H264 encoded by Resolve is somehow different

My cinema uses a Western Digital WDTV Live media player, that will play most video files known to man!! I have been encoding presentation files to it with PPRo for many years, and still do. However I have been trying to output h264s (or h265s) out of Resolve, without any luck... I get a dialogue box from the WDTV Live player that states file type is not compatible. The files seem identical to the type of file I'd pump out of Premier.

My question is how different can the Resolve file be, from the files I output from Premier? I have tried pretty much every variation I can do out of the Deliver page, to create the mp4, in different wrappers, different GOP lengths, bitrates etc, but nothing will play.

I would like to encode to the cinema player directly out of Resolve, but am at my wits end, because I cannot make a file that plays. I suppose I could make a DNxHR intermediate and encode that out of PPro, but not optimal.

I must add that the Resolve mp4s WILL play on the nVidia Shield media player that is also installed in the cinema, however that unit is normally tied up doing something else during a session, so the WD player is my unit of choice.

Has anyone come across this type of problem before?
Regards Steve

Perhaps is the bitrate for the player too high? VBR or CBR?

Dirk PEL

Can you compare the files with MediaInfo to see if a difference is seen?

I know some dedicated players can have limits on the bit rates, bit depths they support, even with something as ubiquitous as mp3 files.

Thanks Warren and Dirk
Yes I have tries VBR and CBR files, and also kept to lower bitrates, but still it doesn't like Resolve's mp4s.

Cant find any differences in MediaInfo either.
Maybe a flagging issue?

I've been having this issue since I changed over to Resolve in June.
I'll let you know if I come up with a fix.

Sorry Mike.

h264/5 are quite complex and have many settings which can affect playback.
Your player may bee picky or doesn't like some specific setting. Resolve has limited control over h264/5 parameters (in case you need it). This sounds like some fundamental issue as player doesn't see video at all.
Have you tried MOV instead of MP4?
Export intermediate file and encode with other tool.

Hey Andrew
Yes I have tried Photo jpg and mjpg movs as well, but nothing is recognised.
And yes I'll have to encode Resolve to DNxHR .mxf and then encode H264 through Premiere. You are right in that Resolve has limited control over H264 encoding, although I don't normally have a problem with that. It produces a very decent quality file.

It's a strange one though. I'm just waiting to see if anyone else has encountered this problem.

Try h264, but in MOV container (directly form Resolve).

WDTV is quite decent (form what I read), so your problem is strange, but this crap happens.
Try firmware update for WDTV is there is one.
Turn off frame reordering in Resolve settings, limit bitrate to 40Mbit, tick Network Optimisation.

I use the MP4's out of Resolve everywhere without issue, including several hundred deliveries to clients over the past couple years.

My first thought is there's something wrong with the WDTV.

Have you tried removing power from wdtv for 10 seconds and then let it rebuild the library? May not sound like there is a connection, but probably the only thing one can try.

You could share a short excerpt from the "bad" encodes so that I can try on mine (original WDTV, so h264 FHD only, please)

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