Playing mkv files on an Xbox

Triggaaar

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As my cinema build approaches, I'm making plans, including copying my collection to a hard drive, to play with a dedicated player (like a Zidoo or Dune). For now, I'm testing my rips with an Xbox one X, using the Xbox Media Player.

I've just copied a couple of 4k movies, and on testing the first the player crashes a few times during playback. I can then restart, and fast forward to the place where it crashed, and it continues without problem (only to crash again later).

Is it likely that the problem is with the rip I've done, or the Xbox? I don't want to spend hours (days) ripping, to find all my rips are bad, but if it's just that the Xbox isn't up to it, it'll be fine when I get a dedicated player.

Thanks
 
What are you using to rip?

How are the files getting to the Xbox?
Is it connected via a HDD or are you streaming it from another location on your network?
If the latter is it wireless or hard line?
 
What are you using to rip?
MakeMKV, and a UHD friendly drive in my PC.

How are the files getting to the Xbox?
I've copied them onto an external hard drive. I've used it plenty with my Xbox One Elite for 1080p files (to my living room 1080p screen), but I'm now testing on my 4k gaming TV (I don't think the Elite likes 4k files?).

It seems to run through using VLC on my PC ok, although on a separate note, in the few minutes I've watched on the PC I've noticed a graphical glitch in one scene (every time) which doesn't happen on the Xbox. Weird.
 
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I've found Xbox 1X to be very inconsistent at playing 4K mkvs via external HDD - though these haven't personally been ripped by myself. Increasingly, it's not recognising any file contained within the folder:
1590701254116.png

Compared to one that plays ok:
1590701666035.png


By the way you can download a version of VLC to Xbox via the app store - I personally don't like the interface compared to the PC version, however you could try to see if it plays in better quality than the Xbox media player.

Interestingly VLC has the same problem with the apparently invisible files, a similar message appears, suggesting there's a Xbox hardware issue or there's some kind of anti-piracy thing going on.
1590701369941.png


These files are all recognised and play fine via Kodi on an android box, so I just use that.

A beta version of Kodi is also now available for Xbox 1 but unfortunately it won't play media from external HDD last time I checked.
 
I used to use my Xbox One as a media centre for a while. Your files are not the problem.

To play 4K files via Xbox Media Player without problems you should:

A) Close down anything running in the background (like games and apps)

B) Turn off the WiFi and internet Connection

C) Remove any disc you have in the console

D) Remove everything from the ports apart from your media hard drive, plug and HDMI cable

Essentially you have to stop the Xbox from doing anything that might divert resources away from playing your large 4K files. I’ve had movies crash due to the “low battery” notification from the controller.

The Xbox also has a 2TB limit. If you have a 4TB hard drive anything you add after that 2TB limit will not play at all. If you have a 2TB drive, reach the limit, delete old stuff, and then try to add new videos, the new videos will not play on the Xbox.
 
I've found Xbox 1X to be very inconsistent at playing 4K mkvs via external HDD - though these haven't personally been ripped by myself. Increasingly, it's not recognising any file contained within the folder:
View attachment 1308101
Compared to one that plays ok:
View attachment 1308106

By the way you can download a version of VLC to Xbox via the app store - I personally don't like the interface compared to the PC version, however you could try to see if it plays in better quality than the Xbox media player.

Interestingly VLC has the same problem with the apparently invisible files, a similar message appears, suggesting there's a Xbox hardware issue or there's some kind of anti-piracy thing going on.
View attachment 1308103

These files are all recognised and play fine via Kodi on an android box, so I just use that.

A beta version of Kodi is also now available for Xbox 1 but unfortunately it won't play media from external HDD last time I checked.
Thank you Smurf.

So it looks like it's just an Xbox issue. My cinema isn't due to be ready for ages, so I wasn't planning on getting a media player for a long time, but maybe it'll be best for me to get something sooner.
 
The Xbox also has a 2TB limit. If you have a 4TB hard drive anything you add after that 2TB limit will not play at all. If you have a 2TB drive, reach the limit, delete old stuff, and then try to add new videos, the new videos will not play on the Xbox.
Thanks @TadBitBored , I didn't know about the 2TB limit, that may well explain the 'invisible' content issue (I'm using an 8TB one)
 
I used to use my Xbox One as a media centre for a while. Your files are not the problem.
Thank you.

To play 4K files via Xbox Media Player without problems you should:

A) Close down anything running in the background (like games and apps)
Thanks. I don't think anything else was running. Is there anything that would start automatically, that I need to disable?
B) Turn off the WiFi and internet Connection
I don't use wifi, but I'll try it with internet off.
C) Remove any disc you have in the console

D) Remove everything from the ports apart from your media hard drive, plug and HDMI cable
Discs removed. Can I leave my ethernet cable in, given that I've switched the internet off?

Essentially you have to stop the Xbox from doing anything that might divert resources away from playing your large 4K files. I’ve had movies crash due to the “low battery” notification from the controller.
Wow, that is fussy.

If you have a 2TB drive, reach the limit, delete old stuff, and then try to add new videos, the new videos will not play on the Xbox.
Er, how does that work?
 
Thank you.

(1)Thanks. I don't think anything else was running. Is there anything that would start automatically, that I need to disable?
I don't use wifi, but I'll try it with internet off.
Discs removed. Can I leave my ethernet cable in, given that I've switched the internet off?

(2)Wow, that is fussy.

(3)Er, how does that work?

1) Most things the Xbox does in the background that cause 4K to crash can be resolved by turning off its internet connection (eg notifications, cloud save uploads, game and app updates, the ads) IIRC Xbox leaves your last couple of apps running in the background and you may need to close them manually.
If the Xbox won’t allow you to turn off the internet connection with an Ethernet plugged in then you should remove it.

2) Yep. The Xbox is great for playback of 1080p content. 4K can be a headache, I ended up buying the Nvidia and leaving the Xbox as a dedicated UHD disc player.

3) I didn’t understand why Microsoft did this either but my Samsung TV has the same issue. Once you exceed the 2TB limit new files will appear like they did Smurf100’s post. Unrecognised and unplayable. No app on Xbox will play these new files.
 
1) Most things the Xbox does in the background that cause 4K to crash can be resolved by turning off its internet connection (eg notifications, cloud save uploads, game and app updates, the ads) IIRC Xbox leaves your last couple of apps running in the background and you may need to close them manually.
I'd stop any apps that I'd started, but for a film I'm usually switching it on from scratch.
If the Xbox won’t allow you to turn off the internet connection with an Ethernet plugged in then you should remove it.
It allows you to turn off the internet, no problem. You just set it to go offline.

2) Yep. The Xbox is great for playback of 1080p content. 4K can be a headache, I ended up buying the Nvidia and leaving the Xbox as a dedicated UHD disc player.
What's the Nvidia (I just know it as a GC brand for PCs)? And if the Xbox is good for 1080p playback, but not 4k, why are you using it for 4k?

3) I didn’t understand why Microsoft did this either but my Samsung TV has the same issue. Once you exceed the 2TB limit new files will appear like they did Smurf100’s post. Unrecognised and unplayable. No app on Xbox will play these new files.
Yeah I understand that, but what threw me was you saying "If you have a 2TB drive, reach the limit, delete old stuff, and then try to add new videos, the new videos will not play on the Xbox." That reads as the new videos will not play even after you've deleted your old stuff, but I don't think that's what you meant :)
 
1) Most things the Xbox does in the background that cause 4K to crash can be resolved by turning off its internet connection (eg notifications, cloud save uploads, game and app updates, the ads) IIRC Xbox leaves your last couple of apps running in the background and you may need to close them manually.
If the Xbox won’t allow you to turn off the internet connection with an Ethernet plugged in then you should remove it.

2) Yep. The Xbox is great for playback of 1080p content. 4K can be a headache, I ended up buying the Nvidia and leaving the Xbox as a dedicated UHD disc player.

3) I didn’t understand why Microsoft did this either but my Samsung TV has the same issue. Once you exceed the 2TB limit new files will appear like they did Smurf100’s post. Unrecognised and unplayable. No app on Xbox will play these new files.
Well I've tried it again, and it didn't work. All other programs off, internet off, controller off, and it still crashed.

So I feel like I've got 3 choices for now:
1) Buy a cheap, preferrably second hand, media player, to last me for the next 4 months until the cinema room is built.
2) Buy the media player that I'll want to keep in the cinema room.
3) Convert the 4k mkv files I have to mp4 1080p or something, so I can play them with my xbox.

Option 2 sounds like the obvious answer, but a) I think there will be more players coming out this year, which could be more suitable (like the next Dune), and b) I'd like to have everything (projector and amp) before I get the player, so I can test it as soon as I buy it, and return it if it doesn't play nicely with my gear.

If it's possible, option 3) would be great. But I don't know that I can convert the files I have. VLC didn't even attempt it when I tried (VLC worked on an old DVD file I tried).

Any suggestions?
 
I used to use my Xbox One as a media centre for a while. Your files are not the problem.

To play 4K files via Xbox Media Player without problems you should:

A) Close down anything running in the background (like games and apps)

B) Turn off the WiFi and internet Connection

C) Remove any disc you have in the console

D) Remove everything from the ports apart from your media hard drive, plug and HDMI cable

Essentially you have to stop the Xbox from doing anything that might divert resources away from playing your large 4K files. I’ve had movies crash due to the “low battery” notification from the controller.

The Xbox also has a 2TB limit. If you have a 4TB hard drive anything you add after that 2TB limit will not play at all. If you have a 2TB drive, reach the limit, delete old stuff, and then try to add new videos, the new videos will not play on the Xbox.

Do X boxes work with EXfat ot NTFS File systems., All the ones I have ever had can only use FAT file systems.

FAT32 can be formatted to most any size but FAT32 is very poor at at large partition sizes,

It;s individual max file size that's the problem. It's just one byte less than 4GB. Pretty useless for 4K.

You need a media server like plex that can stream from a something lile a NTFS drive that can handle large files.
 
Do X boxes work with EXfat ot NTFS File systems
Yes, it uses NTFS. It can play the large 4k files, it's just that it will at some point crash. You can the restart, fast forward to where it crashed and carry on. So it is capable of playing the entire film, just not in one go.
 
The video player built into the Xbox USB/DLNA is not very well developed, the hardware is more than capable but the software is very basic.

The Xbox USB/DLNA is also a UWP app which means it has lots of limitations in comparison to the Blu-ray XDK app which has full access to the system.

One of the limitations on the Xbox media app is it really only works well with mkv files that have AC3 audio tracks, it has problems if there isn't one present.

It's also very picky about HEVC 4K resolution videos and their encoding parameters. Kodi on the Xbox app store still has problems with 4K video. I suspect the access to the hardware video decoder built into the console has limitations that the Kodi team cannot work around.

Basically if you aren't using a transcoding media server than Xbox is not ideal.

A Raspberry Pi 4 running libreElec is a cheap and capable solution for Kodi and 4k video with HD audio.
 
If you want them to look good, that's a huge amount of time per file, even with a really good PC.
 

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