How to play m2ts files?

[rlevis]

MediaPortal RC2 latest SVN

I have an HD video camera which produces .m2ts files which I would like to play in MP. I have PDVD8 video driver configured for H.264 video. I've added .m2ts to the video extensions list.

When I play a file, the first frame of the video displays permanently while the audio plays back fine. Any ideas?

I assume also that blu-ray discs cannot be played directly in MP? I hired my first BD movie yesterday and can only play it in PowerDVD externally to MP. Is that correct? I noticed a Blu-Ray plugin in the MP config. What is that suppose to do?

Thanks,
Ross.

[Bagal]

The Blu-Ray plugin just launches PowerDVD to play your disc for you and then returns to MediaPortal when you've finished, unfortunately MediaPortal doesn't support native playback of blu-rays, but this is a limitation of the OS, not MediaPortal itself.

[rlevis]

I see. I thought this was due to the encryption in blu-ray. I would have thought there would be a way to play my unencrypted HD home movies in MP. It does show the first frame of the video so it's almost working. Just a few more frames in succession and it's there :-).

In another thread I heard someone else had to remux their unencrypted .m2ts files into .ts files. I don't understand this or know how to do it. Is this really necessary.

I'm wondering if I should have posted this question to a different forum section?

Cheers,
Ross.

[Bagal]

Sorry, I should have been more specific, the plugin is to play your physical blu-ray discs, playing of your unencrypted movies you should be able to get working.

I say should, because I haven't managed it yet, but I've not spent to much time on it. I ripped one of my blu-ray discs to the hd and pulled out the m2ts file, as with you I added the extension to MediaPortal but it would not play. It did play if I played the file in windows media player, so in MediaPortal's expert config I set the option 'use default direct show merits' (it's called something like that) in the video codec section and then MediaPortal played the video, unfortunately it stuttered a bit and I never got round to looking further into it.

As for remuxing, here's an explaination (source from: Explain: Muxer, Remux, Demux, Transmux, etc?)

Muxer - program that pulls together video, audio, subtitles, or other related files (like subtitle font) into a new container (MKV or TS usually)

Demuxer - program that pulls apart the various contents of a container file like MKV or TS, not all parts need to be stripped out.

Remux - process of demuxing a container and muxing it back together in a different order, with new parts, or splitting the contents.

MKVmerge does muxing and demuxing of MKV files.
TSmerge does muxing and demuxing of TS files.

[Paranoid Delusion]

System specs may helps here, especially graphics + cpu, is mediaportal still responsive with this file being loaded, in taskmanager, does it show cpu spiking at 100%, if not try turning off exclusive mode in MP config\directshow filters\video renderer vmr9 or try EVR (.net 3 rqd unless Vista)

[rlevis]

Hardware specs are not an issue, but I've now updated by signature with details.

I failed to report a popup error which occurs first.

Mkx
A decoder for the track type could not be found.
Track Type:

After clicking OK, the first frame appears and the audio plays back fine.

The CPU is not being taxed at all.

The files should be standard AVCHD data according to the Sony HD camcoder manual.

Thanks,
Ross.

[Paranoid Delusion]

Mkx
A decoder for the track type could not be found.
Track Type:

Should that not be mkv, have you got haali media splitter installed, this error does not match the .m2ts filetype though, will WMP11 play these files, because if it does not, then MP will not play them either.

From what i can find PDVD8 + latest update or mplayer classic has to be used as external player for these files, correct me if i'm wrong, thats pretty much all i could find regarding this

Hardware specs are not an issue, but I've now updated by signature with details.

You need to enable this in user cp\edit your details near bottom of page

[rlevis]

I'm sure I replied a couple of weeks ago and was awaiting more advice, but my reply seems to have disappeared.

The popup error I mentioned definately says mkx in the title bar, not mkv.

The haali media splitter is installed and appears in the system tray after I click OK to the error message.

The files play fine in WMP11.

A further clue. I now have an unencrypted blu-ray movie m2ts file here. After clicking OK on the "decoder for the track type could not be found" error, the movie plays perfectly.

So there appears to be 2 problems. The mkx error is annoying but not likely to be the main cause of the problem. The HD camcorder mt2s files (1080i) only play the first frame of the file, while the audio plays. Yet an unencrypted m2ts file (1080p) from a blu-ray plays correctly.

Does this point to a haali media splitter problem? I could make a small m2ts file available from my camcorder if this helps.

Many thanks.

[hoborg]

Can you post some video example?

[rlevis]

I've uploaded a 6 second video file to a website (6MB).
http://www.stationplaylist.com/sonyhdcam.zip