x264 writing application

woodspring · December 14, 2014, 1:19pm

I’ve noticed over the past month or so a bunch of .mp4s that wouldn’t start up in my WDTV media player.

Strange, as they’ve always played fine before now, so I did a bit of research and it turns out that some newer software is using the Lavf56.4.102 writing application for x264 and it just will not play on my media player.

Reads the file, thinks about it for a second and then goes back to the file list.

If anybody else is experiencing such issues check the file in mediainfo up the top where it says “writing application”.

Any files using pre-Lavf56 will play fine.

Yes, I’m using the latest software and have been since it was released. This is a relatively new phenomena and is caused by the aforementioned x264 writing application.

I usually re-encode said files and it doesn’t take long, but it’s a pain so it would be great if a new firmware could be released to address this as I’m sure it’s going to increase in frequency, especially as people begin to realise what the problem is.

Cheersl

JoeySmyth · December 14, 2014, 2:57pm

woodspring wrote:I usually re-encode said files and it doesn’t take long

I hope you meant “re-mux” which doesent “re-encode” anything … (ie. no video/audio quality loss)

Did a test of a MP4 that would’nt play on 1.01.30 Firmware …

Writing application : Lavf56.15.104

“remuxed” using MKV Merge

Writing application : mkvmerge v7.4.0 (‘Circles’) 32bit built on Dec 12 2014 12:10:09

New MKV file … play’s perfect

But, In closing … i’ve solved the MP4 bug issue without the need to “remux” or “re-encode”

(i’m now running Un-Official Firmware) all my MP4’s play perfect now

woodspring · December 15, 2014, 2:24pm

Why do you “hope” I meant re-mux instead of re-encode? Would it have some detrimental effect on your life?

JoeySmyth wrote:

woodspring wrote:I usually re-encode said files and it doesn’t take long