Confusion - Codecs and Containers

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Confusion - Codecs and Containers - H.264 and x.264

Nettie3216

17 posts

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#99025 11-Mar-2012 12:46

I'm confused, but there again that's not unusual.

I'm looking at getting a media player and I want to make sure that I've got a good range of options covered.

One of the options I'm looking at is a WDTV Elements Play 1TB, mainly because it's easy to source within NZ.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=400
One of the things i'm confused about is the media formats it supports.
Under the MPEG 4 it lists H.264 as a codec. Under MKV it lists both H.264 and x.264.

I understand that MP4/ x.264 is becoming a favoured format.
Can anyone let me know as to whether the WDTV Elements Play 1TB can play this format? Thanks

trig42

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#593500 11-Mar-2012 12:48

I have a WDTV Live, and the only thing I have found that it will not play are freeview recordings from Windows Madia Centre.

It plays everything else. I have x.264 movies on the HDD and they play no worries.

Nettie3216

17 posts

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#593504 11-Mar-2012 12:53

Excellent - so that's x.264 movies that are *.MP4 ?

Deev8

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#593509 11-Mar-2012 13:09

The detailed specs on the WD website do suggest that it will play MP4 files encoded using h.264 / x.264, however published specs can be misleading.

Gilco2

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#593512 11-Mar-2012 13:18

trig42: I have a WDTV Live, and the only thing I have found that it will not play are freeview recordings from Windows Madia Centre.

It plays everything else. I have x.264 movies on the HDD and they play no worries.

And I believe the latest daily builds of Handbrake can convert WTV files from windows media center now so you can have them on your western digital play media player. But I could be wrong but dont think so

HTPC Intel Pentium G3258 cpu, Gigabyte H97n-wifi motherboard, , 8GB DDR3 ram, onboard graphics. Hauppuage HVR 5500 tuner, Silverstone LC16M case, Windows 10 pro 64 bit using Nextpvr and Kodi

Nettie3216

17 posts

Geek

#593514 11-Mar-2012 13:24

Found the WD forum.

Looks like x.264 as *.MP4 is an issue.
http://community.wdc.com/t5/ideas/v1/ideapage/blog-id/streaming_issues/article-id/567/page/3#comments

Any other suggestion for good affordable media players that will handle this format?

Thanks

SumnerBoy

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#593536 11-Mar-2012 14:34

The Network Media Tank devices will play just about anything. Either the Popcorn Hour or HDX-1000. I have had the HDX (currently for sale on TradeMe as I just bought a Revue) and I never found anything it couldn't play.

Have a browse online for reviews and forums and you should find answers to all your questions.

If you are interested I can PM you the link to my TradeMe auction for the HDX.

(Hope it is ok for me to be peddling my stuff on here!)

Apple TV

Stream your favourite shows now on Apple TV (affiliate link).

mm1352000

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#593622 11-Mar-2012 17:13

This possibly doesn't help to answer the question but the terminology used in this thread is kinda confusing. As far as I'm aware, h.264 is an video format (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC) - an encoding format if you like. x264 is an advanced open source h.264 encoder that can encode and store h.264 in a variety of containers and control many of the advanced format options. mp4, mkv, wtv and ts are just containers.

[Edit: ...so in other words, it is clear that the WDTV can handle h.264. It may struggle with h.264 in particular containers or with particular encoding options. It is very easy to move video from one container to another; you might have to do some experimentation or reading to find encoding options that are compatible with your target devices, however once you've found them you should be able to use them going forward without worrying about compatibility issues.]

wsnz

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#594496 13-Mar-2012 10:58

mm1352000: This possibly doesn't help to answer the question but the terminology used in this thread is kinda confusing. As far as I'm aware, h.264 is an video format (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC) - an encoding format if you like. x264 is an advanced open source h.264 encoder that can encode and store h.264 in a variety of containers and control many of the advanced format options. mp4, mkv, wtv and ts are just containers.

That's correct. Personally I used the MP4 container which is more widely supported on devices, despite MKV being the open standard.