Again a quick remux in MP4box and its playable. So thats a fix for those who have the odd mp4 that wont play, for the rest we just hope that WD realise this and are working on a fix as we speak…
barrygreybeard wrote:
Finally and mp4 video file my WDTV can’t play. Its the way it is muxed that the new firmware doesnt like.
Muxed with what?
Techflaws wrote:
barrygreybeard wrote:
Finally and mp4 video file my WDTV can’t play. Its the way it is muxed that the new firmware doesnt like.
Muxed with what?
I dont know how the original was muxed, it is the MP4 reffered to in the link quoted in my post.
No one needs to repair any video files. These are files that work with no issue on all earlier versions of firmware. This is down to wd to resolve.
I think this has something to do with the metadata in the file. Using FFmpeg to remux and remove all metadata solved the problem for me.
You can download FFmpeg for various systems here: https://ffmpeg.org/download.html
If you are on a Windows systen then you can use the following batch file to remove metadata from all mp4 files in the same folder as the batch file.
@ECHO OFF
SET FFMPEG="C:\Path\to\ffmpeg.exe"
FOR %%a IN ("*.mp4") DO %FFMPEG% -i "%%a" -map_metadata -1 -map_chapters -1 -c:v copy -c:a copy "%%~na".CLEAN.mp4
Simply change the path to the ffmpeg.exe file to match your system and then save as CleanMP4.bat. When you run this batch file in any folder with an mp4 file it will remux it and remove the metadata and chapters info. Only takes a couple of seconds per file, there is no re-encoding and there is no change in quality. Once done, delete the old file.
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mkvmerge usually does the trick for me 
(remuxes mp4 > mkv)
I use MP4Box with My MP4Box GUI for remuxing which does a good job. http://my-mp4box-gui.zymichost.com and mp3tag for editing metadata of MP4 files http://www.mp3tag.de/en/
The alternative is to rollback and wait for a new firmware revision.
Agreed, both mkvmerge and mp4box are great options. I like the batch file method because it allows you to do 1 file or 100 files with the same amount of input, one click. This also combines the activity of remuxing and removing metadata in the same step. I think everyone should use whatever tools they are comfortable with, just thought that some people might like the automation that this option offers. FFmpeg (along with a few batch files) can be an incredibly powerful tool if you learn to use it properly. Either way, looking forward to a fix for this issue.
Thanks for the link and instructions for the firmware downgrade.
My experience has been that all “High” encoded files will not play but all “Baseline Contrained” files -will- play. Remuxing seems to have no effect as that does not alter the encoding (at least in my experience with this issue and the 5 tools I normally use).
I’ll try the downgrade and report back what happens.
Somehow got the wrong firmware loading and it bricked the unit. However, after I pulled the power plug and restarted, I was presented with a screen asking for a USB drive with firmware on it. I used this one:
http://download.wdc.com/wdtv/wdtvlivegen3_rollback_2.01.86.zip
…even though my unit is ID’d as a “gen 1”.
It took a while but it’s now running the firmware noted above (prior to this it was running 2.02.32). Sure enough, all my “High” encoded H264 mp4’s (and m4v’s) are playing properly.
What’s just astonishing is that WD, knowing about this problem for over 3 weeks, hasn’t pushed out a revised firmware to fix it. Someone else here opined that WD was being like Microsoft in pushing out problem-ridden updates. I will respectfully disagree; Microsoft would have fixed the issue within a week after it was quantified; WD has not.
I’m very disappointed. I own three WDTV units (original, Ethernet and this Live Streaming model). No more will I update firmware without thoroughly checked what’s been pooched.
Rumple
Just gota collection of 10 mp4 movies and 9 out of 10 of them fail to play! Probably came from same encoder so whatever the mp4 issue is, they all (bar one) trigger it. Curses! The mp4 issue hasn’t been that bad for me until now, say 5% of random mp4s failed.
As for a bug fixes appearing, WD last year were only pumpig out new firmware every month or so, with bug fixes and new features. As there has been no firmwares for the WD TV Live Streaming from Decembers 2.01.86 till August 2.02.32, I suspect the sw team were busy with the new Grid front end and other bits for the upcoming WD TV box - which has replaced the WD TV Live Streaming and the WD Play, which seems to have vanished from existence! Maybe most had been moved over to a new upcoming product as the current line is looking a little aged compared to other offerings out there. Maybe they just gone!
Personally I had such trouble with Decembers release (flaky wifi loosing media library all the time) that in February, with no fix in sight, I downgraded to 1.16.13 till August release arrived. If the mp4 issue remains unfixed for long enough I may have to go and rollback … to 1.16.13 again?
WD do seem to like adding new apps but break and fail to detec theose breaks in core functionality on a regular basis. Embedded sw is supposed to get more stable after its initial release not less. I applaud adding new apps and features, but they really must check existing functionality before they let it it loose in the field. It is driving a lot of loyal customers to other platforms I fear.
I’m having trouble playing VOB files sinc this update as well. Some play for 15 seconds the sound drops and play speed jumps up to like 1.25X and very jittery.
I have 2 of these boxes and both are doing the same deal. Prior to the update playing a full DVD rip with menus and everything off of my media server was no problem no none of them work.
I’m reveting and waiting for the next patch.
Thanks mate for your BATCH file, this really IS the solution. I didn’t want to downgrade the firmware and this is the best workaround there!
I posted this issue 3 weeks ago and it hasnt been resolved yet? Guys @ WD - what on earth are you doing? I cant watch anything at the moment. I was using Netflix to get by but last night even Netflix failed (probably unrelated). But it just made me realize how pissed off I am that this bug hasnt been resolved. Do we have an ETA? My device is basically bricked until this issue gets fixed. At what point do I look to return the device? I’m thinking a month without a bug fix is my limit. This is total BS.
Well its been a month since this thread was started. Unbelieveable.
mummel wrote:
My device is basically bricked until this issue gets fixed.
No, it’s not since you can downgrade till this get fixed. Less work than remuxing files.
Yes, many times now the unit will not play a downloaded MP4 file for me (it could have been extracted from rar), but the file is perfectly fine in something like Media Player Classic Home Cinema. The unit will try to play such a file, getting as far as displaying the total time in the progress bar and sometimes displaying the first frame, but then just immediately goes back to the file list.
However, I have found the unit will play such a file fine after I use an editor (like Machete, with no re-encoding) to resave it.
Any update on a fix for the latest update?? Not the downgrade fix… an actual FIX from WD? Thanks for getting me excited about new features then destroying the play ability of half my files… Glad we can be your Beta Testers… How about you actually pay people to do that next time…
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Glad I was able to come accross this post. Had the same issues my self.
Signed up to press kudos to UIGuru.
Have subcribed for updates in the hope that when the new firmware is released I will get notification (As I have now diasabled auto-updating on the WD box).
Thanks,
Kris
There is NO auto-updating on the WDTV, it’s just an update notification!
