I just bought a new sony blu ray player from this deal http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/116889 expecting it to have better file format compatibility than my 5 year old soniq player, but am so far severely disappointed. Its not playing standard AVI movies downloaded from the usual sources(same files work fine on the soniq), but it is working for some TV shows which are also AVI so I'm rather confused.
This might be a topic better suited to AVForums or whirlpool but I thought I would give here a try first.
Does any one have any info on this?
Thanks
New Sony BDPS1100 Blu-Ray Player not playing AVI over USB
Riczter on 21/09/2013 - 16:58
Comments
Thanks, I know a little bit about the difference between format and container, but not much. VLC's Codec information looks very handy, cheers.
But as for the Sony bluray player, I would expect it to play the standard codecs mpeg2, divx and xvid. I know my old soniq couldn't handle h264, but I think this one does h264 as well. But is it an unrealistic expectation for a modern player from Sony to support these common formats???
It looks like the movie files it couldn't play are MPEG-4 video (XVID).
The TV show it did manage to play has exactly the same codec information as the movie it couldnt play.
What's going on there??This is running off a usb thumbdrive btw. Don't know if it makes a difference. I tried both FAT32 and NTFS formatting, same results.
I know my old soniq couldn't handle h264, but I think this one does h264 as well.
It will definitely support it in theory, as blu-ray is h264, but the PS3 (for example) will only 'support' h264 off blu-ray discs, because Sony hate you.
The TV show it did manage to play has exactly the same codec information as the movie it couldnt play. What's going on there??
I don't know. Possibly a bit rate/frame rate/resolution issue?
If you can, try and set up a transcode capable DLNA server on your home network. A little more fiddly to begin with, but the server takes care of making sure that the BR player can understand the format. I have everything from .mp4's to .rmvb's streaming to my Sony gear fine.
I've got a N40L running plex. Will the bluray player be able to read movie files off the server. I dont think this bluray model is DLNA capable.
Blu-ray players are rubbish. They have built in Cinavia, so some of those films you've "obtained" will cut out after 20min or so. Basically buy a WD TV Live. Also why are you are bothering with .avi? Its a primitive horrific container and the accompanying codec XviD is equally crap. Most Scene releases (SPARKS, ALLIANCE, etc) are now switching to x264 + .mkv
Blu-ray players are rubbish.
They generally work fine.
They have built in Cinavia
Current players do, previously only some.
so some of those films you've "obtained" will cut out after 20min or so.
Only if the source of the material uses Cinavia and it hasn't been removed.
Also why are you are bothering with .avi? Its a primitive horrific container
Care to explain what is wrong with it?
XviD is equally crap
… again?
Most Scene releases (SPARKS, ALLIANCE, etc) are now switching to x264 + .mkv
For films and maybe even HDTV, but what about everything else? What about most TV shows, youtube videos or stuff you recorded on your phone. Not everyone is you and only playing ripped cinema masters.
Yeah well most of the movies were obtained back when avi/xvid was the norm. I've been avoiding the x264 releases til now because my old soniq player didn't support it, but I can start getting x264 for new stuff now. I dont think there's anything wrong with xvid/avi, just x264 is better. Looking forward to x265 :)
What do you suggest is the best setup for me, because I have been trying to figure this out for months. I have an N40L microserver running win8 and plex in my room. I love plex but it doesnt work for dad because it doesn't support subtitles on windows apparently, and dad's partially deaf. Would XBMC be better? I tried it a few years back but gave up coz of too many problems and too fiddly. Could the N40L run both plex and XBMC concurrently?
I've also got a wdtv lying around, So i could either move the N40L to the loungeroom and use that as a HTPC, maybe put a bluray drive in it and scrap the sony player altogether, OR, keep the N40L in my room and run the WDTV in the loungeroom.
Thoughts? it needs to be easy to use coz dad's a dinosaur and has trouble remembering the difference between the different remote controls. Should probably invest in a universal at some stage too.
Prephaps a blu ray player is meant to play blu ray discs? You might need a media player if you wanna play various video file formats?
I'd look at the codec info on whichever one(s) work best & convert the ones you want to watch over to that. Otherwise, you'll need to look for something that handles media files better, as has been suggested.
Good luck!
ps: videohelp.com is a good site to find info at.
I've got a Soniq TV that wouldn't play h264 mkv files. I changed the extension to .avi and it played them fine. Very odd.
A Common mistake is that .avi is a video format. It isn't. It is a 'container' that can store a heap of different formats. Other containers are .mkv, .mpg, .ogg and .m4v. Video codecs include mpeg2, divx, xvid, h264 and others. Audio codecs include DTS, Dolby Digital, Vorbis, MP3 and others.
So for your videos to play it must support the container, the video codec and the audio codec. If you have VLC (I recommend it) look in 'Tools' -> 'Codec Information' to see what the videos are.
You can transcode any video to any other codec with some loss of quality. A tool like handbrake makes this (somewhat) easy.