Some mkv files and some MP4 will not play on BR player

[Abel Magwitch]

I have played many videos of many file types on my Toshiba BR player via media server from my laptop and by a usb memory stick. I moved my TV/Blu ray around and now I am unable to find all the users on my laptop when I use media server (I am not out of range) and I cannot open the files on the user that I can see. I can navigate thru the folders as before but no files appear. When I use the usb stick it says "file type not supported". I have changed files that won't play to the same as ones that do, such as MKV or MP4 but they will not play when others do.
All connections are the same, network is working, I am at a loss.

Help would be great

Abel

[Baldrick]

Changed the files? How? Reconverted?

Have you tried compare the files the works with the ones that doesn't ? Like video codec, frame size/resolution, etc. Identify the video details with Mediainfo.

[Abel Magwitch]

I will go there now thanks.

[october262]

did you recently do any kind of firmware/software update on your Toshiba BR player player ??

[theewizard]

what do you mean changed things around
new router, cable to wifi, different room,
could be some network address are changed, that the BR player is no longer getting access

but the problem with USB drive connected to BR player, seems to indicate a problem with the BR player

[Abel Magwitch]

The media server option on my Blu Ray player(I am not very well versed in the terminology here) allows me to search for and play files from my laptop. The folders are there, some of which I can't see on my laptop alone yet they appear on my TV when searching through the media server. I have gone through the search process many times and played videos with no bother other than to take some characters or symbols from the file name. I have used all the regular file types successfully.
Then I moved the TV and blu ray etc around the living room. All connections remain the same but I have installed fibre broadband in the last month, before the move about not after.
Now I cannot see files only folders through the media server, the usual folders but no files. I navigate to the final "video" folder but it appears empty.
I tried moving files on to my usb stick.
I struggle to play some movies on the usb stick. I had two movies as mp4's, they would not play I had the error saying wrong file type. Other movies as mkv played OK. So I converted the mp4 to mkv using Handbrake. Now the converted mkv's won't play and their properties do not show when I cursor over them as the other mkv do.

I think this explanation is crap so please bear with me I have memory troubles.

I have not updated firmware unless it was automatically installed via the network?

I have looked at mediainfo it is fiendishly complicated for me, It has confused me terribly although I have searched for simple instructions nothing has helped.

Thanks for you answers guys.

Abel

[theewizard]

mediainfo is simple to use

install the program

browse your folders and files
right click
choose "open with"
the choose media info
IF media info is not in the list
scroll to the bottom and choose
open with other program
when the window opens
browse to the program folder and chose media info

alternatley you can open media info and browse for files from there
like any other program
after you have done this a few time
your PC will display media info in the list
when you right click on the file name

[netmask56]

The MKV files and the MP4 files may have in some of them extra audio tracks and lots of subtitles tracks and possibly a chapters track along with the picture and audio. That's where MediaInfo comes in handy it will show all the content of your files.

Not all media players are equal - some will play just about everything whilst others are restricted to a 'vanilla' file, ie just audio and picture and maybe one srt subtitle track.

If this is the case with your files ie the ones that play are fairly simple and the ones with multiple audio and other tracks then an easy and quick way to fix them, without re-encoding or any loss of quality is to use MKVMergeGui to make a copy and untick all the unnecessary tracks. Normally take about 10 minutes or less for a full movie length.

Here's what a mediainfo report looks like - this one shows video, DTS audio, SRT subtitle and Chapters.

Format version : Version 4 / Version 2
File size : 6.56 GiB
Duration : 1h 28mn
Overall bit rate : 10.6 Mbps
Encoded date : UTC 2013-09-27 09:48:10
Writing application : mkvmerge v6.4.1 ('Omega Point') built on Sep 16 2013 22:05:10
Writing library : libebml v1.3.0 + libmatroska v1.4.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 28mn
Bit rate : 9 116 Kbps
Width : 1 488 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.378
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.237
Stream size : 5.50 GiB (84%)
Writing library : x264 core 138 r2358 9e941d1
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=18 / lookahead_threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=9116 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Mode : 16
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 28mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 509 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 93.750 fps (512 spf)
Bit depth : 24 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 954 MiB (14%)
Language : English
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Text
ID : 3
Format : UTF-8
Codec ID : S_TEXT/UTF8
Codec ID/Info : UTF-8 Plain Text
Language : English
Default : No
Forced : No

Menu
00:00:00.000 : en:00:00:00.000
00:08:38.768 : en:00:08:38.768
00:18:19.348 : en:00:18:19.348
00:30:23.947 : en:00:30:23.947
00:40:55.495 : en:00:40:55.495
00:48:45.673 : en:00:48:45.673
01:00:53.483 : en:01:00:53.483
01:09:29.916 : en:01:09:29.916
01:18:29.038 : en:01:18:29.038

The attached image shows what this same file looks like in MKVMergeGui - if you wanted to remove the subtitles and chapters you would simply untick the box.

[Abel Magwitch]

I will visit these places thank you

[Abel Magwitch]

OK I have tried Mediainfo, I could not, despite numerous attempts retrieve a page in anyway similar to the example provided by netmask56. I did however manage to slim down then "Mux" my files with mkvtoolnix-gui which I found to be a newer alternative to the MKVMergeGui as recommended by netmask56.
Still no difference. I can play other files from my usb stick, apparently identical to my problem files and inspected through mediainfo with equal lack of success, without any difficulty. All files with simple file names etc and if I remember correctly the other mkv files that play happily were converted through handbrake the same?

There is also the problem with my media server. Why it will not display the contents of my folders, or indeed the other user on my laptop as it did previously, before it was moved carefully four feet across my living room?

Aaagh say I?!

[Ai Haibara]

OK I have tried Mediainfo, I could not, despite numerous attempts retrieve a page in anyway similar to the example provided by netmask56.

For MediaInfo, select Text from the View menu. That will give you a detailed report that you can also copy and paste wherever you want, like netmask56's sample report.