Thread: WDTV Media Player Help

Okedoky, thought I'd post this up on here as well as the actual video forums about this unit (as so far, no one's solved it):

Got one of these little beauties the other day:

WDTV Media Player

What it does is as follows:

You need an external hard-drive & u basically put either downloaded films on there, or rips of your own dvd collection.
That then plugs into this media player, which plugs into your tv.
You have a special little remote control & you can pick whatever film u like & it'll play (so no need for constant changing your dvd discs over or plugging a pc into the tv).

Now the problem I have is to do with Region 1 films stored in a format called .mkv
(This is a fairly new format, but is much better than vob or avi - due to quality of picture & what they can contain).

Due to Region 1 playing at 29.997fps & the player trying to play this type of file at 25fps, every second u get a very slight 'jerk' due to it not playing some frames (or mixing them together to get 25). Whatever it does, it's a bit annoying, and I can't change the Pal setting in the video menu to NTSC (which would then I presume play it properly).

Now this isn't needed for Vob files or avi files which are NTSC - for some reason it plays them smoothly (although with certain other drawbacks), but as I have a lot of files as .mkv, I need them to play properly.

Any ideas??

And before anyone says use vob or avi, I can't - reason being is some are downloads (and I don't want to spend hours converting them to a lower quality format) & 2, most vob files play at the wrong aspect ratio (no idea why) & don't contain chapter info.

Cheers.

Flippin' Eck, that's a conundrum
If it were me, I would have asked BB what to do... think your best bet is to join a video forum, or better still, speak to China, who's got some excellent links

Damn MKV, I always try to avoid it It has it's uses, but it's mainly for playing on a computer and nothing more. You can add different audio to the one file ect ect.

it's a bit strange how you can't change the pal setting on your new toy, or at the very least, it should automatically switch between the various frame rates.

I can't really help you with this BB as when I convert stuff, I always use the original frame rate, changing the frame rate can and does result in that jerkiness you are experiencing.

I'm guessing you posted this question on the video help forum?

I'm sure someone will answer it in due course. Will keep my fingers crossed and also, make sure you let me know the outcome.

I know I haven't a scooby what I'm on about, but would you be prepared to convert your .mkv files back to .vob / .avi as a small sacrifice? Sounds like you obviously like your quality, but looking at the product, I'm wondering if in your own eyes it would be like having Blu-Ray and then downgrading to DVD, which just won't do for our billybob?

Is this also what we were discussing the other weekend on each file taking 2 hours to convert?

However, I do know where you're coming from - you've bought this new shiny toy and you want it to work to it's maximum ability (or at least use it for what it's designed for)... believe it or not this is the same situation I had with my mp3 mixer, I couldn't understand why it wasn't doing what it was supposed to do (or advertised to do).

How can I explain it? Sometimes, you just gotta bite the bullet and look at it as though that you've still got a decent bit of kit? Sorry this doesn't help you further pal

More replies than I got on dedicated WDTV forums

Right - Mkv :

For me, this is a lovely format as it keeps the aspect ratio correct, can handle extra subs / audio etc & creates a single file - plus the program is very quick to do it.

Vobs:

This is what I did first of all for about 40 films - imagine my delight when loads came out looking like this (and this was done trying 3 different programs):



There's no way I'm gonna watch a squished picture.

Avi - avi could solve the problem in the fact it'll play smooth & has no problem playing on the player, but there's no way I'm gonna wait around for it to convert a load of R1 discs taking about 3ish hours for each one!
I have several series of Stargate on R1 - I'll be there forever!!!

So basically vob & avi are out of the question.

No idea why I can't alter the Pal option - unless it's to do with the hdmi cable?? but I wouldn't have thought so & no way I'm gonna plug it in using the phone cables - defeats the object of it.

Gotta say though I downloaded some H264 Mkv files of X-men ripped from Bluray - even though the file size was around 2gig (half that of a dvd) the quality was amazing!!
Just a shame I can't find a site with Pal versions as all the ones I keep finding are rips of US copies...

Originally Posted by billybob2007

More replies than I got on dedicated WDTV forums

Right - Mkv :

For me, this is a lovely format as it keeps the aspect ratio correct, can handle extra subs / audio etc & creates a single file - plus the program is very quick to do it.

Vobs:

This is what I did first of all for about 40 films - imagine my delight when loads came out looking like this (and this was done trying 3 different programs):



There's no way I'm gonna watch a squished picture.

Avi - avi could solve the problem in the fact it'll play smooth & has no problem playing on the player, but there's no way I'm gonna wait around for it to convert a load of R1 discs taking about 3ish hours for each one!
I have several series of Stargate on R1 - I'll be there forever!!!

So basically vob & avi are out of the question.

No idea why I can't alter the Pal option - unless it's to do with the hdmi cable?? but I wouldn't have thought so & no way I'm gonna plug it in using the phone cables - defeats the object of it.

Gotta say though I downloaded some H264 Mkv files of X-men ripped from Bluray - even though the file size was around 2gig (half that of a dvd) the quality was amazing!!
Just a shame I can't find a site with Pal versions as all the ones I keep finding are rips of US copies...

BB, I know i've told you about this place before http://www.videohelp.com but I really recommend joining the forum there and asking your question. They really are a fantastic bunch who really know their stuff when it comes to all kinds of video and what to do with it. Join up, stick your question on there and see what they come up with.

Turns out I've already joined that site ages ago - just posted up on there as the other 4 places I've posted on have been of no use at all.

Let's hope this gets solved so I can get back to ripping

Cheers.

Originally Posted by swipezster

If it were me, I would have asked BB what to do...

Now that's funny!!

Originally Posted by Thrash

Originally Posted by swipezster

If it were me, I would have asked BB what to do...

Now that's funny!!

sorry to bump the post BB putting your hopes up, but I'd just like to state for the record that I have absolutely no recollection of writing the above post yesterday :p

Originally Posted by swipezster

Originally Posted by Thrash

Originally Posted by swipezster

If it were me, I would have asked BB what to do...

Now that's funny!!

sorry to bump the post BB putting your hopes up, but I'd just like to state for the record that I have absolutely no recollection of writing the above post yesterday :p

Were u invaded by some strange alien prescence? Or possible some sort of alcohol induced incident??

Well I'm getting replies over on that site, so just need to test some bits out - hopefully will be solved soon