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Gregleto
11th December 2013, 22:52
Hi guys,

We've encountered a strange issue where the videos we are encoding won't play back on modern Samsung mobile devices (Note 3, Galaxy 4, Galaxy 3, maybe more). The files seem to work fine on other Android devices. I've done a thorough investigation of the settings through MediInfo (see below), but I see nothing that makes sense to me as a problem.

To test we created one file in Handbrake and a second file in Telestream Vantage. The Handbrake file plays. The Vantage file does not. We see the player and can hear audio, but no video. Nearly every setting is identical between the two files with the exception of the short list below (both are Main L3.1). Does anyone see something in these settings that could be at the root of the problem?

……………………………………Works……………………Doesn't Work
……………………………………Handbrake…………….Telestream Vantage
Video
Format settings, ReFrames 4 frames…………..3 frames
Maximum bit rate……….NA………………………….14.0 Mbps
Frame rate mode……….Variable……….…………Constant
Frame rate……….…………9.939 fps……….……….29.970 fps
Minimum frame rate…...9.990 fps……….……….NA
Maximum frame rate.....29.970 fps……….……NA
Writing library……x264core130r2273 b3065e6….x264 core 129
threads……….……….……….3……….……….………..9
b_pyramid……….……….…..2……….……….………..0
keyint……….……….…………300……….……….…….120
keyint_min……….…………..30……….……….………12

Audio
Bit rate mode……….……….Variable……….……Constant
Channel(s) ……….……….….2 channels………….1 channel
Channel positions………….Front: L R……………Front: C
Sampling rate……….……….48.0 KHz…………….44.1 KHz

If you have a Samsung phone, the actual files are here...

http://monkeysee.com/video_encoding_test

The first three files should work for you. The fourth file should not. The mediainfo above are for the third and fourth files on that page. Please let me know if you have a different experience.

Thanks!

Gregleto

nm
12th December 2013, 23:24
I don't have Samsung devices but I'd suggest first eliminating differences in audio streams and container format by remuxing to a video-only MP4. If the Telestream encode still doesn't work, you can start wondering about H.264-specific differences.

Aurelio
17th December 2013, 17:34
Do you use Vantage 6 or 5?

Nothing is wrong with the settings. It's the mp4 container being not compatible with the Samsung device.

I reproduced it with Vantage 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3. It also fails on a HTC One.

If you copy the video and audio to a new mp4 container the file also plays on a Samsung.

Try ffmpeg to copy both audio and video streams to a new container.

I already opened a ticket to telestream but maybe you should do as well.

Blue_MiSfit
17th December 2013, 21:28
you could even use a cli action as part of the Vantage workflow. Just a simple ffmpeg -i $foo -vcodec copy -acodec copy $bar

Gregleto
21st December 2013, 16:15
you could even use a cli action as part of the Vantage workflow. Just a simple ffmpeg -i $foo -vcodec copy -acodec copy $bar

Thanks, but I'm afraid I'm not quite sure what this suggestion means. We use the Vantage CLI on all our encodes, but can you tell me what this does?

Thanks,

Greg

Gregleto
21st December 2013, 16:28
Do you use Vantage 6 or 5?

Nothing is wrong with the settings. It's the mp4 container being not compatible with the Samsung device.

I reproduced it with Vantage 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3. It also fails on a HTC One.

If you copy the video and audio to a new mp4 container the file also plays on a Samsung.

Try ffmpeg to copy both audio and video streams to a new container.

I already opened a ticket to telestream but maybe you should do as well.

Have you made an progress on this with Telestream? This seems like good feedback they can use, but all we keep getting from them is new workflows to try that don't work. It's almost as if they are using a shotgun approach and just adjusting settings randomly.

We now have a new test page (link below). As of now the two top files were created with he two most recent workflows provided by Vantage Engineering. These still do not work for us on either Galaxy phones or the HTC One. They will play audio on Galaxy phones, but don't play at all on the HTC. The bottom file was created with Handbrake and works fine with all devices. Feel free to try these out on any device you have. Maybe we'll uncover other phones that they won't play on.

http://drotan.github.io/

Thanks,

Greg

Aurelio
22nd December 2013, 21:41
No, no real feedback so far.

They suggested to try the not the mp4 encoder but the multiscreen or IPTV workflow, but I doubt it will work better. And you might not have the licence since it costs extra.

What Blue_MiSfit suggests is to:
- Install ffmpeg on each of your encoding nodes.
- Add a notify at the end of your encoding workflow where you call ffmpeg with the command line he provided. This will copy the content of the vantage mp4 container to a new mp4 container created by ffmpeg.

Gregleto
23rd December 2013, 23:50
No, no real feedback so far.

They suggested to try the not the mp4 encoder but the multiscreen or IPTV workflow, but I doubt it will work better. And you might not have the licence since it costs extra.

Are you using the H264 encoder in Vantage (Main Concept) or x264? It's possible it will work through the multiscreen workflow because I believe that uses a completely different pipeline, and possibly a different muxer. I have a feeling the problem is coming from the multiplexer they are using in the x264 Vantage workflow, although I have no way of testing that. For now they keep sending us new workflows with changes in the x264 CLI, but nothing they've provided has worked.

If you try the multiscreen let me know. That could provide an additional clue.

Thanks,

Gregleto

Aurelio
24th December 2013, 00:22
I used x264 with the MP4 Encoder of Vantage. Unfortunally I do not have a licence to test the multiscreen workflow.

As workaround, try to copy the video and audio via ffmpeg to a new mp4 container. Just to see if this works.