Trouble with playing MKV

WD Legacy Products WD TV Live Hub Discussions
1

Hi all!

I’ve read quite a few threads before posting here. I was hoping to find a quite recent answer to my problem that’s by no means unique.

I’m trying to play a x264 MKV file on my Live Hub but it won’t play. The hub says the file format is not supported.

Since I’ve been reading up on probable solutions for this problem I’ve already tried a rollback (form 3.11.10 to 3.05.10) and a demux with mkvmerge 6.2.0. Alas to no avail.  :frowning:

Perhaps somebody has a solution?

Here’s some info attained with MediaInfo:

Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                     : Version 2
File size                                 : 7.03 GiB
Duration                                 : 1h 1mn
Overall bit rate mode           : Variable
Overall bit rate                       : 16.3 Mbps
Encoded date                        : UTC 2012-03-06 15:54:26
Writing application                : mkvmerge v5.3.0 (‘I could have danced’) built on Feb  9 2012 10:38:07
Writing library                         : libebml v1.2.3 + libmatroska v1.3.0
Attachment                              : Yes / Yes / Yes

Video
ID                                               : 1
Format                                      : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                          : High 10@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC       : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Muxing mode                           : Header stripping
Codec ID                                  : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                    : 1h 1mn
Bit rate                                       : 14.4 Mbps
Width                                         : 1 920 pixels
Height                                        : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio                : 16:9
Frame rate mode                    : Constant
Frame rate                                : 23.976 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling            : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                    : 10 bits
Scan type                                  : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                   : 0.289
Stream size                              : 6.19 GiB (88%)
Writing library                           : x264 core                      
Language                                 : English
Default                                      : Yes
Forced                                       : No

Audio #1
ID                                                : 2
Format                                       : DTS
Format/Info                               : Digital Theater Systems
Mode                                          : 16
Format settings, Endianness: Big
Muxing mode                             : Header stripping
Codec ID                                    : A_DTS
Duration                                     : 1h 1mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                         : 1 509 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                              : 665 MiB (9%)
Language                                 : English
Default                                       : Yes
Forced                                       : No

Audio #2
ID                                            : 3
Format                                   : Vorbis
Format settings, Floor        : 1
Codec ID                               : A_VORBIS
Duration                                : 1h 1mn
Bit rate mode                       : Variable
Bit rate                                   : 96.0 Kbps
Channel(s)                           : 2 channels
Sampling rate                      : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode           : Lossy
Stream size                           : 42.3 MiB (1%)
Title                                         : commentary
Writing library                        : libVorbis 1.1.1/1.1.2 (UTC 2005-03-04)
Language                              : English
Default                                    : No
Forced                                    : No

Text #1
ID                                             : 4
Format                                    : **bleep**
Codec ID                                : S_TEXT/**bleep**
Codec ID/Info                        : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Compression mode            : Lossless
Language                              : English
Default                                   : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Text #2
ID                                            : 5
Format                                   : **bleep**
Codec ID                               : S_TEXT/**bleep**
Codec ID/Info                       : Advanced Sub Station Alpha
Compression mode           : Lossless
Language                             : Dutch
Default                                   : No
Forced                                   : No

2

Format profile                          : High 10@L4.1

Bit depth                                    : 10 bits

 

This is why, Hub and the majority of media players cannot play 10 Bit encodes.

There are a few threads on here about it, ignore the answer saying a remux fixes it, that is wrong. You will need to re-encode the video.

It basically boils down to anime encoders trying to start a new trend that media players cannot handle. Far too CPU intensive, so a show stopper really.

1 Like
3

Aha, understood. Thanks for the info.

But what do I need to do to get the Live Hub to play this file. I obviously have to convert it, but into what and how?

Perhaps you could help me with that as well?

4

wdtvhub wrote:

It basically boils down to anime encoders trying to start a new trend that media players cannot handle

not just anime anymore … It’s spilling over into mainstream encoders as well  (eg. PRiSTiNE)

and yes you are 100% correct, the entire file needs a Full Re-encode to 8 Bits for playability.

(choose you’re fav encoder Handbrake,AVIDEMUX,XVID4PSP etc etc )

here’s a list a 143 video encoders

http://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/video-encoders

1 Like
5

http://darklegends60mb.org/?p=1688

Try this…

If you search 10 Bit to 8 bit Mkv in Google you will see lots of links.

1 Like
6

Thanks for the swift and helpfull answers! Much appreciated.

Because I saw Handbrake popping up quite frequently I’m going to try that one. Any chance of a link to a nice and easy “how-to”?

Clicked the stars for the kudos!

7

http://omfansub.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/using-handbrake-to-re-encode-hi10p.html

1 Like
8

I followed the link and my computer is crunching the numbers now, but my first thought was: Huh? That’s it?!

I’ll let you guys know about the results.

*does a premature victory dance*

9

Yeah! It works!

Took my computer barely half an hour of converting, but that’s okay.

Thanks you for pointing me to this easy solution, you guys really earned your kudos! :smileyvery-happy:

10

No problems.

Glad you got it sorted. :slight_smile:

11

Hmm… Maybe I was a bit too soon with my dance of joy. After about 1,34 minutes the mkv hangs. As I haven’t been reading up on this particular problem I’m at a loss how to solve this. Any thoughts?

**bleep** it, I feel like a little kid having to ask for every little problem he ncounters. Grr…

*looks away embarrassed*

12

No idea tbh.

All I have been doing is searching in Google. :slight_smile:

But the original file could have issues ?, try another encoder ?

13

Sorry for the delay in my answer. Real life kicked in and totally forgot about replying. Oops.

I tried demuxing with MKVMerge (one compiling without a compression [option 1] and one compiled without doing anything [option 2]). I watched the version without selecting a compression [option 1] and it played without grinding to a halt. Yeah!  :smiley:

I haven’t found time yet to watch the version compiled without doing anything [option 2].

Although I now can watch the MKV via my Live Hub, there are plenty of times there are problems though.  :confounded:

There are sudden black screens (audio and video are definetly progressing normal) and lots of white horizontal bars crisscrossing the image. Could these “artifacts” have been created by the conversion with Handbrake? Because these faults weren’t present in the 10-bit MKV (which I can only watch with VLC).

14

Hi all!

Okay, I resolved the whole issue!

All the artifacts turned out to be static caused by an unshielded HDMI cable. The conversion of the files was perfect.

Enjoying the mkv’s as we speak.  :smiley:

Again thank you for the swift and accurate help!