Codec failure

Bigsime01 · Post by **Bigsime01** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 21:50

Hi guys,

not sure if anyone can help me with this, but I have 2x S1's one is about 5 years old and the other 4 months, I reciently had and issue of no audio playing an mkv file on the new unit that came with Software version 350, the old unit has the same version on it and plays it fine, and suggestions?
Should I reinstall the firmware,?

Simon

Gully · Post by **Gully** » Fri Oct 26, 2012 22:39

Have you checked the audio settings?

How are they connected up for audio?

Clearly we need a lot more detail on the different setups to give any real help.

prl · Post by **prl** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 10:02

This doesn't seem to have anything to do with IceTV at all. Perhaps it could be moved to DP-P2, FV-L1, DP-Lite, DP-S1 and DP-P1?

Mods?

Gully · Post by **Gully** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 11:04

Bigsime01 · Post by **Bigsime01** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 22:29

Hi Gully,

Sorry for the lack of detail, I figured it would matter how the audio is setup as they are both units are setup exactly the same.
This file in question is on my PC which I downlaoded, both the DP-S1's are setup with 5.1, using the RCA outputs.

It's not the end of the world, I rarely play MKV files,
My best guess is the codec didn't take when firmware was installed.
I just thought it bizzar one played it and the othe didn't,
I may try an re-install. unless anybody's got a better idea.

Simon

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sat Oct 27, 2012 22:40

Hi Simon,

Have you read the Recommended Audio Settings... FAQ?

The analogue 5.1 outputs have never been considered as reliable. It appears to work for some and not for others. Is there any way you can try a digital output to see what kind of difference it makes.

Regards,
Ian.

netmask · Post by **netmask** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 09:31

Post a MediaInfo report on the MKV files to see if they contain any additional tracks other than audio and video. If they do the MkvMergeGui can get rid of extra material quickly and without reencoding.

Bigsime01 · Post by **Bigsime01** » Sun Oct 28, 2012 18:38

Hi Ian,
Will give that a go,
I can connect optical, coaxial and 2ch to the amp, i'll try them all.

netmask · Post by **netmask** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 08:48

Follow up - I have found a mkv file with internal subs (switchable ) will play on my P1 but not on a friends P1. I don't know why but can only surmise it has something to do with memory in both machines. Anyway don't discount trying because it doesn't appear logical!

prl · Post by **prl** » Mon Oct 29, 2012 11:14

Bigsime01 wrote:...
My best guess is the codec didn't take when firmware was installed.
I just thought it bizzar one played it and the othe didn't,
I may try an re-install. unless anybody's got a better idea.
...

The firmware installation in a Beyonwiz is pretty much monolithic. When you upgrade (or downgrade) the firmware, a ROMFS image in the .wrp file replaces the previous ROMFS image that contains all the runtime software on the Beyonwiz. The codecs that are available are the ones that were put there when the firmware .wrp was built. There's not really a question of a codec "taking" or not.

I doubt that reinstalling the firmware will help, but it's a low effort thing and may be worth trying.

The codecs can, of course differ between firmware versions, as can the code that tries to determine which codec to use for a particular file.

Have you double-checked in the two DP-S1's firmware versions (SETUP>System>Firmware>Firmware Version)?

If the two S1s are running the same firmware versions, then I agree with IanSav and Gully that the problem is probably something more dynamic, like different audio settings or the two run-time environments differing in the amount of memory they have for running the codecs. This could be due to them having different sets of processes running giving different amounts of free memory.

Do you stream between the two S1s? If so, is only one set up as a WizPnP server? If that's so, and the MKV playback problem is on that server, you could try switching off the WizPnP server (it doesn't actually get switched off until you restart) and see if that makes a difference.

If IceTV is enabled, then that process also takes up memory, so disabling that may be worth a try if it's enabled. However, again this is more likely to be a problem if one S1 runs IceTV and the other doesn't, which would be an unusual situation.

And "bizarre." It's self-descriptive of its spelling

Bigsime01 · Post by **Bigsime01** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 00:01

As I was attempting to test the other audio output options, I noticed that my 17 month old son had changed the setting on my amp from analog to coaxial, It seems the optical output does not play that file either, I tested all possible combinations and with this paticular file the audio will only come out via the RCA jucks.

Thanks for the suggestion of trying differant settings, it's resolved the issue of why it would play on one and not the other.

thanks for the chat fellas

Simon

celicasx · Post by **celicasx** » Wed Oct 31, 2012 23:15

Without seeing the mediaInfo log, I'd hazard a guess that the file has AC3 audio and your Amp is unable to handle it. If you're so inclined, you could de-mux the audio stream from the file, re-encode the audio track to LC-AAC and then mux it back into the mkv file.

I've had to do something similar with a couple of files I have and it works perfectly following the audio re-encode.

While I think of it - multiple audio streams should not be a problem. I have several files with multiple tracks and it works fine. You can easily switch between the tracks using the audio (?) button on the remote.

Codec failure

Codec failure

About the Forum

Join us