate the guidelines,
but regret you have passed beyond my sphere of knowledge here.
I’ll google tomorrow and see if i can make some sense of it.
but this is getting difficult …
that said - I do think the WD Media Player is a neat unit - as far as it goes …
Let me help you out (hey, I’m an old man and get *easily* confused by things which pass my sphere of knowledge, although in my case it’s more like a tiny tennis ball of knowledge).
Handbrake is the best freeware program out there for compressing all types of video. Many of us here use it for all our DVDs and blu-rays. You can take almost any type of video file input and produce a MP4 or MKV file output.
There are a number of presets in Handbrake and the best to use with the Live is the High Profile one – this will result in a file which *always* plays properly on the Live (well, at least in terms of MKV. MP4s in the past would have sync issues but more about this in a minute). The preset will take care of reframes (a parameter) for you, so you don’t have to worry about it. You just load up your file in Handbrake, hit encode, and you’re done (and if you have more than one file you can queue them up and encode them overnight or while you’re at work).
The only other thing you might need to do to fix possible sync issues (IF you have them) is to run the MP4 file through MKVMerge (another freeware program). I don’t think a Handbrake encoded file (with the High Profile preset) will have this issue, but if so it’s easy to fix. I’m not even going to confuse you with doing this until you post here and say you’ve got the issue, though.
It’s so easy even a grandpa (me) can do it.
IMO WD should be able to ensure this basic navigation function works properly with ALL formats it claims to support.
“Most folks don’t need to FF through material”
If I bought a car and it had an obvious problem with the steering wheel, I wouldn’t want to hear the salesman say most people only need to drive in a straight line anyway! IMO being able to move around a file, skip bits, rewatch scenes etc. is a BASIC CORE FUNCTION!
“it’s meant to be played and with chapter stops and the 10 minute skip you can move to wherever you want quite easily”
Yes you can - but as I and other posters have noted, that’s UNTIL you press PLAY in which case you can end up as much as SEVERAL MINUTES before or even after the onscreen display!
“so low down the priority list”
Just expecting to have a FF/REW that actually works without erratically jumping forward or backwards through the file is not a luxury IMO - it’s a basic function - refer above.
Let’s bring this back to the central issue:
(1) In our experience, it’s not a matter of fine tuning but erratic jumps of up to several minutes. The behaviour is so bad that if you press FF, skip foward a few minutes then press PLAY, you can end up some minutes back in the file before you even pressed FF !!!
(2) When you are skipping forward the time counter and displayed frame display correctly so it’s clearly something the device (and the hard disk read head and network or USB connection) is capable of doing - the problem occurs when you press PLAY and the counter and displayed frame are erratically reset.
Please be sure to read point (2) several times before responding.
@TonyPh12345:
“some guy from WD actually explained why FF/REW behaves this way”
So they’ve acknowledged the issue? Can you please direct us to this discussion?
I believe someone from WD should address this as a matter of top priority, preferably by answering this thread. The original post was 6 months ago.
You can believe all you want, but that doesn’t make it true (my wife believes in dragons).
I’m just trying to shed a little truth into this discussion – it’s not a priority issue for WD, and it most likely never will be. However, if you want to bring it to WD’s attention you should go to the Ideas tab above and enter it in (but first do a search for it to see if it’s already there and if so, vote for it). You can also call WD tech support and report it as a bug. Those two things will be far more productive than complaining about it on a user forum (which the primarily purpose is for users to help other users solve their problems).
I note you are posting in the capacity of “Honored Contributor”. Can you clarify for us what this represents? Do you have any relationship - directly or indirectly - with WD?
If not, and you have no sensible answer to my point (2), perhaps it is you who should refrain from posting further on this thread (as created by the original poster) and let us get on with trying to get to the bottom of what is a serious issue for the rest of us?
This is purely a users forum. Its users helping users. It is not a WD support forum. This is about the best you are going to get.
Let me help you out
thanks for the explanation.
I appreciate the help
However Brimstone is exactly right
the FF/REW function is very very poor
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“This is purely a users forum. Its users helping users. It is not a WD support forum.”
Well I don’t believe anyone should be suggesting we shouldn’t be posting/complaining about this problem here.
And I can’t see any good reason why WD shouldn’t respond on this forum to address what appears to be a fundamental issue.
As to submitting this as a suggested idea to WD - it’s hardly a feature request!
I also don’t see any point further reporting it as a bug to WD tech support if it has been posted that they already know about it.
This appears further borne out by the the above link that shows 2 other users have reported it to WD back in May.
The question appears to be what is WD doing about it?
richUK wrote:
This is purely a users forum. Its users helping users. It is not a WD support forum. This is about the best you are going to get.
Er, just a quick glance at the top left corner indicates that this forum is hosted by WD. Surely an organisation with a robust quality management system should be gathering its post-market data from any available sources, reviewing it and then implementing appropriate corrective action ? You can’t get much more accessible than a user forum hosted by the company itself.
It beggars belief to suggest that the company is not already aware of this serious bug. It is hardly surprising that users want to know what the company is doing about it.
Personally I’ve seen the problem and agree with others that the behaviour on FF/REW is wildly erratic. From tests I’ve observed, it affects many kinds of common file formats, including MP4 (sorry to the poster who suggested this as a workaround).
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All forums such as these are “user to user” forums – Apple, one of the largest makers in the world, hosts just such a set of forums and while Apple employees do post from time to time (just like WD folk do here) it is by no means a mechanism for support and/or marketing.
And when you post a complaint on such a forum you will also get those of us who will dismiss it – that’s the nature of these forums and if you don’t like it you can go elsewhere. In this case while I do see this as an issue I see it as a very very very minor issue, and I’m far from alone in that. OTOH, my own personal issue with the Live (thumbnails don’t work properly in net shares) is also seen by some as trivial. To me (and many others) it’s a far bigger issue but in EITHER case WD doesn’t see them as problems they need to fix right now.
But – feel free to keep moaning all you want if it makes you feel better. Just be aware it won’t change things any – a ton of us have been complaining about thumbnails being broken for over a year now and it’s not even CLOSE to being done, although it actually HAS made it on the list now. It *might* get fixed by the spring. I wish you equal luck with your issue.
(Actually, I’ll go one better – I’ll even mention it to the WD management type tech folks I know. Even though I don’t agree it’s a big deal, I’ll do that much for those of you who think it is. If nothing more maybe I can get one of them to comment here in this thread).
mkelley wrote:
And when you post a complaint on such a forum you will also get those of us who will dismiss it – that’s the nature of these forums and if you don’t like it you can go elsewhere.
Excuse me ? Why should people posting legitimate concerns be subject to having their concerns dismissed ?
With respect, sir, for someone who regards this problem as being insignificant, you seem to have quite a lot to say about it. In fact, on review of this thread, it would appear that you are making a concerted effort to water it down.
Other posters clearly see this file navigation bug as a fundamental flaw. if you don’t wish to read this kind of feedback from concerned users, I could be tempted to offer you a piece of your own advice i.e. “if you don’t like it you can go elsewhere”
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No, I believe in free and honest debate (which you, sir, do not seem to). I certainly don’t mind you or anyone else expressing their opinions about this issue, regardless of how I feel about it personally. But vice is versa, and I will do the same (and continue to do the same as long as I am challenged – that’s the nature of free speech. That’s why I continue to post on the subject – if I wasn’t being questioned personally on this I would have shut up long ago).
And on my own tirade about the thumbnails not working properly I have no issue whatsoever about people saying it doesn’t concern them or is trivial. That’s their right as well and I would not attack them personally for it.
But the real bottom line here (and if you do read the thread you’ll see this) is that I have tried to shed reality upon the situation. I know people don’t like to hear it, and the messenger is often unpopular, but the truth of the matter is that WD themselves treat this as a trivial issue and folks who get their hopes up are going to be very disappointed that it isn’t fixed to their satisfaction. Some people will welcome knowing this issue won’t be addressed any time soon, if at all. It is to those I am trying to address – the other, more contentious lot I could care less about.
You have been asked:-
“I note you are posting in the capacity of “Honored Contributor”. Can you clarify for us what this represents? Do you have any relationship - directly or indirectly - with WD?”
How about an answer - it’s a simple question.
All those titles for community members merely reflect the number of visits and the number of posts.
Mine has changed from “New Member” to “Occasional Advisor” to “Advisor” to “Frequent Advisor” (and probably others that I’ve forgotten) within a short period of time.
None of the “titles” are meant to imply any connection with WD or Lithium.
RoofingGuy wrote:
None of the “titles” are meant to imply any connection with WD or Lithium.
…except for Community Manager / Staff, etc… :)
Ya, you got me on the “WD Staff” one, but even “Community Manager” doesn’t specifically imply a connection with WD – it just means Bill_S manages the forums. What does imply the WD connection is the WD logo next to his name. 
“For anyone without a WD logo, no connection is meant to be implied.” Better?
