One AVI files needs transcoding, but other equally coded one doesn't (Samsung E TV)

Hi there!

I have a problem with some AVI files which won't play without transcoding on my Samsung ES5500 TV from Mezzmo. For some reason the transcoding is getting pretty low-quality results. I'd be ok with that if the files didn't work for some reason, but I can't seem to get why.

This is the ffmpeg information output of one of those files which won't work:

Quote:

---

Input #0, avi, from 'D:\DLNA\Video\A.avi':
Metadata:
encoder : VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (build 2540/release)
Duration: 02:10:24.24, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1429 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg4 (Advanced Simple Profile) (XVID / 0x44495658), yuv420p, 720x304 [SAR 1:1 DAR 45:19], SAR 311296:311265 DAR 16384:6917, 23.98 tbr, 23.98 tbn, 23.98 tbc
Stream #0:1: Audio: ac3 ([0] [0][0] / 0x2000), 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), fltp, 384 kb/s

---> DB Level Info: 5, 15
---> Frame rate: 23,98
---> Aspect ratio: 16384:6917

---

However, here's one that does indeed work:

Quote:

---

Input #0, avi, from 'D:\DLNA\Video\B.avi':
Metadata:
encoder : VirtualDubMod 1.5.10.2 (build 2540/release)
Duration: 01:58:52.80, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 1374 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Video: mpeg4 (Advanced Simple Profile) (XVID / 0x44495658), yuv420p, 720x304 [SAR 1:1 DAR 45:19], SAR 311296:311265 DAR 16384:6917, 23.98 tbr, 23.98 tbn, 23.98 tbc
Stream #0:1: Audio: ac3 ([0] [0][0] / 0x2000), 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), fltp, 448 kb/s

---> DB Level Info: 5, 15
---> Frame rate: 23,98
---> Aspect ratio: 16384:6917

---

As you can see, other than the bitrate (but there are other files with both lower and higher bitrates that work perfectly), the encoding seems to be the same. Same resolution, same codecs, etc.

Do you know why is this happening?

Also, Transcoding does work indeed (transcoding to "+matroska (+h264, -ac3)"), however I get both lower quality output, and in some of these files, a lot of stuttering (even when the movie is fully transcoded already).

This is driving me nuts since I can't seem to find the difference between the ones that work and the ones that don't... it seems completely random to me (most work, btw).

I've tried enabling the logs but it doesn't seem to say anything useful.

Thanks

Thanks for the detailed information, Jcl. The two video files do look similar so I cannot give you hint as what may be the problem. To understand the problem better, I'd like to see two sets of logs - one for a video file that works, and one for a video file that does not work. Zip up the logs and email them to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com for analysis.