Sony KDL-55HX850 & BDP-S590 - transcoding & DTS

[musicman]

Hi.

I own Sony BRAVIA KDL-55HX850 TV & Sony BDP-S590 blu-ray player.

Yesterday I downloaded Mezzmo because I couldn't get anything but PCM stereo over DLNA with Windows Media Player, no matter what device I used (TV or blu-ray).
Then I find Mezzmo with Google.
I managed to get Dolby Digital 5.1 with Mezzmo but the files I am trying to stream/watch are MKV with DTS 5.1 audio.

1. How can I get Mezzmo to stream movies with original (DTS) audio?
2. Why the files must be transcoded? Can't I just stream them without transcoding?
3. If I have to transcode the video files, why audio must be transcoded to AC3 (it's the same for TV or blu-ray - there is no DTS nor any other audio format to select, but only AC3 while selecting transcoding options)?
4. When I turn off transcoding, I don't see the files on my TV/blu-ray (the folders seem empty when browsing with TV/blu-ray). Why is that? The files have to be transcoded (question no. 2)?

I've tried this with a bunch of MKV files, but the problem is always the same no matter what MKV I select.

The audio receiver is connected with optical cable to TV/blu-ray and blu-ray is connected with HDMI to TV.
TV/blu-ray audio settings are properly configured (downmix is disabled).

P.S. I still have old audio receiver that only supports Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS but in a while I plan to upgrade to new audio receiver with all current audio formats (DTS-HD MA 7.1, Dolby TrueHD, etc.)

If this program would be able to stream files as they are (DTS/DTS-MA/Dolby TrueHD) I would most probably buy it, but for now I'm still evaluating.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Paul]

If you tried streaming with transcoding turned off, then Mezzmo server will deliver the MKV file natively to your Sony BDP. And, if your Sony BDP refuses to play this MKV natively, then we know that Sony BDP's firmware is unable to decode & play this file. There's not much we can do except transcode it to a format that we know the Sony BDP will play. In this case, Mezzmo server transcodes your file's audio channel to AC3 since we know that your Sony BDP supports it.

[musicman]

If MKV files must be transcoded, is there a way to transcode only video and leave audio as is (DTS)?
It's little bit strange that Sony BDP wouldn't know how to handle anything except AC3 (via DLNA) and it supports all possible audio formats when playing blu-ray disc(s).

P.S. This is excerpt from BDP-S590 technical specifications:

Video File Formats
MPEG-4 AVC*1*2 - Extensions: ".mkv", ".mp4", ".m4v", ".m2ts", ".mts"
*1 The player does not play coded files such as DRM.
*2 The player may not play this file format on a DLNA server.

[Peter]

Mezzmo uses ffmpeg to transcode files for streaming to devices, ffmpeg does not remux (copy) DTS well at all so AC3 is used to provide better quality audio.

[JohnM]

You are bumping up against a limitation of the Sony BDP. They (Sony) made the decision to not support the good formats through DLNA. It was probably connected to their being a studio and they were worried about piracy.
I have let them know my opinion, but evidently it did not impress them. Here is a link to their directly supported formats in the US. http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&externalId=C1017936&fes=true

[steve12]

Change mkv in m2ts and the file plays good without transcoding with DTS in a Sony BDP!

Steve

[musicman]

Peter: Is there any chance Conceiva (or ffmpeg) could fix that in the near future?

steve12: When I turn off transcoding in Mezzmo, nothing works. MKV files cannot even be seen on TV (I only see empty folders). When I rename .MKV to .M2TS, I see the files and I can execute them, but I cannot play them (it appears that the playback started but I only get the video duration on info button and the screen is black). When I try to play the movies that I renamed from .MKV into .M2TS on my blu-ray player (no matter AC3 or DTS), I get an error message: "The file is corrupt or unsupported.".

Is there any way I could manually transcode the video to MPEG-2 TS / MPEG-2 PS and leave audio intacted, just to try? :(

[Paul]

FFmpeg recently released v1.0, so we'll re-check the DTS remux issue to see if they have fixed it. If they have, then we'll enable DTS transcoding/remuxing in the Sony BDP device profiles.

[musicman]

Thank you Paul!

BTW I've managed to stream video with DTS! I disabled transcoding and converted MKV to M2TS with tsMuxeR (http://www.videohelp.com/tools/tsMuxeR). After I did that M2TS file streamed great through Sony BDP-S590 blu-ray player. Unfortunatelly, streaming did not work with KDL-55HX850. I got video, but no audio.

Nevertheless, it would be great if you could implement transcoding with DTS so I could leave transcoding enabled.

Now, I have another problem.
I cannot get the subtitles stream with video. How can I setup Mezzmo to stream subtitles with video?
Does it work only when transcoding is enabled or it works regardless?

Thank you in advance!

P.S. I know steve12 told me to "change mkv in m2ts" but by "change" I though he meant "rename" and not "convert". :)

[Paul]

Thanks for the additional information, musicman. We'll also test it here with our Sony BDPs and Bravia TVs.

Regarding subtitles, the current version of Mezzmo (v2.7.1.0) streams external subtitle files (.SRT, .SUB, .SMI) to your DLNA devices. Many DLNA devices read these external subtitle files and display them. Unfortunately, some do not - including most (all?) Sony products. The only subtitling method that will work for Sony products is to "burn-in" the subtitles into the video during the transcoding step before streaming them to your Sony BDP or Bravia TV. Mezzmo v2.7.1.0 does not do this yet, but Mezzmo v3.0 will do it - we're completing this major new version right now. We're planning to release it in the next 1-2 months.

[steve12]

Of course I meant converting. This works with tsmuxergui!

[musicman]

Tnx for the update Paul. I'll let you know if streaming SRT file(s) worked.
Meanwhile, I'm eagerly waiting for your update regarding ffmepeg v1.0 and DTS. ;-)

[musicman]

Streaming of SRT subtitles did not work. Do you have any estimate when can we expect new version (with ffmpeg v1.0) that will transcode files leaving DTS intact?
Also, that burn-in subtitles would be great feature. Can't wait for that!

Meanwhile I have another problem, like some other users on this forum...
When I'm streaming 1080p movies (".TS" or ".M2TS" with transcoding disabled, or even when I enable transcoding and pre-transcode movie (but then with no DTS but only AC3)), the playback is very choppy. First time this appeared, the stutter was appearing every 2-3 minutes and it was totally impossible to watch anything. Then I restarted my computer and set "Trancoding CPU Priority" to "Very High" (although I don't think this should have any impact on streaming result since I left transcoding disabled), increased disk space for temporary files to 20 GB, and from that moment onwards the playback stutters every 15-30 minutes for a few seconds. This makes movie watchable, but it's still something you should address before I decide to buy Mezzmo.
I don't know if this worked fine with older version because 2.7.1.0 is the only version I have used.

What do you suggest?

P.S. Mezzmo is installed on Windows 7 (x64) with 4GB RAM and Intel Core2Duo E8400 (3.0 GHz). While movie is streaming, nothing is executing in the background (except system processes).

[Paul]

We'll try to reproduce the stuttering here. In the meantime, can you capture a set of logs so we can see what's happening on your setup? Please turn on logging (see http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/419-FAQ-How-to-turn-on-diagnostic-logging) and restart your Mezzmo server. Stream a file to your device and, after it stutters, stop your Mezzmo server and exit Mezzmo. Zip up all the logs and send them to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com. In your email, also tell us the approx time in the movie that the stuttering started to appear, and include the FFmpeg information on the file that you streamed (right-click on the file in Mezzmo and click 'Get FFmpeg Information' to get this info).

[musicman]

I'll do that. Tnx Paul!

BTW It's not every 15-30 minutes (as I stated before). I was wrong. It's totally unpredictable. For example, yesterday, when I watched a movie, everything was fine for one hour and 45 minutes. Then it hicked the first time for a second or so. The second time film freezed was 5 minutes afterwards. And it freezed for about 4-5 seconds. Today, I was watching another movie and it freezed for about 2-3 seconds 5 minutes after the beginning of the movie. The rest of the movie played fine.
Although I don't think it's relevant, the first movie had DTS 5.1 sound and the second one AC3 5.1. Both were streamed with transcoding turned off.

[Paul]

Thanks for the further information. The logs should help us find the problem, so send them into us when you can.