Sony BSP-S5200 won't play files that BDP-S5100 plays perfectly

[Henderson]

I've had my S5100 for several years and last year bought an S5200 for our 2nd TV. The only major differences I thought were lack of a rear USB port and no display and smaller size on the S5200. But there seems to be some internal differences.

I've been running into quite a few files though that won't play on the S5200 but they do play perfectly on the S5100. The video stops, jumps around for a few seconds, audio is just as choppy and out of sync, until it finally stops after no more than a minute and either jumps to the next video or locks up the player. These are mostly .avi files that have the problem, they definitely are XviD and not Divx, but it happens with .mkv files also, and I really don't see anything that should be an issue for the S5200. I've even tried using 4CC Changer to reset the .avi files again to Xvid but that didn't help at all. This is the output from MediaInfo on the problem files:

A typical .avi file that the S5200 can't play:

General
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
Format profile : OpenDML
File size : 1.18 GiB
Duration : 1h 41mn
Overall bit rate : 1 656 Kbps
Writing application : Lavf54.63.104

Video
ID : 0
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Simple@L3
Format settings, BVOP : No
Format settings, QPel : No
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263)
Codec ID : XVID
Codec ID/Hint : XviD
Duration : 1h 41mn
Bit rate : 1 195 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.115
Stream size : 869 MiB (72%)
Writing library : XviD 64

Audio
ID : 1
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID : 00001000-0000-0020-8000-00AA00389B71
Duration : 1h 41mn
Bit rate : 448 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 : 326 MiB (27%)
Interleave, duration : 32 ms (0.80 video frame)

An .mkv file that the S5200 can't play:

General
Unique ID                                : 223516380980755401524900869383921821823 (0xA827B06A1D812860AC9D3363CDFF687F)
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 2
File size                                : 4.33 GiB
Duration                                 : 1h 4mn
Overall bit rate mode                    : Variable
Overall bit rate                         : 9 580 Kbps
Movie name                               : Roy Orbison  Black & White Night  1987  Blu-ray 720p AVC DTS 5 1 ELR
Encoded date                             : UTC 2010-10-06 15:33:45
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@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 3 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                                 : 1h 4mn
Bit rate mode                            : Variable
Bit rate                                 : 8 073 Kbps
Maximum bit rate                         : 25.0 Mbps
Width                                    : 1 280 pixels
Height                                   : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 16:9
Frame rate mode                          : Constant
Frame rate                               : 29.970 fps
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)                       : 0.292
Stream size                              : 3.56 GiB (82%)
Writing library                          : x264 core 105 r1732 2b04482
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=3 / 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=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=300 / keyint_min=30 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=8073 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=25000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00 / nal_hrd=vbr
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 4mn
Bit rate mode                            : Constant
Bit rate                                 : 1 509 Kbps
Channel(s)                               : 6 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                                : 24 bits
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Stream size                              : 699 MiB (16%)
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Menu
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00:55:53.984                             : en:00:55:53.984
01:02:30.780                             : en:01:02:30.780

And another .mkv file that the S5200 can't play:

General
Unique ID                                : 36627412930742471789174812226985719026 (0x1B8E2EE1ED5C3E938749F04B4974F4F2)
Format                                   : Matroska
Format version                           : Version 2
File size                                : 1.33 GiB
Duration                                 : 1h 30mn
Overall bit rate                         : 2 101 Kbps
Writing application                      : HandBrake 0.9.5
Writing library                          : libmkv 0.6.4.1

Video
ID                                       : 1
Format                                   : AVC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                           : Main@L3.0
Format settings, CABAC                   : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames                : 4 frames
Codec ID                                 : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Nominal bit rate                         : 1 737 Kbps
Width                                    : 706 pixels
Height                                   : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio                     : 4:3
Original display aspect ratio            : 4:3
Frame rate mode                          : Variable
Color space                              : YUV
Chroma subsampling                       : 4:2:0
Bit depth                                : 8 bits
Scan type                                : Progressive
Writing library                          : x264 core 112
Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=2 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=hex / subme=6 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=2 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=0 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=300 / keyint_min=29 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=abr / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1737 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=3 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No
Color primaries                          : BT.601 NTSC
Transfer characteristics                 : BT.709
Matrix coefficients                      : BT.601

Audio
ID                                       : 2
Format                                   : AAC
Format/Info                              : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile                           : LC
Codec ID                                 : A_AAC
Duration                                 : 1h 30mn
Channel(s)                               : 2 channels
Channel positions                        : Front: L R
Sampling rate                            : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode                         : Lossy
Language                                 : English
Default                                  : Yes
Forced                                   : No

Menu
00:00:00.000                             : Chapter  1
00:03:09.455                             : Chapter  2
00:06:58.484                             : Chapter  3
00:09:46.552                             : Chapter  4
00:13:32.778                             : Chapter  5
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00:33:58.102                             : Chapter 10
00:37:12.797                             : Chapter 11
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00:43:15.559                             : Chapter 13
00:47:49.132                             : Chapter 14
00:52:04.387                             : Chapter 15
00:56:52.575                             : Chapter 16
01:00:24.787                             : Chapter 17
01:05:29.191                             : Chapter 18
01:11:33.555                             : Chapter 19
01:14:57.259                             : Chapter 20
01:19:06.308                             : Chapter 21
01:20:28.089                             : Chapter 22
01:24:46.748                             : Chapter 23
01:28:55.897                             : Chapter 24
01:30:21.482                             : Chapter 25

Can anyone tell me what exactly in any of the files above is a problem for the S5200 but not for the S5100? I use Serviio from both WinXP and Windows 7 x64 and same thing happens on the S5200 on both PCs. I was hoping the slower computer was just having issues with the transcoding for playback, but that's definitely not it. Neither DVD player is modded in anyway, just the basic models. I also installed Plex to see if there was any difference, but same thing... S5100 plays the files perfectly, S5200 can't.

I'm more worried now about when I need to replace my S5100 if I'm going to run into problems like this constantly with newer Sony players that apparently must have some internal differences. I've loved my S5100 from day 1 and I'm really going to hate when it dies on me.

Edit: Subject should obviously be BDP-S5200 and BDP-S5100... basically same player, one is just a year later model.

[Baldrick]

Can you see if serviio or plex transcodes/reconverts the video when you play?

Have you tried copy the files to an usb drive or cd/DVD and play them directly? Too see if it also happens.


But this is why I have a HTPC...it plays everything even though it's not as easy to control.

[Henderson]

Yes, I did try a USB drive, and the files all played perfectly on both players from a USB drive. I figured they would also play from a DVD at that point, but can test it later today.

How can I tell if Serviio or Plex transcodes or reconverts the files?

Edit: Tested playing the files from a data DVD and they play perfectly on the 5200 as expected. The only quirk I've seen during the testing is that when switching data DVDs, you need to turn the 5200 off and back on again. It will see the new disk with the new files, but it will just say "No playable files", it doesn't seem to fully reload a new DVD in the drive, at least for DVDs with only data files on them. I also tried every Sony profile available in Serviio.

I'm going to guess if Serviio creates a temp .stf file, then it's transcoding the file. The mkv files are transcoded on both players and from both PCs. The avi files never seem to be transcoded, there is no file created for them.

And to add to the weirdness, the 2 mkv files are now playing on the 5200 perfectly, so only the avi files are a problem. I've tried those same files at least 20x over the last few days with no luck. I have no explanation at all, unless turning it off and back on again clears some internal cache possibly, like I noticed that cleared the problem switching data DVDs.

While I've been tempted to build an HTPC, the price and features on the S5100 were too good to pass up to try, and I do absolutely love it, I have zero problems with it. Which is why I was really surprised when a year newer model of the same player is once in awhile being so bizarre and fussy with playbacks.