My MP4 video files with AVC encoding won't play at all. Please help

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live & Live Plus
1

Hi,

I did use the search but haven’t found an answer to my problem. I just got the WD TV Live and upgraded to the latest (official) firmware. It does play most of the stuff I tried to far, but unfortunately I’d like to watch a lot of files with the encoding shown below, which the WD TV Live doesn’t play. It says it can’t play a file of that type right away. Is there anything I can do about it, save re-encoding? From the specs, I was under the impression that the AVC codec is supported.

This is the media info output for one of those files:

filename[TSE3.8 1440x1080 BDAV].mp4

General / Container Stream # 1
   Total Video Streams for this File → 1
   Total Audio Streams for this File → 1
   Video Codecs Used → AVC
   Audio Codecs Used → AAC LC
   File Format → BDAV
   Play Time → 3mn 39s
   Total File Size → 109 MiB
   Total Stream BitRate → 4 167 Kbps
Video Stream # 1
   Codec (Human Name) → AVC
   Codec Profile → High@L4.1
   Frame Width → 1 440 pixels
   Frame Height → 1 080 pixels
   Frame Rate → 29.970 fps
   Total Frames → 6577
   Display Aspect Ratio → 16/9
   Video Standard → NTSC
   Scan Type → MBAFF
   Colorimetry → 4:2:0
   Codec Settings (Summary) → CABAC / 2 Ref Frames
   QF (like Gordian Knot) → 0.082
   Codec Settings (CABAC) → Yes
   Video Stream Length → 3mn 39s 452ms
   Video Stream BitRate → 3 811 Kbps
   Bit Depth → 24 bits
   Video Stream Size → 99.7 MiB (91%)
Audio Stream # 1
   Codec → AAC
   Audio Stream Length → 3mn 39s 29ms
   Audio Stream BitRate → 182 Kbps
   Audio Stream BitRate Mode → CBR
   Number of Audio Channels → 2
   Sampling Rate → 48.0 KHz
   Bit Depth → 16 bits
   Audio Stream Delay → 11h 56mn
   Audio Stream Size → 4.75 MiB (4%)

If you could help me that’d be great. I like the WD TV Live but need support for this kind of file. 

Thanks
Ben

2

Welcome to the forums.

Looks to be NOT one of the resolutions supported (it’s 1440x1080, rather than, say a 1080p or some sort).

I’m afraid you’ll be out of luck without re-encoding (although you can alsways try running through a muxer like mkvmerge to create an MKV file).  A file of this length would re-encode very quickly on almost any machine, though (using Handbrake and the High Preset is what I would recommend).

3

Hi Mike,

thank you for the reply. Following a hint from another WD TV Live message board, I changed the file suffix from .mp4 to .m2ts, and it played fine, even at the non-standard resolution.

Apparently, the WD TV Live doesn’t like BDAV inside an (alleged) MP4 container.

It would be great if the WD TV Live just ignored the file suffix and determined the compatibility from the given metadata.

4

Katsukare, I agree with that completely.   WDTV relies too much on the hints provided by the extension, but even Windows does that… (And we all know what THAT means… :slight_smile:

5

What’s this “Windows” thing you’re mentioning? :manvery-happy:

6

Katsukare wrote:

Hi Mike,

 

thank you for the reply. Following a hint from another WD TV Live message board, I changed the file suffix from .mp4 to .m2ts, and it played fine, even at the non-standard resolution.

 

Apparently, the WD TV Live doesn’t like BDAV inside an (alleged) MP4 container.

 

It would be great if the WD TV Live just ignored the file suffix and determined the compatibility from the given metadata.

 

 

That’s interesting and thanks for posting the information – it may be helpful for others.

Containers are a PITA sometimes.