VC-1 encode not playing on Panasonic DT30

[Pootle]

Hi

It's as the title says really - I ripped a couple of my blu-ray disks to the server and I get the File Not Supported message on the TV when I try to play

The only difference I can see between these and other files that do play is that these are using the VC-1 codec whereas the films that do play use h.264.

Aside from re-encoding to h.264, is there anything I can do? They were orginally ripped using MakeMkv

Thanks


Edit: I have been using the latest "Viera 2011 models" profile. If I switch back to the old one, or use "Viera No DivX", then it plays fine (albeit at a low frame rate). Hopefully a clue here

[Paul]

Can you please right-click on one of those files in Mezzmo and post the output of the "Get FFmpeg Information" command? It's possible that they're encoded in a way that the internal player on the TV cannot handle. Other profiles are probably transcoding them, thus they play.

[Pootle]

Hi,

FFmpeg info as follws;

ffmpeg version N-37208-g01fcbdf Copyright (c) 2000-2012 the FFmpeg developers
built on Jan 27 2012 18:39:49 with gcc 4.6.2
configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --disable-w32threads --enable-runtime-cpudetect --enable-avisynth --enable-bzlib --enable-frei0r --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libfreetype --enable-libgsm --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-librtmp --enable-libschroedinger --enable-libspeex --enable-libtheora --enable-libvo-aacenc --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-libxavs --enable-libxvid --enable-zlib
libavutil 51. 34.101 / 51. 34.101
libavcodec 53. 60.100 / 53. 60.100
libavformat 53. 31.100 / 53. 31.100
libavdevice 53. 4.100 / 53. 4.100
libavfilter 2. 60.100 / 2. 60.100
libswscale 2. 1.100 / 2. 1.100
libswresample 0. 6.100 / 0. 6.100
libpostproc 52. 0.100 / 52. 0.100
[mpegts @ 00000000003CED10] decoding for stream 1 failed
[mpegts @ 00000000003CED10] Could not find codec parameters (Audio: ac3 (AC-3 / 0x332D4341), 0 channels, s16)
[NULL @ 000000000031FEF0] start time is not set in estimate_timings_from_pts
Input #0, mpegts, from 'E:\ServerFolders\Videos\Time Traveler's Wife.m2ts':
Duration: 01:47:25.05, start: 11.650667, bitrate: 18565 kb/s
Program 1
Stream #0:0[0x1011]: Video: vc1 (Advanced) (VC-1 / 0x312D4356), yuv420p, 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 90k tbn, 47.95 tbc
Stream #0:1[0x1100]: Audio: ac3 (AC-3 / 0x332D4341), 0 channels, s16
No Program
Stream #0:2[0x1101]: Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 5.1(side), s16, 640 kb/s
At least one output file must be specified


---> DB Level Info: 3, 3
---> Frame rate: 23.98
---> Aspect ratio: 16:9

[Paul]

Thanks for the file information. Interesting that the first audio channel appears to be either invalid or not recognized by FFmpeg. Perhaps that's the problem? Try dropping that channel using mkvtoolnix (or something else) and see if that gets the file going.

[Pootle]

OK, I had the wrong audio channel selected (commentary for the visually impaired) so changed that but it still failed to play.

I re-ripped using different piece of software and this time it transcodes, but only at 15-20fps so is really stuttering. I know this is most likely down to CPU/memory but it must be something to do with the way that the Viera profile/TV deals with VC-1, as it will happily chew through a full HD film encoded with H264 at 400fps.

I suppose I could re-encode with Handbrake and bring the file down to 720p rather than full HD, but this takes about 5 hours. It's not such a big deal as only a few of my blu-rays are encoded using VC-1, but a work-around would be great...do you have any other ideas?

[Paul]

We know that your TV model does not support playing VC-1 natively, since the 'Panasonic Viera 2011' device profile defines VC-1 as being supported and this resulted in the dreaded "file not supported" message on your TV. Changing to the 'Panasonic Viera' device profile did work for you since Mezzmo transcodes the VC-1. That means Mezzmo will have to transcode your file into a format that your TV can play. Automatic on-the-fly transcoding gives you only 15-20 fps (due to your computer's CPU and RAM and the nature of the file), so that will be the cause of the stuttering when streaming it on your TV.

Your best option is to pre-transcode the file so that it is fully transcoded and ready to play. This will remove the stuttering issue. To pre-transcode a file, right-click on the file and click 'Pre-transcode File'. Check the Transcoding pane & when the file has been fully transcoded, then you will be able to stream it to your TV without any further automatic on-the-fly transcoding & it should play fine.