Cannot play DigitalTheatre MP4s via Mezzmo

[MGatehouse]

I subscribe to a paid-for service called Digital Theatre which lets me 'rent' (and view on-line, streamed) or purchase and download to my PC filmed performances of live theatre.
I can watch these on my Windows 7 computer. However, the downloaded MP4 files will play only (presumably because of copy protection) with Digital Theatre's dedicated (Adobe-Air-based) player, and require you to be on-line (presumably so it can check your account credentials). The files will not play in Windows Media Player.

I want to watch these videos on my Panasonic Viera Smart TV. Digital Theatre have an 'app' to do this, but it is only available for Samsung, not for Panasonic TVs. I can play ordinary videos in WMP and tell it to 'Play To' my TV. I can watch what is showing on the Viera TV on my computer. I have installed Mezzmo and the TV sees the Mezzmo server and can connect to it. I added the DigitalTheatre folder (with the MP4 file) to my Mezzmo library. I could see the file and Mezzmo recognised the title of the play it contains, but could not play it. There is no way I can find to play the files in the DigitalTheatre player dedicated player and direct the output to anywhere other than my computer screen. I cannot drag anything from the DigitalTheatre player to the Mezzmo library or window.

Is it possible to watch the Digital Theatre files on the TV and, if so, what do I need to to to enable that? I assume the difficulty is down to proprietary file formats and/or copy protection?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Paul]

If there is copy protection in the videos then Mezzmo will not be able to read or transcode them - which means streaming to your devices will be problematic. Right-click on the video in Mezzmo and click 'Get FFmpeg Information'. Post that here or email it to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com.

[MGatehouse]

Thanks, Paul, for swift response.
The FFmpeg details are (it's all Greek to me):

ffmpeg version N-59793-g7a8318f Copyright (c) 2000-2014 the FFmpeg developers
built on Jan 16 2014 16:51:32 with gcc 4.8.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86_64 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=x86_64-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl64 --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc32/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc64/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-libvpx --enable-libvorbis
libavutil 52. 62.100 / 52. 62.100
libavcodec 55. 48.101 / 55. 48.101
libavformat 55. 23.103 / 55. 23.103
libavdevice 55. 5.102 / 55. 5.102
libavfilter 4. 1.100 / 4. 1.100
libswscale 2. 5.101 / 2. 5.101
libswresample 0. 17.104 / 0. 17.104
[aac @ 0000000001d2f240] Sample rate index in program config element does not match the sample rate index configured by the container.
[aac @ 0000000001d2f240] Inconsistent channel configuration.
[aac @ 0000000001d2f240] get_buffer() failed
[mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0000000001baf760] Could not find codec parameters for stream 1 (Video: none (encv / 0x76636E65), 848x476, 1500 kb/s): unknown codec
Consider increasing the value for the 'analyzeduration' and 'probesize' options
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'K:\My Documents\Digital Theatre\Library\3be2d936-1812-b3f6-7e49-b32b978364d3\henrik-ibsen-ghosts-sd.mp4':
Metadata:
major_brand : mp42
minor_version : 0
compatible_brands: isommp42
creation_time : 2014-09-17 14:53:27
Duration: 01:36:50.04, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1671 kb/s
Stream #0:0(eng): Audio: aac (enca / 0x61636E65), 44100 Hz, 42 channels (FL+FR), fltp, 166 kb/s (default)
Metadata:
creation_time : 2014-09-17 14:53:27
handler_name : Mainconcept MP4 Sound Media Handler
Stream #0:1(eng): Video: none (encv / 0x76636E65), 848x476, 1500 kb/s, 25 fps, 25 tbr, 25k tbn, 25k tbc (default)
Metadata:
creation_time : 2014-09-17 14:53:28
handler_name : Mainconcept MP4 Video Media Handler
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1


---> DB Level Info: -99, -99
---> Frame rate: 25.00
---> Aspect ratio:
---> Duration: 01:36:50





If there is copy protection in the videos then Mezzmo will not be able to read or transcode them - which means streaming to your devices will be problematic. Right-click on the video in Mezzmo and click 'Get FFmpeg Information'. Post that here or email it to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com.

[Paul]

Thanks for the information. It shows that FFmpeg could not read / decode the video file due to the encoding of the video channel(s) in the video. This is most likely due to the copy protection that you mentioned. Unfortunately, FFmpeg and Mezzmo cannot read them and many of your devices will not be able to play them.