Profile Modification Question

[Aaron407]

Can anyone offer any suggestions for how I could create a hybrid profile consisting of the following?

I would like to combine the file compatibility of the Sony Home Theater (NTSC No Divx) profile, the transcoded aspect ratio control of Sony BDP (NTSC No DivX) profile, and the seeking (fast forward/rewind) ability of the Generic Device 4 profile (GenericDevice3.prf).

My problem is that I can get only one "feature" when using one of the profiles on my Sony BDP-S370. I'm having a heck of a time getting non-H.264 MP4's to play with the Sony BDP profiles, even when transcoded, when they play perfectly fine from a flash drive. I can't fast forward/rewind them when transcoding, but the aspect ratios are shown correctly. The Sony Home Theater profile seems to play all of the formats, but doesn't allow fast forwarding/rewinding and the aspect ratio is wrong. I have had some luck with Generic Device 4 allowing some transcoding with fast forward/rewind, but in general the MP4 compatibility is lacking and the aspect ratios are often wrong.

Can anyone offer any suggestions? I'm still awaiting a response from Conceiva support, but even if I get something from them I'm still somewhat concerned that it won't necessarily fix my problems.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Aaron407]

Apparently Conceiva support doesn't have a better profile for me. They said that it's not possible to fast forward or rewind a file that's transcoding (which I find somewhat strange since I did it regularly when using Tversity). I guess I'll keep pursuing my own build of a custom profile, unless someone has already come up with something and would be willing to share.

Dennis - you had stated in numerous threads that people looking for transcoding ff/rw capabilities on their Sony BDPs should contact customer support for a different profile. Is there possibly something you know that was unknown by the member I corresponded with (Adric)? Unfortunately this is really a make-or-break feature for me, so I hope there may be something out there or the ability to develop something.

[Paul]

We'd need to test this a bit further, but at the moment I wasn't successful at getting the BDP to FF/REW transcoded files. I also tried a couple of other servers with the same result, but I haven't tried TVersity yet. Can you please confirm whether the current version of it lets you do that?

Also, I've tried our own Generic 4, but it doesn't let you FF/REW either, however you mentioned that it did?

I'm happy to look into this further of course - the Bravia TVs didn't allow FF/REW at first either, but we made them work, so, if the firmware on the BDP allows for this at all, I'm sure we'll get it going.

[Aaron407]

I can't use Tversity on this player in particular since Tversity isn't DLNA certified. However, I have used Tversity with my PS3 and fast forwarded, rewound, and jumped to specific times in a transcoding file with no issues. It wasn't the fastest process due to having to buffer a bit of video at each displayed frame at a jump point, but it did work.

My biggest issue is that Mezzmo doesn't appear to be offering DivX and MP4 files properly to my player. The majority of the files that are natively supported by the player (i.e. DivX and MP4) will play fine when playing from a flash drive or disc, but are not able to be played from Mezzmo (data corrupt or unplayable error), or have to be transcoded, depending on the profile I use (DivX vs No DivX). Due to this, I have essentially lost the ability to do seeking of any kind with virtually any file on my bluray player. To me it somewhat negates any convenience of a media server if a large portion of the functionality is lost, which is why I'm trying desperately to find a solution. I love the Mezzmo software and appreciate what went into it, but I'm still reluctant to buy a license if it's not working quite right for me.

I had tried Generic 4 a few days back. I was able to play essentially any video file, including mkv's and MP4's, and it transcoded properly with the player not limiting the seeking capabilities (i.e. it didn't say "This function is not available with the current disc" or whatever it usually says). The issue with it was the aspect ratio control since some of my 2.2:1 movies were being stretched vertically to fit my 16:9 TV. However, I tried it again a couple days ago and it wouldn't play the files, so I'm not sure what's happening. It certainly seems like this DLNA stuff isn't the most straight forward and there's a lot of room for error, so I sure appreciate any time you put in to help.

Thanks!

[Paul]

The PS3 is different to the BDP and Mezzmo allows you to FF/REW on it as well, so it's not a one-to-one comparison.

DivX files are supported in Canadian and Asian (Australian as well) models of the players, but the USA model (and perhaps European?) claims that DivX is not supported. Thus we have several profiles. Playing files from a USB drive is different to serving them over DLNA (because of manufacturer's decision, not ours of course).

If you turn off transcoding and use one of the BDP profiles, does it play any DivX/MP4 files?

[Aaron407]

I'm actually located in Canada and have the Canadian version of the bluray player, which states to be DivX and mp4 compatible, but I still have a lot of problems playing most DivX and all MP4 files without transcoding, whereas they play fine from USB. It generally gives me the corrupt/unplayable error when streaming through mezzmo. I'll play around with the various options in the next couple days to see if I can find something though.

Out of curiousity, do you know why Generic Device 4 would have not been locked out for ff/rw when transcoding (while it worked for me)? I'm intrigued by the level of communication that is obviously occurring over the DLNA interface, with hopes there may be one configuration that may do what I'm looking for.

[Paul]

What I would recommend is to reset all settings back to default for the device (or just delete the device complete from Mezzmo), then connect to Mezzmo using it, select the "Sony BDP (NTSC)" device profile and see if that streams DivX. If it doesn't, please post FFmpeg information on that file here. Ideally, if you could send us one of your files we could test it here on our BDP as well and see what we can come up with.

The Generic profiles transcode everything to MPEG2, but I'd be surprised if that alone would allow you to FF/REW on the BDP. Also, it doesn't occur anymore, right?

[Aaron407]

Will do, thanks again for looking into this. I'm amazed at the customer support you guys offer, it's one of the reasons I haven't given up yet :-)

[Aaron407]

Using "Sony BDP (NTSC)" and all the default settings other than the transcode option, it won't even see the mp4 files (says "There is no playable file." through Mezzmo, sees them just fine on USB). However, it does allow me to stream the DivX files with fast forward and rewind capabilities.

This is the ffmpeg information from one of the mp4's, which were all created using Handbrake:

FFmpeg version git-c3897d7, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
built on Jan 20 2011 13:56:32 with gcc 4.4.2
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-ffprobe --disable-ffplay --prefix=/media/windows/ffmpeg --extra-cflags=-U__STRICT_ANSI__ --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect
libavutil 50.36. 0 / 50.36. 0
libavcore 0.16. 1 / 0.16. 1
libavcodec 52.108. 0 / 52.108. 0
libavformat 52.94. 0 / 52.94. 0
libavdevice 52. 2. 3 / 52. 2. 3
libavfilter 1.74. 0 / 1.74. 0
libswscale 0.12. 0 / 0.12. 0

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 33751.00 (33751/1) -> 29.97 (30000/1001)
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'C:\Documents and Settings\Aaron\Desktop\Ripped DVD to MP4\Good Shepherd, The (WS).mp4':
Metadata:
major_brand : mp42
minor_version : 0
compatible_brands: mp42isom
creation_time : 2011-02-03 19:23:54
encoder : HandBrake 0.9.5 2011010300
Duration: 02:47:30.52, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1674 kb/s
Stream #0.0(und): Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 720x354 [PAR 32:27 DAR 1280:531], 1219 kb/s, 23.98 fps, 29.97 tbr, 90k tbn, 33751 tbc
Metadata:
creation_time : 2011-02-03 19:23:54
Stream #0.1(eng): Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 6 channels, s16, 448 kb/s
Metadata:
creation_time : 2011-02-03 19:23:54
Stream #0.2(eng): Subtitle: dvdsub, 4 kb/s

[Paul]

Ok, thanks for the updated info. That file is not part of the device profile - I'll need to check whether such files can be streamed to the BDP natively or not. If it's possible to play these files natively, then I can send you an updated device profile with this change.

[Aaron407]

Sounds great Dennis, thanks again!

[Aaron407]

One thing I should note [in my attempt to be a beggar and chooser ;-)] is that the ability to ff/rw the BDP while transcoding would be even more beneficial than to have the ability to play the mp4's without transcoding since it would then fully accommodate the mkv's and other obscure formats. I just built my 6 core computer, so the processor would easily be up to the task.

Ok, I'm done pushing my luck...

[Paul]

If the BDP allows to FF/REW only certain formats while transcoding (and I haven't tested this yet to confirm or deny) and if that format is MPEG2, then of course you'll be losing quality when transcoding your MKVs, since h264 provides for a much richer picture and smoother compression. This needs some testing, so this is all very preliminary ;)

Pre-transcoding would help in this case, I believe, as you could keep the quality and movies will be ready to FF/REW once you start watching them (because they're already transcoded).

[kdsvs1999]

I've been looking at this as well with the same problems for several days. Have bdp-s370 and the server always transcodes the MP4 file (same ffmpg data as in last couple of posts shown here). I can't confirm the sony will actually play the noted MP4 format through DLNA...but it definately plays via the usb as also noted here. General seraching seems to imply that the BDP will not but the sonly specs have changed over time and gone back and forth between it won't play and will play. The latest manual seems to indicate it is a valid format for playback (unless there is some hidden fineprint somewhere). I just can't tell if it should or not by any of my research. I'll keep watching this thread in hopes of a final clarification and hopefully a positive outcome.

On a side note...is there a way to disable saving each transcode file. I really don't want to keep saving the transcode files on my drive. I just had problems with my files ending early and realized the drive was filling up..I did change the drive folder to another drive but I have 100's of movies and I really don't want a duplicat set that have been transcoded. Thanks for your great Software and customer support!

[Paul]

To definitely (or as close to that as possible) check whether a file plays or not via DLNA just disable transcoding. I'm not finished with testing it here yet, so not sure yet myself.

You can limit the transcoding folder size (from the default 80 GBs) down to let's say 5-10 GBs and that'll make sure it's cleaned up. I wouldn't recommend making it smaller than 10 GBs though.

[Aaron407]

I certainly can't speak for everyone, but I personally would be ok with having MPEG-2 transcoding rather than H.264 if it meant having the ability to ff/rw. I have more than enough processor and network speed to support very high bitrates in an effort to reduce quality degradation.

Again, I really want to stress how much I appreciate such directed customer support. Even though I don't have everything working exactly how I want it, I've still recommended the program to five other friends and family :-)

[Aaron407]

I tried the MP4 files on my PS3 as well. It plays them just fine and allows ff/rw, but always ends up jumping back to the beginning of the file if I try to ff over 1.5x speed. It does the same thing with transcoding mkv files. Maybe this bit of information may help in some way, shape, or form, but probably not unfortunately.

[Paul]

On the PS3 you need to use the "go to time" function (or whatever it's called) - when you specify a time to jump to, it should work ok. It appears that there's a bug in PS3' firmware with the way it handles MPEG-TS containers. Again, it's different to the BDP.

With the MPEG2 transcoding - try the "Sony Bravia KDL W" device profile, that'll transcode to MPEG2.

[Aaron407]

I tried the 'go to time' thing with the PS3 as well. It jumped further ahead, but the time wasn't accurate in any way. i.e. I would tell it to jump 45 minutes ahead, but it would end up still in the opening credits, even though it said it was 45 minutes in.

Oh the quirks of media serving...

I'll give Sony Bravia KDL W a shot. I believe I tried it once before and had one or more problems with it (aspect ratio maybe?), but I'll try again.

[Paul]

With the PS3 - was that file being transcoded or was it already transcoded? If it was in the process of transcoding and it hasn't transcoded 45-minutes worth yet, then it won't go to that point of course.

[Aaron407]

The file was in the midst of being transcoded. It does seem as though it would only jump to the furthest point in the encoding process, like you mention. I guess I was thinking it would work similar to Tversity. I've had a number of files transcoding that I could still fully seek in while watching on the PS3, including jumping to a time far in the file beyond where it had already transcoded to. Maybe it's a DLNA constraint that Tversity is capable of bypassing by not being fully compliant.

Please feel free to give various other users and other issues more attention. I feel like I'm somewhat dominating your time with this one issue when you may have various other things to tend to.

[Paul]

I think that because TVersity is using codecs, as opposed to FFmpeg, it may allow you to start transcoding at any point. The interesting question would be - what happens to the first part of the movie if you want to watch it from the start - does it re-transcode the whole thing again then?

[Aaron407]

I can only assume it would have to re-transcode and probably lose any other progress. To me that would be fine since I have a dedicated computer for a media server and it's not a problem to tie up the processor with constant re-transcoding, but it might not work for everyone. I realize the option in Mezzmo would be to pre-transcode everything, but unfortunately I don't have the hard drive space or time for pre-transcoding over 200 movies.

I get the feeling I may be asking a bit too much of the software, which may be pushing it beyond its original design intent. I know your time is limited and valuable, so I won't be offended if you decide focus on bigger and better things rather than working on selling me on the program :-)

Thanks for all your effort thus far.

[Paul]

No worries - we're trying to make Mezzmo the best DLNA server out there and each small step towards that is a good thing :) Some interesting ideas are coming up in conversations, so I'm happy to discuss things.

[Aaron407]

Good to hear. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't pushing my luck with this

If you have anything you want me to try out/test I'd be happy to offer my time since you're obviously putting in a lot of your own time to find solutions for me/us.

[Aaron407]

I discovered one more detail regarding the MP4 compatibility issue that may be noteworthy. I found a program (MP4cam2avi) that I was able to use to transfer the MP4 video stream into an AVI container (Xvid 4cc I believe) without transcoding. This was easily handled by the bluray player through mezzmo without transcoding and was listed as a DivX file. To me this means it should probably just be a matter of communicating the video stream contents through mezzmo to have it natively supported via streaming, but I'm not completely sure. Anyway, I hope this may help in the effort!

[Paul]

Can you please post FFmpeg information on the file that program created?

[Aaron407]

Here's the ffmpeg info for the file that mp4cam2avi created. Note that ac3 audio is not compatible with the program, so it didn't carry any audio (or subtitles) through into the final avi file. There was no transcoding of the video stream, it merely copied it (the whole process took only a couple minutes).

Anyway, this is the file that the BDP played as if it were a standard DivX file:

FFmpeg version git-c3897d7, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
built on Jan 20 2011 13:56:32 with gcc 4.4.2
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-ffprobe --disable-ffplay --prefix=/media/windows/ffmpeg --extra-cflags=-U__STRICT_ANSI__ --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect
libavutil 50.36. 0 / 50.36. 0
libavcore 0.16. 1 / 0.16. 1
libavcodec 52.108. 0 / 52.108. 0
libavformat 52.94. 0 / 52.94. 0
libavdevice 52. 2. 3 / 52. 2. 3
libavfilter 1.74. 0 / 1.74. 0
libswscale 0.12. 0 / 0.12. 0

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 24000.00 (24000/1) -> 23.98 (24000/1001)
Input #0, avi, from 'C:\(*filename removed*)':
Duration: 01:47:49.28, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2143 kb/s
Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg4, yuv420p, 720x464 [PAR 32:27 DAR 160:87], 23.99 fps, 23.98 tbr, 23.99 tbn, 24k tbc
At least one output file must be specified

---> DB Level Info: -99