How to play m2t files on HD extender

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

I've come to the conclusion that, at least in my case the way my network is setup, that either the server can't stream the video fast enough or the HD100 just can't handle the high bitrate of direct Blu-ray rips.

Assuming the HD100 is running the latest firmware I doubt the problem lies with the HD100. I would check, and double check, your network setup.

One of the rips that I've done has some stuttering in the first few seconds and then it clears up. The stuttering is totally predictable, it happens in the same place every time. This really threw me off in the beginning because in my tests I just happened to pick that section of the movie to use as a test clip. No matter what I did I could not get the stuttering to go away. I finally gave up on using that test clip and put the whole movie into an .mkv container. After fixing my network and upgrading the firmware the movie played flawlessly, except for that one small section.

I still can't figure out why that one small clip stutters so it certainly could be the HD100.

[Taddeusz]

Since the video is variable bit rate it's entirely possible it goes real high in that one spot.

The way my network is setup for the HD100 to play one of the files it goes through the server and my gigabit network switch twice. Once going from the computer where the media is stored to the server, then from the server to the HD100. It's possible that either the switch or the controller can't handle that amount of bandwidth twice so it starts causing the HD100 to stutter or not play at all. I haven't tried having a media import on the server itself.

Regardless, the raw ripped files are way too large to consider for long term storage.

[Deacon Crusher]

I've cleaned up my network (only one switch between server and extender and it's not a super cheapy and it is gig) made sure the blu-ray rips are on the server on a fast disk.

I still get hiccups when playing back files on the extender. Some movies better some worse, but all ripped blu-rays hiccup (except maybe an mpeg2 one, FF.) All playback fine on a pc.

I think this is an interesting observation that I'm going to check out tonight.

One intersting thing I noticed is that if I change the output resolution on the extender to 480i, the H264 titles all play smoothly. It's when I try to use an HD resolution (720p or 1080i) that they start to stutter. This tells me that Sage has no trouble streaming the file to the extender and that the extender has no trouble decoding it. Somewhere after that, however, the video hardware has trouble displaying it at HD resolution.

I have one 1080i TV and one 1080p and one is hooked up hdmi and one hooked up component, so I'm going to do some careful comparisons.

tmiranda, is your server link gig? what brand and model switch do you have at the heart of your network?

Also, I'm running 6.4.3 and running the latest 20080519 beta on the extenders.

[tmiranda]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

Since the video is variable bit rate it's entirely possible it goes real high in that one spot.

Yes, entirely possible.

@Deacon Crusher - The network is all GB. I use an 8 port Linksys, I forget the model number and right now I'm several thousand miles from my house. I've also successfully used a 5 port Negear router as well.

[bialio]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

Since the video is variable bit rate it's entirely possible it goes real high in that one spot.

The way my network is setup for the HD100 to play one of the files it goes through the server and my gigabit network switch twice. Once going from the computer where the media is stored to the server, then from the server to the HD100. It's possible that either the switch or the controller can't handle that amount of bandwidth twice so it starts causing the HD100 to stutter or not play at all. I haven't tried having a media import on the server itself.

Regardless, the raw ripped files are way too large to consider for long term storage.

I've not been able to successfuly play the VC1 / AC3 encoded mkv I have from HD-DVD of Serenity on any of my HD100s. I wonder if this double trip through the switch has something to do with it?

Has anyone heard any rumors or updates about the HD100 being able to access network locations directly? Or is it flat out impossible?

I have a Linkskey Gigabit switch also.

btl.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by bialio

I've not been able to successfuly play the VC1 / AC3 encoded mkv I have from HD-DVD of Serenity on any of my HD100s. I wonder if this double trip through the switch has something to do with it?

Has anyone heard any rumors or updates about the HD100 being able to access network locations directly? Or is it flat out impossible?

I have a Linkskey Gigabit switch also.

btl.

The last time I tried to play VC1 from BD I was not successful. All I got was audio with no video. Only one of the reasons I've been transcoding the video. The main reason is to shrink them down.

With hard drives as low as they are now my plan is to build a 4 drive NAS out of 750GB drives, which are $120 a piece now. But even so those 16-38GB files would eat up that 2.2TB pretty quickly.

AFAIK there are no plans to enable direct access to files via the HD100. Extenders have always gotten their interface and streaming directly from the server. Not sure how much it would take to re-write for that but I don't know that it will ever happen.

[Deacon Crusher]

Which transcoder are you using?

What file sizes do you end up with?

Does the quality hit really merit the size savings?

Even though I'm still dealing with stuttering issues I love the way the full quality looks through the extender and am very hesitant to loose some of that quality.

Thanks

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by Deacon Crusher

Which transcoder are you using?

What file sizes do you end up with?

Does the quality hit really merit the size savings?

Even though I'm still dealing with stuttering issues I love the way the full quality looks through the extender and am very hesitant to loose some of that quality.

Thanks

At least for me at the moment I don't notice any quality loss because I still have an SDTV. Hopefully some day I'll have one. That being said my computer has a 1680x1050 monitor which is nearly 1080. While I notice a little bit of a quality difference it's not always night and day.

I hunted around for a while to find a program that would do HD stuff. I settled on MeGUI. I use their "CE-Highprofile" x264 profile and change it to CQ mode with a quality setting of 23.0. I don't resize the video at all but I do crop it. I generally end up with a file size between 4GB and 6.5GB depending on the amount of cropping and length of the movie. The only extreme case I have is 2001: A Space Odyssey which came out to only about 2.5GB. I believe it's because much of the movie is either black or has high contrast. Especially because there are sections at the beginning and intermission in the movie which are nothing but a black image. I was quite surprised about it but using CQ mode really crunched that black down nicely.

To each their own though. I don't mind losing a little bit of quality as long as it's not that noticeable during playback. Maybe once 5-10TB drives become common I can start using the original video. Until then I'm storage limited.

On a side note I've been poking around on the forums looking for software suggestions for a NAS. I've got the hardware (sans drives) arriving this week. I was planning on using FreeNAS but am now thinking that something like unRAID might be worth it. I've got a 2GB CF card coming for the OS so whatever it is will have to fit into that. If anyone has any suggestions please PM me. Thanks.

[Rob]

Just to throw my 2 cents in. Based on earlier input from Taddeusz, I've also been using MeGui. My objective has been to minimize the studdering on the extender while minimizing the quality loss from reencoding. I use the same profile he mentioned, but I use a quality setting of 18. This has resulted in movie files that are between 15GB and 20GB that look fantastic on my 63" RPTV and my 50" Pany plasma. I cannot tell the difference between the reencoded file and the original file in terms of PQ. We watched National Treasure 2 last night. It only studdered it two places. In both cases I paused the movie for a few seconds and then resume and it smooths out.

I need to upgrade to the newest beta and firmware and set the read ahead property and see if that eliminates what studdering remains. If it does not, then the PQ results have been good enough that I'm going to start bumping the quality setting up to 19 or 20 and see if I can eliminate the occasional studder.

[valnar]

I checked out the CE Highprofile profile in MeGUI and compared it against a known ideal profile for hardware/DXVA compatibility. It's close, but not perfect. If you want your MKV file to play anywhere, make the following changes in MeGUI.

Remove B-pyramids
Remove P4x4 Macroblock option
Change AVC level to Level 4.1

This is pretty much the MeGUI profile "DXVA-HD-HQ", except the DXVA profile has a better motion estimation algorithm multi-hex and some de-blocking. Come to think of it, just use the DXVA-HD-HQ profile, change Reference Frames to 3, remove B-pyramids and you're better off.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by valnar

I checked out the CE Highprofile profile in MeGUI and compared it against a known ideal profile for hardware/DXVA compatibility. It's close, but not perfect. If you want your MKV file to play anywhere, make the following changes in MeGUI.

Remove B-pyramids
Remove P4x4 Macroblock option
Change AVC level to Level 4.1

This is pretty much the MeGUI profile "DXVA-HD-HQ", except the DXVA profile has a better motion estimation algorithm multi-hex and some de-blocking. Come to think of it, just use the DXVA-HD-HQ profile, change Reference Frames to 3, remove B-pyramids and you're better off.

It's funny you say that because I haven't had any problems playing my files at all. VLC plays them. SageTV plays them on my client via the Cyberlink H.264 decoder. My HD100 plays them. All without skipping a beat. I believe someone mentioned in a different thread that even thought the files may be labeled as level 5.1 the bitrate puts them way below that.

Regardless. I still have had no problems playing them.

[valnar]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

It's funny you say that because I haven't had any problems playing my files at all. VLC plays them. SageTV plays them on my client via the Cyberlink H.264 decoder. My HD100 plays them. All without skipping a beat. I believe someone mentioned in a different thread that even thought the files may be labeled as level 5.1 the bitrate puts them way below that.

Regardless. I still have had no problems playing them.

Hey Taddeusz. Between this site, Doom9 and AVSForum, I've been working on this "ideal" config for some time. I do use AutoMKV myself, but the x264 parameters are the same. The HD100 may play them fine, but other hardware or pickier Windows codecs may not. If you're going to go through the trouble to convert them, why not go with the most compatible parameters?

As far as the Level 4.1 is concerned, it doesn't change the output quality or file size at all. The other options do slightly.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by valnar

Hey Taddeusz. Between this site, Doom9 and AVSForum, I've been working on this "ideal" config for some time. I do use AutoMKV myself, but the x264 parameters are the same. The HD100 may play them fine, but other hardware or pickier Windows codecs may not. If you're going to go through the trouble to convert them, why not go with the most compatible parameters?

As far as the Level 4.1 is concerned, it doesn't change the output quality or file size at all. The other options do slightly.

I guess most compatible seems to be a matter of contention as I've had zero problems getting my files to play anywhere. And I do have DXVA enabled in the filter settings of my Cyberlink H.264 Decoder. If the settings I was using weren't working I'd explore them more but they are and I don't feel the need to change. Why change what works?

I've been using B-pyramids along with other advanced options with my SD movies all along and have not had one fail to play anywhere.

The ONLY issue I've noticed is with VLC on my HD transcodes. It seems to lose sync seemingly when the bitrate gets too high. If I play the same video in PowerDVD I have no glitches whatsoever. That may be some kind of decoder error with the more advanced H.264 features but why only in certain spots?

[briands]

Sorry for coming into this conversation late...

The post over at AVS advocates an mkv container with FLAC audio... is this playable on the HD extender? I hope to get a chance to try out some of these options this weekend, but I want the files to be full quality and playable on the extender.

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by briands

Sorry for coming into this conversation late...

The post over at AVS advocates an mkv container with FLAC audio... is this playable on the HD extender? I hope to get a chance to try out some of these options this weekend, but I want the files to be full quality and playable on the extender.

Technically it should work assuming the network and the HD100 can handle the throughput and bitrate of the video and audio.

[bialio]

I'm not sure multi-channel FLAC is supported on the extenders....

[WarlordBB]

Although a very savvy computer user, 20+ years programming and taking them apart, I can water cool/overclock with the best of 'em, this video stuff has always baffled me (graphedits, de-interlacing, etc.). I've just never really wanted to dive into enough.

Anyway, I've got an HD100 and an R5000 hooked up to a VIP 211 (i.e. Dish) and I've had great success recording everything I've tried using the HD5000 program that came with my R5000.

However, I've had a LOT of problems trying to get SageTV working with my R5000. I've had even more problems getting the HD100 to work.

I've decided to focus on SageTV and the R5000 first.

In order to try to isolate problems, I wanted to start fresh.

So, got a fresh install of XP SP2 (just because that was already on the machine I grabbed to test with).

Got everything up to date and then installed the R5000. Everything works fine, can record files just fine and the .ts files play fine from other systems that have never had problems playing HD content.

However, it doesn't play on the install system.

So, I downloaded JUST WMP 11 like you suggest and it still can't play the .ts files nor can it play a test mkv file I downloaded.

Now, I know some of you are saying DUH! you have to install XYZ too...

Which is my point for the non-video readers - WMP 11 don't get you there by itself, at least on XP.

BTW, should I be trying this on Vista 32-bit just to save myself some troubles?

I'm now going to find out what else is necessary in order to play back ts files and mkv files properly before I dive into installing SageTV. I assume it will be the Hailla (w/e) splitter thing.

I want to have the most MINIMAL working setup for SageTV, R5000 and my HD100 to playback everything I can record from the R5000 from DISH so I'm trying to not do something like install K-Pack (name?).

Originally Posted by sigma957

I haven't seen this question answered clearly, so I thought I would contribute my experience. In order to get VC-1 playback to work in Sage, I had to install WMP 11, set always_use_dshow_player = true, and make sure the microsoft video decoder (WMVideo Decoder DMO) has higher merit that any other other VC-1 decoder on my system. I also have PowerDVD and Arcsoft TMT installed. Playing around in graphedit, I found that I could not get the Cyberlink VC-1 filter to connect to the Haali splitter. The Arcsoft video decoder would connect, but I wouldn't get any picture. The microsoft decoder is the only one I've found that works outside of it's own product. Also, since the microsoft decoder is the reference implementation anyway, I find the that the video quality is just as good as PDVD or TMT.

[Yorick]

Was there ever a definitive solution to the heavy pixelation issues with VC1 encoded files playing on the HD100? I've had no problem playing H264 in an .MKV container over the extender but VC1 comes out very badly pixelated. The VC1 file is also in an .MKV container. Both the H264 .mkv and the VC1 .mkv play back just fine using Media Player Classic.

I'm using the most current released versions of SageTV and the Extender firmware. I haven't noticed any reference in the beta notes for the HD100 regarding VC1 playback but maybe I missed it? The AC3 audio plays just fine, without stuttering, so I'm doubtful that the issue is related to bitrates, HD speed, CPU utilization or network congestion.

If someone has had this problem and gotten it fixed, I'd appreciate any hints. The only VC1 BD disk I own right now is I Am Legend.

Thanks.

Yorick

[Taddeusz]

Have you contacted support?

[tmiranda]

It looks like it is hit or miss with VC1 depending on the specific movie. Some play, some do not.