MeGUI encoded MP4s will not play in Nero Showtime

[klondike]

I have been encoding the main movie vob from a dvd into a mp4 file using MeGUI.The problem is that when i open the final outputted mp4 file in Nero Showtime i get the following runtime error:

""Program: C:\Program Files\Ahead\NeroVision\NeroVision.exe This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team for more information."

Vlc Player opens that very same MP4 file with no problems.Nero Showtime can open the mp4 files that i have produced using Nero Recode 2 but cannot open those produced by MeGUI.

On demuxing the streams the audio stream plays fine in Nero Showtime but whenever i play the video stream (encoded using the HQ-Slow profile) the runtime error occurs.So there appears to be a problem with the video stream but i can't figure out what it is.

What am i doing wrong?

[branko]

I have the same problem in the latest Nero Showtime. I used Staxrip with HQ-Slow profile, MP4 container. Also I am having problems with some XVID movies not playing smoothly in Nero Showtime (other programs play them fine).

[klondike]

You're right Branko,just to double check,i have just encoded a few vob files into mp4s with Staxrip and exactly the problem recurs.They'll play in videolan but not in Nero Showtime.Instead you just get the runtime error mentioned above.It will be interesting to know whether this is a common occurrence or just a rare random anomaly.

[Adub]

It's Nero, what do you expect?

Edit: Okay, to make that a little less mean, why are you using Nero anyways? VLC and MPC work perfectly fine.

[Mtz]

I made another test: I donwnloaded the AVC samples from nero site. Both them played OK in Showtime.
Then I demuxed them and muxed again with the muxing feature from Megui. The resulted file cannot be played in Showtime. I think is some muxing error and is not streams fault.
Maybe someday nero will made an application for demux (inluding the subtiles streams) and another just for muxing. Maybe I have a standalone which support nero digital, I already have the video and audio and I just want to add some subtitles. Why to reencode all it again if the video and audio are ND compliant?
The subtitles from nero samples are just funny. Them are white without any outline and the video contain a lot of snow. White subtiles on white background. :devil: How can nero advertise their ND with that funny subtitles? I can make nicer subtitles than they did.

enjoy,
Mtz

[klondike]

As a test I took a mp4 file created by Nero Recode,demuxed it using yamb to a raw aac audio stream and mp4 video stream.I then muxed them together using MeGUI and the resulting mp4 file plays fine in Showtime.So the muxing part of the MeGUI can not be the problem.If as Merlin says there is a problem with Nero then that's reassuring as there are many alternatives to Nero Bloat out there.

[PuzZLeR]

I just had to add a post since my search led me here.

I have the EXACT same problem with Nero ShowTime with x264 content. In fact, it's not MeGUI or Staxrip since it happens with my AutoMKV encodes as well. I've done my share of muxing and remuxing to no avail.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't this start happening with the March 20th, 2007 version? I may have to reinstall the older version to find out.

One can be quick to point out that it may be Nero's way of encouraging Nero Digital (ND) only, BUT, I believe it's a complexity issue.

Here's some evidence.

-It plays x264 content that is iPod compliant. This is because it's the Baseline profile. So it's NOT an x264 issue only.

-It plays iPod content from ffmpeg (which is also Baseline). Again, it's not an issue with a different implementation of AVC that is not ND.

-It plays ND Standard AVC because it's Main profile level 3, but not Main profile from x264 because it's level 5.1. Could it be the higher level?

-It even crashes the same way sometimes with it's own ND content. It can play ND content from HDTV AVC, but will crash with any ND content that has a high amount of Multiple Reference Frames (which is obviously a higher complexity video stream). Try it, you'll see.

For some reason, Nero only encodes to Level 3, regardless of the profile.

Anyhow, I really believe that the latest Nero ShowTime has issues handling higher complexity AVC content.

[Wishbringer]

It happens to me with selfencoded x264 files with bframes. Clips without bframes play in Showtime. Silly

[PuzZLeR]

Lower complexity iPod compliant files, which play on Nero ShowTime, have 0 B frames.

However Nero Digital content encoded with 3 B frames plays just fine.

Anyhow, I have a sneaking suspicion it has something to do with the levels of H.264. I'm familiar with the profiles somewhat, but I don't understand what "level 4" of "level 5" of "level 5.1" mean.

For some reason, as I mentioned in my last post, Nero Recode only encodes as high as only level 3, even in High profile. The x264 videos that I encode somehow are level 5.1, even in the Main profile.

I mention this because it may have something to do with the problem in ShowTime.