x264 in ASF doesn't play in WMP

[Razorholt]

I have ASF files that have been encoded using MeGUI x264 and asf multiplexer (because I need it, no other options).

The thing is, the file plays well in VLC, mplayer Classic and CoreCodec player but I get a libavcodec error with mplayer2 and WMP10 says that there is a codec error.

I'm stuck. Thanks for your help.


- Dan

[Razorholt]

When I follow the link suggested in the windows error message, I get this:



------------------------

Windows Media Player Error Message Help

You've encountered error message C00D10D1 while using Windows Media Player. The following information might help you troubleshoot the issue.


Codec is missing
Windows Media Player cannot play the file (or cannot play either the audio or video portion of the file) because the X264 codec is not installed on your computer.

The missing codec might be available to download from the Internet. To search for the X264 codec, go to the WMPlugins.com Web site.

------------------------



But x264 is already installed!

Thanks,
-Dan

[el divx]

Are you sure ffdshow or the coreavc ds filter has been properly installed? IIRC, they are the only ones that can decode x264(and are free).

Also, keep in mind that ASF is a proprietary microsoft container, so, IMO, you shouldn't rely on it too much. You're better of with .mp4 or .mkv.

[bond]

you are propably using a fourcc that is not supported by the decoders

[DarkZell666]

Stupid suggestion :

VLC, MPC (and maybe TCMP) use internal parsers for ASF, that can probably connect to any directshow filter, but WMP10, using it's own _selfish_ parser, maybe automagically connects to the WMV9 codec (the only one it considers as "good"), or something stupid like that, which obviously can't decode x264 ...

Have you tried with graphedit to see what's wrong ?

Maybe messing around with the merits of some filters can get you sorted out ... (if you haven't done that already ^^')

[Razorholt]

@el divx: I have installed many versions of ffdshow but I get the same error each time. Regarding ASF itself, like I said, I have no other choices :( I'm helping a small company that owns a software capable of streaming HD files (without downloading them - no progressive downloads) and they said WMV and ASF would be the only containers suitable.

@bond: I used x264 in MeGUI and I specified "FourCC: x264" in the ASF Multiplexer software also. How to explain that MPlayer Classic play the file then? When I try with Mplayer2, I get that error:

http://nubastream.com/dan/asffiles-error.gif


@DarkZell666: I think that your explanation makes sense. Graphedit doesn't see anything wrong but when I play the file from this application, I got the error message that I pasted above. Now, I also tried with a smaller screen resolution and a lower bitrate and mplayer2 liked it well (forget about wmp10, still got the error codec). btw, how will you mess around with the filters? :)


Thank you all for helping me.

- Dan

[unmei]

"looks" like the ASF splitter simply doesn't deliver the data (format) the AVC decoder expects on its input. Well i mean it definitly connects and sends data, as the error is raised in h264.c, so it must be that the data is not what that one expects it to be.

[bond]

try to update to a recent mplayer compile

[Razorholt]

@unmei: I have the Haali Splitter installed, does it matter?

@bond: where would I find it? Any links please? :)


Thanks,
- Dan

[bond]

http://www.aziendeassociate.it/cd.asp?dir=/mplayer

[Razorholt]

You're da man. cheers ;) Let's see how it goes...

- Dan

[Razorholt]

Ooookay. Where should I place these files?


Thanks,
- Dan

[nm]

try to update to a recent mplayer compile
Am I missing something, or what has MPlayer got to do with this? Wasn't the problem with Windows Media Player 6 (mplayer2.exe) and WMP10?

Although I agree about upgrading to MPlayer ;)

[bond]

Am I missing something, or what has MPlayer got to do with this? Wasn't the problem with Windows Media Player 6 (mplayer2.exe) and WMP10?yeah you are right, i overlooked the "2" :D

actually now idea why it works in mpc but not in wmp, propably wmp is doing something wierd

if you can get the file to play in graphedit it should also work in every dshow player, unless the dshow player doesnt something wierd

[Razorholt]

Could this problem be related to the splitter? When used online, throughout our sofware, the file plays well (using mplayer2), but offline I got the error mentioned ealier.
So, my guess is that "Haali Splitter" is used while playing online but offline, wmp is trying to reach the "ASF Splitter", which won't work with x264.

Complete nonsense or... ?


Thanks,
-Dan

[bond]

haali doesnt handle asf

try playing the file in graphedit and tell us what filters are used there

[Razorholt]

I re-encoded the file but with video only:

http://nubastream.com/dan/asffiles.gif

[DarkZell666]

To mess with the filter's merits use this :
http://www.softella.com/dsfm/index.en.htm (Direct Show Filter Manager)

After a second thought, I doubt the company you are helping can afford to tell their customers to mess with the DirectShow filters, but that will obviously help you understand what is going on ;)

For info (just in case) : DirectShow starts by trying with the filters that have a higher merit, and progressively comes down to the lower merit filters until one effectively says "ok I can handle this", the only problem is that this doesn't guarantee that it hands the stream over to the next filter in the graph correctly ... hence the wierd error you got ...

The first ASF parser that said "ok" handled your file but didn't hand it over correctly (cf. what unmei said : the filter doesn't output the unwrapped video data correctly to ffdshow, or what I said : the filter doesn't output the video to the correct decoder -automagically connects to WMV9-, it depends on which parser is used ;))

Any improvement ?

[bond]

maybe wmp uses an own internal asf/wmv splitter?

[DarkZell666]

of perhaps a "self-prefered" parser ? one that doesn't have such a high merit but with which it automatically connects just 'coz it wants to ? :p

I don't have a clue either actually, I'll investigate that a bit later I no answer is found.

@RazorHolt:
Can you upload a sample somewhere for us to check ? if not, what is the asf multiplexer you used ? is it a CLI program ? a directshow filter you might have used in graphedit ?

[Razorholt]

I'm not allowed to upload any files, sorry. I'm using the ASF Multiplexer from Solveig (http://www.solveigmm.com/?Products&id=ASFMuxer)

Thanks,
- Dan