WDTV Live - No Audio Channel Off MKV files Streamed over Network?

Shin555 · 12-11-2009, 6:19 PM

Hi,

I have a bit of a strange and frustrating problem with my WDTV Live.

When a USB storage device is inserted it plays every video file i throw at it without a hitch.

However when streamed over the Network, it has somehow gone bad.

I am using a Belkin N1 Vision Router, the connection is Wired, the PC in use as a Media server is running Vista Ultimate x86, and TVersity. (PS3 Media Server hangs after a while of use with WDTV Live for me)

The only problems i have with Network Streaming are with .MKV files. The video plays perfectly, but it states on screen that there is No Audio Channel, yet it can play it locally through USB.

How would i go about fixing this?

Here are some details from Mediainfo on the .MKV files that won't stream properly over the net.

#1:

Code:

Format                           : Matroska
File size                        : 7.53 GiB
Duration                         : 1h 45mn
Overall bit rate                 : 10.2 Mbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2009-06-25 08:12:20
Writing application              : mkvmerge v2.9.5 ('Tu es le seul') built on Jun  7 2009 11:19:30
Writing library                  : libebml v0.7.8 + libmatroska v0.8.1

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 3 frames
Muxing mode                      : Container profile=Unknown@4.1
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 1h 45mn
Bit rate                         : 9 404 Kbps
Nominal bit rate                 : 9 608 Kbps
Width                            : 1 920 pixels
Height                           : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.189
Stream size                      : 6.90 GiB (92%)
Title                            : Ghostbusters
Writing library                  : x264 core 67 r1162M f7bfcfa
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy_rd=1,0:0,0 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / rc=2pass / bitrate=9608 / ratetol=1,0 / qcomp=0,60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20,0 / qblur=0,5 / vbv_maxrate=38000 / vbv_bufsize=30000 / ip_ratio=1,40 / pb_ratio=1,30 / aq=1:1,00

Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID                         : A_AC3
Duration                         : 1h 45mn
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 640 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Stream size                      : 481 MiB (6%)
Language                         : English

#2

Code:

Format                           : Matroska
File size                        : 1.09 GiB
Duration                         : 41mn 24s
Overall bit rate                 : 3 776 Kbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2008-12-16 03:19:49
Writing application              : mkvmerge v2.4.0 ('Fumbling Towards Ecstasy') built on Nov  7 2008 17:24:23
Writing library                  : libebml v0.7.8 + libmatroska v0.8.1

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 4 frames
Muxing mode                      : Container profile=Unknown@3.1
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 41mn 22s
Bit rate                         : 3 317 Kbps
Nominal bit rate                 : 3 390 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.150
Stream size                      : 982 MiB (88%)
Writing library                  : x264 core 64 r987 e71168d
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-2:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=hex / subme=6 / psy_rd=1.0:0.0 / brdo=1 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / bime=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40(pre) / rc=2pass / bitrate=3390 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:1.00
Language                         : English

Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID                         : A_AC3
Duration                         : 41mn 24s
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 384 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Stream size                      : 114 MiB (10%)

This .MKV file works from streaming over the network:

#1

Code:

Format                           : BDAV
Format/Info                      : Blu-ray Video
File size                        : 4.63 GiB
Duration                         : 1h 30mn
Overall bit rate                 : 7 313 Kbps
Maximum Overall bit rate         : 35.5 Mbps

Video
ID                               : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID                          : 1 (0x1)
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : Main@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 4 frames
Duration                         : 1h 30mn
Bit rate                         : 6 374 Kbps
Nominal bit rate                 : 6 261 Kbps
Width                            : 1 920 pixels
Height                           : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Resolution                       : 24 bits
Colorimetry                      : 4:2:0
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.128
Stream size                      : 4.04 GiB (87%)
Writing library                  : x264 core 61 r949M 60c4f7e
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=umh / subme=6 / psy_rd=1.0:1.0 / brdo=1 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=10,6 / chroma_qp_offset=-4 / threads=6 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=1 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / wpredb=1 / bime=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40(pre) / rc=2pass / bitrate=6261 / ratetol=1.0 / rceq='blurCplx^(1-qComp)' / qcomp=1.00 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=2:1.0

Audio
ID                               : 4352 (0x1100)
Menu ID                          : 1 (0x1)
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Duration                         : 1h 30mn
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 640 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Surround: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Stream size                      : 415 MiB (9%)

Any help please? Seriously don't know what to do, or where to start

Thanks!

next010 · 12-11-2009, 10:13 PM

Tversity is a transcoder (encoding the video into another format on the fly) to eliminate thats the cause download Twonky and use that to stream MKV to the WDTV Live and see if the problem persists.

Shin555 · 12-11-2009, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by next010

Tversity is a transcoder (encoding the video into another format on the fly) to eliminate thats the cause download Twonky and use that to stream MKV to the WDTV Live and see if the problem persists.

Hi,

Well it seems to be playing perfect with Twonky, i think i'll test it out for the remainder of the Trial period.

However, there is one problem. On my PC i neatly placed folders into Categories, i.e. HD Movies and then say Classics, New etc.

So it is one main category, and then sub folders within that which contain the Movie Files in them.

With Twonky it messes it all up, as in it does not show the Folder the Sub Folders were in, so it is all unorganised.

Is there anyway to replicate the view how it is on my PC and TVersity, as in Displaying the whole tree of the Folder, rather than the movie is in here type thing.

Hope that makes sense

next010 · 13-11-2009, 10:08 AM

Yeah thats one of the reasons I dont like Twonky, I could never figure out its confusing menu structure.

If you go into its configuration or the web page config if thats still there there is a section that controls how folders are presented on your DLNA client.

If someone here cannot answer try the twonkyforum.

There are other DLNA servers out there but most tend to be commercial software, the latest beta of PMS might work & is free.

Theres also a new DLNA server called TVmobili claims to have PS3/360 support too might be worth a try. Simplecenter is a free UPnP server thats supposed to work with the WDTV Live so try that out too.