Problems with mkvs created with 1.7.0 and Oppo BDP93/Twonky

[probedb]

Hi folks,

I'm using the latest version to rip my DVDs but it seems to be causing issues with my player.

Files either take ages to start or crash the player completely.

If I remux the files with mkvmerge making sure I turn off header compression it works fine. Is there anyway this can be made an option in MakeMKV?

It's a great program but a bit more advanced usage like this would be great.

Cheers,
Paul.

[mike admin]

MakeMKV never sets header compression in MKV file. The only change in 1.7.0 was that the "Title" meta-info is now written to MKV file. Could it be the case?

[probedb]

I'm not sure to be honest. I've uploaded the file for Oppo to investigate so I'll see what they say.

I'll try and remember to do a quick check in mkvinfo.

[idontexist]

I can somewhat reproduce this. Serving MKV files from my desktop (Win7, older quad CPU, 8gb RAM) using PS3 Media server to an Oppo 93 over gigabit ethernet. MKV files ripped using MakeMKV take 50-60 seconds to start - mostly the hang is around 25% complete on the Oppo progress indicator. I'm not currently getting crashes. Other MKV files load in about 5 seconds (to be fair, the other MKVs are only 720P and more compressed). I have not tried remuxing yet.

[probedb]

I can somewhat reproduce this. Serving MKV files from my desktop (Win7, older quad CPU, 8gb RAM) using PS3 Media server to an Oppo 93 over gigabit ethernet. MKV files ripped using MakeMKV take 50-60 seconds to start - mostly the hang is around 25% complete on the Oppo progress indicator. I'm not currently getting crashes. Other MKV files load in about 5 seconds (to be fair, the other MKVs are only 720P and more compressed). I have not tried remuxing yet.

Could you possibly contact Oppo about this. I even gave them a problem file but they said it was fine. If someone else is having the same trouble it might push them to investigate it further.

[raymond]

Just registered to share my experiences (and to say thanks, effectively).

I'm also in possession of an Oppo BDP 93 ("EU" version), but I did *not* have any issues with files muxed by MakeMKV (1.7.0 on Linux). I did have issues with files muxed by mkvmerge, and they exhibited exactly the symptoms described here: very slow loading, hosing the audio decoder and ultimately crashing the player.

It's only here that I learned this might be due to header compression, which mkvmerge apparently applies by default to audio streams. And after remuxing the problematic files with mkvmerge and having compression turned off, they did in fact play back fine. So looks like compression is killing the Oppo indeed.

So altogether, both files muxed with MakeMKV and mkvmerge play back fine now, as long as compression is turned off with mkvmerge. Hence thanks a lot for the info about the compression!

[probedb]

The funny thing is Oppo claim that they have no issues with compression. I'm guessing there maybe a combination of things which is irritating as no-one company/person involved in the chain will admit it's their problem :/

[raymond]

Yeah. When you're giving them a problematic file and they're saying it's playing back fine on their end then there's not much you can do short of tracking the issue down all by yourself.

Me, I'm comparatively new to the media streaming/player world. Meaning I'm not quite sure yet which of the components involved
* streaming server
* Oppo firmware
* Oppo hardware
is responsible for what exactly, like in the case of media (property) discovery and the correct initialization of the decoder hardware. But I wouldn't be surprised if we were talking about an Oppo firmware bug.