DirecTV HR24 transcoding got worse with v3.0.0.0

[Paul]

We'll re-check our device profiles for Directv units and report back if we see any problems that we may have introduced.

[tek4life]

I am having the same problem streaming to my Directv HR2x receivers (since upgrading to Mezzmo v3.0). The most annoying problem is some HD movies stop playing saying the bitrate is too high. I did NOT have this problem using V2.7. I would like to try fixing the problem the same way that smitbret did - by replacing the ffmpeg.exe file in the Mezzmo directory. Does Concevia use a custom version of ffmpeg or can I download the static Build directly from http://ffmpeg.org/download.html ? If I can use the ffmpeg.exe from http://ffmpeg.org/download.html and I am running Win7 x64 - which version should I download, x86 (32 bit) or x64?

Thanks,
TheDude54

Had the same problem on all my DirecTV boxes, but was able to fix it by editing the performance of the media devices. You'll need to drop it down 2 ticks to prevent it from getting bit rates that are too high, anything higher than that and it fails during playback. The only problem I still have is that some of the movies are ending prematurely (a couple minutes before the end)... still haven't figured that one out. Also, I just upgraded to 3.0.2 and the problem remains the same so I had to adjust the peformance settings back down. Seems to be a problem with all 3.x releases but could be tied to something they are doing in FFMPEG.

[Paul]

Thanks for this information, tek4life. We'll make sure the Directv device profiles do not have too high bitrates & that ffmpeg.exe is not producing files with too high bitrates.

Regarding the video ending prematurely, we may have fixed this issue so please email us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com and we'll supply a patch for you to try.

[Paul]

Just a follow-up: We think the high-bitrate problem on Directv set-top boxes was related to the ffmpeg.exe that was shipped in Mezzmo v3.0.0.0 -> v3.0.2.0. We've built a new version of ffmpeg.exe and early testing from a few users suggest the high bitrate problem is fixed. Email us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com if you wish to try it.

[smitbret]

Just a follow-up: We think the high-bitrate problem on Directv set-top boxes was related to the ffmpeg.exe that was shipped in Mezzmo v3.0.0.0 -> v3.0.2.0. We've built a new version of ffmpeg.exe and early testing from a few users suggest the high bitrate problem is fixed. Email us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com if you wish to try it.

Got the fixes installed last night and can confirm that the problem seems to be resolved. I wasn't able to watch more than about 15 minutes into any movie, but none of them dropped out with the Maximum Bit Rate error at the spots they dropped out before. Quality also seems to be much better, although 1 movie (127 Hours) still suffers some streaks of blocking in some dark areas for about the first 00:02:00 and then looks fine; almost like it has to warm up. It's not in the original but it is just this one title. Maybe a bad/inefficient encode from BR to x264. I'll re-rip and see if the problem remains.

Now, if only DirecTV would start supporting MPEG-4 in Media Share......

[Paul]

Many thanks for the confirmation, smitbret. This ffmpeg.exe build will be included in the upcoming Mezzmo v3.1 release that we're planning to release next week.

[bubaucsal]

Many thanks for the confirmation, smitbret. This ffmpeg.exe build will be included in the upcoming Mezzmo v3.1 release that we're planning to release next week.

Where can I get this version of ffmpeg.exe to download?

[Paul]

Email us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com for the updated ffmpeg.exe - or wait until we release Mezzmo v3.1, which will include the updated ffmpeg.exe and other fixes. Planned for release later this week.

[smitbret]

Many thanks for the confirmation, smitbret. This ffmpeg.exe build will be included in the upcoming Mezzmo v3.1 release that we're planning to release next week.

Just a quick note. A few days ago, I noticed one of my movies dropped off with the <maximum bitrate> error again after I made the changes (or thought I had). It has not happened again. In fact, I built a new Media Server a few days ago and did a fresh install of the OS and installed Mezzmo with the tweaks for DirecTV boxes and haven't seen the problem since.

One thing that keeps cropping up, though..... one particular movie, 127 Hours, still consistently has poor quality for the first couple of minutes. It has horrible blocking in dark areas and fast action. Over the last couple of months I have changed quality settings, reinstalled Mezzmo probably a dozen times and have even re ripped the original file. No matter what I do, the quality is still bad for the first 2 minutes of that movie. It clears up and looks fine after that and it only occurs with that movie (so far). It's not much of an issue since I haven't seen it anywhere else. It doesn't occur on my WD Live Hub with transcoding turned off so I would assume it is some kind of issue with ffmpeg.

Like I said, it's nothing that I am concerned about, just wanted to make note.

[Paul]

Thanks for reporting this, smitbret. If you want us to have a look at the issues in 127 Hours, then upload the file to a filesharing site and email us the download link to support [at] conceiva [dot] com.