SMP - Driving my nuts!

I continuously get the error “Unable to play the selected file. Please see user manual for a list of supported file formats”.

I get this error weather I am playing from my local WD HDDs. I have 3 2TB WD Element drives, I get the same error trying to stream from my WD NAS 2TB and also trying to stream from my laptop network shares. The only way I have found to fix this is to set all my settings back to defult factory settings. After I do the reset, I can watch a movie… but If I try to start another movie after the first one… I get the same error. 

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Did you update to the latest Firmware? 1.06.04

This is a very annoying bug that many of us have experienced. In my case, it happened after trying to play a file with invalid subtitles. Basically, after playing the offending file, no other file will play, showing the error you describe. You don’t need to reset the device’s settings to correct it; power-cycling it (i.e. disconnecting it from the AC, or holding the power button for 3 seconds) will suffice.

Yep I get that too. As other poster says, it only goes away after a reboot once you have tried to play something it doesn’t like.

I spend way more time rebooting this device, fiddling with settings, waiting for media library to spend an hour compiling about 20 films, than watching anything.

Ugh! I hope they get this fixed. As much as I hated the Seagate FAT+ player, I am ready to return the WD SMP and pull the FAT+ out of the garage! The interface **bleep** but at least it worked!

I really am starting to hate this device. 

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This is a very annoying bug that many of us have experienced. In my case, it happened after trying to play a file with invalid subtitles. Basically, after playing the offending file, no other file will play, showing the error you describe. You don’t need to reset the device’s settings to correct it; power-cycling it (i.e. disconnecting it from the AC, or holding the power button for 3 seconds) will suffice.

+1 - this is how I deal with it too but I even had this with the Gen1. player and it took me weeks to figure out how to cope with it :angry:

Moor208 wrote:

I continuously get the error “Unable to play the selected file. Please see user manual for a list of supported file formats”.

 

I get this error weather I am playing from my local WD HDDs. I have 3 2TB WD Element drives, I get the same error trying to stream from my WD NAS 2TB and also trying to stream from my laptop network shares. The only way I have found to fix this is to set all my settings back to defult factory settings. After I do the reset, I can watch a movie… but If I try to start another movie after the first one… I get the same error. 

Very annoying indeed.  Can you post a mediainfolisting of one of your problemmatic files.  Perhaps one of the gurus here can spot something that might be causing this issue.

Click File/Export and select the text tab.  Then select the output file name and location, then post.

I had a similar problem with certain files playing and others were not even though they were all in the same location. Turns out that the files that displayed the  “Unable to play the selected file. Please see user manual for a list of supported file formats” had permission issues. 

They were read-only and resetting to read/write fixed the issue. 

This is just one of the many movies I have which I get the error…

General
Unique ID : 233682886173120667761427625783192070951 (0xAFCDAFD1F0616525AFDC8973BB1A2B27)
Complete name : \192.168.0.103\disk-0\Catch 44 720p\Catch 44 720p.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 3.22 GiB
Duration : 1h 33mn
Overall bit rate : 4 913 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-11-30 13:17:43
Writing application : mkvmerge v4.0.0 (‘The Stars were mine’) built on Jun 6 2010 16:18:42
Writing library : libebml v1.0.0 + libmatroska v1.0.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 12 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 33mn
Bit rate : 3 305 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 536 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.201
Stream size : 2.17 GiB (67%)
Writing library : x264 core 119 r2106 07efeb4
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=12 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=11 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.90:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=8 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=360 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc=crf / mbtree=0 / crf=16.0 / qcomp=0.70 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:0.85
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 33mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 510 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 : 1 014 MiB (31%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Nothing obvious popping out to me - darn.  Although, not sure about all the specific settings in here, "Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=12 / deblock=1:-3:-3 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=11 / psy=1 / psy_rd=0.90:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=8 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=360 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc=crf / mbtree=0 / crf=16.0 / qcomp=0.70 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:0.85 ".

Also, “Format settings, ReFrames : 12 frames” looks high compared with my files; usually around 2 frames or so but not sure if this would cause the problems you’re seeing.

Lastly, I noticed the mkvmerge version is somewhat outdated.  Try installing the latest version and then run one (perhaps this one) through it again w/out changing anything, and then try to run the updated output file.

Good luck!

I think what is making most of us very angry is not the fact that the SMP refuses to play a particular video file. It is the fact that you get the following error message:

“Unable to play the selected file. Please see user manual for a list of supported file formats”

As well as the fact that the SMP will not be able to play any other video file until the unit is restarted (rebooted).

The built in media player on my Samsung TV will occasionally refuse to play a bad video but at least you can back out of it and try another file. This was also true on the Micca EP600 that I returned for other reasons.

I really want to like this WDTV LIVE SMP. The Western Digital people have to be a little more responsive to the needs of the consumer or else the consumer will strike back. See how some consumers are bashing this unit on Amazon recently. Many people refer to the Amazon ratings even when they intend to buy something elsewhere.

flash,

Understandable, but like others have posted to this issue in another thread, not all users are not having the same issues you’re having.  I for one do not, and I have two SMPs and one Live plus.  Most of my files are BD quality mkvs (high bit rate) and the rest are regular DVD quality - and no issues.  All uncompressed.

Your particular issue could be either a bad WD box, bad/problematic video files, or something amiss with your network.

For note, I do all my streaming from a synology NAS via hardwire (gigabit) and use the media server option in the WD.  If you’re using media server, try one of the other options - and vice versa.

Didn’t the problems start to pop up when  the sce… ahemmm… you started encoding with mkv header compression? As far as I remember this “killed” the media player of the Gen. 1 until we got a firmware update (please excuse me for this Bills_S) months later. :wink: So we will probably have to wait here too but why we can’t profit from previous experiences here is of course beyond me.

To:tjkaz

I guess I am not making my situation clear. I actually called WD customer service about the rebooting problem with my first WDTV Live SMP and was told that I probably had a defective unit. I returned the unit to Best Buy and purchased another new unit from Amazon. With the same 1.06 firmware I had the same rebooting problem on both units. Obviously, the WD representative was either ignoring the real problem or had no solution to the problem.

I joined this forum and quickly realized that I was not alone. Many, many others had the identical problem and nothing was being done about it.

To solve my problem I started every video file on the MYBOOK external hard drive and deleted the five bad videos that were causing the rebooting problems. Since then and after upgrading to firmware 1.07 I have actually had no problems.

What worries me is that sooner or later I will obtain a new video file that WD Live SMP will determine to be bad. Will the SMP still require that I restart (reboot) the system or will it allow me to select another video file without rebooting similarly to the way it works on other brands of video players.

I wish I saved some of those known bad video files so I could test firmware 1.07.

I wish you had too.  We could have analyzed them to see what might have caused it. 

In any case, I have escalated this thread.  I believe we’re already looking into the reboot issue, but this will add fuel to the fire.

To: Bill_S

The Good News:

I redownloaded one of the (MP4) video files that was giving me trouble with firmware version 1.06 which I previously deleted and tried it with firmware version 1.07. It played without a problem. The question that still remains is whether the WD TV Live SMP will require rebooting if it comes across some other bad video file.

The Bad News:

While copying a 700 MG video file wirelessly from my Windows 7 PC via the WD TV Live SMP to a folder on my WD MYBOOK external hard drive a scary thing happened.

First, the file that I was copying stopped dead and required that I abort the attempt.

Second, I noticed that all 51 of my existing video files in that folder were gone. They were somehow deleted. I did notice that the amount of free space on the external hard drive did not change. My conclusion was that there was a conflict of operating systems between the WD TV Live SMP and Windows 7 and that the files could be recovered.

Third, I disconnected the external hard drive from the WD TV Live SMP and connected it directly to my Windows 7 PC upstairs. Windows 7 immediately informed me that there were files that were not handled correctly and asked me if I wanted to fix it. Of course I said yes and all of my 51 video files reappeared on the hard drive.

I read on this forum that others had similar experiences. I am not sure if they were able to recover their files.

Deleting of files sounds like a serious problem that should move it up the priority list of problems areas that have to be addressed by Western Digital. A WD device must get along with other operating systems.  

We had an issue crop up before where when copying files with the same first name and a space caused this.  Not everyone had the issue, but quite a few did, so we fixed that in this latest update. 

I hate to do this, but can you try replicating it again, maybe with a different drive, so that you won’t lose any other files?  Write down what you did, along with any computer, OS, and other hardware information, and I’ll pass this along.

To: Bill_S

Unfortunately it is virtually impossible for me to repeat what I had done to cause the deletion of files problem. You see, I have copied files before the exact same way several times without any problems. Also, the name of the file was not a duplicate of any other file in the folder. This problem may have occurred because the external hard drive may have gone into sleep mode which is why I had to abort copying the one video file.

You may want to look at this problem using a different approach. The fact still remains that every time I do any type of file management on the WD TV Live SMP unit such as deleting or moving files, I will get an error message as soon as I directly connect the external hard drive to my PC via a USB connection. There is definitely an operating system incompatibility between Windows 7 and the WD TV unit that I think is at the root of the whole problem.

Just for the record, I am using Windows 7 on my PC containing a 1 TB Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive and using a Wi-Fi connection to connect to the WD TV Live SMP unit with a 0.5 TB WD MYBOOK external hard drive connected to it.

The sleeping mode of both hard drives is another major problem.

My 1 TB PC hard drive goes into a very deep sleep after say 20 minutes of inactivity. To get it running again it is actually faster to reboot the PC rather than moving my mouse or touching a key and waiting between 5 to 7 minutes for the hard drive to awaken. This happens despite the fact that I have setup Windows 7 for NO sleep, NO hibernation, or what ever you want to call it.

It is just as bad on the external WD MYBOOK hard drive. Once it goes into sleep mode there is absolutely nothing on the WD TV Live SMP that I could use to awaken the hard drive. I am forced to disconnect and reconnect the power on the hard drive to get the WD TV Live unit to see it again.

Have any ideas as to what can be added to the WD TV Live unit to awaken the sleeping WD MYBOOK external hard drive?

I escalated this.  It seems this is something different than what I’ve seen before.