Some ISO Files stored on USB drive will not play

I have a number of DVDs that I have ripped  and stored on a 3TB USB drive. They are GOOD ISO files and can ALL be played on my PC using VLC.

When I connect the USB drive to my WD TV live media player however about one ISO file in eight of these files will not play. Clicking on one of these ISO files in the two column listing will cause first the Resume/Restart screen to appear. Then selecting either option will produce the same result. The filename is briefly displayed at the bottom of the screen and then it disappears leaving a black screen that will remain until I push the BACK button to return to the two column listing.

What happens when you turn DVD Menu off in the settings?

What you mean is that they are files that can be played by VLC, you don’t actually know that they are ‘good’. VLC is a software player that is designed to play even bad files.

I discovered a poor workaround. Pressing the Yellow button and cycling to the display that has a thumbnail player in the upper right of the screen will cause the movie to start to play in the thumbnail box. Then switching focus to the thumbnail box and pressing OK will start the movie in full screen. However the playback is fragile and sometimes will restart from the beginning of the movie. Also the skip to the next section buttons DO NOT work and you cannot switch to the movie’s main menu.

I have a somewhat similar problem with one of my WD players. It has no drive connected to it, so the ISO files I play are either on the other Player’s HDD, or a drive on a computer. 

So, my question is:

Are you trying to play the ISO files from a drive connected to the same player, or are you getting the files from another drive via Network Shares like I described?

SpookyArmond wrote:

I discovered a poor workaround. Pressing the Yellow button and cycling to the display that has a thumbnail player in the upper right of the screen will cause the movie to start to play in the thumbnail box. Then switching focus to the thumbnail box and pressing OK will start the movie in full screen. However the playback is fragile and sometimes will restart from the beginning of the movie. Also the skip to the next section buttons DO NOT work and you cannot switch to the movie’s main menu.

When you play it that way you are effectively switching off the DVD mode and playing the main movie. As you have found this means that there is no menu or chapters. It looks like your DVD’s have not been ripped correctly. That may be down to the ripper or in fact the protection on the DVD.

richUK wrote:


SpookyArmond wrote:

I discovered a poor workaround. Pressing the Yellow button and cycling to the display that has a thumbnail player in the upper right of the screen will cause the movie to start to play in the thumbnail box. Then switching focus to the thumbnail box and pressing OK will start the movie in full screen. However the playback is fragile and sometimes will restart from the beginning of the movie. Also the skip to the next section buttons DO NOT work and you cannot switch to the movie’s main menu.


When you play it that way you are effectively switching off the DVD mode and playing the main movie. As you have found this means that there is no menu or chapters. It looks like your DVD’s have not been ripped correctly. That may be down to the ripper or in fact the protection on the DVD.

Rich, I did not know this!  I just checked this out on my main WD player, and see this now.  I have always used List Mode to select and watch my ISO movies, because I did not like movies starting right off as they do in Preview Mode when going down the list.  Also. in List Mode, I always have access to the DVD menu and never even though the menu was absent in Preview mode.  This has never been a problem with one Live Plus with attached HDDs.  Single movie DVD ISOs or even DVDs with many episodes are not a problem to select the episode to watch, etc.  All works like a charm.

The problem I have with this issue began when I added a second Live Plus.  There is not a drive connected to this second player; it gets its feed from Player 1’s  HDD or another HDD attached to a shared PC, or even the PC’s internal drive.  When I have this player in the Video List Mode, and click on a video to start, it begins for a split second and then the player freezes and I need to remove power to un-freeze it.  I can view the shared ISO files on this player via Preview Mode, so that’s how I use it.  But, then, the main DVD menu is absent as you mentioned.  I thought this was some sort of related “problem” but apparently not.

So, the problem IS with the videos not starting correctly from List Mode, and that still has me stumped.  If you have any idea why this player will not work in List Mode when the other one does, I would be most grateful if you can help me solve this one!

BTW, although this second player (by necessity) needs to be set up wirelessly, that is not the cause, because once I have it playing via Preview Mode, it plays flawlessly.  Also, I have set it up wired to check out this possibility, and problem remains.  I also swapped the two WD players, and the problem remained in the “location” and not with the player.

Thanks!

Two USB drives  2 TB and 3 TB connected directly to the unit via USB cables to the front and back USB sockets.