Philips 642/37 and true MP4s

[setarip_old]

Can anyone provide the "secret" as to what video and audio formats/settings must be used in order to make an MP4 file playable on a Philips DVP 642/37?

[Nudnik]

I dont think its possible, but I will experiment and let you know if anything succeeds.

[SeeMoreDigital]

The Philips DVP-6xx range of players only supports MPEG-4 video with MP3 audio within MP4.

Unfortunately, Philips hasn't seen fit to offer support for implementations such as AAC audio, DAR signalling and N-VOP. So any encodes generated with them will not play :eek:


Cheers

[setarip_old]

The Philips DVP-6xx range of players only supports MPEG-4 video with MP3 audio within MP4.That being the case, what would be the proper software to mux an .MP3 audiostream with an .MP4 videostream?

I've attempted to do so using "Y.A.M.B.", but the resultant file doesn't playback on the Philips 642/37. The builtin menu displays the filename, selecting it brings up the "Reading index" screen - and then, after 11 seconds of blank screen and silence, it locks up.

Any suggestions?

[SeeMoreDigital]

YAMB should be able to generate compatible MP4 muxes.

Try generating some pure MPEG-4 "SP" streams with a square pixel resolution of 640x480 ;)

[setarip_old]

Is there a maximum tolerable sampling rate for the .MP3 audiostream?

I converted a silent 640x480 3IVX-compressed .AVI to .MP4 (using "Y.A.M.B") and then muxed it with a 128Kbps .MP3 audiostream (again, using "Y.A.M.B") @44,100Hz - and then burned the file to both a DVD and a CD. Both played beautifully on a PC under WMP9 (using NERO's decoders), QuickTimePro7, and VLC player.

When I played either the DVD or CD on the Philips 642/37, all motion consisted of smearing pixels, as if the system was being overtaxed - hence my question about the .MP3 sampling rate.

Of course, if anyone is aware of a different reason for this poor performance, please advise ;>}

[SeeMoreDigital]

Try encoding and spinning some "video only" samples first... If the video still smears then it's a safe bet it wont be an audio problem!

That said (and as I've said before), Philips have not been very proactive at providing "useful" firmware upgrades for their DVP-6xx range of players and exploit the ESS chip-set's capabilities to their fullest!


Cheers

[setarip_old]

Unfortunately, silent videos exhibit the same smearing behaviour.

I guess the next two things to try will be:

1) Lowering video resolution still further

2) Seeing if QTPro makes a more playable .MP4 than does Y.A.M.B. ...

[SeeMoreDigital]

2) Seeing if QTPro makes a more playable .MP4 than does Y.A.M.B.... It shouldn't do... If anything YAMB should provide more compliant muxes!

If the YAMB muxes contain OD and BIFS streams, you could try deleting them using mp4UI.

Plus... if you have Recode2 installed you could try generating some MPEG-4 SP encodes without audio.

That said... having to fart about with the encodes in this way, only underlines the fact that the DVP-6xx range of players is very weak.... Which is a real shame because these players have been a very popular product for Philips :eek:


It really is time to upgrade guys....

[Nudnik]

I agree. To tell the truth I have been dissapointed with mine since I purchased it.

I'll be getting a Pioneer DV 588AS as soon as finances permit.

[setarip_old]

Not to vary from my original post but - for my purposes (primarily as an auxiliary player to play my significant DivX 3.11 collection) the 642/37 performs admirably.

I'm presently just exploring .MP4 for "kicks and giggles". For the time being, I'm just curious to see if I can get it going. It should be doable, because I have some original, copyright-free "Flash Gordon" episodes in .MP4 format that DO play (silently, as they contain .AAC audiostreams) perfectly well on the 642/37...

As we all know, when it comes to hardware, there's always something "newer and better" - and, should a true need arise, I'll purchase it ;>}

[Nudnik]

Good to know that works up to a point. I'll give it a try myself to see what the format is like.

[bond]

i am sure you also cant use things like custom quant matrices, qpel and gmc, maybe also b-frames cause troubles...

[SeeMoreDigital]

Indeed...

setarip_old, what happens when you try and play this (http://www.one.seemoredigital.net/MPEG-4_Player_Test_Files/Philips_DVP-6xx_Test_Encode.zip) encode?


Cheers

[setarip_old]

@SeeMoreDigital

It plays wonderfully on the 642/37.

Please advise, how was it created? (initial source/software/procedures)

[SeeMoreDigital]

It plays wonderfully on the 642/37.Of course it does :D

Please advise, how was it created? (initial source/software/procedures)The video was generated today using XviD without any ASP (Advanced Simple Profile) implementations such as B-VOP, Qpel, GMC, Anamorphic Signalling and Custom Matrices... ie: it's a pure SP (Simple Profile encode). The MP3 audio was generated separately (a couple of years ago as it happens :eek: ).

All I did was mux the two streams together using YAMB... and voilà!

Okay... I know I'm no moderator... but I did keep saying: "use SP", "use SP", "use SP" ;)

Sadly (and I really mean this), this really does underline the players weaknesses..... And as I said before: "It really is time to upgrade".


Cheers guys

[setarip_old]

1) Is your use of an XviD videostream the reason your sample yielded different (good) results versus my use of a 3IVX videostream (Not Good) results?

2) As far as I know, neither 3IVX nor DivX v.3.11 (the vast majority of my .AVI collection from "way back when") offer "Profiles". So the question is, is it possible to create an .MP4 that's playable on the 642/37 from either a 3IVX or DivX v.3.11 source?

[SeeMoreDigital]

So the question is, is it possible to create an .MP4 that's playable on the 642/37 from either a 3IVX or DivX v.3.11 source? [/Color]With 3ivx yes... as it conforms to ISO/IEE MPEG-4 14496 and offers Simple Profile encoding.

On the other-hand DivX 3.11 does not conform to ISO/IEE MPEG-4 14496 and can't be muxed into MP4.


Cheers

[setarip_old]

@SeeMoreDigital

Thanks for all of the insight. Unfortunately, after trying a multitude of different settings for the 3IVX codec, the best I'm able to come up with (on the 642/37) is good audio coupled with smearing video in my 3IVX/.MP3 conversions to .MP4...

As a final question - My 23.976fps for the .MP4 couldn't be causing a playback problem on an NTSC machine, could it? (I wouldn't think so, since my 23.976fps DivX v.3.11 .AVIs play very nicely on the same machine.)

[SeeMoreDigital]

Thanks for all of the insight. Unfortunately, after trying a multitude of different settings for the 3IVX codec, the best I'm able to come up with (on the 642/37) is good audio coupled with smearing video in my 3IVX/.MP3 conversions to .MP4...I have not used any 3ivx products for quite some time but from what I seem to remember, two types of "Quantization" are available: H.263 and MPEG.... Make sure you use H.263 :)

As a final question - My 23.976fps for the .MP4 couldn't be causing a playback problem on an NTSC machine, could it? (I wouldn't think so, since my 23.976fps DivX v.3.11 .AVIs play very nicely on the same machine.) I very much doubt the fps speed is causing your problems!

As MPEG-4 codecs go, 3ivx in "Simple Profile" mode was really quite good..... but you may want to try XviD instead :)



Cheers