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[Antognini]

On my Win10 Pro x64 system, I am trying to play a .mkv file (ripped from Blu-ray via MakeMKV on the same Win10 system) on my recently bought Sony XBR-65Z9D via the Windows app Movies & TV (today I'm seeing a lot of stuttering; last night was fine). But when I try to play the file via MC (22.0.97) on the same Win10 system, I get "Loading video" and a spinning circle on the TV.

I tried MC 2 ways: File->Open Media File, and Video->Movies->right-click on the file->Play (XBR-65Z9D).

Any options I should be setting? Something I can check (I realize I haven't given much diagnostic information; let me know what I should try)?

[CountryBumkin]

Nice TV!
So your streaming the BD movie (wirelessly?) to Sony. Is that correct?
Or do you have an HTPC connected to TV via HDMI cable?

[Hendrik]

Sounds like you're trying to use DLNA to play to the Sony - that can be a bit peculiar with Sony TVs, and you may need to do some configuration in Media Center.

All these options can be found in the settings under Media Network -> Add or configure DLNA servers

First off I would recommend to add a new entry there, using the Sony BD/TV preset we have. Right out of the box, this may get video working, but at a somewhat low quality (SD video).
For higher quality, what works for my Sony TV (a much older model, but anyhow) is these (just modifying the Sony preset) - although it does need some processing power on the system you have MC on to convert the video:
Video -> Format: H264-TS 1080p AutoFPS
Advanced -> Video DLNA Override: AVC_TS_HD_EU_ISO

Once you have created this new server config, you can assign it to the actual device. In the main MC tree view, you'll see entries for the different playback zones under the "Playing Now" section, one for your TV, and on right clicking this one you can assign it to a DLNA server with the "Associate with DLNA server" option.

[Antognini]

Nice TV!
So your streaming the BD movie (wirelessly?) to Sony. Is that correct?
Or do you have an HTPC connected to TV via HDMI cable?

Yup, it's a nice TV (incredibly bright, amongst other things). I'm using a wired connection between my Win10 system and the TV.

[Antognini]

Advanced -> MPEG video mimetype override: AVC_TS_HD_EU_ISO

I did the first, but I didn't see this second option. What I do see is: MPEG video mimetype override (already checked), Video MimeType Override: video/mpeg (not checked), and Video DLNA Override: MPEG_PS_NTSC (not checked). I didn't change any of these.

Having done the rest, I tried again and am still getting "Loading Video."

[Hendrik]

Oh sorry, I meant putting that string into "Video DLNA Override", I wrote down the wrong option name, sorry about that. Edited above as well to not confuse any future readers.
Also just tested again to confirm and these settings work pushing a video to my Sony. Of course much newer models might have changed a bit, so no final guarantees, but these settings are pretty "generic", so chances are good.

[Antognini]

Oh sorry, I meant putting that string into "Video DLNA Override", I wrote down the wrong option name, sorry about that.

I made the edit. Still no joy ("loading video"). Should I re-associate the TV with the DLNA server definition I just updated?

[blgentry]

I'm using a wired connection between my Win10 system and the TV.

You should be more specific.  Wired ethernet?  Wired HDMI?  Something else?

Brian.

[Antognini]

You should be more specific.  Wired ethernet?  Wired HDMI?  Something else?

It's wired Ethernet.

I guess I've not been keeping up. I've seen Intel NUC kits with HDMI output, eg, nuc6i7kyk, but hadn't thought about using HDMI to connect to a TV. (Slap! to head.)

[Antognini]

I found that I can play audio (that is, ripped CD) files from MC to my TV. And the TV's diagnostics say the TV can contact MC as a server.

I was just experimenting, and after I had MC (try to) send a video to my TV, MC was chewing up CPU (as seen in Task Manager). The CPU activity continued even after I used right-click/XBR node/clear playing now. I had to kill MC to get it to stop.

[Antognini]

I found that I can play videos by initiating the process from the TV. On my TV remote, I do HOME, scroll down to Apps, choose Video; there I can choose PC:Antognini10, which is the name I defined to my NetGear Genie server. I had separately set up NetGear Genie to allow access to a directory that has videos in it. In PC:Antognini10 (that is, still on the TV), I can choose a video (.mkv) file and play it. In fact, both the file I had created work.

This is nice and all, but I think I be happier if I could initiate the process on the MC side. That is still unsolved.

I wonder if there are any DLNA settings in MC I should change. Reading things on the web, I got a hint that maybe there's something in DLNA settings to which the TV is sensitive.

[Antognini]

... MC was chewing up CPU (as seen in Task Manager). The CPU activity continued even after I used right-click/XBR node/clear playing now. I had to kill MC to get it to stop.

This spinning of MC isn't right. How can it be investigated?

[blgentry]

The CPU usage is likely caused by MC converting the video format in order to deliver it to your TV in a different format.

You might consider a direct HDMI connection instead so you don't have to mess with these myriad DLNA options and won't have to worry about video conversion either.

Brian.

[JimH]

You might consider a direct HDMI connection instead so you don't have to mess with these myriad DLNA options and won't have to worry about video conversion either.

Brian doesn't like DLNA, but it works for many.

CPU usage could be something like antivirus analyzing files, too.

[Antognini]

Task Manager attributes the CPU usage to MC. (And I don't use anti-virus, although I have Windows Defender.)

[BryanC]

I found that I can play videos by initiating the process from the TV. On my TV remote, I do HOME, scroll down to Apps, choose Video; there I can choose PC:Antognini10, which is the name I defined to my NetGear Genie server. I had separately set up NetGear Genie to allow access to a directory that has videos in it. In PC:Antognini10 (that is, still on the TV), I can choose a video (.mkv) file and play it. In fact, both the file I had created work.

This is nice and all, but I think I be happier if I could initiate the process on the MC side. That is still unsolved.

I wonder if there are any DLNA settings in MC I should change. Reading things on the web, I got a hint that maybe there's something in DLNA settings to which the TV is sensitive.

In this manner you are just accessing the file directly and not using DLNA. When you attempt to use DLNA (on the MC side), whichever video format you have stored in the mkv container using MakeMKV (e.g. h.264 or AVC) has to be decoded and re-encoded to be sent to the TV, hence the massive CPU load.

So the question is: why does the file that your TV can decode natively have to be converted to play via DLNA? There are two options:

1. The TV  actually supports the original video format via DLNA (configured via the MC DLNA settings, i.e. Mode: Original)
2. DLNA support is buggy or broken on your hardware (common).

If #2 is correct then you will need to play with your DLNA settings to identify the highest quality format that can play correctly via DLNA (as Hendrik alluded to above) and accept the fact that you are going to have high CPU usage. The other option is to identify a format that Sony's DLNA renderer supports natively (see: https://esupport.sony.com/US/p/support-info.pl?info_id=799&mdl=KDL32EX720) and rerip or remux your movies to the supported format so that no on-the-fly transcoding is necessary.

By far the best solution is to use HDMI, as Brian suggested above, which will result in the best quality playback with the fewest headaches.

[Antognini]

1. The TV  actually supports the original video format via DLNA (configured via the MC DLNA settings, i.e. Mode: Original)

Bingo! I changed the mode to Original in the relevant Options and had success in sending the video from MC to my TV. Thanks for the pointer.

... whichever video format you have stored in the mkv container using MakeMKV (e.g. h.264 or AVC)

According to MediaInfo (a utility I found on the internet), the relevant video file has Format: AVC. And AVC is indeed one that Sony TV supports, according to the URL you gave.

I will look into an HDMI connection.