MKV Streaming, Updating Firmware, Back-up's & system.exe file... Please help!

Community Archives WD ShareSpace
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I have a few questions and I would really appreciate any help offered. I’ve looked through the forums but all seemingly relevant posts are just making me more confused.

What I have:

8TB Sharespace in Raid 5 Firmware version 2.2.91 with MioNet 4.3.1.12 & Twonky version 5.1.7

PS3

XBox 360

Samsung Blue-ray Home Theater

What I want to do:

I would like to stream MKV files to my devices. I currently cannot stream MKV files from my NAS to any of my other equipment. The files show up but will not play. For example on my PS3 I get the error Unsupported Format. If i want to stream an MKV I must first use mkv2vob to convert it and then play the mpg files on my PS3.  I would very much like to skip this step. From what I’ve read it is my understanding that other people are able to play MKV’s on their PS3’s I just don’t know how they managed it. Also I have been keeping both copies in the hopes of being able to use a more universal format on all my devices rather than being stuck with the mpgs from mkv2vob that only my PS3 will play. This is causing a HUGE waste of space on my Sharespace and it’s now full. (about 1.67 gb of space left) Ideally I’d like to be able to stream to all three devices but a solution that make the MKV’s work on any one of them would make me thrilled. My preference is the PS3 but I’ll happily take either as long as it works.

I don’t really care about updating the Firmware on my Sharespace unless it wil fix my mkv streaming problem or make it run considerably faster. Then I’ll be more than thrilled to do it, but I’m not really sure what all that involves and everything I’ve tried to read about the upgrade seems to be all people who’ve lost access to their sharespace entirely when trying to upgrade and the main solution seems to involve loosing all data, so I’m terrified to try. Should I back up my whole NAS before I attempt an upgrade? Is there someway to do that besides going through windows and copying everything one at a time to another set of hard drives? I don’t actually 5.36TB of extra HD space sitting around for me to copy everything to.

Also: I had run Kaspersky and it told me that the file system.exe in my main share directory had a virus and that it wasn’t fixable and needed to be deleted. Before I delete it. Does anyone know if this is a real file for the Sharespace or just a cleverly named virus file? I’ve not run it of course and I don’t remember it being there before but I didn’t want to take a chance deleting it if i need it for something. If I do need it is there some way to get another copy so I can delete the one I have with this “virus” in it and have a clean version?

Sorry, if some of my questions are stuipd. This is my first NAS. Again, I really appreciate any help that can be offered. Thank you

Edited to correct typo.

2

If you’re using Twonky, it won’t stream mkv’s.  Twonky doesn’t support streaming mkv’s.  sorry.

3

hmm, well Twonky seems to think they do… they were pretty adamant about it when I asked them but coudln’t help me figure out why it wasn’t working form my sharespace.

If Twonky doesn’t work than can someone please educate me on how I can do this some other way? I know there are programs I can run on my computer that will transcode them on the fly and all the jazz but it kinda defeats the purpose of buying a nas as a media server, if it doesn’t work stand alone.

4

Download a free program called PS3 Media Server and install it your desktop or laptop. However bear in mind that transcoding a MKV requires a real powerful processor preferably a QUAD-Core or or i5 or i7. And to ensure that the video plays perfectly run it on an ethernet connection or if your wifi singal strength is strong then you should have no problems. With regards to the software mentioned, the installation and usage details are self explanatory.

Good Luck

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Thank you for your help. I appreciate your input, however installing a program on my computer and running the media from my sharespace through my comuter to my devices is counter productive to my need. I already have a system set up in the event that I have media on my computer I want to play, which I frequently do. What I want to do is play directly from my NAS without using my computer at all. It’s the reason I bought a NAS rather than just 4 2TB internal Sata drives to begin with. I am looking for a solution that will prevent me from having to leave my computer on 24/7. My computer is a gaming system and not meant to be left on at all times, not to mention really expensive electricity wise to run all the time.

Perhaps I have simply over estimated the capabilitys of this NAS. It’s very disappoiting, especially with as much money as I shelled out on it. I wonder if there is another NAS out there that does do what I’m looking for and if so could I just pull out my drives in the Sharespace and stick them in that one? Hmmmm… I may have to do some research on that.

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Your only option is to buy a media tank (PopBox, for example) that will read files off your NAS and can play pretty much all types of video, including MKV’s, without the need to have your computer on.