T3 hangs playing some MKVs

[ChocolateTeapot]

A small proportion of MKVs cause both my T2 & T3 (both latest bootloader & fw) to hang. Symptom is spinning wheel trying to start the file. There is no recovery but power cycling the T2/3. I think this is a T2/3 fault (not file) as the files play perfectly from the same network location on Windows 10 PC and Android tablet. Last 5 episodes of same program crash (suspect encoder causing the problem) however we've seen it regularly on a variety of MKV files.

Anyone keen to replicate D/L the following example and try.

http://www.binsearch.net/?server=2&b=Da ... 3E&max=250

I'm playing the files from a Synology NAS using NFS file shares. I repeat it is only a small percentage of MKVs that cause the T2/3 to hang and these files play fine over same network to other non-Wiz players.

[Gully]

There is no support currently on the T series for x265/HEVC files and that's your problem.

MKV is just a container so could be a variety of formats within.

[Grumpy_Geoff]

The file name ("Danger.Mouse.2015.S01E34.1080p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta.mkv") implies video is encoded with x265 - the T-series won't play that.

[ChocolateTeapot]

Thanks gents.

Crumbs DM!

[ChocolateTeapot]

OK, so how do we defend the hardware and give it a graceful exit option when it strikes an unplayable format inside a container? Ideally we'd like it to play whatever it finds, yet we see new formats from time to time, a hang requiring power cycling is bad form.

Should this thread therefore be moved to feature requests?

[MrQuade]

Is the detection of the encoding formats a function of the gstreamer plugin or some other bit of pre-processing software? If it's a gstreamer thing, are we at the mercy of the long awaited update?

[itstonyb]

Does anyone know when the T4 will support playback of HEVC?

[MrQuade]

Does anyone know when the T4 will support playback of HEVC?

Yes we do. The answer is never, unfortunately.

You need hardware support to be able to decode HEVC (or else a VERY powerful CPU), and the T4's SoC doesn't have that capability.

[itstonyb]

that's disappointing,.

I have an old dual core pc of 8 years old and VLC player on that will play a HEVC file?

I would have to say that this T4 is the most underwhelming piece of crap I ever owned.
Locks up all the time, lags badly when simply changing from file view to live tv, locks up needing a reset when it cant play a file and countless other issues.

[MrQuade]

I would have to say that this T4 is the most underwhelming piece of crap I ever owned.
Locks up all the time, lags badly when simply changing from file view to live tv, locks up needing a reset when it cant play a file and countless other issues.

None of that behaviour is normal for a T4 with the latest firmware. I'd recommend upgrading to the latest v17.5 beta firmware and certainly the media playback lockup problem will be fixed. That latest firmware won't allow you to watch HEVC, but it won't lock your T4 up any more.

You may have to provide more detail for the other problems for us to tell what may be causing those.

[Paul_oz53]

I would have to say that this T4 is the most underwhelming piece of crap I ever owned.
Locks up all the time, lags badly when simply changing from file view to live tv, locks up needing a reset when it cant play a file and countless other issues.

None of that behaviour is normal for a T4 with the latest firmware. I'd recommend upgrading to the latest v17.5 beta firmware and certainly the media playback lockup problem will be fixed. That latest firmware won't allow you to watch HEVC, but it won't lock your T4 up any more.

You may have to provide more detail for the other problems for us to tell what may be causing those.

The HEVC issue aside, our T4 is a very powerful unit with no discernable issues on the 17.5 firmware.

If our T4 runs slowly the cause in my experience is generally the home network over which we share video folders is down or needs a reboot. Others have found using loosely specified autotimers can give rise to problems too. Otherwise, some unlucky souls have experienced hardware problems but the reports are not all that frequent.

If just watching TV or playing back media we don't experience any significant delay. It is true though that the user interface is not all that intuitive so it's easy to go to the wrong menu at times.

As MrQuade suggests, if there are specific things giving you grief let us know and we'll try and sort them out.

Cheers, Paul