Playing XVID encoded AVIs

[IAmATeaf]

I have a huge collection of AVIs that I stream to the PS3 from my media server. Thought I'd play around with the Vu Duo last night so got a CIFS share configured to my media server, can see all the files but when I play them, the sound, though low in volume is OK but the file plays like it's jittering. Almost like some frames are being dropped.

I tried a couple of MKVs and they play perfectly. Read elsewhere that I should recontainer the files in MKV so used mkvmerge to do this but the result still plays exactly the same. Not really surprised by this to be honest as I didn't re-encode anything.

Now I understand that from now on I can just download stuff in MKV format but this leaves me with around 4Tb of content that won't play properly.

Does anybody have any ideas about when encoding option might be causing the problem or any more info, I did a quick google and found old posts from 2010 but nothing really conclusive except that BH might be better, I'm using Vix2.4 at the mo.

 

[elmoemo]

no idea mate, I would try playing an avi off a usb and if it works then its a problem with your media server settings. Havent tried myself so cant comment. If the avi does jitter then its either a framerate issue or image problem?

 

[digi247]

The problem you will encounter is that MKV is just a container for Audio and Video which once inside can be of any of the 100's of different standards available, Something which only a PC/Laptop can play comfortably with the correct codecs installed.

As you have found out the Duo will play some standardised MKV formats with the correct A/V inside but when it encounters a non standard encode it struggles due to not having the correct codec installed.

I would imagine that is why the Vu Solo2/Duo2 are being released not for better satellite viewing but going of the hardware specs thses have been bumped up to make it more of a home media centre which should play anything thrown at it, Satellite viewing just being another one of its little tricks.

 

[IAmATeaf]

I'm still looking into this and am determined to get to the bottom of this issue, even if it turns to be, can't play XVIDS

I've read somewhere that the problem might be caused by having a packed bitstream with multiple b-frames which the duo may not properly interpret hence the stutter. I did notice that all my XVIDs do have packed bitsream enabled and 2 b-frames so I'm going to re-encode a sample AVI and see if this solves the problem.

 

[sakiblateef]

It will play 700MB Xvid files without any problems anything over 1GB I found wouldn't work for some strange reason.

 

[digidude]

id be interested in your findings m8, as i also have quite a large collection of downloaded stuff, mainly TV shows like dexter, walking dead, heroes, etc

downstairs i had a duo, running ViX 2.0 (it works, why bother updating lol) but it would NEVER play any of my media tidy (its now been replaced by a TM-twin, which has no problems) and even in the kids rooms, they have TM800s, which play everything ive ever thrown at them

the twin will soon be coming back out of my living room, and going back over the missus house, which means that the duo will be going back in, if i could get this to play my media properly, id be a happy chappie lol, otherwise its back to usb stick in the side of the telly

 

[IAmATeaf]

Haven't had time to investigate this in depth but I think I've noticed that if I play the AVI via a USB flash drive then it plays fine. Haven't had time to 100% confirm this as I never got round to copying the same file over to my media server.

All of my AVI's are 720p so most are over 2gb in size.

 

[amaru007]

i followed this guide from WoS: Vlc player on vu+ -- solved!!
and managed to get everything playing from the media pc upstairs to both my vu+ uno's.
i did manage to get a upnp server software called serviio to work with them too for a short while, but dunno what i did as it'll only play the last 10 added and nothing else now.
too lazy to reinstall windows to see if it was that.

running a gigabit network around the house, shame the boxes are only 100mbit.
but the vlc plugin runs all divx encoded videos fine, all mkv and mp4 too.
problems arise with 720 and especially 1080, to view them you have to drop the transcoding resolution on the plugin to 720 or below.
also had a few problems with 1080 when they've been too big (10gb+) and i'm suspect with some of the audio tracks too.

otherwise apart from that, its awesome