Can't play H.264 file in Quicktime with QT profiles (CE Baseline or CE Quicktime)

[Tunaboy]

Hi Everyone,

I have used Staxrip to convert a few .AVI files to view using Quicktime. I tried the "CE Baseline and CE Quicktime" profiles, but neither of the resulting h.264 files worked.

The CE baseline output works for a second or two and then the picture "hangs" for the rest of the video. The CE Quicktime output looks garbled. Sound works perfectly for both.

I'm using QT 7.4.1. on a Vista machine. Any ideas?

Thanks!

ps -- in case it is relevant, I use the following filters: source: AVI, convert to YV12(), deinterlace, and IVTC.

[Sharktooth]

craptime(tm) decoding is REALLY crappy on windows.
try lowering the resolution to 640*xxx and see if it helps.
however, stay away from craptime(tm)... it's a useles POC (at least on windows).

[audyovydeo]

I'm using QT 7.4.1. on a Vista machine. Any ideas?



filters' got nothing to do with it.

1. QuickTime H264 play backunder windows is baaaad
2. i've sort of managed to get it to play using these settings :

set base=-r 1 --me hex -m 5 -A i4x4,p4x4,p8x8 --direct auto --no-fast-pskip --no-cabac

set main=-r 1 -b 16 --me hex -m 5 -t 0 -A p8x8,p4x4,b8x8,i4x4 --direct auto --b-pyramid -w --bime --no-fast-pskip --no-cabac

these sorta-kinda play without stuttering on a P4 1.8Ghz, OK on a DualCore with 7.4.x

I've yet to get proper playback of High profile encodings.


disclaimer : I'm a QT fan.

[Sharktooth]

buy a mac then...
seriously QT for Win is a completely useless piece of software.
however, regarding your main profile settings, i dont know about the latest versions, but previous ones were unable to playback multiple b-frames...

[audyovydeo]

buy a mac then...

Now that Macs are C2D intel boxes running unix with a beautiful interface, I'm seriously considering it .

regarding your main profile settings, i dont know about the latest versions, but previous ones were unable to playback multiple b-frames...

I threw away my "QT" mode then I found that QT 7.3 could play back my "Main" mode.

Someone here (I forget which thread now) mentioned that QT now officially supports High Profile (I think they mentioned v7.3 but doublecheck). And that High stuff plays fine on Mac.

ciao
audyovydeo

[Tunaboy]

Re: How to maximize cross platform compatibility

Ok, thanks for all your replies. I think what you are saying is that it is likely that my "QT-profile" files would play on a Mac, just not with Windows QT.

Basically, I want to ensure that I will be able to play my videos on a variety of platforms, including on Macs and Apple TV. Are the QT-profiles the best ones to try to maximize the compatibility across platforms, or is this just a useless endeavor?

Also, maybe this question is unanswerable, but will AppleTV/quicktime eventually be able to read all H.264 files, or has Apple made an intentional decision to hobble the functionality?

Thanks,
TUNA

[Sharktooth]

QT is weird. CE Quicktime used to work on PC too...

[cacepi]

Basically, I want to ensure that I will be able to play my videos on a variety of platforms, including on Macs and Apple TV. Are the QT-profiles the best ones to try to maximize the compatibility across platforms, or is this just a useless endeavor?
It's not a useless endeavor, but the QuickTime profiles aren't what you should be using.

The weak link here is the Apple TV, which is severely limited to what it accepts compared to QuickTime on either the PC or the Mac. You'll need to tune your encodes for Apple TV compatibility:

--level 3.1 --ref 1 --bframes 3 --direct auto --no-cabac --subme 5 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4
--trellis 2 --vbv-maxrate 10000 --me hex --no-fast-pskip --no-psnr --no-ssim

It's not pretty, but that's about all the ATV is capable of.

[Ranguvar]

I Must Not Bash Macs On Forums
I Must Not Bash Macs On Forums
I Must Not Bash Macs On Forums
I Must Not Bash Macs On Forums
I Must Not Bash Macs On Forums
I Must Not Bash Macs On Forums

:p

[Ronin-7]

Tunaboy if you really want QT compatbility try using AutoMKV's (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=134478) QT or AppleTV profiles instead.

Both test clips from either profile I tried played fine in Quicktime 7.4.1 under Windows Vista 64-bit but...

You must turn off "Enable Direct3D Video Acceleration" in Quicktime preferences\advanced section otherwise it causes some odd visual distortions in QT [crappy QT].

[vpupkind]

filters' got nothing to do with it.

1. QuickTime H264 play backunder windows is baaaad
2. i've sort of managed to get it to play using these settings :

set base=-r 1 --me hex -m 5 -A i4x4,p4x4,p8x8 --direct auto --no-fast-pskip --no-cabac

set main=-r 1 -b 16 --me hex -m 5 -t 0 -A p8x8,p4x4,b8x8,i4x4 --direct auto --b-pyramid -w --bime --no-fast-pskip --no-cabac

these sorta-kinda play without stuttering on a P4 1.8Ghz, OK on a DualCore with 7.4.x

I've yet to get proper playback of High profile encodings.


disclaimer : I'm a QT fan.

Quicktime has relatively poor support for multiple B-frames and sometimes dies on High profile features.
I would suggest removing --no-cabac (unless you want to do baseline profile) and reducing the number of B frames.
BTW -- I would suggest looking for more optimal quality-related settings. E.g. p4x4 is not really useful on resolutions larger than CIF, and umh (and tesa) give you much better quality, as well as subme=7

[outsiders71]

So what changed in QT 7.4 that made Sharktooths CE-Quicktime incompatible? Does anyone have a functioning command x264 command line that will play a video file correctly in QT 7.4? I've tried the AutoMK commandline and it didn't work either.

Here's the last command line I tried:
x:\video\programs\x264\x264.exe --bitrate 2000 --stats ".stats" --progress --keyint 250 --bframes 1 --qpmin 10 --qpmax 51 --no-psnr --trellis 1 --ref 5 --filter 0,0 --direct auto --vbv-maxrate 25000 --me umh --no-ssim --level 3.0 --no-cabac --b-rdo --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,p4x4 --threads auto --sar 1:1 --thread-input --output "x:\video\work\%1_300k-video.mp4" "x:\video\work\%1_300k.avs"

I get sound but video doesn't play. Using a good avi file that I created with Vdub out of a series of .tga's and a wave file. I checked it with GSPOT, it's reporting everything fine. No compression was used, and the frame rate is 29.97.

[outsiders71]

Any ideas?

I think the --min-keyint --keyint might have something to do with it. When I change these settings the video plays and hangs at different times. BTW I'ved tried 29/290 and 15/150 respectively.

[SeeMoreDigital]

outsiders71,

Are you able to provide a short sample?

[outsiders71]

Sure, here's an encoded x264/neroAAC clip:
http://www.mediafire.com/?eflyxri29lu

Here's the settings used:

Video (lastest x264 build):

echo Creating AVS...
echo DirectShowSource("f:\video\sources\%1.avi") > f:\video\work\%1.avs
echo AssumeFPS(30000,1001) >> f:\video\work\%1.avs
echo ConvertToYV12() >> f:\video\work\%1.avs

f:\video\programs\x264\x264.exe --bitrate 839 --bframes 0 --ref 3 --mixed-refs --no-fast-pskip --no-cabac --subme 2 --analyse p8x8,b8x8,i4x4,p4x4 --me dia --progress --no-dct-decimate --no-psnr --trellis 0 --direct auto --threads auto --thread-input --output "f:\video\work\%1_video.264" "f:\video\work\%1.avs"

Audio (NeroAAC):
f:\video\programs\besweet\neroAacEnc.exe -q .40 -if "f:\video\sources\%1.wav" -of "f:\video\work\%1_audio.mp4"

Mux (MP4Box):
f:\video\programs\mp4box.exe -fps 29.970 -hint -add "f:\video\work\%1_video.264" -add "f:\video\work\%1_audio.mp4" -new "f:\video\encodes\%1.mp4"

[outsiders71]

BTW I can confirm that the problem has something to do with the video encode. The .m4a plays fine. I outputted the video as a .mp4 and tried watching it in QT. It hangs at 3 seconds. None of those settings should break QT compatibility.

[outsiders71]

Video plays flawless in Cyberlink PowerDVD. This makes no sense!

[Sharktooth]

as i said, qt is weird...
qt may also not play perfectly standard compliant streams...
however... have you tried LOWERING the resolution?
the windows qt h.264 decoder is SLOW AS HELL...

EDIT: yes, the res is too high and qt chockes...

[outsiders71]

as i said, qt is weird...
qt may also not play perfectly standard compliant streams...
however... have you tried LOWERING the resolution?
the windows qt h.264 decoder is SLOW AS HELL...

No I haven't tried lowering the resolution, that would defeat the purpose. I've always enjoyed using x264 because of the quality, lowering the resolution will ruin the quality.

I just tried a base profile level 3 encode and it still hangs. I don't get it. I really don't want to force users to install or download another media player to view x264, when it should be able to be viewed in QT. Maybe it's time to go checkout other encoders :(.

[outsiders71]

EDIT: yes, the res is too high and qt chockes...

1024x768 is too high? That's not even considered HD! I've seen apple trailers that have huge resolutions, how can this be?

[Sharktooth]

hint: the new flash player is able to decode h.264... even high profile...
if you want to embed videos in web pages, have a look at jw player: http://jeroenwijering.com/?item=JW_Media_Player
it's based on flash and should do the job ;)

[outsiders71]

Are there settings that break the adobe flash player, similarly to QT? Or can it handle the true potential of x264?

[Sharktooth]

look inside this thread: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=132046

im not aware of any incompatibilities except AR signaling....

EDIT: have a look here too: http://216.75.63.164/flash/

[outsiders71]

Adobe doesn't have a standalone flash 9 media player?

[Sharktooth]

wait... do you need a standalone player or a web player?

[outsiders71]

Well thanks to you I now have a way to place them on a web page, or just upload to a service like vimeo and flash takes care of the rest.

But what if I want to view high profile x264 files on my desktop? That's what I want.

[foxyshadis]

Just use your favorite media player. VLC, smplayer, and MPUI don't need anything else, for all the rest you have to install something like ffdshow, coreavc, nero, etc. to get h.264 playback.