x264 distortion after seeking in VLC player

[Rezer]

I've just started using x264 with an MKV container to encode some movies, and I noticed that when seeking there is usually about a second or so of heavy distortion, at least when using VLC for playback. I realize this is caused by not seeking to a key frame, but is it normal behavior for h264 videos to not automatically seek to a key frame? And is there any way to force seeking only to key frames?

Thanks.

[Dark Shikari]

Normal? Nah, that's just VLC being broken as usual. Use a player that sucks less (mplayer, MPC-HC) and it'll work fine.

[prOnorama]

It seems to be normal behaviour for VLC when seeking (at least for me), but to say VLC is broken and sucks is not my (humble user) experience.

It plays DVD's, mkv's, Xvid etc. and it's free.

I use MPC HC as well and maybe I'm stupid but I can't get subtitles embedded in a .mkv to work with MPC HC (but if I load external .srt subs it works), while they always work in VLC.

On some mkv's I've had issues on MPC HC with jerky playback (panning shots especially) while it worked fine in VLC.

I don't think the "VLC seeking distortion" is a big issue, as I normally play a file from start to finish and don't use seeking.

[Dark Shikari]

It seems to be normal behaviour for VLC when seeking (at least for me), but to say VLC is broken and sucks is not my (humble user) experience.

It plays DVD's, mkv's, Xvid etc. and it's free.I'm just speaking from experience here (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=1910683&postcount=80). VLC is notoriously broken with H.264 and MKV.I use MPC HC as well and maybe I'm stupid but I can't get subtitles embedded in a .mkv to work with MPC HC (but if I load external .srt subs it works), while they always work in VLC.MPC-HC is a player, not a subtitle filter. You need VSfilter to play back subtitles, which is why any sane playback pack (e.g. the CCCP (http://www.cccp-project.net/forums/)) contains it.On some mkv's I've had issues on MPC HC with jerky playback (panning shots especially) while it worked fine in VLC.That sounds an issue with the video renderer used, or perhaps using a new version of VLC and an old (and slow) version of FFDshow.

Either way, if you have a problem with the seeking artifacts, complain about them to the VLC devs, not us ;)

[Blue_MiSfit]

MPC-HC is a very good player.

VLC is also, but I imagine it's taking a shortcut when seeking. I've never seen this behavior with MPC-HC.

I suggest using MPC-HC with either ffdshow's ffmpeg-mt H.264 decoder or Divx H.264. Both of these are fast, multithreaded decoders that should handle even 25mbps 1080p on a modern dual core. Combine this with EVR or Haali Renderer, and you should have perfect playback. Your subtitle issue is probably related to the splitter. Right click on the video, go to "filters" and play around with the different options that pop up. You should get MPC-HC to render subtitles somehow ;)

If you must use VLC, then use the latest version.

~MiSfit

[LoRd_MuldeR]

I don't see that problem with VLC 1.0.1. So this may depend on the container the H.264 stream is stored in and how it was muxed!
For example I have noticed that MPlayer doesn't seek at all in MKV files created by x264. However re-muxing the MKV solves this problem immediately.
So please try remuxing x264's MKV file with a tool like MKVToolnix or YAMB....

[Rezer]

Wow, wasn't expecting a reply quite that fast, much less 5...thanks for the suggestions guys. It's good to know I'm not just doing something horribly wrong :p

[Rezer]

Well, by using MPlayer, that's doing something horribly wrong.

Nah, probably just gonna continue to use VLC for now...the distortion's kind of annoying but not enough so to cause me to switch just yet.

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Well, by using MPlayer, that's doing something horribly wrong.

Please avoid such stupid statement! MPlayer is definitely among the best OpenSource players we have. And everybody can decide which player he/she prefers.

If you prefer another player over MPlayer, then that's you decision and I won't criticize you for that. But don't flame on other players :rolleyes:

[Chengbin]

I will retract my post.

[sneaker_ger]

MPC-HC is a player, not a subtitle filter. You need VSfilter to play back subtitles, which is why any sane playback pack (e.g. the CCCP (http://www.cccp-project.net/forums/)) contains it.

MPC has an integrated subtitle filter since, well, I don't even remember.

@Rezer

To use the subtitles in MPC go into options>playback and activate "auto-load subtitles". Also make sure that you've chosen a compatible renderer in options>playback>>output. (Like Haali, VMR9 (renderless), VMR7 (renderless) or EVR custom.)

[kieranrk]

MPC has an integrated subtitle filter since, well, I don't even remember.


The internal filter is necessary if you want DXVA + subtitles.

[sneaker_ger]

Excuse my bad English. What I wanted to say is that it has had this filter integrated for a very long time, not that I don't know for which reason it has it.

[prOnorama]

I'm just speaking from experience here (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=1910683&postcount=80). VLC is notoriously broken with H.264 and MKV.MPC-HC is a player, not a subtitle filter. You need VSfilter to play back subtitles, which is why any sane playback pack (e.g. the CCCP (http://www.cccp-project.net/forums/)) contains it.That sounds an issue with the video renderer used, or perhaps using a new version of VLC and an old (and slow) version of FFDshow.

Either way, if you have a problem with the seeking artifacts, complain about them to the VLC devs, not us ;)

D'oh it seems I am stupid. I had disabled the subtitles in MPC HC probably because Shift + S is the key combo to make screenshots in VLC and I probably tried that in MPC HC once as well, thereby disabling the subtitle rendering filter. :rolleyes:

So subtitles in .mkv files work with MPC HC, also with DXVA enabled. :)

[link626]

Today, I used Handbrake to transcode a wmv video to h264/mp3 in mkv container.

It played perfectly in VLC, and there was no distortion garbage during seeking.

However, if i use mkvtoolnix to split the mkv file into 2 pieces, now each piece will have garbage distortion during seeking.


I don't get it. usually Handbrake encodes h264 such that it makes VLC show garbage during seeks.
But this particular wmv video transcoded to h264 played perfectly.

i wish all my transcodes played this perfectly in VLC