LaCinema Mini HD Connect cannot play MKV H.264 files ?

[centrino3]

Hello, I recently bought a LaCinema Mini HD Connect because its technical specifications mentioned it supports the MKV H.264 file format.
Unfortunately I tried with 3 different files, and no one can be played.
I contacted Lacie; who tells me that I must use a conversion tool.

1- this is truly annoying; as this mediaplayer advertizes clearly to support MKV H.264
2- Lacie cannot tell me which parameter values I have to specify to the conversion tool.

Any help or advice from you ?

Thanks in advance !

[intracube]

2- Lacie cannot tell me which parameter values I have to specify to the conversion tool.

This is always difficult. Manufacturers don't always make this information available.

These pages may be useful:
http://www.lacie.com/us/support/support_manifest.htm?id=10461&guideid=10706
http://www.lacie.com/us/support/support_manifest.htm?id=10461&guideid=10708

To help try and find the problem, use mediainfo, and post the details of the files you're having difficulty with here. It should look something like:
Video
ID : 4113 (0x1011)
Menu ID : 1 (0x1)
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L4.0
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames
Duration : 44s 40ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 22.4 Mbps
Maximum bit rate : 22.7 Mbps
Width : 1 920 pixels
Height : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps

[centrino3]

Hi intracube and thanks for your fast reply.

I'll have a look at the 2 links. But as a first comment, what I was afraid of seems to be confirmed. On the links, Lacie provides video test files; By the way, they provide as HD file an mp4 file, and not an MKV H.264.
What they do not specify, is the exact settings which are compatible with the mediaplayer. This is quite strange as one would expect the constructor (read Lacie) to know what settings are appropriate for the mediaplayer so that it can decode the file...

In the meantime, here the MediaInfo output :




General
Complete name : F:\Movie.x264-RAW.mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 361 MiB
Duration : 1h 7mn
Overall bit rate : 747 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2010-10-22 21:53:31
Writing application : mkvmerge v4.3.0 ('Escape from the Island') built on Sep 5 2010 10:30:51
Writing library : libebml v1.0.0 + libmatroska v1.0.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L1.3
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Muxing mode : Header stripping
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 7mn
Width : 352 pixels
Height : 240 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Writing library : x264 core 79
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / 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=3 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / wpredb=1 / wpredp=2 / keyint=300 / keyint_min=30 / scenecut=40 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=20.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Color primaries : BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M
Transfer characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients : BT.601-6 525, BT.1358 525, BT.1700 NTSC, SMPTE 170M


It seems quite similar to the settings you've specified... Although the frames rate is not exactly the same...

Thanks in advance for your comments

[poisondeathray]

probably header compression

mkvtoolnix >4.0.0 enables by default, and many devices haven't issued new firmware for compatibility

either remux with 4.0.0 or earlier version of mkvtoolnix (you can find old builds archived on this site), or remux with >4.0.0 but disable header compression

[centrino3]

Hi poisondeathray, thanks for your comment. Unfortunately I don't know how to use the tool you recommand (I'm not an expert in re-encoding/remux). So, two questions :

- can the change that you suggest be done using the tool recommanded by Lacie (Handbrake) ?
- if not, you could provide a sequence of actions to do this via mkvtoolnix (via private message if you find it appropriate) ?

Thanks for your support !

[poisondeathray]

if you can avoid it, don't use handbrake, because you will re-encode (lose quality)

by remuxing, you are re-wrapping the container, the video is unchanged (just think of putting it into another box)

get version 4.0.0 or earlier
https://www.videohelp.com/tools/MKVtoolnix/old-versions#download

push add, select your file, push start muxing - it's very simple

the other possiblity is that some of the settings are incompatible in the encoded file (e.g. weightp) , but try the less damaging option of mkvtoolnix first, if that doesn't work , then report back

[centrino3]

Hi poisondeathray , good news ! I got it working by using the v 3.4.0.
But I confess I'm disappointed I've bought a Lacie who was claiming to support MKV H.264 off-the-shelf

Philosophical question : are there other brands (I heard about the POPCORN) which REALLY supports it without having to remux ? Or are always obligated to run trial-an-error test and reverse engineering ?

Anyway, I would like to thank you for your help

[poisondeathray]

nope, they all need firmware updates (e.g. wdtv, popcorn hour, asus oplay etc..)

it's because mkv spec changed recently, header compression is enabled by default

just make your mkv's without header compression from now on (or if you got it from somewhere else, tell that person to make it without header compression - the newest mkvtoolnix has option to disable header compression by default)

[centrino3]

Great; thanks for the tip; have a nice day

[centrino3]

Hello poisonthread, just FYI, miracles sometimes happen, lol : the new firmware for Lacinema now supports a new MKV format : Compressed Header Feature.

More info on http://www.lacie.com/download/drivers/Mini%20HD%202.05%20Firmware%20Release%20Note.pdf

have a nice day and thanks again for your help

[hramat]

The firmware was updated for MKV H.264 support on LaCinema Classic HD also. Does anybody knows if it plays now all H.264 files? I have Sanyo VPC HD2000 which records to Full HD 1080p 60fps and I would like to know if these files would be played without problems. I would like to know this before buying the LaCinema Classic HD

Thanks for feedback

[Samois]

hello all, this is my first post here. I am from germany, so please forgive me my poor english.

I just bought the LaCie mini HD (bridge). The first thing I did was to connect it to my WLAN - no problem at all. After that it found automatically a new firmware, which I installed (v. 2.04). A manual re-check for a newer version always ended in the statement "you got the newest firmware". great i thought, so let's test some MKV-Videos... and then I ran into the same problems as you all did: some MKV-Videos were played and others not.

Even worse: if I tried to play an unplayable MKV-video the mini HD player wasn't able to play other, tested videos of any kind (even simple AVI) after that, so I was forced to reset (off / on) the player which takes a while.

With a big sigh I went online to check for a solution, found this forum and the newest (?) firmware 2.07 on the LaCie website which I downloaded and installed. Some new neat features (picasa, volume control etc.) but the MKV-video-problem still occurs with the same movies.

I could live with the fact, that there are some videos I have to reencode or watch on my PC, but to never know which movie will "kill" my player only by starting it, leaves me with a not so good feeling. maybe some of you can tell me what i have to check in a MKV-video to make sure it will be played on the mini HD.

In the following I post the MediaInfo of a problem MKV-video:

Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 4.75 GiB
Duration : 1h 29mn
Overall bit rate : 7 580 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-07-14 17:04:23
Writing application : mkclean 0.5.7u from libebml v1.2.0 + libmatroska v1.1.0 + mkvmerge v4.8.0 ('I Got The...') built on May 24 2011 03:12:58
Writing library : libebml2 v0.12.0 + libmatroska2 v0.11.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 29mn
Bit rate : 5 920 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 6 335 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 528 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.365
Stream size : 3.71 GiB (78%)
Writing library : x264 core 105 r1724 b02df7b
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=6335 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Audio
ID : 2
Format : DTS
Format/Info : Digital Theater Systems
Codec ID : A_DTS
Duration : 1h 29mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 510 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 968 MiB (20%)
Language : English

thanks for any feeback

[plotzzz]

Hello,
Could owners tell me if I can use HDMI and compostie audio output at the same time ? (I want to use an HDMI to DVI adapter and my analog HiFi stereo device)
Thanks a lot!

I just got a VERY quick answer from LACIE support (congratulations!) and the answer is...NO.