I have been trying to get WDTV Live to see files on my PC running WIndows Media Center on Vista Home Premium. I have managed to add DVD’s and various AVI files to the Media Center library, which allows me to see them in the Media Servers shown on WDTV Live.
And, after some diligent searching, I was able to add MKV files to the Media Center library by updating the registry, as shown in this article:
The MKV files now show up in Media Center in Windows, and they open and play (note that I’m using ffdshow tryout for the MKV codec, which is discussed in the article linked above.)
Now I can also see the MKV files in the lists shown on WDTV Live, but when I try to play them on the unit, I get the message that tells me the file is of an “unknown format.”
Apparently Windows Media Center is doing something with the file that makes WDTV Live unable to decode it!
Any ideas on what’s going on here, and how to get around this, the latest roadblock to enjoying this problem-plagued product?
(By the way, WDTV Live plays MKV files through the “Network Share” PC’s just fine. I’d be happy to use that solution, except that the network shares disconnect every 4 to 5 minutes. There’s another topic for that problem, so let’s not go there on this thread. Thanks.)
Well, generally the Live shows what a media center gives it - and it plays what a media center gives it. Although i don’t use Media Center i don’t think it supports mkv - perhaps you can’t just add a few bits to the registry and have it work.
I would also add that “problem plauged product” isn’t really fair - its the media center which is the problem, not the live - as you said it plays them fine via shares (why not just use shares?)
Well, generally the Live shows what a media center gives it - and it plays what a media center gives it. Although i don’t use Media Center i don’t think it supports mkv - perhaps you can’t just add a few bits to the registry and have it work.
I would also add that “problem plauged product” isn’t really fair - its the media center which is the problem, not the live - as you said it plays them fine via shares (why not just use shares?)
Do us a favor and read the previous posts before posting here. That would save us all some time. Thanks.
As I say above, the additions to the registry make the MKV files show up in Media Center. Media Player does need ffdshow tryout or another codec set to play the MKV’s.
Since we know that WDTV Live has the MKV codecs, my suspicion is that Media Center is transcoding the files on the PC to conform to what it thinks are the capabilities of the WDTV Live, but somehow that’s going wrong with MKV files.
As I plainly say in the first post in this topic, I would be happy to use network shares if they would remain connected for more than four minutes at a time. There’s a lengthy thread in this forum devoted to that problem.
If your network shares work fine and don’t disconnect, then how about enlightening us as to how we can accomplish the same thing?
Well, generally the Live shows what a media center gives it - and it plays what a media center gives it. Although i don’t use Media Center i don’t think it supports mkv - perhaps you can’t just add a few bits to the registry and have it work.
I would also add that “problem plauged product” isn’t really fair - its the media center which is the problem, not the live - as you said it plays them fine via shares (why not just use shares?)
Do us a favor and read the previous posts before posting here. That would save us all some time. Thanks.
And do me a favor and don’t start with rude attacks. I read what you wrote, and i said that i didn’t think some stupid stinking hack would be enough to get it work.
As I plainly say in the first post in this topic, I would be happy to use network shares if they would remain connected for more than four minutes at a time. There’s a lengthy thread in this forum devoted to that problem.
If your network shares work fine and don’t disconnect, then how about enlightening us as to how we can accomplish the same thing?
I too am having the same trouble. Network shares drop randomly - even though my workgroup is called workgroup. When using windows media player sharing it will not play any mkv files (that would play on the network share…but with the drops it’s not practical).
Anyone try http://labs.divx.com/? I am but having other problems atm. I mean uninstall all mvk codecs aka cccp etc. Seems like a lot of work for possibly the same thing. I have networks shares working in win 7 right now. knock on wood.
I would say that playing the MKV file on the Windows 7 box (which is what the registry modification enabled) and allowing Windows Media Center to stream an MKV file are two very different tasks. You may need to use a different streaming server. There are more than a couple listed here ( http://www.rbgrn.net/content/21-how-to-choose-dlna-media-server-windows-mac-os-x-or-linux), but I have only tried TVersity (though it seems to work reasonably well for this).
right, I had no problem playing mkv on WMP. Agree with oyu 100%. I think streaming through WMP is the issue in this thread. Other media servers would be benificial thanks and may solve for now. BTW playon works great
right, I had no problem playing mkv on WMP. Agree with oyu 100%. I think streaming through WMP is the issue in this thread. Other media servers would be benificial thanks and may solve for now. BTW playon works great
I think you mean Windows Media Center rather than WMP. Different animals. I believe Media Center tries to transcode the video to another format before sending it, while a network share just gives the file to WDTV Live and lets it figure out what to do with it. But nobody has confirmed this yet.
