Mkv freezing

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Streaming
1

Morning all, I have just experienced my first freeze up when playing mkv from usb drive. it freezes at the same point every time, is this the chapter issue i remember reading about somewhere?

from when it freezes i am able to go back to the menu, and switch off, but if i tey to watch something else, then the same frozen scene comes up everytime (thats other films on usb aswell as netflix). the only way to get it working again is to go into settings and choose restart device option.

anyone else had this?

any help much appreciated

cheers

2

yes i had this happen for the first time yesterday one one particular MKV which i had watched before without an issue.

I got an image of the movie frozen on the screen the same as you and no matter what i tried to do ie play another movie etc it stayed there locked up.  I had to restart but going to that movie again caused the same issue.

I have been considering deleting the movie and re adding it to the HDD

3

BigRoo wrote:

yes i had this happen for the first time yesterday one one particular MKV which i had watched before without an issue.

 

I got an image of the movie frozen on the screen the same as you and no matter what i tried to do ie play another movie etc it stayed there locked up.  I had to restart but going to that movie again caused the same issue.

 

I have been considering deleting the movie and re adding it to the HDD

im going to try the rip later, rather than the encode, see if it makes a difference. will try it streamed from media server for both files also (not that it shoud make a difference)

4

update on this. Tried the original rip and it plays straight through the ‘freezing scene’. and so far has continued without a problem.

so im thinking it must be the encode. I use handbrake, and the only thing i change is audio to ac3 passthru. that is all i can think it can be?

5

What USB port  are you using? If the rear port,then he has a problem with the disk USB 3.0

The issue is described here.

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Streaming-Issue/SMP-refuses-to-play-1080p-files-from-the-HDD-USB-3-0-connected/idi-p/377519

6

What version of Handbrake are you using?

7

Ok now it’s happening on files I’ve watched before without a problem…

Not sure what version of handbrake I’m running will check tomorrow. But can’t think it’s that as the files worked previously. There’s been no update to the firmware (I’m on 1.07.15 - have been or a while)

Annoying to say the least!!

8

I’m having similar problem with video files of many types - avi, vob, mkv.

I too am on version 1.07.15.

I’ve had the unit for less than a month so I don’t know if its the firmware.

The only files mine plays without problems are flac audio files…

9

Try what is written at a previous message:

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-TV-Live-Streaming-Discussions/Work-around-when-WD-index-files-are-messed-up-suggestion-update/td-p/380423

10

So streaming from pc is fine, what about from a nas? Might be my next route. Although I was chuffed when I could see USB drive on network, and so could my sonos!!

11

Having done more testing it seems as if it is an issue with encoding.

Rips work fine but encodes freeze after a short time. I use handbreak to encode the mkv, setting very high and ac3 passthru.

12

confirming this issue as well…

handbrake 0.9.6  - using normal profile, downscaling 1080p to 720p, audio passthru

any ideas what could be causing this? (the advanced tab has a lot of settings I don’t have a clue about ;))

btw: the files are playing fine on the PC…

13

tried rolling back the firmware to 1.04.12 but couldnt get it to work, not sure if it would of helped anyway! I really dont want to re encode using an older version of handbrake.

I am still in my 30 days return for this item, and am thinking about sending it back, would one of the other WDTV products be better? the hub maybe?

can also confirm the encodes play fine on pc, and it is at the change in chapter it freezes

14

update: remuxed a problematic file with mkvMerge and…it plays fine now!

(I deleted all chapter information)

strangely enough it only happens sometimes. Other files with chapters play fine…

15

Chapters probably weren’t the problem.  It was probably just a badly muxed file.

Most of the time, just muxing in->out without changing any options is all that’s needed.

16

possible, but I transcoded it several times - freezing on the same spot.

deleted chapters: it plays fine.

it’s worth a try - remuxing is done in 3 minutes.

edit:

new problem: mkvmerge produces playable but somehow corrupt files…sigh…

1 Like
17

user08152 wrote:

possible, but I transcoded it several times - freezing on the same spot.

 

deleted chapters: it plays fine.

 

it’s worth a try - remuxing is done in 3 minutes.

 

edit:

new problem: mkvmerge produces playable but somehow corrupt files…sigh…

 

 

corrupts the files nooooooooooooo, seems to work a treat?

18

the files are playing fine on the wdtv now, but in windows they’re corrupt (although playable): no preview thumbnail, cannot rename or delete them…unlocker does the job but it’s painful.

are there any other free tools available to remove the chapters and create a new mkv? (without transcoding)

best solution seems to be having a file without chapters to begin with :wink:

19

are there any other free tools available to remove the chapters and create a new mkv? (without transcoding)

MKVtoolnix

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/MKVtoolnix

Use MKVExtractGUI2.exe   to extract,  and then mmg.exe to merge.

20

that’s what I used actually…hm…

I created a new mkv straight from mkvMergeGUI…with aforementioned results…maybe I should try your 2-step-process?!