HD MPEG-4 / H264 on Astra 19.2 FTA Premiere HD

[eb]

On Astra 19.2 11915H video PID 02FF, audio 0304.
Video is broadcasted as MPEG-4 /H264 tests, 1920x1080

eb

[SeeMoreDigital]

And so it begins!

It looks like BskyB has been true to it's word and has started its HD Mpeg4 AVC trials in June... Sky should also be testing 1280x720 progressive too, some of them paired with their 1080i content.

I have not got round to re-installing my DVB-S card at the moment, so if anybody finds some 720p content, can they check the frame rate please?


Cheers

[eb]

[SeeMoreDigital]

Just in case anybody was wondering.... BskyB is the majority shareholder of Premiere


Cheers

[nexx]

Nice, what bitrate do they intend to use?

Make me jealous of the MPEG2 12mbps 1080i we have here

[eb]

1 minute record ~ 120MB.

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally Posted by eb

1 minute record ~ 120MB.

That's 2 MB per second or 16Mbps (16,384Kbps).... I must admit I was expecting less than half that!


Cheers

[eb]

Very early tests on Euro1080 started with 185MB/minute, 3 first days, and latter and now stabilized on 135MB/min.
Up today I don't know what they changed, but quality was super.

eb

[nexx]

Originally Posted by SeeMoreDigital

That's 2 MB per second or 16Mbps (16,384Kbps)....

Ok now I'm really jealous
Care to upload some sample files?

[illCP]

@eb:

The Screenshot looks like you managed to stream h264 ? If so, how did you do it ?

I've got a Technisat SkyStar 2 and tried it with DVBViewer and ProgDVB, but nothing happens. DVBViewer doesn't even let me click on the "Record"-Button, ProgDVB seems to try to stream but the resulting file is absolutely empty (I don't see or hear anything at all in the "preview").

I think the common programs are for streaming "normal" DVB (MPEG-2) only, but MPEG-4 seems impossible...

Does anybody have a clue about this ? Perhaps a DirectShow Filter Graph for ProgDVB ?

[eb]

Author of SkyView, marfi prepared special version of SkyView for this tests.
http://republika.pl/skyview/SkyAVC_MPG4.zip
Using GraphEdit try to build graph acc. to http://republika.pl/skyview/mpg4.JPG
Set DISABLE MPEGDETECT in OPTIONS

So it is possible to decode this H264 on live , on my Athlon at 2000MHz it was ~10fps.

Before this special edition of SkyView I used normal SkyView edition to record to .ts seting PIDs manually. video PID in decimal 767.

eb

EDIT THis special version it is special filter SkyAVC.ax working only with HDTV MPEG-4 H264.

[illCP]

Thanks a lot !

It's not working yet, but i'll keep trying it this way.

[illCP]

Hooray - it's working - nearly...

I don't hear any sound and get about 0,5 fps @ 1733 MHz - but I can stream it.

I didn't find a way to stream TS - only PVA and MPG. I've got a ~300 MB stream of ~2 Minutes in a PVA-File now, but how do I demux the AVC- and the AC3-stream from it ?

PVAStrumento and ProjectX are both doing nothing at all - I think they are just searching for MPEG-2 streams inside and finding "trash" (AVC) only...

Is there a way to demux it properly ?

[SeeMoreDigital]

Can anybody here provide a short high-def AVC/AC3 sample please?


Cheers

[eb]

illCP congratulations,
Use GraphEdit to play .ts ./switch off clock under GRAF
For live watching change settings in Moonlight/ Mainconcept
I have 200MB working sample, I don't want to cut it.
If someone have space to upload I can do it.

eb

EDIT I hear only silence as audio, not sure what kind of audio is it? 384kb/s.
To demux best is bbtool1.9

[illCP]

Originally Posted by eb

Use GraphEdit to play .ts ./switch off clock under GRAF

I don't know how to stream .ts with SkyView - i've got a .pva-File.

I tried to open it with GraphEdit and "Render Media File" ("Use Clock" in "Graph" switched off) - see attachment. If I click on the play button, the ActiveMovie-Window remains black.
I think it has to remain black, because the MainConcept MPEG Video Decoder is used... and it surely can't decode H.264.

So I tried to remove the MainConcept-Filter and replace it with the Moonlight H.264-Filter or the ffdshow-Decoder - both don't work:

These filters cannot agree on a connection. Verify type compability of input pin and output pin.

I've only got a poor knowledge about filterchains and GraphEdit...

After this, I tried to demux the .pva with bbdmux like this:

bbdmux 01.pva 0xE0 test.264

This seems to work; bbdmux says 0xE0 is Video Stream 0. There's also a "private Stream" 0xBD - this has to be the AC3-Stream. I also tried to demux this stream:

bbdmux 01.pva 0xBD test.ac3

The MediaPlayer Classic opens it, but it remains silent.

What can I do with the demuxed video stream ? I think this file (what I've called test.264) should be a raw H.264-Stream. MediaPlayer Classic can't open it...

I also tried to mux in into a MP4-container with YAMB, but nothing seems to happen. Here's the log:

[15:48:13] : Muxing started...
[15:48:13] : Importing & Writing streams...
[15:48:13] : Muxing finished completely.

The problem is that nothing comes out - the file "test.mp4" isn't created; YAMB does nothing.

[bond]

Originally Posted by illCP

I think it has to remain black, because the MainConcept MPEG Video Decoder is used... and it surely can't decode H.264.

mainconcept also offers h.264 decoding included in their demo encoder:
http://www.mainconcept.com/h264_encoder.shtml

you can also try playing the file in mplayer or videolan (you can also try to demux with these tools to raw, and also try ffmpeg)

What can I do with the demuxed video stream ? I think this file (what I've called test.264) should be a raw H.264-Stream. MediaPlayer Classic can't open it...

if you want to know if its a correct avc stream run the h264_parse tool from mpeg4ip over it, which you can get from here (latest version is available in 1.3.1 mpeg4iptools package)

i hope you know how to handle commandline tools, if yes you can try muxing the raw stream also with mp4creator into .mp4, which is also in that tools package

I also tried to mux in into a MP4-container with YAMB, but nothing seems to happen.

yamb should be stable but you might want to try muxing with mp4box (yamb is a gui for mp4box) directly and see what it says

its available here

ps: you can also upload a small snip of the file (still in the container) maybe somewhere so others, like me, can also have a look

[SeeMoreDigital]

Originally Posted by bond

ps: you can also upload a small snip of the file (still in the container) maybe somewhere so others, like me, can also have a look

Agreed

[eb]

In SkyView there are two places to record to .ts stream
1/ in cache/multirecorder input manualy PIDs for video and audio you can record them as separate streams or as one .ts stream

2/ IN TSWriter > manual record - add PIDS manualy in position OTHER

see http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.ph...072#post526072


Playing with decoder settings when watching liveor playback.
Snapshot for making foto.


eb

[illCP]

Originally Posted by bond

you can also try playing the file in mplayer or videolan

I never tried these before, but they're doing the following:

VLC does the same as MPC... nothing It seems to play something - the timeline moves, but nothing else happens.

MPlayer (omg, a CLI-Player...) does something...

I think it's best posting the whole Commandline:

First I tried to play the PVA-File:

C:\MPlayer>mplayer c:\01.pva
MPlayer 1.0pre7-3.4.2 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
CPU: Advanced Micro Devices Athlon 4 /Athlon MP/XP Palomino (Family: 6, Stepping
: 2)
Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0
Compiled with runtime CPU detection - WARNING - this is not optimal!
To get best performance, recompile MPlayer with --disable-runtime-cpudetection.

Cannot load font: c:/windows/fonts/arial.ttf
Playing c:\01.pva.
MPEG-PS file format detected.

Too many audio packets in the buffer: (4096 in 6275072 bytes).
Maybe you are playing a non-interleaved stream/file or the codec failed?
For AVI files, try to force non-interleaved mode with the -ni option.
MPEG: FATAL: EOF while searching for sequence header.
Video: Cannot read properties.
==========================================================================
Opening audio decoder: [mp3lib] MPEG layer-2, layer-3

Too many video packets in the buffer: (4096 in 8162455 bytes).
Maybe you are playing a non-interleaved stream/file or the codec failed?
For AVI files, try to force non-interleaved mode with the -ni option.
ADecoder init failed
ADecoder init failed
Opening audio decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg/libavcodec audio decoders

Too many video packets in the buffer: (4096 in 8162455 bytes).
Maybe you are playing a non-interleaved stream/file or the codec failed?
For AVI files, try to force non-interleaved mode with the -ni option.
Unknown/missing audio format -> no sound
ADecoder init failed
Requested audio codec family [mad] (afm=libmad) not available.
Enable it at compilation.
Cannot find codec for audio format 0x50.
Read DOCS/HTML/en/codecs.html!
==========================================================================
Audio: no sound
Video: no video


Exiting... (End of file)

So it seems like MPlayer recognizes the PVA "correctly" as MPEG-PS and looks for MPEG-2 compression.

Afterwards I tried to play the stream I extracted with bbdmux:

C:\MPlayer>Mplayer c:\test.264
MPlayer 1.0pre7-3.4.2 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
CPU: Advanced Micro Devices Athlon 4 /Athlon MP/XP Palomino (Family: 6, Stepping
: 2)
Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0
Compiled with runtime CPU detection - WARNING - this is not optimal!
To get best performance, recompile MPlayer with --disable-runtime-cpudetection.

Cannot load font: c:/windows/fonts/arial.ttf
Playing c:\test.264.
H264-ES file format detected.
FPS not specified in the header or invalid, use the -fps option.
No stream found.


Exiting... (End of file)

So it can't determine the fps.

Next try:

C:\MPlayer>Mplayer -fps 25 c:\test.264
MPlayer 1.0pre7-3.4.2 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
CPU: Advanced Micro Devices Athlon 4 /Athlon MP/XP Palomino (Family: 6, Stepping
: 2)
Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0
Compiled with runtime CPU detection - WARNING - this is not optimal!
To get best performance, recompile MPlayer with --disable-runtime-cpudetection.

Cannot load font: c:/windows/fonts/arial.ttf
Playing c:\test.264.
H264-ES file format detected.
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm:ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)
==========================================================================
Audio: no sound
FPS forced to be 25.000 (ftime: 0.040).
Starting playback...
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 7560 DC, 7560 AC, 7560 MV errors
VDec: vo config request - 1920 x 1088 (preferred csp: Planar YV12)
VDec: using Planar YV12 as output csp (no 0)
Movie-Aspect is 1.76:1 - prescaling to correct movie aspect.
VO: [directx] 1920x1088 => 1920x1088 Planar YV12
aspect: Warning: no suitable new res found!
New_Face failed. Maybe the font path is wrong.
Please supply the text font file (~/.mplayer/subfont.ttf).
subtitle font: load_sub_face failed.
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]left block unavailable for requested intra mode at 0 5
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]error while decoding MB 0 5
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 8160 DC, 8160 AC, 8160 MV errors
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 7440 DC, 7440 AC, 7440 MV errors
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 8082 DC, 8082 AC, 8082 MV errors
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]left block unavailable for requested intra mode at 0 28
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]error while decoding MB 0 28
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 7489 DC, 7489 AC, 7489 MV errors
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]left block unavailable for requested intra mode at 0 29
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]error while decoding MB 0 29
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 8089 DC, 8089 AC, 8089 MV errors
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]illegal short term buffer state detected
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 7560 DC, 7560 AC, 7560 MV errors
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]illegal short term buffer state detected
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 8140 DC, 8140 AC, 8140 MV errors
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]illegal short term buffer state detected
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 7440 DC, 7440 AC, 7440 MV errors
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]illegal short term buffer state detected
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 8127 DC, 8127 AC, 8127 MV errors
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]illegal short term buffer state detected
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 7440 DC, 7440 AC, 7440 MV errors
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]illegal short term buffer state detected
[h264 @ 009E3CB8]concealing 8114 DC, 8114 AC, 8114 MV errors


MPlayer interrupted by signal 11 in module: decode_video
- MPlayer crashed by bad usage of CPU/FPU/RAM.
Recompile MPlayer with --enable-debug and make a 'gdb' backtrace and
disassembly. Details in DOCS/HTML/en/bugreports_what.html#bugreports_crash.
- MPlayer crashed. This shouldn't happen.
It can be a bug in the MPlayer code _or_ in your drivers _or_ in your
gcc version. If you think it's MPlayer's fault, please read
DOCS/HTML/en/bugreports.html and follow the instructions there. We can't and
won't help unless you provide this information when reporting a possible bug.

A window pops up and shows strange colours for about five seconds, then it disappears - but sometimes you can see the "Premiere HD"-logo !

I also tried it with "-fps 23,97" and "-fps 29,97" - nothing changes. Anyway Premiere should broadcast in PAL.

This one's the most informative: MPlayer seems to determine some (the most important) characteristics of the stream correctly: H264 ES in 1920 x 1088 YV12 - and you can see something from the "real" Picture; although only for a few Seconds

Originally Posted by bond

if you want to know if its a correct avc stream run the h264_parse tool from mpeg4ip over it, which you can get from here (latest version is available in 1.3.1 mpeg4iptools package)

h264_parse test.264

creates a loooooong list... Here's a cut out: (it's that long that I can't scroll up to the beginning in the Win2k Commandline)

Nal length 2299 start code 4 bytes
ref 3 type 1 Coded slice of non-IDR picture
first_mb_in_slice: 6720
slice_type: 0 (P)
pic_parameter_set_id: 0
frame_num: 38 (12 bits)
field_pic_flag: 0
pic_order_cnt_lsb: 77
Nal is part of last picture
Nal length 6 start code 4 bytes
ref 0 type 9 Access unit delimeter
primary_pic_type: 1
Nal length 136 start code 4 bytes
ref 3 type 1 Coded slice of non-IDR picture
first_mb_in_slice: 0
slice_type: 0 (P)
pic_parameter_set_id: 0
frame_num: 39 (12 bits)
field_pic_flag: 0
pic_order_cnt_lsb: 79
Nal length 2711 start code 4 bytes
ref 3 type 1 Coded slice of non-IDR picture
first_mb_in_slice: 1200
slice_type: 0 (P)
pic_parameter_set_id: 0
frame_num: 39 (12 bits)
field_pic_flag: 0
pic_order_cnt_lsb: 79
Nal is part of last picture

Originally Posted by bond

you can try muxing the raw stream also with mp4creator into .mp4, which is also in that tools package

This seems to work better than mp4box & YAMB:

C:\>mp4creator -create=test.264 test.mp4
mp4creator: Must specify frame rate when reading H.264 files
C:\>mp4creator -create=test.264 -rate=25 tst.mp4

If you specify the frame rate, you get a .mp4 file - and no error. So it seems the raw H.264 stream was correctly muxed in a MP4 container (?)

But neither the MediaPlayer Classic or VLC nor Mplayer is playing it... but nevertheless the MPC tries to decode it with ffdshow - I think that's a good sign

VLC plays a grey box with artifacts for a few seconds before it crashes.

Here's the MPlayer "log":

C:\MPlayer>mplayer c:\tst.mp4
MPlayer 1.0pre7-3.4.2 (C) 2000-2005 MPlayer Team
CPU: Advanced Micro Devices Athlon 4 /Athlon MP/XP Palomino (Family: 6, Stepping
: 2)
Detected cache-line size is 64 bytes
CPUflags: MMX: 1 MMX2: 1 3DNow: 1 3DNow2: 1 SSE: 0 SSE2: 0
Compiled with runtime CPU detection - WARNING - this is not optimal!
To get best performance, recompile MPlayer with --disable-runtime-cpudetection.

Cannot load font: c:/windows/fonts/arial.ttf
Playing c:\tst.mp4.
ISO: File Type Major Brand: ISO/IEC 14496-1 (MPEG-4 system) v2
QuickTime/MOV file format detected.
--------------
MOV track #0: 253 chunks, 6320 samples
MOV: AVC decoder configuration record atom (37)!
Image size: 1920 x 1088 (24 bpp)
Display size: 1920 x 1088
Fourcc: avc1 Codec: 'V'
--------------
MOV: longest streams: A: #-1 (0 samples) V: #0 (6320 samples)
VIDEO: [avc1] 1920x1088 24bpp 25.000 fps 0.0 kbps ( 0.0 kbyte/s)
==========================================================================
Opening video decoder: [ffmpeg] FFmpeg's libavcodec codec family
Selected video codec: [ffh264] vfm:ffmpeg (FFmpeg H.264)
==========================================================================
Audio: no sound
Starting playback...


MPlayer interrupted by signal 11 in module: decode_video
- MPlayer crashed by bad usage of CPU/FPU/RAM.
Recompile MPlayer with --enable-debug and make a 'gdb' backtrace and
disassembly. Details in DOCS/HTML/en/bugreports_what.html#bugreports_crash.
- MPlayer crashed. This shouldn't happen.
It can be a bug in the MPlayer code _or_ in your drivers _or_ in your
gcc version. If you think it's MPlayer's fault, please read
DOCS/HTML/en/bugreports.html and follow the instructions there. We can't and
won't help unless you provide this information when reporting a possible bug.

Originally Posted by bond

you might want to try muxing with mp4box (yamb is a gui for mp4box) directly and see what it says

its available here

Sorry, without a GUI that's too hard for me now...

Originally Posted by bond

ps: you can also upload a small snip of the file (still in the container) maybe somewhere so others, like me, can also have a look

How can I cut out something of it ? And what's the largest filesize for attachments here ?
Or does anybody have an FTP-server or webspace for uploading ?


For all german speaking people:

We've got a thread in the german Doom9 Gleitz board about this.