Film Format Issues On WDTV Live

[ChefWanting]

Hi,

This is my first post so please be gentle. I'm fairly new to file converting and this kind of software.
I bought a WDTV Live and have just ordered a 2TB WD My Book external hard drive to go with it. In the meantime- while its being delivered, I am experimenting with a generic 32GB USB stick to see what formats the player can read and play.

I want to use the player for playing films from the external hard drive. I will use AnyDVD to rip them or DVD Shrink. That part is fine- however this is the problem. WDTV Live can play XViD so to test it I downloaded XviD converter, coverted a sample bit of film, put it onto the USB stick and tested the player. It failed to play the sample film, but will play an Xvid copy of the Hobbit.

Hobbit was a bittorrent file that had been already downloaded. Can anyone recommend better converting software? I basically want to put my PURCHASED DVD catalogue onto a hard drive and watch them through that. Your thoughts are most welcome, thanks.

 

[Kaido]

I'm a really big fan of Handbrake:

http://handbrake.fr/

I pretty much use the MKV container exclusively. If you're using AnyDVD to remove the copy protection, then Handbrake can talk to the unprotected version of the movie and rip it from there. Think of MKV as the successor to XviD.

I have a WDTV box as well and keep all of my movies on a file server, then stream them to each room. Really convenient. I also use MakeMKV, which is free as well:

http://www.makemkv.com/

 

[smitbret]

+1 for Handbrake

I usually rip to .mp4 instead of .mkv because it is more universally supported by devices like iPad, Kindle Fire, Android and iPhone, BR Players, other Media Streamers (most don't have as much support for different containers like the WDTV Live). It also passes through chapter markers. The only thing you'll have to be careful of is making sure the file size doesn't come out larger than 4GB or else you'll need to check <Large File Size> or it won't playback on anything. This won't be an issue with DVDs, though.

For DVD :
Picture Tab Set your anamorphic for Strict and set all of your cropping to '0'
Video Filters Tab Set Detelecine and Decomb to Default. This will take care of any pulldown and interacing.
Video Tab Set your frame rate to constant 23.97fps. You can safely choose a CF setting of 18 and any DVD will come in well below the 4GB limit.
Audio Tab I always use 2 audio tracks with the first one being a 2-channel .aac track and the 2nd being a pass through of .ac3 or .dts. If you don't have the 1st track set up this way it will cause some devices to fail playback.
Subtitles Tab Either check 'em or don't, your choice.
Chapters Tab I like 'em so I check it. Won't make much difference either way.
Advanced There's a lot of stuff here that will speed up or slow down an encode. Here's what I use for better quality:
Reference Frames - 4 Any more than this can cause issues with devices like the PS3
B-Frames - 3
Adaptive B-Frames - Optimal
Adaptive Direct Mode - Automatic
Motion Estimation Method - UMH
Subpixel ME & Mode Decision - 10
Partition Type - Default
Trellis - Default (Encode Only).
If I don't mind the encode taking 30% longer for a little better quality, I will change:
Trellis - Always
Motion Estimation Range - 32

Doing it this way, I have never created a video file that the WDTV Live wasn't able to handle. There are a million arguments for or against h264 settings. www.videohelp.com is a great place for further advice. www.doom9.org is pretty good, too, but it is populated almost entirely by hard core techheads and their tolerance for ignorance and newbies is EXTREMELY low. Also, never make any mention of anything that could be borderline immoral there or you WILL be banned (torrent, rip, AnyDVD, etc.).

BR is a little different, but you didn't mention that.

 

[Phynaz]

This is the best transcoding software you can buy for less than a grand:
http://tmpgenc.pegasys-inc.com/en/product/tvmw5.html

 

[ChefWanting]

Thanks for the great tips guys. I have just tried handbrake on a small clip of a DVD which was an ISO and converted it into a MKV file. However, the WD TV player is still stubbornly refusing to play the file.

Will the USB stick be causing the issue?

The WDTV Live player displays these messages:

" Unable to build and save media library as the WD TV is unable to save data on the connected device. Advance features such as Sort & Filter will be disabled."

Once I click on the selected file I wish to play:

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

There is an Xvid movie on there that does play. Go figure- is my encoding botched?

 

[smitbret]

Thanks for the great tips guys. I have just tried handbrake on a small clip of a DVD which was an ISO and converted it into a MKV file. However, the WD TV player is still stubbornly refusing to play the file.

Will the USB stick be causing the issue?

The WDTV Live player displays these messages:

" Unable to build and save media library as the WD TV is unable to save data on the connected device. Advance features such as Sort & Filter will be disabled."

Once I click on the selected file I wish to play:

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

There is an Xvid movie on there that does play. Go figure- is my encoding botched?

Which WDTV box is it?

WDTV Live Hub or Live Hub or is it the Play model?

 

[ChefWanting]

The box is the WDTV Live streaming media player.

 

[stargazr]

I leave my DVD rips as .vob files, and my WDTV Live plays them fine. I know the files are large but I have the space.

 

[smitbret]

OK, simple things first.

After you loaded the clip into Handbrake, did you manually rename it in the Destination Field of Handbrake? If so, did you forget to manually add the file extension? For some reason, Handbrake will not add back the .mkv or .mp4 extension if you erase them, regardless of how you set the container below it. On a few occasions I've done that and ended up wondering why the files weren't recognized until I just added the .mp4 back on the end through Windows Explorer.

 

[smitbret]

OK, simple things first.

After you loaded the clip into Handbrake, did you manually rename it in the Destination Field of Handbrake? If so, did you forget to manually add the file extension? For some reason, Handbrake will not add back the .mkv or .mp4 extension if you erase them, regardless of how you set the container below it. On a few occasions I've done that and ended up wondering why the files weren't recognized until I just added the .mp4 back on the end through Windows Explorer.

 

[Ken g6]

I've been more or less using the iPad Handbrake profile. It works fine on all the devices I've tried. I also have a few divx files, but almost nothing can play them.

 

[ChefWanting]

I'm beginning to think I'm simple.

Its driving me nuts and I dont know why. I have just converted the iso file I mentioned- a small AnyDVD copy of 20 minutes of a film. Its a small file because I'm currently using the free AnyDVD download before I buy it- and it only converts a chapter and only 3 times. I'm being cautious with my money.

I didnt rename the file. I actually used the ipad profile this time- it created a mp4 file.I changed nothing- I didnt tweak any extra settings, just basic Source File- clicked the ipad profile- started it and waited. The result plays in itunes and the VLC player I have installed. It didn't play on WDTV media player.

Can the generic, not really very good 32GB USB stick be to blame? Does anyone have the patience to stick a point by point guide up for me? I thought handbrake is really quite easy to use. I am sincerely hoping I don't have these problems when the Hard drive arrives.

 

[smitbret]

It should be as simple as convert, save, plug and play. There are very few files that box won't play. Just for fun, go to the file in your file manager and change the .m4v to .mp4. It won't affect anything except your ability to playback on Apple products. Then try it.

I will try a couple of things with my flash drive today and see what I can come up with. I'll pop a couple of different file types on it and see what happens. I stream everything across my network so I'm not up on local streaming like I could be. I've done it plenty of times in the past.

 

[smitbret]

Ok, just loaded up my 8GB Flash Drive with:

.avi - random home video footage
.mp4 - random home video footage
.3gp - random home cell phone footage
.m4v - Fletch from a DVD rip
.mp4 - Fletch from a DVD rip with the file extension changed from .m4v

All files were put in the only folder on the flash drive that was labelled "VIDEO"

When I popped it in, the WDTV asked if I wanted to "sync content from the USB drive to the Local Storage". Mine is the Live Hub with the internal HDD so I don't believe you will have this. I just hit <cancel> and went back to the Main Menu.

Navigated to the Video tab of the WDTV Live and hit <ok>. Pressed the <Red> button to pull up the source list and chose <Local Storage>. Picked "Kingston" (the name of my Flash Drive.

The "Video" folder was there and I was able to playback everything inside it without a problem.

When I removed the flash drive, there was a new folder ".wd_tv". You should have had that as well.

I deleted the ".wd_tv" folder and moved the files out of the "Video folder and just right into the root of the Flash Drive and reinserted. They still all showed up and played back. I'm just as stumped as you.

Is the mystery .mp4 file showing up but just not playing back or is it not even being seen and recognized? I removed the ".mp4" from the file and noticed the WDTV Live doesn't recognize anything and says the folder has no media when I did that. I popped the Flash Drive into my PC and I was able to play the file back with VLC Media Player. So, just to double check, is the file extension (.m4v or .mp4) on the file?

 

[ChefWanting]

To summarise what works and what doesn't:

This plays and isn't my handiwork: the.hobbit.2012.DVDscr.XVID.AC3.HQ.Hive-CM8.avi

These don't and the encoding is my handiwork:
Quantum Of Solace Demo -1.mp4
Handbrake quantum of solace mkv.mkv
Title 2-1-1-xvid.avi
Title 2-1-1.avi

I conclude I'm the spanner in the works and maybe a point by point guide may help? As I have a couple hundred of bought DVDs to drop onto my hard drive, a nice easy method would be very welcome.

 

[ChefWanting]

All the files are 'seen' by the WD player by the way.

 

[Kaido]

To summarise what works and what doesn't:

This plays and isn't my handiwork: the.hobbit.2012.DVDscr.XVID.AC3.HQ.Hive-CM8.avi

These don't and the encoding is my handiwork:
Quantum Of Solace Demo -1.mp4
Handbrake quantum of solace mkv.mkv
Title 2-1-1-xvid.avi
Title 2-1-1.avi

I conclude I'm the spanner in the works and maybe a point by point guide may help? As I have a couple hundred of bought DVDs to drop onto my hard drive, a nice easy method would be very welcome.

Did you try these in Handbrake or MakeMKV?

Also, does your WDTV have the latest firmware?

 

[smitbret]

To summarise what works and what doesn't:

This plays and isn't my handiwork: the.hobbit.2012.DVDscr.XVID.AC3.HQ.Hive-CM8.avi

These don't and the encoding is my handiwork:
Quantum Of Solace Demo -1.mp4
Handbrake quantum of solace mkv.mkv
Title 2-1-1-xvid.avi
Title 2-1-1.avi

I conclude I'm the spanner in the works and maybe a point by point guide may help? As I have a couple hundred of bought DVDs to drop onto my hard drive, a nice easy method would be very welcome.

OK, let's give this a shot. If you follow this exactly, you will get a file that will play on the WDTV Live. There are lots of different ways of doing this, but for simplicity........

1 - Make sure that AnyDVD is running in the background and you can see the little red fox in your service tray.

2 - We will rip and convert in one step with Handbrake. Load the DVD and then from the main Picture Tab click Source and choose <F: DVD_TITLE>. This will load the DVD into Handbrake and you'll see all of the fields populate. Handbrake will automatically identify and select the longest track on the DVD and assume that is the actual movie. From the Presets on the right, choose Regular-->Normal

2a - Click Browse and set your Destination. Make sure that there is a file extension after the title in the <File:> field. Handbrake will not auto populate this regardless of what you have selected in <Container:>. For our purposes choose <MP4 File> for Container:

3 - Still in the Picture Tab, got to Anamorphic and choose <Strict>. I would probably leave Cropping to <Automatic>.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/19/28908488.jpg/

4 - In the Video Filters Tab, set Detelecine to Default. Leave everything else alone.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/526/90059977.jpg/

5 - In the Video Tab, Make sure that Video Codec is set to <H.264 (x264). Framerate (FPS) should be <Same as source> and <Constant Framerate> should be selected. For Quality make sure <Constant Quality> is selected and set the slider for 18.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/542/20908254.jpg/

6 - Audio tab. Make sure that at least one track is showing up in the bottom field. Just do 1 for now. Since we are using the .mp4 container, change the Audio Codec to <AAC (faac)> and set the Bitrate for <128>.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/10/31120685.jpg/

7 - Subtitles tab. Just don't bother at this time. It won't make any difference.

8 - Chapters tab. See #7

9 - Advanced tab. Just leave everything alone for now.

10 - Click Start

Depending on your CPU, it will take somewhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours and you will have a completely WDTV Live compliant file. If this doesn't work, then you have some hardware issues that need to be addressed.

 

[Gintaras]

I don't understand what happened to production of Argosy HV335T Mobile Video HDD Media Player?

I think, it a perfect Media Player, I bought this one like 3 years ago and working like it should...no files, file format refused...I'm sorry now, I didn't buy 2 of these(in case one went broke)

Recently I got .MKV file with DTS sound(~12G) that my newer TV refused to play audio part, however, when I did put USB Stick into my Argosy HV335T(hooked to Yamaha Receiver with 5.0 speaker setup) it played like a charm - it made me feel , like I was in that concert...

I don't know what much I could expect from my Media Player and is ON almost for 3years...
Inside I have 640G HDD(supports up to 2TB), but I play much of stuff from external HDDs hooked thru Players Front USB port...
And I actually coul be able to watch/see any file from my other computers, if I plug network adapter to Argosy HV335T USB front port...

 

[ChefWanting]

So, just to double check, is the file extension (.m4v or .mp4) on the file?[/QUOTE]

I followed your guide to the letter- it was then I noticed the file extension issue you have mentioned previously.

I left it as mv4 and put 2 copies on the flash drive. I changed one copy in windows to mp4. The mv4 file is not even seen by the player- the mp4 did not play.

I also discovered I'm using a different any DVD- I've got any DVD cloner platinum.Should I buy the sly soft anydvd? If so I'm gutted I've already spent £33 I suspect I will have to tho.

Incidentally I was unable to view the images you posted when I tried this as the forums were down. I will try all this again tomorrow when I've got more time to play with. It can't be a hardware problem can it? I will crack this- if it breaks me.

 

[smitbret]

So, just to double check, is the file extension (.m4v or .mp4) on the file?

I followed your guide to the letter- it was then I noticed the file extension issue you have mentioned previously.

I left it as mv4 and put 2 copies on the flash drive. I changed one copy in windows to mp4. The mv4 file is not even seen by the player- the mp4 did not play.

I also discovered I'm using a different any DVD- I've got any DVD cloner platinum.Should I buy the sly soft anydvd? If so I'm gutted I've already spent £33 I suspect I will have to tho.

Incidentally I was unable to view the images you posted when I tried this as the forums were down. I will try all this again tomorrow when I've got more time to play with. It can't be a hardware problem can it? I will crack this- if it breaks me.[/QUOTE]

I'm not familiar with DVD Cloner Platinum. Although I won't be able to tell you how to use it, it may work just fine. It may be where the problems are happening, too. AnyDVD from Slysoft is kind of the gold standard for setting up a system to rip DVDs. If you can budget for it (it is priced according to its value $$$$) it will make your life easier. It runs in the background as a driver and lets you work with DVDs and Blu-Rays in any fashion you'd like. It's only necessary for commercial DVDs and BRs. DVDFab Decrypter has been a decent alternative and MakeMKV is pretty popular. Other options tend to be knock offs of some sort.

Regardless, rip your DVD with what is working for you. After you've ripped it, right click the destination folder and attempt to play it back with Windows Media Player or whatever software you use for playback on your PC. If it plays back it should be fine for Handbrake and just pick up with Step 2 and choose the Destination folder as the source instead of the DVD. Don't worry too much about the image links. It was my first attempt and they are just screenshots of how the screen should look. If it wasn't confusing then you won't need them.

If it were me, I would Google MakeMKV and convert one of your DVDs to an MKV file. Load that on to the flash drive and try to play that back. It won't be compressed but it should playback. Once again, if that doesn't work, you may have a faulty WDTV Live or your flash drive just doesn't want to cooperate.

 

[ChefWanting]

Smitbret- I can't thank you enough for your patience and time. I knew I'd crack this problem and I got there in the end.

The problem lay with the USB stick- it was faulty. I know because I tried a new flash drive using 2 of the files I created and they worked perfectly. God knows why it chose to play the xvid file and nothing else!

Now heres the kicker- it was the dodgy drive I used to test my TV and found hardly any files played. I plugged the new drive straight into the TV and tested the same files I created- bingo- works so I don't even need the WD TV player now. Do you think Ebuyer will take it back after a couple of months?

I've learned alot during the course of this thread- I think I will get AnyDVD- it looks like I wont need to burn to disc then to hard drive- it can go straight to hard drive, making the process quicker. Theres only one more question I'd like to ask- which conversion process creates the best quality?
Thanks again

 

[smitbret]

I wouldn't be so quick to dump the WDTV Live. Chances are that your TV only supports a limited # of codecs and containers, most likely an .mp4 with an h264/AVC video stream and and .aac or .mp3 audio track. That means you'll have to spend a couple of hours ripping each DVD and converting it with Handbrake.

If you keep the WDTV Live and have enough space on your drive, you can rip each DVD to an .iso in about 10-12 minutes and the WDTV Live will play it back like the original DVD with menus and extra features intact and at the absolute original quality. The files will be 4-8GB each instead of 1 or 2, but you'll have decide the importance of your Time vs. Storage Space vs. Quality Level.

 

[Gintaras]

Chances are that your TV only supports a limited # of codecs and containers,

Chances are that you have limited THINKING....It's not good to mis-inform people...

TV - ANY TV, PLAYS WHAT WD TV LIVE SUPPORTS...

If you can hook up 1940 Telefunken TV to your WDTV box - even that TV would play MKV files....

WDTV - is the decoder of any (if) files...not THE TV....

ChefWanting, bring your Question to AVS forums....

AnandTech is good for ONLY Off-0Topic BS.....

 

[smitbret]

WTF are you talking about. The guy was talking about getting rid of his WDTV because he could just plug his drive right into the TV.

ChefWanting, feel free visit the AVS Forums, it's generally a great site. Just be careful of people like Gintaras that are not able to comprehend the most basic of English conversations.