MKV Playback

[bkhakh]

Just got my alpine and was pretty excited to use it. Sadly after using it for a half hour, i am pretty disappointed. It seems as if this product is not ready for the marketplace.

The main issue I am having is it cannot see any mkv files that are on my hard drive via streaming. Avi's are fine and paly quickly but no mkv's. This was the main reason why I bought it.

Also, no apps??? Do you really have to install every app on a usb for installation? Imagine we had to do this with cell phones now days.

Please help, considering returning this product.

[snappy46]

I have no issues over here to see my mkv files on my NAS. How are those files shared (network or UPNP)???

As far as apps goes yes they need to be installed from the USB or SD Card; even installation of apk files from my NAS do not work I first need to copy them to my USB Stick or SD Card from the NAS. Fortunately I can do this using the OI file manager application of the PBO Alpine.

Snappy

[bkhakh]

It is while i am browsing my hard drive on my PC via upnp. All other files are there but no mkv,x264,etc..

[snappy46]

It is while i am browsing my hard drive on my PC via upnp. All other files are there but no mkv,x264,etc..

Any chance you could try to share your files using a samba server ( network) to see if you then can see your files. I suspect there might be a bug with the UPNP client on the PBO Alpine???? I don't know; I will try a few things here with my media server to see if I can duplicate your issue; you are the second person that I hear having possible issues with UPNP shares.

Snappy

[snappy46]

It is while i am browsing my hard drive on my PC via upnp. All other files are there but no mkv,x264,etc..

I turn on my media server (mediatomb) on my NAS tonight and had no problem accessing all my videos (avi, mkv, mp4 etc...) on the PBO Alpine using UPNP. The only difference that I noticed about using the media server/UPNP compare to just using Samba is that while using UPNP I am limited to a fast forward speed of X2. Sharing thru file networking (SAMBA) does not appear to have this limitation I can forward at speed of X2,X4,X8 etc... Maybe this limitation of X2 Forward speed while using UPNP is by design to prevent crashing the media server ????? I don't know.

@bkhakh, What media server are you using ????

Snappy

[bkhakh]

I turn on my media server (mediatomb) on my NAS tonight and had no problem accessing all my videos (avi, mkv, mp4 etc...) on the PBO Alpine using UPNP. The only difference that I noticed about using the media server/UPNP compare to just using Samba is that while using UPNP I am limited to a fast forward speed of X2. Sharing thru file networking (SAMBA) does not appear to have this limitation I can forward at speed of X2,X4,X8 etc... Maybe this limitation of X2 Forward speed while using UPNP is by design to prevent crashing the media server ????? I don't know.


@bkhakh, What media server are you using ????

Snappy

i don't have a hard drive hooked up to my router. I stream the avi/mkv's from my pc. I tried samba but don't have a clue how it works as there is no user manual explaining anything. When I select samba it takes me to network shares, then i can select my shared pc but it will ask for a user and password which I don't understand. I think I am going to return this product.

[snappy46]

i don't have a hard drive hooked up to my router. I stream the avi/mkv's from my pc. I tried samba but don't have a clue how it works as there is no user manual explaining anything. When I select samba it takes me to network shares, then i can select my shared pc but it will ask for a user and password which I don't understand. I think I am going to return this product.

Try the same username and password that you use to log in your computer, see if that works for you. Beware if you have the matrix firmware installed it actually comes up with the Phone keypad vs an actual keyboard therefore you have to click the same number/letter until you get the letter/number that you want. The stock firmware do not behave that way and a normal keyboard actually show up when you need to make an entry.

Snappy

Cheers !!!

[Patriot_Ben]

Beware if you have the matrix firmware installed it actually comes up with the Phone keypad vs an actual keyboard therefore you have to click the same number/letter until you get the letter/number that you want.


If you hold the enter button a prompt should appear asking you to select keyboard/language input. Select 'Latin' and it should revert to qwerty.

bkhakh, on that note, which firmware are you on? Can you also try the Matrix firmware?

[snappy46]

If you hold the enter button a prompt should appear asking you to select keyboard/language input. Select 'Latin' and it should revert to qwerty.


Thanks for the hint Patriot_Ben, I will try that next time; entering data using the phone Keypad is a real pain. You think I would have thought of that it is a common selection on most Android devices.

Cheers !!!

[bkhakh]

If you hold the enter button a prompt should appear asking you to select keyboard/language input. Select 'Latin' and it should revert to qwerty.

bkhakh, on that note, which firmware are you on? Can you also try the Matrix firmware?


installed matrix firmware. Didn't change anything, mkv's still not there.

[snappy46]

installed matrix firmware. Didn't change anything, mkv's still not there.

I suspect an issue with your media server since the PBO Alpine works fine here with my media server. I will reiterate my previous question, what media server are you using??? Are any other devices/PC in you home that can see those mkv's???

Snappy.

[bkhakh]

I suspect an issue with your media server since the PBO Alpine works fine here with my media server. I will reiterate my previous question, what media server are you using??? Are any other devices/PC in you home that can see those mkv's???

Snappy.

As i said before I am using my laptop which has windows on it. I would assume the media server would be windows/media centre. My xbox and samsung tv can see the mkv's but cant play them because they don't have the capabilities.

[Das Capitolin]

Could it be an encoding issue? I took my PBO Alpine out of the box, and it played every MKV added to the flash drive. Mine are encoded with H264 MPEG-4 AVC, and play nicely.

[lordmayo]

Could it be an encoding issue? I took my PBO Alpine out of the box, and it played every MKV added to the flash drive. Mine are encoded with H264 MPEG-4 AVC, and play nicely.

I had no problems playing mkv and avi files from my flash drive but once I put them on my hd in an enclosure I started getting random messages that random mkv's and avi's were unsupported formats (while others played with no problem). Somehow there is an issue with having the media on the hd. Also I tried renaming one of the files and the rename wasn't allowed to save.

All of the aforementioned files played with no problem on my Linux box.

UPDATE:
I went back to the original linux box where i ran gparted to format the external and double checked permissions for all folders and subfolders, making sure that read/write/execute permissions were given to all groups and applied to all subfolders. Everything now plays in Alpine. Not sure if that was the original cause of the problem but the problem went away after I did that!

[Jak Crow]

Some of my mkv files will play back normally, but some have significant artifacts and color banding to point of being unwatchable, some only play back sound with no video. It's extremely hit or miss, and one of the reasons I'm trying this is so because I'm tired of having 5 different media player type devices and not a single one can play everything I have, but the alpine fails to fill that purpose too.