Video playback problems on certain MKV's

[Tripps]

I have a lot of 720p TV Show's that I run on my A-300, and these are all MKV's. I have ran across a couple that simply will not play on the A-300. The two files in question, I am including the media-info information on them. One I went as far as taking an original iTunes download of and converting from .MP4 to .MKV myself and it is still failing, though the .MP4 version works.

The problem that occurs is that once the video starts to play, the screen stays black but you get random garbled audio from the show, sometimes legible audio, mostly sounds like it is jumping around like crazy in the file. Never any video. On a couple of occasions while testing, my A-300 locked up.

It is worth noting that these files do play normally on other players (ie: VLC, Boxee Box, XBMC, Neo550).

Show #1:

Code:

General
Unique ID                        : 224367795074987658126076467913807358465 (0xA8CBAA5ECE047A1A8B1AEFBDBCABEA01)
Complete name                    : L:\TV Shows\Castle (2009)\Season 2\Castle (2009) - S02E09 - Love Me Dead.mkv
Format                           : Matroska
Format version                   : Version 2
File size                        : 1.35 GiB
Duration                         : 41mn 38s
Overall bit rate                 : 4 628 Kbps
Encoded date                     : UTC 2012-02-01 02:29:20
Writing application              : mkvmerge v5.2.1 ('A Far Off Place') built on Jan  2 2012 23:21:10
Writing library                  : libebml v1.2.3 + libmatroska v1.3.0

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC           : No
Format settings, ReFrames        : 2 frames
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 41mn 38s
Bit rate                         : 4 152 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.188
Stream size                      : 1.21 GiB (90%)
Language                         : English
Color primaries                  : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177
Transfer characteristics         : BT.709-5, BT.1361
Matrix coefficients              : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177

Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension                   : CM (complete main)
Codec ID                         : A_AC3
Duration                         : 41mn 38s
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 384 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                        : 16 bits
Compression mode                 : Lossy
Stream size                      : 114 MiB (8%)
Language                         : English

Show #2:

Code:

General
Complete name                    : L:\TV Shows\Californication\Season 5\Californication - S05E06 - Love Song.mkv
Format                           : Matroska
Format version                   : Version 2
File size                        : 889 MiB
Duration                         : 27mn 40s
Overall bit rate                 : 4 493 Kbps
Writing application              : x264.exe
Writing library                  : mkv2rls x264-tv version built on 2011. febr. 17

Video
ID                               : 1
Format                           : AVC
Format/Info                      : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile                   : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC           : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames        : 5 frames
Codec ID                         : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration                         : 27mn 40s
Bit rate                         : 4 020 Kbps
Width                            : 1 280 pixels
Height                           : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio             : 16:9
Frame rate                       : 23.976 fps
Color space                      : YUV
Chroma subsampling               : 4:2:0
Bit depth                        : 8 bits
Scan type                        : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)               : 0.182
Stream size                      : 796 MiB (89%)
Writing library                  : x264 core 120 r2164 da19765
Encoding settings                : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:-1:-1 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.15 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-3 / threads=36 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language                         : English

Audio
ID                               : 2
Format                           : AC-3
Format/Info                      : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension                   : CM (complete main)
Codec ID                         : A_AC3
Duration                         : 27mn 40s
Bit rate mode                    : Constant
Bit rate                         : 384 Kbps
Channel(s)                       : 6 channels
Channel positions                : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate                    : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth                        : 16 bits
Compression mode                 : Lossy
Stream size                      : 76.0 MiB (9%)
Language                         : English

If anyone has any insights as to why these aren't working, I'm all ears.

Thanks.

[chris57]

What does MKVMerge say if you remux them into an MKV? Do you have the same problem is you cut a small sample and try to play that? Upload the sample if you do to somewhere like multiupload and post a link.

There's nothing that immediately jumps to mind.

[hkablar]

(03-02-2012 04:42 AM)Tripps Wrote:  I have a lot of 720p TV Show's that I run on my A-300, and these are all MKV's. I have ran across a couple that simply will not play on the A-300. The two files in question, I am including the media-info information on them. One I went as far as taking an original iTunes download of and converting from .MP4 to .MKV myself and it is still failing, though the .MP4 version works.

The problem that occurs is that once the video starts to play, the screen stays black but you get random garbled audio from the show, sometimes legible audio, mostly sounds like it is jumping around like crazy in the file. Never any video. On a couple of occasions while testing, my A-300 locked up.

It is worth noting that these files do play normally on other players (ie: VLC, Boxee Box, XBMC, Neo550).

I got exactly same problem on C-300 with
Californication\Season 5\Californication - S05E06 - Love Song.mkv

[Tripps]

Ok, I have ran these files through mkvmerge and I've found that I can make them work if I shave the first 10 seconds of Californication off, and the first 2 seconds of Castle. Also, for 1 more test I completely remuxed them through mkvmerge and it still had the same problem. I also added one more device to test and that was a Popbox, the regular files played just fine so I'm thinking it has something to do with the MKV container and how the 300's are reading these. I am trying to find a place to upload these samples (first 5 mins of each) which exhibit this issue. I will get them uploaded as soon as I can.

Thanks...

[Tripps]

Sorry it took me a while to get this file uploaded. The file is the first 5 minutes of the Castle episode. It's in a 7zip archive, password "nmttest".

http://www.mediafire.com/?50rra3e2ugpvnij

Thanks!