Mezzmo device profiles

[bondtimbond]

I have been working with the trial version of Mezzmo for some time, trying to get it to work with and stream a variety of video formats to my new Sony Bravia KDL-EX720 series TV. This TV can directly play a variety of video formats, in fact it can play all the types I have from my various cameras except for older AVI files created by earlier model Canon cameras. HD mp4 files on Sony cameras and full HD mts files from my new Canon camcorder play just fine on the Sony Bravia directly. So when I setup Mezzmo to try out, I was expecting that when I selected a Sony KDL series device profile that Mezzmo would send files that the Sony can natively play directly without transcoding - doesn't appear to be the case. Strangely, even after trying several profiles that would appear to be for the Sony, most formats still transcode unnecessarily. I have worked with Mezzmo customer support and they provided a modified Sony KDL profile that transcodes the AVI files (which it did already) but sends the mp4's direct to the TV. This profile works great. I have sent them a note today asking for a modified profile that would send the mts files direct also, and hope that I can get that.

Here is my primary question: Does anyone have a document or instructions on how to modify the profiles ourselves so that I don't have to keep going to Mezzmo tech support back and forth to get modified versions? I can open them in notepad, and edit them, but don't really know what commands do what, etc. so it is just trial and error. So far I can't get a modified one to work right so I am waiting on Mezzmo to modify it for me. Is there a reference document?

Also, it would seem to me that Mezzmo needs more flexibility with device profiles such that users can easily make changes for their hardware. For example, it would be great if you could just click on the device that Mezzmo found on the network and open up a dialog to TELL it what the file types are that the device can play natively without transcoding. The owners manual usually tells you for the device what it is capable of playing, or the user can try a file and if it plays then great. Once you know what it can play, then you should be able to setup the profile the way you want it to. It seems impractical for Mezzmo to keep track of all the various devices out there and make profiles that are correct all the time. For the Sony KDL series for example, there are several profiles that seem to maybe be for that device, but none really seem a perfect fit. There are too many profile choices to just try everything to see what works! As a minimum, every single device profile should have in it a comments section that CLEARLY describes specifically what that profile is designed to do for various formats. I.e. which formats it passes through, which formats it transcodes, etc.

I tried turning off transcoding for all connected devices, and also tried to setup files to send original version which is feature of version 2.5, but when I do that the Bravia no longer shows any of the files at all. They only way they show up to browse and play on the Bravia is for transcoding to be enabled (even when the device profile doesn't actually transcode a particular file type). So apparently Mezzmo does something else when transcoding is enabled to enable the Bravia to see the files even when not actually transcoding. This seems like odd behavior too. Anyone else seen that?

Yes, I am new to Mezzmo so my hope is that this forum will bring some good answers so that I can make things work the way I would like. I did some basic searches of this forum and didn't find the answers, so if they are here already please point me in the right direction. I appreciate everyone's help.

Thanks.

[Paul]

There's no official documentation on modifying device profile, but do feel free to ask about anything you don't understand and I'll be glad to explain

One of the reasons we haven't included a profile editor yet is because not every Mezzmo user is technical or knowledgeable enough to modify the device profiles and it may lead to more confusion and ultimately a worse Mezzmo experience. Our aim is to make Mezzmo work out-of-the-box with as many devices as possible without any tweaking. Yes, it may transcode a bit more than needed, but we're constantly updating our device profiles to make them better (hopefully!), so over time this will occur less and less. The owner's manual usually is quite limited in what it tells, for example, it rarely specifies supported h264 video profile levels or the maximum bitrates. Also, in many cases it just mentions a container format (such as AVI), but doesn't mentioned which video/audio codecs are supported within that container, so one AVI may play, but another won't. It's a bit of mess

There are so many profiles because the firmware in different TVs is different and support different formats or requires different DLNA descriptions or mime types.

We do have plans to re-organize our device profiles and possibly this will be done in time for Mezzmo v3.

[bondtimbond]

Thanks Dennis,

I understand you comments about not wanting to give everyone a profile editor, but it seems that there should be a capability for those with the skills to do more. Here is a suggestion: Create a feature in Mezzmo where a user could point to a sample file on his machine that he plans to access and choose a "save characteristics to profile" option. That way the actual important characteristics of that file type that you point out can be unique can be captured without the user knowiing much about it. He could then save those characteristics to a device profile and tell it what he wants it to do with that file type, such as stream without transcoding. If I had that feature now I could setup my file types in very little time. That has the added benefit for situations like my case where I had a profile that was working, then got a new camera that had a new format that also should not be transcoded. I could just add that new "signature" to my existing profile and be done and not lose the features of the existing profile that was working for other formats.

Do you have an explaination as to why when I choose the "turn off transcoding for all connected devices" otpion, that none of the files shared will appear any longer on the Bravia? I can explain further if you need more. I see Mezzemo, but when I open a folder on the Bravia it says the folder is empty.

OK, so I will take you up on your offer to help me learn how to modify a profile! :-) Here is the FFmpeg info from one of the mts files off the Canon camcorder:

---

ffmpeg version N-36036-ga40f43d, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
built on Dec 22 2011 13:44:49 with gcc 4.6.2
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/media/ffmpeg --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/dennis/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/dennis/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads
libavutil 51. 32. 0 / 51. 32. 0
libavcodec 53. 46. 1 / 53. 46. 1
libavformat 53. 27. 0 / 53. 27. 0
libavdevice 53. 4. 0 / 53. 4. 0
libavfilter 2. 53. 0 / 2. 53. 0
libswscale 2. 1. 0 / 2. 1. 0
[h264 @ 01a5a500] Increasing reorder buffer to 1
[mpegts @ 01959560] max_analyze_duration 5000000 reached at 5003333

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 59.94 (60000/1001) -> 59.94 (60000/1001)
Input #0, mpegts, from 'C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Documents\My Pictures\Digital Photos\Test AVCHD\20120101143431.mts':
Duration: 00:01:24.09, start: 0.766967, bitrate: 6360 kb/s
Program 1
Stream #0:0[0x1011]: Video: h264 (High) (HDMV / 0x564D4448), yuv420p, 1440x1080 [SAR 4:3 DAR 16:9], 59.96 fps, 59.94 tbr, 90k tbn, 59.94 tbc
Stream #0:1[0x1100]: Audio: ac3 (AC-3 / 0x332D4341), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 256 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified


---> DB Level Info: 40, 100
---> Frame rate: 59.96
---> Aspect ratio: 16:9

---

Now the camcorder can save files in three different "qualities" which I think is probably different bitrates. I think the Sony can play them all. What would the "container" look like in the profile to tell Mezzemo to stream without transcoding?

Below is what I think (correct me if wrong) is the container section from the profile you created for me a month ago that allows it to send mp4's direct without transcoding:

<avcontainer id="mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2" name="h264aac" encode="0" mimetype="video/mp4" dlnaprofile="MP4" supportschunked="0">
<video>
<format id="mpeg4" encode="0">
</format>
</video>
<video>
<format id="h264" encode="0">
</format>
</video>
<audio>
<format id="aac" encode="0">
</format>
</audio>
<audio>
<format id="mp3" encode="0">
</format>
</audio>
</avcontainer>

What changes would I need to make to this to make it send the mts files without transcoding, but still have them appear in the folder list and with thumbnails?

Thanks for your help.

[Paul]

Can you please confirm that you also have the support issue 22647 with us? I'm just asking, so that I don't duplicate things here and via e-mail, let's choose the forum or e-mail to get things working.

If you use the "Sony Bravia KDL MP4" device profile, then it should work with both MPEG-TS and MP4 files that you have without the need to change anything (or with minor tweaking). The only change required then is to take out the AVI files from the container so that they are transcoded (actually we'll probably make a new device profile that does this).

I can send you a new device profile that supports MPEG-TS, MP4, but doesn't support AVI via e-mail.

Thanks for the suggestion regarding the device profile editor - it's a good idea to be able to specify which files play natively on the device and take that into account, as a very minimum, it'll help Mezzmo build up proper format/codec definitions.

With transcoding turned off device profiles are not used to build up the file descriptions, thus some devices may reject those descriptions as they don't match what the device expects (e.g. a mime type or a DLNA profile id). Device profiles not only specify supported formats, but also specify how those formats should be presented to the device.

On a side note (as I still think you should be using a different device profile), to add that file to a device profile you'd add something like:

        <avcontainer id="mpegts" name="mpegts" encode="0" mimetype="video/vnd.dlna.mpeg-tts" dlnaprofile="AVC_TS_HD_EU_ISO" supportschunked="0">
                <video>
                        <format id="h264" encode="0">
                        </format>
                </video>
                <audio>
                        <format id="ac3" encode="0">
                        </format>
                </audio>
        </avcontainer>

The above will pass through that file to the TV natively.

[bondtimbond]

Thanks Dennis! Yes, this is same topic as my email for support item 22647. Sorry about that, but I didn't realize until now that the same folks would be seeing the forum as the support emails! Thank you for being so accessible to the users like you are! :-) I will try the new profile you sent and see how it works, and post the results on this thread. Others might learn from my experience also and help them.

[Paul]

No problem - let me know how it works out. It may need some tweaking

[bondtimbond]

Well I tried the modified profile sent to me by Dennis, and neither the AVI files or the mts files play correctly. The modified version of the "Bravia KDL Japan" profile was sent to me by "Paul" of Conceiva in early December, modified to pass through mp4s. That profile apparently handles the AVI files differently that the profile you sent me yesterday Dennis, since with that latest profile they show up at just mpg and not mpg2, and they take much longer to start playing and become jittery while transcoding. Maybe you can look at those two profiles and examine what is different about AVI handling? The settings for that section of the KDL Japan profile works much better for the AVI files I have, which are from earlier Canon and Fuji cameras in standard definition.

For the mts files (FFmpeg data below in this thread), with the new profile you sent yesterday loaded, the videos will not play at all. They show up on the list, and show up identified as AVC which I think they should, but when I try to play them they hang up and do nothing that I can tell. There must be something about how that stream is being presented to the Sony TV device that it doesn't like. My TV can play those same files directly via the usb connector, and also when streamed via Tversity, so it must be possible.

On a positive note, the MP4s still play correctly and are not transcoded, so that part is fine.

I also tried inserting the code you included in this thread into the KDL Japan profile sent to me by Paul, but that didn't seem to have any effect at all. There must be something not right in that code....

Thanks for you help!

[Paul]

The "Japan" profile transcodes non-compatible files (such as AVI) to MPEG2, while the profile I sent transcodes them to MPEG-TS. If they are not playing, then it's possible that either your TV doesn't support MPEG-TS with h264 video or the description of it in the device profile is not correct.

If you can send an e-mail to support, I'll send you a modified profile to try. As I said, it may require tweaking

[bondtimbond]

THanks Dennis, I have sent you an email.

[Paul]

I'll get back to you via e-mail with a modified profile soon.