WD TV Live Firmware v2.02.32. Won't play movie from NAS - 'wrong format' error message (MKV, M4V)

Legacy Products WD TV
1

First Time poster.

Ignoring the continued and persisting irritation associated to the WD TV boxes inability to maintain a stable network connection to my media server on a Synology NAS (I’ve given up trying to solve that) the box on the odd occasion did manage to maintain a connection for the entirety of a movie stored on my NAS.

Generally ripped as either MKV or M4V container, using .H264 encoding with AC3 (or DTS if available on DVD). I’ve not updated to Blu-Ray so don’t have that to complicate further.

Today wanted to watch a movie with the kids, booted up WD box, “FIRMWARE UPDATE REQUIRED”… Cool - maybe this might solve the network issue - hold baited breathe…

Downloads - fine

Installs - (in theory) fine. The download completes, shuts off, then displays progress bar for install 1/1, then reboots and shows progress bar install 2/2. Once complete - device reboots again…

Eventually box comes back to life and ignoring the new ‘grid’ display comedy that I tried then reverted back, (tested YouTube it worked), I then went to try and watch the movie I wanted to watch.

On the display it showed

File Type: MKV

Video Codec: UNKNOWN (used to display something else but couldn’t say what for definite)

Audie Codec: UNKNOWN (again used to show something)

Bit rate: 0 

And when I try to play the movie - I get the error message “Unable to play the selected file. Please see the User Manual for a list of supported file formats.”

HELP!!!

I can play this movie on a laptop using VLC, and on my Samsung smart TV, but not on my WD TV Live. 

Tried rebooting the device, tried disconnecting from network and reconnecting, checked the file (as best I can) for corruption, but I can’t see anything.

Thanks in advance for any helpful thoughts - apologies if any response is delayed - 2 very small children take up a LOT of time but I will get back asap to any questions.

Thanks

phleduk

2

There is NO required firmware update! There is a notification of a new firmware being out, but that’s it. Noone requires you to update and you can even turn that message off. Paste the text output from Mediainfo of the MKV that’s not playing so we might see what’s the issue here.

3

Hi Techflaws,

You’re absolutely correct off course - there is no such thing as a “required” firmware update, apologies for my lapse there. Hopefully though it didn’t detract to much for you as part of the story I was trying to paint for people to respond to.

That said it is surprising that for a ‘standardised’ piece of kit such as this, that we see core bugs like this being launched as latest firmware to be installed in products and no information to warn that it’s at best a beta version of firmware. Had it said beta I might not have been so keen to try it out as a possible solution to the networking issue.

Thanks for your ask re Mediainfo. I’ve included outputs from 2 different files that used to work prior to installing this firmware, hopefully this is useful to someone.

.mkv

General
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 2.21 GiB
Duration : 1h 36mn
Overall bit rate : 3 289 Kbps
Writing application : HandBrake 0.9.9
Writing library : libmkv 0.6.5

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 36mn
Bit rate : 2 021 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.195
Stream size : 1.36 GiB (61%)
Writing library : x264 core 130 r2273 b3065e6
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=20.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=62500 / vbv_bufsize=78125 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No
Color primaries : BT.601 PAL
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.601

Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1h 36mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 309 MiB (14%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Format profile : ES
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 36mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 755 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 520 MiB (23%)
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

Text #1
ID : 4
Format : VobSub
Codec ID : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info : The same subtitle format used on DVDs
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

Text #2
ID : 5
Format : VobSub
Codec ID : S_VOBSUB
Codec ID/Info : The same subtitle format used on DVDs
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

And .M4v

General
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42
File size : 1.09 GiB
Duration : 1h 17mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 2 001 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-06 03:46:40
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-06 04:09:24
Writing application : HandBrake 0.9.8 2012071700

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1h 17mn
Bit rate : 1 099 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 560 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.85:1
Original display aspect ratio : 1.85:1
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Minimum frame rate : 8.333 fps
Maximum frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.109
Stream size : 613 MiB (55%)
Writing library : x264 core 120
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=20.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=3 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-06 03:46:40
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-06 04:09:24
Color primaries : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.601

Audio #1
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : ac-3
Duration : 1h 17mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 250 MiB (22%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-06 03:46:40
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-06 04:09:24

Audio #2
ID : 3
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : ac-3
Duration : 1h 17mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 448 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 250 MiB (22%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-06 03:46:40
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-06 04:09:24

Text #1
ID : 4
Format : mp4s
Codec ID : E0
Duration : 1h 17mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 2 161 bps
Maximum bit rate : 4 216 Mbps
Stream size : 1.20 MiB (0%)
Language : German
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-06 03:46:40
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-06 04:09:24

Text #2
ID : 5
Format : mp4s
Codec ID : E0
Duration : 1h 10mn
Duration_FirstFrame : 1h 10mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 3 bps
Maximum bit rate : 8 bps
Stream size : 1.31 KiB (0%)
Language : German
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-06 03:46:40
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-06 04:07:54

Menu
ID : 6
Codec ID : text
Duration : 1h 17mn
Encoded date : UTC 2013-06-06 03:46:40
Tagged date : UTC 2013-06-06 04:09:24
Bit rate mode : VBR

4

The 2.02.32 has problems  with some MP4s so you either need to remux or rollback the firmware. The MKV looks fine and should play, did it so on the previous firmware?