Another problem while playing -> controls don't work

[Sum_Guy]

This is the first time I'm seeing this problem.

I downloaded a file yesterday, and I ran it through mkvmerge just to be sure it would play on the EVA (I don't know if the original file would or wouldn't have played). After running through mkvmerge, I copied the output file to a thumb drive and brought it to the EVA and copied it to the internal hard drive.

I then played the file. Problem 1 is that there's no sound. Video playback is fine. Problem 2 is that the EVA becomes locked somehow. Most of the controls - like pause, stop, direct access (hitting the numbers 0 through 9) result in a "not supported" message on the bottom of the screen. Actually, the pause indicator doesn't give that message. When I hit pause, it does throw up the pause indicator on the bottom of the screen - but the movie just keeps playing anyways. I try to turn the unit off by hitting the on/off button on the remote control, but the unit is unresponsive - the movie just keeps playing (again, no sound). I press the front panel on/off switch - no response. I press the switch for an extended period of time, and the unit does respond by going into shutdown. I turn the unit completely off (power switch on the back) and leave it for a few minutes and then power it back on, and try again to play this movie, and I get the same results.

Any ideas?

Movie details:

====================
General
Format : Matroska
Format version : Version 2
File size : 1.11 GiB
Duration : 1h 36mn
Overall bit rate : 1 654 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2012-01-24 14:53:02
Writing application : mkvmerge v5.1.0 ('And so it goes') built on Nov 28 2011 23:58:28
Writing library : libebml v1.2.3 + libmatroska v1.3.0

Video
ID : 1
Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Advanced Simple@L5
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, QPel : Yes
Format settings, GMC : No warppoints
Format settings, Matrix : Default (H.263)
Codec ID : XVID
Codec ID/Hint : XviD
Duration : 1h 36mn
Bit rate : 1 429 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 528 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.150
Stream size : 983 MiB (86%)
Writing library : XviD 1.2.1 (UTC 2008-12-04)

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1h 36mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 132 MiB (12%)

[Sum_Guy]

The original file was .AVI. When I processed it with mkvmerge (to remove any header compression it *might* have had) I kept the name of the output file as .avi. As I mentioned, this processed file (the video portion) played ok on the EVA, but there was no sound, and the EVA didn't respond to any of the commands from the remote control after it started playing.

I renamed the processed file from avi to mkv, and the EVA reacted differently to the file. It played the audio, and it reacted properly to the remote control, but I kept getting "insufficient bandwidth" and constant buffering messages (it was being played from it's own internal hard drive).

So I went back to the original AVI file and transfered that to the EVA, and it played just fine - everything worked.

I swear one day I'm going to throw this thing against the wall...

[StephenB]

I understand the frustration.

Sometimes new releases of mkvmerge also have bugs. It might be worth trying the bad MKV in VLC or other players.