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Issues with WMV files

Hi everyone,

I am developing a video player widget and have some problems. It just seems that the samsung TV we have (at least the LE40B750) is not able to play wmv videos. The screen just remains black and nothing happens. When tried with avi files, everything works fine but nothing to do with wmv videos.
If i'm not wrong, very TV supporting yahoo TV widgets must be able to read wmv files. How can I do ? Am I doing something wrong ?

Thank you for your help.

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16 Replies
  • Hi,

    i have a similar problem. I want to play mp4 / h.264 Files on a Samsung TV, but can't get it to work. The Player loads but the TV crashes completely after a second. I even tried the sample application of Jeremy Johnstone - the same problem. I had to change the bandwidth description of the videos from 300 to 100, cause i got an error message, probably of a low bandwidth. Doesn't the TV has a buffer?

    The Application is based on the Framework 1.1, and the TV is almost brand new (about 4 weeks old).
    It works in the simulator.

    Does a specification of possible video codecs for Samsung exist?
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  • You probably have problems with KONtx.speedtest.

    If you want to start experimenting with Samsung TV:
    .wmv files are fine, try to use small video files (less than 20MB);
    rename .mp4 files into .mov or .mpg;
    in updateView function set bandwithBitrate explicitly to something reasonable:
    this.player.setBandwithBitrate(700);
    this.player.startPlaylist();
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  • I made some more investigations.
    It seems that first thing to do is to use tv.mediaplayer instead of kontx.videoplayer wich is bugged (at least on our production TV wich uses framework 1.1).
    There is also probably no support for wmv2 codec and files must use wmv3.

    When will framework 1.2 be available for samsung TVs, and is a support for wmv2 is planned ?

    Thank you for your help.
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  • QUOTE (Denis @ Jul 3 2009, 07:05 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    Hi everyone,

    I am developing a video player widget and have some problems. It just seems that the samsung TV we have (at least the LE40B750) is not able to play wmv videos. The screen just remains black and nothing happens. When tried with avi files, everything works fine but nothing to do with wmv videos.
    If i'm not wrong, very TV supporting yahoo TV widgets must be able to read wmv files. How can I do ? Am I doing something wrong ?

    Thank you for your help.


    Are they WMV9 video files? Can you send me a test video link (tvwidgets@yahoo-inc.com) so I can test it on a development TV where I can see debug logging?
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  • QUOTE (Denis @ Jul 6 2009, 05:05 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    I made some more investigations.
    It seems that first thing to do is to use tv.mediaplayer instead of kontx.videoplayer wich is bugged (at least on our production TV wich uses framework 1.1).
    There is also probably no support for wmv2 codec and files must use wmv3.

    When will framework 1.2 be available for samsung TVs, and is a support for wmv2 is planned ?

    Thank you for your help.


    Please do not use tv.mediaPlayer. It's being deprecated and you should be using KONtx.videoplayer. Can you please clarify what issues you are seeing with the videoplayer so I can help diagnose. Both the Yahoo! Video widget and Yahoo! sports widget (both in production) are using it without issues.

    Thanks!

    -Jeremy
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  • QUOTE (Jeremy Johnstone @ Jul 6 2009, 08:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    Please do not use tv.mediaPlayer. It's being deprecated and you should be using KONtx.videoplayer. Can you please clarify what issues you are seeing with the videoplayer so I can help diagnose. Both the Yahoo! Video widget and Yahoo! sports widget (both in production) are using it without issues.

    Thanks!

    -Jeremy


    Hi Jeremy,

    The Problem i have is, that the controlBar of the player loads and gets visible, then the loader-Animation gets visible and shortly after that the TV turns off. I even tried it with VideoSample Application, but had to change the bitrate-Definition of the Videos in the playlist, so i didn't get the Error, which probably results of a low Bandwith or a false Bandwith-Test. But even there the TV crashes.
    I could add you as a tester to my widget, so you can look in the debug info, if you like.
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  • QUOTE (jonnyjay25 @ Jul 6 2009, 09:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    Hi Jeremy,

    The Problem i have is, that the controlBar of the player loads and gets visible, then the loader-Animation gets visible and shortly after that the TV turns off. I even tried it with VideoSample Application, but had to change the bitrate-Definition of the Videos in the playlist, so i didn't get the Error, which probably results of a low Bandwith or a false Bandwith-Test. But even there the TV crashes.
    I could add you as a tester to my widget, so you can look in the debug info, if you like.


    Please let me know the widget ID and the version and I will add myself.

    Thanks!

    -Jeremy
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  • QUOTE (Jeremy Johnstone @ Jul 6 2009, 02:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    Please let me know the widget ID and the version and I will add myself.

    Thanks!

    -Jeremy


    Hi Jeremy,

    The widget ID is "de.bild.widgets.tv.news" and the current version "0.9.1.3"
    You can find the videos under the second navigation Point "Videos".

    Thanks a lot!

    Jonas
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  • QUOTE (Jeremy Johnstone @ Jul 6 2009, 08:52 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    Are they WMV9 video files? Can you send me a test video link (tvwidgets@yahoo-inc.com) so I can test it on a development TV where I can see debug logging?

    No, all of them are not WMV9 files. There are also some WMV8 files. It seems that TVs don't support WMV8.
    I already sent you some test streams (from videoforever).

    QUOTE (Jeremy Johnstone @ Jul 6 2009, 08:54 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    Please do not use tv.mediaPlayer. It's being deprecated and you should be using KONtx.videoplayer. Can you please clarify what issues you are seeing with the videoplayer so I can help diagnose. Both the Yahoo! Video widget and Yahoo! sports widget (both in production) are using it without issues.

    Thanks!

    -Jeremy

    I really would like to use the KONtx.videoplayer, but as I said earlier, I can't make it work. When used on the emulator it works perfectly, but on our production TV, it doesn't play videos, even those encoded in WMV9. The bottom bar loads, the top right loading logo spins a little and then everything just stops and the screen remains black. So the only way to play videos for the moment is using the tv.mediaplayer.

    Thank you for your help.
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  • Just forgot something : Yahoo video and Yahoo sports widgets are just not in the Widget Gallery on our production TV. Why ?
    (sorry for the double post)
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  • QUOTE (Denis @ Jul 9 2009, 08:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    Just forgot something : Yahoo video and Yahoo sports widgets are just not in the Widget Gallery on our production TV. Why ?
    (sorry for the double post)


    I had to switch the language to English to see the Video and Sports Widget on the TV. Maybee you have to do the same.
    But even the videos on the Yahoo video App don't work.
    I desperately need help for that.

    Jonas
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  • QUOTE (Denis @ Jul 9 2009, 07:11 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    No, all of them are not WMV9 files. There are also some WMV8 files. It seems that TVs don't support WMV8.
    I already sent you some test streams (from videoforever).


    WMV8 isn't supported from what I've seen and not all versions of WMV9 is supported.

    QUOTE
    I really would like to use the KONtx.videoplayer, but as I said earlier, I can't make it work. When used on the emulator it works perfectly, but on our production TV, it doesn't play videos, even those encoded in WMV9. The bottom bar loads, the top right loading logo spins a little and then everything just stops and the screen remains black. So the only way to play videos for the moment is using the tv.mediaplayer.


    Which widget ID / version should I use to test the KONtx.videoplayer issue you are seeing? We have multiple widgets in the field (Yahoo! Video and Yahoo! Sports for example) which are using KONtx.videoplayer without issues.

    -Jeremy
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  • QUOTE (jonnyjay25 @ Jul 9 2009, 01:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    I had to switch the language to English to see the Video and Sports Widget on the TV. Maybee you have to do the same.
    But even the videos on the Yahoo video App don't work.
    I desperately need help for that.

    Jonas


    What model TV do you have?

    -Jeremy
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  • Ok, I think I located the problem.

    First of all, if you want yahoo video and yahoo sports widgets to show up in the widget gallery, you have to change your country to USA. And in these widgets, the videoplayer works, as said Jeremy earlier.

    Second thing, to use the videoplayer, you can specifiy the URL of the video to play in two different form :
    CODE
    this.player.changePlaylist([{url : "myvideo"}]);

    or
    CODE
    this.player.changePlaylist([{urls : [{bitrate: 300, url : "myvideo"}]}]);

    The first one works on the emulator with framework 1.1, and the second one works on the emulator with framework 1.2.
    Our TV is using the framework 1.1 so I assumed that I should use the first piece of code. Actually I was wrong and only the second one works.

    Third thing, TV seems to play only WMV9 files, and as far as I know, there is some strange things going on with different audio encodings. When using a mono audio stream, if your bitrate is lower than 64kbps you hear no sound, but if you use a stereo stream, bitrates as low as 20kbps work.
    I think that a precise list of specifications on which audio/video formats are supported would be a good idea.

    Thank you.
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  • QUOTE (Jeremy Johnstone @ Jul 9 2009, 05:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
    What model TV do you have?

    -Jeremy


    We are using Samsung LE40B640 with firmware 2009/05/28_002001;
    I downloaded this firmware version from the Samsung end-user support site.

    Jonas
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  • The first form is deprecated, only the second one is supported. Please send us an email requesting an updated WDK.

    As to the formats, I agree it would be awesome to have that. Unfortunately the hardware partners don't provide an accurate list. :(-Jeremy
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