Mezzmo 5.0.1.0 transcoding and Roku Streaming Stick

[kickz28]

Hi,
I just purchased a Roku streaming stick and I'm trying to set Mezzmo transcoding for it to work properly with the Roku. There's already a profile in Mezzmo for Roku, which works, but transcoded files cannot be fast-forwarded and I can't resume playback of a file. Roku is able to do it with some files if they're already in a format that Roku supports.

I tried transcoding using different options but it doesn't seem to work.

Anyone have any tips on how I can edit the profile so it will transcode to a format that Roku fully supports?

Thanks

[Paul]

If you know the formats that the Roku Streaming Stick supports for streaming transcoding files, then we can tweak the device profile for you. Let us know and we'll help out.

[kickz28]

If you know the formats that the Roku Streaming Stick supports for streaming transcoding files, then we can tweak the device profile for you. Let us know and we'll help out.

Hi Paul,
Thanks. The Roku website suggests using Handbrake to convert using the "Regular - High Profile". I tested this myself and it works well. Here are the settings:

Container: MP4
Video codec: H.264 (x264)
Variable framerate

Now this seems to be close to the settings in Mezzmo, so I'm not sure what exactly is the difference. I opened both files in Mediainfo though (the one transcoded with Mezzmo and the one with Handbrake), and the Handbrake one says "Format: MPEG-4" while the Mezzmo one says "Format: MPEG-TS"

I'm not sure exactly what the difference is here.

Let me know if you need more information.

Thanks!

[Paul]

Thanks for the further information. Unfortunately, Roku's suggestion of MP4 with h.264 video codec is not suitable for transcoding on-the-fly situations. The technical reason is that MPEG-4 requires a MOOV atom, which contains the index of the audio and video channels within the MPEG-4 file. This atom is only written into the MPEG-4 file at the completion of encoding/transcoding, so this means that transcoding on-the-fly is not possible in this scenario (i.e. a video player needs to read the MOOV atom first up when trying to decode and play the MPEG-4 file). So, that's the reason that our Roku device profile transcodes to MPEG-TS container (which does not have this MPEG-4 index/atom requirement).

You mention that transcoded files cannot FF/REW or resume. If the file is currently transcoding on-the-fly and you are streaming/playing it on your Roku, then this is probably not possible since your Roku player wants to know the size of the file and where it can FF/REW to. But since the file is still currently transcoding, then the file size information is not known yet. That typically means the you cannot FF/REW on most devices. Once the file has been fully transcoded, then next time you play it, it should be fine to FF/REW and resume since the file size is known. You can test this by pre-transcoding a few files in Mezzmo and see if they stream & play OK. To pre-transcode files (or folders of files or your whole Mezzmo library) in Mezzmo, see this FAQ - http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/6025-Tutorial-Pre-transcoding-Files.

Let us know how you go.

[Paul]

FYI - Beta testing is now open for our new Mezzmo for Roku App. See http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/8851-Mezzmo-for-Roku-App-Invitation-for-Beta-testers.