Problems streaming MKV files to Smart TV (worked previously)

[Lundon44]

I'll try my best to keep this short. I purchased an LG Smart TV which allows native support for .MKV files through usb or streaming from a media server. I chose the streaming method but from my Windows 8 PC. So I house all my .MKV files on one folder on my PC. I made sure to turn on sharing of this folder to all users as well. When I go to my tv's input menu it recognises my Windows 8 PC as an input. Once I select it, I can browse any folders I have allowed sharing of for media. Keep in mind I have to add the folders on my PC to the specific library as well (music, photos, videos etc). I do not require any additional software like Plex Media Server or PS3 Media Server etc. It just works out of the box, very convenient.

So, up until recently all was perfect. My .MKV files would be recognized on my Smart TV (LG 559600LM) and I could browse them and play them no problem. Suddenly I noticed that any new files added to my library were no longer showing up on the TV. I assumed it was the file itself. I did some troubleshoot and learned it was NOT the files themselves. I noticed when I removed a file and re-added it back to the library it no longer showed up on the TV. Something was preventing the library from being refreshed. So I unshared this folder on my PC, removed it from the library thinking if I re-added everything it might refresh and everything would work as it should. Well this only created more problems. First no videos would show up. I fixed that eventually. Then no MKV files would show up. I installed the newest K-Lite codec package on my PC and then a few MKV files showed on the TV. The ones that showed up would play as they used to. Some won't show up at all. And others show up but are represented by an icon with a question mark on it and will not play.

I know the problem exists on my PC's side and LG support is of no use as they don't even understand how I am watching these files without additional software they recommend I pay for. I shouldn't need to do this as everything worked perfectly a few weeks ago.

I'm looking for advice on what I can do on my PC to try to fix this? I am looking for any suggestions and appreciate any help ​

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

I'm slightly confused, I didn't see anything about you allowing access and share tights through wmp.

 

[Lundon44]

I'm slightly confused, I didn't see anything about you allowing access and share tights through wmp.

My apologies, I was just trying to keep it short. But yes, I had orginally allowed sharing to "everyone" of my movies folder. And added this folder to my sharing library. I assume this is what allowed it to work orginally. And all sharing rights and permissions were also allowed through WMP.

Nothing changed which is why I'm stumped as to why newly added .MKV files refused to appear in the library (through streaming to the tv). They appeared in the library on the PC, which was of course shared which is why I don't get it. But then I noticed that temporarily removing any .MKV file that had no problems appearing then putting it back also caused it to no longer show. And once I un-shared, removed the folder library (in hopes that doing everything over from scratch would fix it) and re-added everything that's when things got messy.

My MP4 files have no problem appearing and playing from that same folder. But like I mentioned only the majority of .MKV's are recognised and appearing through the TV, some actually play, while others won't play and show as an unknown file icon.

 

[Guzzler3]

VLC?

But welcome to the world of MKV's. Great idea, but not fully accepted on ALL devices.

Personally, I gave up on MKV files. I'm still in the process of converting to MP4. It isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Mostly it's an extract then repack process, occasionally convert audio.

 

[Lundon44]

Yeah I have VLC installed.. Which is fine I suppose is I want to run them right off my PC but doesn't help much for streaming. I just don't get why or how it can go from smooth sailing to nothing working.

I've considered recoding the movies over to MP4 with my conversion software but I guess I just don't know off hand if I'm going to lose any video/audio quality in the process. I did converted a couple MKV's to mp4's and tried to match the video bitrate and tried to match the video and audio settings (as well as made sure audio was set to 5.1) but I have yet to compare them. I also recall the resulting file size was almost identical.

Any tips or things to keep in mind if I'm converting them to mp4?

 

[Guzzler3]

Yea, VLC isn't the best for streaming. It's a pain to setup and work consistently, and quickly.

The program I use for converting MKV to MP4 is MKVtoMP4. It just takes the contents in the MKV and tries to repack into a MP4. It works fine if the video is already in H264, most of the time it takes for converting is the audio. I've found that converting the audio to AAC 5.1 is the most compatible with most players. But some stuff can only handle AAC or AC3 stereo, that's frustrating part of MP4.

Subtitles and chapters is hit and miss with devices. Most stuff handle the subtitle as a .srt file in the same folder as the MP4. Chapters... I don't think I've found a player that handles it.

 

[Lundon44]

I guess I can do that as a last resort. Though I have about 180 .MKV files to convert to mp4 lol.. So I'd likely need to leave my PC on for 5 days to convert all my files. I should mention that I installed Plex Media Server last night. Apparently my TV officially supports it. It recognised all videos perfectly, and it added great metadata like movie covers and a synopsis etc. So the presentation is much nicer browsing my files this way. Though I believe it's transcoding them on the fly so I have a feeling I'll have issues with videos freezing, not being able to fast forward and videos crashing etc. I tried the PS3 Media Server just a few days ago as someone else suggested and videos were crashing left, right and center.

 

[Guzzler3]

You know I forgot about looking the TV manufacturer for a program. I know Samsung has an a program, and it works well.

As for converting, I had about 75-100 file to go through. I would just grab a couple a day. It wasn't that bad in the end.

 

[diplomat696]

Not that this answers your question but I like to plug it when I can, I use a program called ps3mediaserver to stream mkv files, I use it strictly with my PS3 however I am pretty certain you can use it directly with other devices too and very possibly an LG TV. Might be worth taking a look at to see if it solves your issue in a different way.

PS3 Media Server

 

[christing1988]

MKV is not natively supported by LG TV. It is based on a media server for streaming videos like MKV to your smart TV. If your media server can't detect and convert your MKV files, what you need to do is to change MKV to LG TV friendly type with 3rd-party tool like Brorsoft's video covnerter before streaming.

 

[Yazen]

I'll try my best to keep this short. I purchased an LG Smart TV which allows native support for .MKV files through usb or streaming from a media server. I chose the streaming method but from my Windows 8 PC. So I house all my .MKV files on one folder on my PC. I made sure to turn on sharing of this folder to all users as well. When I go to my tv's input menu it recognises my Windows 8 PC as an input. Once I select it, I can browse any folders I have allowed sharing of for media. Keep in mind I have to add the folders on my PC to the specific library as well (music, photos, videos etc). I do not require any additional software like Plex Media Server or PS3 Media Server etc. It just works out of the box, very convenient.

So, up until recently all was perfect. My .MKV files would be recognized on my Smart TV (LG 559600LM) and I could browse them and play them no problem. Suddenly I noticed that any new files added to my library were no longer showing up on the TV. I assumed it was the file itself. I did some troubleshoot and learned it was NOT the files themselves. I noticed when I removed a file and re-added it back to the library it no longer showed up on the TV. Something was preventing the library from being refreshed. So I unshared this folder on my PC, removed it from the library thinking if I re-added everything it might refresh and everything would work as it should. Well this only created more problems. First no videos would show up. I fixed that eventually. Then no MKV files would show up. I installed the newest K-Lite codec package on my PC and then a few MKV files showed on the TV. The ones that showed up would play as they used to. Some won't show up at all. And others show up but are represented by an icon with a question mark on it and will not play.

I know the problem exists on my PC's side and LG support is of no use as they don't even understand how I am watching these files without additional software they recommend I pay for. I shouldn't need to do this as everything worked perfectly a few weeks ago.

I'm looking for advice on what I can do on my PC to try to fix this? I am looking for any suggestions and appreciate any help ​

Try this:

• Turn off firewall.
• Attempt to stream files.
• Turn on firewalls.

File sharing through cifs is usually a PITA when it stops working, especially when non-Microsoft products are involved. Who knows, maybe you need to 30/30/30 your router :angry:

 

[Yazen]

Also try using WMP PlayTo feature: