Mezzmo and .DVR-MS

[darkwoof]

Hi, I'm using Mezzmo 2.1.7 trial, Windows 7 (64-bit) and WD TV Live with the latest stable firmware update (1.02.21).

I've been trying to stream from Windows 7's built-in media server, and have been encountering some problems, so I'm trying out Mezzmo.

Since Mezzmo does not seem to recognize the new Windows Media Center's .WTV format, I used Windows's convert feature to convert the recorded TV files to DVR-MS format.

My WD TV Live was able to see Mezzmo straightaway, and lists the files correctly. However when I try to play the files, only the preview image would show up on screen for about 1 second, and then I will be returned to the Media Server folder screen.

Pls advise.

[RMerlin]

I have a similar setup here (but with a different firmware, and I don't use DVR-MS myself).

Are you able to successfully stream other types of medias (such as AVI or MP4)? The WDTV Live should be able to play DVR-MS natively without transcoding, so just checking that the problem isn't a more general one.

[darkwoof]

Hi RMerlin, thanks for replying.

Indeed, I have successfully played MKVs, MP4s, AVIs, DVR-MS (and actually even WTVs, even though officially they are not supported) with WD TV Live's native streaming, however I have been having intermittent issues with WD TV Live's native streaming support, (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes it complains of unsupported format even though it just played the exact same file correctly just a second ago) which is why I'm trying other media servers such as Mezzmo.

[RMerlin]

Did you try playing the same video from a USB drive connected directly to the WDTV Live?

What do you use as security software (antivirus/firewall) on your PC? Those can sometime interfere with local networking. I would suggest trying to temporarily disable them and see if you can still reproduce the problem.

I have barely tried the network share streaming on the WDTV Live (while experimenting with movie sheets), however I prefer Mezzmo because a DLNA server is much faster than network share browsing in my own experience (on top of transparent transcoding when needed).

[Paul]

What might be happening is that the DVR-MS is not part of the WD TV's device profile, so it's possible that Mezzmo is trying to transcode it, but fails. If you turn off transcoding, the file should play ok though.

Can you please post FFmpeg information about that file (right-click on the file in Mezzmo and use the "Get FFmpeg Information"), so that I could see what it is?

Some of the dvr-ms files that I have here require the following change to WD TV's device profile:

        <avcontainer id="asf" name="asf" encode="0" mimetype="video/x-ms-wmv" format="asf" supportschunked="0">
                <video>
                        <format id="wmv3" encode="0">
                        </format>
                </video>
                <video>
                		<format id="mpeg2video" encode="0">
                		</format>
                </video>
                <audio>
                        <format id="wma2" encode="0">
                        </format>
                </audio>
                <audio>
                        <format id="wmav2" encode="0">
                                <channels>2</channels>
                        </format>
                </audio>
                <audio>
                		<format id="mp2" encode="0">
                                </format>
                </audio>
                <audio>
                        <format id="0x0162" encode="0">
                        </format>
                </audio>
                <ffmpegadditional>-threads 4 -qscale 0.1 -qmax 1</ffmpegadditional>
        </avcontainer>

(basically adding mpeg2video and mp2 sound to the asf container)

[darkwoof]

Hi,

Argh... Turned on the WD TV Live today and getting *totally different* problems. Suddenly, both media servers (Windows 7's as well as Mezzmo) does not show, but network share (which didn't work the other day), is now working. The file which couldn't play previously now plays okay using network share.

Restarted the WD to see if I can get the media servers back to no avail, went into Mezzmo and checked under 'Media Server Setting', and saw the message "Windows Firewall may be blocking access to your media server". Clicked on the 'Configure Windows Firewall' button and Mezzmo fixed the firewall issue. (oddly I did not have to do this the previous time when Mezzmo was immediately visible) Mezzmo is now visible via the WD TV Live, but the file still does not play and still complains of unsupported format. Totally disable Windows Firewall and it made no difference with Mezzmo, Windows 7's own media server is still not visible.

@RMerlin: Tried to connect an external HDD with the same files directly to the WD TV Live, all files are working. So perhaps it is a problem with WD's network feature? I'm seem to be able to access the USB attached external HDD with no issues, only that it was working at an extremely slow transfer speed of 1MB. (I connected the WD TV Live via powerline networking at 85MBps)

@Dennis: Hi Dennis, here's the FFmpeg info, though with the intermittent, ever-changing problems I'm starting to think it's not Mezzmo's problem but WD's shoddy product.

FFmpeg version SVN-r23438, Copyright (c) 2000-2010 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Jun  3 2010 11:03:31 with gcc 4.4.0
  configuration: --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-memalign-hack --enable-libmp3lame --extra-cflags=-I/c/msys/local/include --extra-ldflags=-L/c/msys/local/lib --enable-zlib --enable-w32threads --extra-cflags=-fno-common --enable-gpl --enable-libx264 --disable-ffplay --disable-ffprobe --disable-ffserver
  libavutil     50.16. 0 / 50.16. 0
  libavcodec    52.73. 0 / 52.73. 0
  libavformat   52.67. 0 / 52.67. 0
  libavdevice   52. 2. 0 / 52. 2. 0
  libavfilter    1.20. 0 /  1.20. 0
  libswscale     0.11. 0 /  0.11. 0
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 1344 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
    Last message repeated 1 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
    Last message repeated 2 times
[mpeg2video @ 02ab5b50]mpeg_decode_postinit() failure
    Last message repeated 1 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 1535 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 1589 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
    Last message repeated 2 times
[mpeg2video @ 02ab5b50]mpeg_decode_postinit() failure
    Last message repeated 1 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
    Last message repeated 4 times
[mpeg2video @ 02ab5b50]mpeg_decode_postinit() failure
    Last message repeated 1 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
    Last message repeated 2 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 1344 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
    Last message repeated 1 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 1344 (unknown stream)
[mpeg2video @ 02ab5b50]mpeg_decode_postinit() failure
    Last message repeated 5 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 2016 (unknown stream)
[mpeg2video @ 02ab5b50]mpeg_decode_postinit() failure
    Last message repeated 1 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
[mpeg2video @ 02ab5b50]mpeg_decode_postinit() failure
    Last message repeated 2 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 1344 (unknown stream)
    Last message repeated 1 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 1344 (unknown stream)
    Last message repeated 1 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 1344 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
    Last message repeated 1 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 3124 (unknown stream)
    Last message repeated 12 times
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 1344 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 672 (unknown stream)
[asf @ 0138cf10]ff asf skip 2016 (unknown stream)

Seems stream 0 codec frame rate differs from container frame rate: 59.94 (60000/1001) -> 24.92 (299/12)
Input #0, asf, from 'D:\Recorded TV\FangCaoXunYuan4_Channel 8_2010_06_30_22_20_00 - DVRMS.dvr-ms':
  Metadata:
    DVR Index Granularity: 500
    WM/SubTitle     : 
    WM/SubTitleDescription: 
    WM/Genre        : 
    WM/OriginalReleaseTime: 2010
    WM/Language     : 
    WM/MediaCredits : ;;;
    WM/MediaStationCallSign: Channel 8
    WM/MediaStationName: Channel 8
    WM/MediaNetworkAffiliation: 
    WM/MediaOriginalChannel: 3
    WM/MediaOriginalChannelSubNumber: 0
    WM/MediaOriginalBroadcastDateTime: 2010-06-29T16:00:00Z
    WM/MediaOriginalRunTime: 1844674
    WM/MediaIsStereo: 0
    WM/MediaIsRepeat: 0
    WM/MediaIsLive  : 0
    WM/MediaIsTape  : 0
    WM/MediaIsDelay : 0
    WM/MediaIsSubtitled: 0
    WM/MediaIsMovie : 0
    WM/MediaIsPremiere: 0
    WM/MediaIsFinale: 0
    WM/MediaIsSAP   : 0
    WM/MediaIsSport : 0
    WM/ParentalRating: 
    WM/ParentalRatingReason: 
    WM/Provider     : MediaCenterDefault
    WM/ProviderCopyright: 
    WM/ProviderRating: 
    WM/VideoClosedCaptioning: 0
    WM/WMRVEncodeTime: 2022244
    WM/WMRVSeriesUID: 
    WM/WMRVServiceID: !Generated!d1be79e7cc1d4788b539cf1914abaec8
    WM/WMRVProgramID: !Generated!b26beef34c734d148229c95bffab14b9
    WM/WMRVRequestID: 0
    WM/WMRVScheduleItemID: 0
    WM/WMRVQuality  : 3
    WM/WMRVOriginalSoftPrePadding: 300
    WM/WMRVOriginalSoftPostPadding: 0
    WM/WMRVHardPrePadding: 184
    WM/WMRVHardPostPadding: 0
    WM/WMRVBrandingName: 
    WM/WMRVBrandingImageID: 
    WM/WMRVATSCContent: 0
    WM/WMRVDTVContent: 0
    WM/WMRVHDContent: 0
    WM/MediaThumbWidth: 352
    WM/MediaThumbHeight: 281
    WM/MediaThumbStride: 105
    WM/MediaThumbRet: 0
    WM/MediaThumbRatingSystem: 255
    WM/MediaThumbRatingLevel: 255
    WM/MediaThumbRatingAttributes: 0
    WM/MediaThumbAspectRatioX: 4
    WM/MediaThumbAspectRatioY: 3
    WM/MediaThumbTimeStamp: 9577845
    WM/MediaThumbType: 3
    WM/WMRVEndTime  : 1907026
    WM/WMRVBitrate  : 6091294
    WM/WMRVKeepUntil: 184
    WM/WMRVActualSoftPrePadding: 294
    WM/WMRVActualSoftPostPadding: 0
    WM/WMRVContentProtected: 0
    WM/WMRVContentProtectedPercent: 0
    WM/WMRVExpirationDate: 1844674
    WM/WMRVExpirationSpan: 1844674
    WM/WMRVInBandRatingSystem: 255
    WM/WMRVInBandRatingLevel: 255
    WM/WMRVInBandRatingAttributes: 0
    WM/WMRVWatched  : 1
    WMFSDKVersion   : 12.0.7600.16385
    WMFSDKNeeded    : 0.0.0.0000
    VBR Peak        : 801
    IsVBR           : 1
    title           : FangCaoXunYuan4
    author          : 
    copyright       : 
    comment         : 
  Duration: 00:49:54.07, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 7507 kb/s
    Stream #0.0: Video: mpeg2video, yuv420p, 720x576 [PAR 16:15 DAR 4:3], 7500 kb/s, 41 fps, 24.92 tbr, 1k tbn, 59.94 tbc
At least one output file must be specified

[RMerlin]

You might have more than one problem at the same time. For the network-only issue, it could be interference on your powerline network. Open a command prompt, and type this command:

ping -n 99 192.xxx.xxx.xxx

(where 192.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address of the WDTV)

At the end, make sure it reports there was 0 lost packets. If not, it is a network stability issue.

Powerline networking is kinda like wireless: 85 Mbits is the pure bandwith, provided no interference, and not taking into account the overhead required by the modulation and encryption. Real-life speed will always be slower than 85 Mbits.

[Paul]

Please check that WD TV Live is still correctly set in the Media Devices dialog. It's possible that after restarting the device, it would change its IP address and this would then make Mezzmo detect it as a DLink DSM750 again (thus rendering all files incompatible).