How to play mkv file on Sony Bravia LED tv-a guide

[haisaikat]

I actually mentioned why srt file won't work with .m2ts files before in this post.
To play any subtitle file you need an authoring file like .clps and .inf...which should also be recognized by tv as well.
Now generally tvs don't recognize those file..only few dedicated media player can do such thing.

Also try to avoid PS3muxer to convert audio file to AC3.
I have given two links in previous posts for hdstream extractor and eac3to plugin..use those two to convert audio to AC3. It results better audio quality than PS3muxer.

If streaming using DLNA server is an option then in my case I found PS3 media server to be actually working in superimposing subtitles (from srt files) in the video stream itself. However presently I am using Serviio for all purpose on the fly decoding for my Panasonice Plasma and that includes mkv files as well.

 

[Indi]

I have struggled significantly with playing large files with Bravia KDL40EX520. An example:
Format : MPEG-4
Codec ID : M4V
File size : 5.09 GiB
Duration : 2h 26mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 4 992 Kbps
Movie name : HPandTDH
Encoded date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:14:46
Tagged date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:28:15
hdvd : 1
stik : 0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2h 26mn
Bit rate : 4 915 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 21.3 Mbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 536 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.299
Stream size : 5.02 GiB (98%)
Title : twiz-hp7part1-720p
Writing library : x264 core 114 r1924 08d04a4
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=1 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=4915 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:14:46
Tagged date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:21:51

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 21mn 48s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 483 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 585 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 75.4 MiB (1%)
Title : twiz-hp7part1-720p
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:21:48
Tagged date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:21:51

What's wrong here?

 

[Indi]

Ok, after months of agony and two days of reformatting the external HDD to exFAT, plus an additional weekend of converting videos into various aspect ratios and compatible formats, the answer is clear - Sony Bravia, at least the EX series cannot play files greater than 4 GB. It is a limitation Sony does not mention, but personal and other users experience corresponds to this. Do not waste your time to convert your HDDs into exFAT to play files larger than 4GB; while it is true to repackaging smaller files to mp4 from mkv does make them playable. And with competing brands leaving Sony paces behind in picture quality too, it makes my choice of the next TV quite clear. Sony is amazingly user unfriendly and lacking in innovation.

 

[jsmithe]

Ok, after months of agony and two days of reformatting the external HDD to exFAT, plus an additional weekend of converting videos into various aspect ratios and compatible formats, the answer is clear - Sony Bravia, at least the EX series cannot play files greater than 4 GB. It is a limitation Sony does not mention but personal and other users experience corresponds to this. Do not waste your time to convert your HDDs into exFAT to play files larger than 4GB;

tsmuxergui can split a .m2ts file into smaller multiples. Don't know about the Sony EX's, but the Sony HX's have no problem with playing back split .m2ts files in series. Tried 4GB + 3.2 GB on an exFAT formatted pendrive and it works just fine on the HX850.

while it is true to repackaging smaller files to mp4 from mkv does make them playable.

Using tsmuxergui to change the container to .m2ts does not re-encode so there is no quality loss from the source. If re-encoded then yes, there will be loss of quality.

 

[ejhzsa]

Also try to avoid PS3muxer to convert audio file to AC3.
I have given two links in previous posts for hdstream extractor and eac3to plugin..use those two to convert audio to AC3. It results better audio quality than PS3muxer.

I do not agree. If you chose AC3 Bitrate : 640k in PS3Muxer, you will get exactly the same quality of sound as if you use HDS with eac3to and tsMuxer.

Just tested both methods on some Sample cca. 46MB, and I got almost the same sizes on both files:
TSM file - 46,506KB
PS3 file - 46,500KB

Later I will try both methods on full sized movie, but still I don't think there will be any difference in sound quality.

Once again, thanks for sharing this solutions.

Ok, after months of agony and two days of reformatting the external HDD to exFAT, plus an additional weekend of converting videos into various aspect ratios and compatible formats, the answer is clear - Sony Bravia, at least the EX series cannot play files greater than 4 GB. It is a limitation Sony does not mention, but personal and other users experience corresponds to this. Do not waste your time to convert your HDDs into exFAT to play files larger than 4GB; while it is true to repackaging smaller files to mp4 from mkv does make them playable. And with competing brands leaving Sony paces behind in picture quality too, it makes my choice of the next TV quite clear. Sony is amazingly user unfriendly and lacking in innovation.

Using TSMuxer or PS3Muxer, you can split file in SONY readable files. All you need to do is to set up options before muxing like this:
TSMuxerGUI:

PS3Muxer:

And they will make you ready for watching files automaticly. Good luck.

 

[saurabhjain3]

is there any way to convert dat files (video file) as tsmuxer dose not support dat files?

thank you.

 

[Indi]

Splitting a file maybe a solution but then I:
1. Spend time and computing resource on my entire library just to play it on Sony's TV.
2. Invest in additional storage because then I would need to keep the originals to play across other media devices.
3. Possibly wreak havoc on my media library and server just to make it compatible with Sony.
4. Possibly ruin my viewing experience if there are breaks and jumps across files.

I can see that a whole industry of solutions is being built around what can only be described as flawed product design.

The cost of any of these is large enough for invest in a dedicated media player that can use the EX as a screen for display monitor, which is what I have done. It is disappointing to use an expensive television just as a monitor but it probably its best feature anyway. I was originally streaming large files but wanted to reduce the network burden and the cost of running 2 power hungry devices. Not possible. Thanks for your suggestions though.

 

[charlbury nick]

Lake1988

I have just registered as I wanted to say thanks so much for your posting - very useful and worked immediately!

Cheers

Nick

 

[EthenHunt]

Splitting a file maybe a solution but then I:
1. Spend time and computing resource on my entire library just to play it on Sony's TV.
2. Invest in additional storage because then I would need to keep the originals to play across other media devices.
3. Possibly wreak havoc on my media library and server just to make it compatible with Sony.
4. Possibly ruin my viewing experience if there are breaks and jumps across files.

I can see that a whole industry of solutions is being built around what can only be described as flawed product design.

The cost of any of these is large enough for invest in a dedicated media player that can use the EX as a screen for display monitor, which is what I have done. It is disappointing to use an expensive television just as a monitor but it probably its best feature anyway. I was originally streaming large files but wanted to reduce the network burden and the cost of running 2 power hungry devices. Not possible. Thanks for your suggestions though.

i second your opinion. what is the point spending time on changing the file formats and splitting the file in this busy world.

get a cheap media player instead..

 

[lake1988]

I have struggled significantly with playing large files with Bravia KDL40EX520. An example:
Format : MPEG-4
Codec ID : M4V
File size : 5.09 GiB
Duration : 2h 26mn
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 4 992 Kbps
Movie name : HPandTDH
Encoded date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:14:46
Tagged date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:28:15
hdvd : 1
stik : 0

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2h 26mn
Bit rate : 4 915 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 21.3 Mbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 536 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.40:1
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.299
Stream size : 5.02 GiB (98%)
Title : twiz-hp7part1-720p
Writing library : x264 core 114 r1924 08d04a4
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=1 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=4915 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:14:46
Tagged date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:21:51

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 21mn 48s
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 483 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 585 Kbps
Channel(s) : 6 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 75.4 MiB (1%)
Title : twiz-hp7part1-720p
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:21:48
Tagged date : UTC 2013-01-03 16:21:51

What's wrong here?

It's due to this-"open_gop=1" in encoder settings. No hardware media player will play a mkv with setting as open_gop=1.
If it was open_gop=0..it will play.
Here only reencode is the way to go.

 

[lake1988]

I do not agree. If you chose AC3 Bitrate : 640k in PS3Muxer, you will get exactly the same quality of sound as if you use HDS with eac3to and tsMuxer.

Just tested both methods on some Sample cca. 46MB, and I got almost the same sizes on both files:
TSM file - 46,506KB
PS3 file - 46,500KB

Later I will try both methods on full sized movie, but still I don't think there will be any difference in sound quality.

Once again, thanks for sharing this solutions.



Using TSMuxer or PS3Muxer, you can split file in SONY readable files. All you need to do is to set up options before muxing like this:
TSMuxerGUI:

PS3Muxer:

And they will make you ready for watching files automaticly. Good luck.

It is not about the bitrate I am talking about...it's about channel mixing of the encoders. If you are just listening from your tv..you won't feel a difference..but if you listen through AVR/hometheatre you will feel the difference.

 

[lake1988]

Splitting a file maybe a solution but then I:
1. Spend time and computing resource on my entire library just to play it on Sony's TV.
2. Invest in additional storage because then I would need to keep the originals to play across other media devices.
3. Possibly wreak havoc on my media library and server just to make it compatible with Sony.
4. Possibly ruin my viewing experience if there are breaks and jumps across files.

I can see that a whole industry of solutions is being built around what can only be described as flawed product design.

The cost of any of these is large enough for invest in a dedicated media player that can use the EX as a screen for display monitor, which is what I have done. It is disappointing to use an expensive television just as a monitor but it probably its best feature anyway. I was originally streaming large files but wanted to reduce the network burden and the cost of running 2 power hungry devices. Not possible. Thanks for your suggestions though.

As far as I know .m2ts file is the most suitable file to play on any media player cause it is the native extension used in bluray discs.
I don't support network streaming either..
unless you have a NAS setup.
It's a policy of particular companies not to support .mkv in their tvs..and that doesn't mean those are flawed products...Even a cheap media player like Asus o play mini can play mkv. Please buy that one. Tvs are built to deliver video and audio..not to play mkv file.

If it was not like that bluray players or media player won't be there in the market.

 

[vicky2001]

In many mkv files, there comes an error when opened in tsmuxer, 'Matroska parse error: invalid H264 NAL unit size. NAL unit truncated'. let me know how to handle it.

 

[lake1988]

Seems like header stripping error...please post mediainfo of the mkv file.

 

[vicky2001]

Seems like header stripping error...please post mediainfo of the mkv file.

General
Unique ID : 218053190823149358418455676068539345051 (0xA40B8457FC3AEB4F9725A1AF07F7289B)
Complete name : E:\movies\movie\tekken.mkv
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 2.05 GiB
Duration : 1h 59mn
Overall bit rate : 2 458 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2011-09-07 10:54:45
Writing application : mkvmerge v4.9.1 ('Ich will') ??? Jul 11 2011 23:53:15
Writing library : libebml v1.2.1 + libmatroska v1.1.1

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : [email protected]
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Muxing mode : Header stripping
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 59mn
Bit rate : 1 817 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 490 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.612
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.121
Stream size : 1.48 GiB (72%)
Writing library : x264 core 114 r1924 08d04a4
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1817 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Default : Yes
Forced : No

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Format settings, Endianness : Big
Muxing mode : Header stripping
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1h 59mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 640 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 : 547 MiB (26%)
Language : Spanish
Default : Yes
Forced : No

 

[lake1988]

Issue is due to this.

Muxing mode : Header stripping

You can't remove header stripping muxing from tsmuxer. You need to install mkvmerge gui..which is a freeware. Open it and go to File-->options--->mmg....there is a checkbox saying "disable header removal compression"..check that box and click on ok.
Restart mkvmerge gui.

Add the file-->mux it-->will produce a new mkv file--->add it in tsmuxer as mentioned in first post-->mux and play.

 

[vicky2001]

Issue is due to this.

You can't remove header stripping muxing from tsmuxer. You need to install mkvmerge gui..which is a freeware. Open it and go to File-->options--->mmg....there is a checkbox saying "disable header removal compression"..check that box and click on ok.
Restart mkvmerge gui.

In mkvmerge, 6.1 I can't find any option 'disable header compression'

 

[lake1988]

If you want I can upload mkvmerge 5.7.0..above this version there will be playback issue while muxing from vlc player,media player while fast forwarding.

 

[vicky2001]

If you want I can upload mkvmerge 5.7.0..above this version there will be playback issue while muxing from vlc player,media player while fast forwarding.

plz upload it as now most of mkv files I download are showing error on tsmuxer..

 

[lake1988]

Here you go-

mkvtoolnix-unicode-5.7.0-setup.exe