Western Digital HDMI USB Media Player?? (WDAVN00BN)

[jaxxboss]

I farted

[Tom P]

Is there a way to convert the Format profile : High@L5.1 to L4.1? Total newb here but from what I have gathered this is stopping proper playback on the WD TV.
Thanks for the tip on MKV audio converter. That has worked well converting the DTS. I also Dl'd mkvmerge which seems to allow me to easily strip stuff from the file. I've had this little box for 3 days now and am amazed how well it works.
Tp

[Squash]

Tom P,

The problem is not with the 5.1 level. The WD will play back videos that claim to be level 5.1 with no problem (it has for me, anyway). Certain other applications/devices, such as Cyberlink's decoder or the PS3, DO require the level_IDC be set to 4.1 (unless this has changed recently). Changing the level can be done with h264info assuming the encoding parameters of the file do not in fact exceed level 4.1. This works great on a lot of 720p files, not so much on 1080p.

What is screwing up the playback of your file is the number of reference frames. Playback of AVC files on the WD seems to be limited by the size of the Decoded Picture Buffer implemented in the WD. This DPB size appears to match the upper limit of the HDDVD/Bluray level 4.1 standard: 1920 X 1280 X 4 ref frames = 8,294,400 (plus about 50% extra for other stuff).

I have seen a few exceptions to this rule posted in other forums, though. One was 1920x800x 6 ref frames = 9,216,000. The others were a couple of 1280x720 files with a large number of ref frames. Maybe some of the overhead in the DPB was able to be allocated in these cases, I don't know.

Your computer's software player can set any buffer size it wants, so playback won't be a problem there.

The only fix that I know of for your file would be to re-encode with 4 ref frames or at a lower resolution. But I could be wrong. If you want to try the level change, instructions are here:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12680502#post12680502

Higher reference frames apparently only offer a significant advantage if the source material is highly repetitive, like anime. For live-action video, anything outside the limits is pretty much a waste. Hopefully more people will become educated about this, and how it affects playback on stand-alone devices.

More info, if you're interested:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12704139#post12704139
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=12728994#post12728994

And welcome to Videohelp.

[FulciLives]

I have a PS3 and have run across H.264 video files that say "Level 5.1" and when you change it to "Level 4.1" it is an "iffy" thing as sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

My understanding is that DXVA calls for 3 reference frames and when using the PS3 / XBOX 360 mode in XVID4PSP you get 3 reference frames. That's the program I mostly use but I have used MeGUI a couple of times and I think it also did 3 reference frames.

However like I said I have downloaded some with more than 3 reference frames and some of those have worked ... some did not work. This even when having changed to "Level 4.1"

If you have a MKV with H.264 video and AC-3 audio with no need of subtitles then just use tsMuxeR to create a M2TS file. This works with the WD media player and tsMuxeR can change the profile to Level 4.1 if need be. Such files also work on the PS3. Assuming there aren't too many reference frames etc.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Tom P]

Well I'm getting an education here. I spent most of the day playing with the files. Last week I didn't know what this MKV container thing was all about but now I think I am getting a bit of a handle on it. I went through a lot of processing but never had any success. When I reduced the ref frames to 4 and set it to 4.1 all I would get was a mostly green screen. Some of the MKV's have up to 8 ref frames in them. If these files were once on a BD they were encoded @ level 4.1 with 4 reference frames? Is that the standard?

[VoodooEvil]

Hello.

People have posted that they are capable of playing mt2s files.
I am able to isolate the main movie off my blu-ray movie, but can not get wd player to play it.
any ideas...
thanks joe

[Squash]

VoodooEvil,

Check with mediainfo to see if the video is VC-1. The WD doesn't support VC-1. There's been some speculation that it might support it in the future, as the WD's chipset is the same as that in the Popcorn Hour player, which is capable of VC-1 playback.

There are several posts around here about converting VC-1 if you have to, but I've never done it.

[jagabo]

Rename .M2TS file to .MTS? Remux with TSMuxer?

[damorsoft]

I am still wondering, can you plug an external
DVD player (USB) into this device and play MKV files from DVD?

Perplexed

[Tom P]

From info gathered on the av science forum dvd drives are not supported.

[jbaruch76]

ok, so i am having a couple problems with my player that are ruining my movie viewing. first, i am running a fantom 1 tb external drive, i believe there is a wd caviar drive inside and it takes close to an hour to index everything, but when i go through my videos (very slowly, ~8 seconds per button press) they are all there. is there some way to make it stop scanning my drive? it is very frustrating because I am constantly putting new content on the drive and then every time I have to wait again. Second, i have many mkv files and only a couple of them work without any problems. most of them are just very pixelated, then it will jump to being fine and then as the video moves again it becomes more pixelated. it is unwatchable. or, there is no sound, which i assume is because it is dts audio whcih needs to be converted to ac3, so i don't really need help there, but the other thing is very frustrating. and none of my wmv files work, does this not support wmv? they were made to be played with the xbox 360, where they do work fine, but my xbox just broke so i cant' use them anymore. if anyone can help, thanks.

[Squash]

The new firmware has been posted:

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=1001&lang=en

Looks like they've fixed the playback issues with MKV files that exceeded the 1920x1080x 4 reference frame limits. I'm able to play several files now that would not play using the old firmware, one of which is 1920x1040x8 ref frames, high profile at 5.1.

Also, support for many more subtitle formats, plays embedded subs in MKVs, MKV chapter support, better playback-navigation through files, and a couple dozen other things.

Looks pretty good so far.

[festmaster]

The new firmware has been posted:

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=1001&lang=en

Looks like they've fixed the playback issues with MKV files that exceeded the 1920x1080x 4 reference frame limits. I'm able to play several files now that would not play using the old firmware, one of which is 1920x1040x8 ref frames, high profile at 5.1.

Also, support for many more subtitle formats, plays embedded subs in MKVs, MKV chapter support, better playback-navigation through files, and a couple dozen other things.

Looks pretty good so far.

But it doesn't look like they have added VC1 support yet. That's a shame as HD-DVD's can be bought for $5-10 on Amazon and Frye's. For the brave you can convert HD-DVD to H.264 with evodemux and Ripbot264, but on my dedicated P4 3.0GH machine it takes about 75 hours.

[Squash]

There are people at avsforum saying that it does now support VC-1. I do not have any samples to test.

If this is indeed true, you'd think WD would have mentioned it in the firmware's release notes. Then again, they didn't mention the fix to the reference frame limit, either.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15361610#post15361610
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=15361243#post15361243

Edit: I just downloaded a 1440x576 sample VC-1 file from http://samples.mplayerhq.hu/V-codecs/WVC1/

Played back with no problems. Whether that's directly comparable to what's used on an HD-DVD, I don't know.

[festmaster]

Sure enough, VC-1 now works. I tested a HD-DVD rip of Casino. For some reason, I can only get it to work in a .m2ts container and not a .mkv. That's not a big deal and I am delighted with this improvement.

[Kinkkujuusto]

Can I connect this to my home thearter system?
Picture would go by hdmi to the video projector and sounds by rca to my amplifier.

[Supreme2k]

Kinkkujuusto,

yes

Also, the new firmware kicks ass! It was already a prtty cool little gizmo, but with all the quirks ironed out, it's even better. Love the chapters in mkv, too.

[zoe1271]

Any tips on playing episodic dvds on this? It won't play individual episodes that are in iso format.

[TBoneit]

I have to agree, I just updated the F/W. The ability to jump 10 minutes per click, Great!

It also seemed to play the wmv's and mp4's I tested it with better. I liked it before and now it's even better.

It looks like the quirks are fixed. I am so glad I managed to score one the first week when BB had them for $99. I got the last in that BB store and from their website the last in my area at that time.

[Supreme2k]

Any tips on playing episodic dvds on this? It won't play individual episodes that are in iso format.

I've been using Handbrake to mp4, using batch mode. You can then put them all in a folder and name & play them sequentially.

[newnews]

Any one know if it supports idx/sub and Xsub?

[olegeiser]

But why oh why didn't they incorporate a dvd/cd drive?

[jagabo]

To avoid having to get a CSS license. And probably size too.

[cameraz]

I just installed the new firmware, and I have good news and bad news. The WD HDTV now plays my Divx videos, something it wouldn't do before. But, when I was playing a .mov video, I tried fast-forwarding it. When I resumed play, the video was extremely choppy and generally unwatchable. I don't know if this was just a bad file, or what.

Also, I was not happy to see that when I powered the WD HDTV off, my USB drive remained powered. I hope they fix this with the next firmware release.

Overall, however, fixing the Divx issue makes this a good upgrade.

[Supreme2k]

Some of the problems are due to user error or lack of information.

I have several mov files, self encoded, that work without any problems. I also have a few downloaded from the net that give me problems even when played on my PC.

I have found that only "smart" drives will power down correctly. I have a WD passport that works fine, but the old drive from my laptop that I put in an external enclosure doesn't power down unless I eject it first.

Another feature that I'm happy about is the chapter support for mkv files. Makes it much easier to move to the wanted parts on a file. That's in addition to the already included "resume" feature.

[jagabo]

I just installed the new firmware, and I have good news and bad news. The WD HDTV now plays my Divx videos, something it wouldn't do before.

Couldn't you just rename them from .DIVX to .AVI? .DIVX is just a .AVI with some extensions to support chapters, menus, etc.

[cameraz]

Couldn't you just rename them from .DIVX to .AVI? .DIVX is just a .AVI with some extensions to support chapters, menus, etc.

Yes. I have done that in the past and it works (sometimes). But I have tons of Divx videos and now I can play them as is.

[cameraz]

I have found that only "smart" drives will power down correctly. I have a WD passport that works fine, but the old drive from my laptop that I put in an external enclosure doesn't power down unless I eject it first.

I am using Sandisk USB thumbdrives. But I plan to get a 500 GB Passport.

[DarrellS]

I've seen a few posts that say this player will play VOBs but if I try to play a VOB, it renders the player unusable. No files on the drive will play after I try and play a VOB and I have to reset the player to factory settings and fiddle with both the player and the external drive to get it to read the drive and play my files again.

Has anyone else been able to play VOBs? I also saw mention of playing ISO files in this thread. Can anyone else confirm this?

[SquirrelXss]

I love my player, its the best thing since sliced bread, the wheel, FTA, combined!