zarx264gui - so pretty, yet encode doesn't play in QT

[mirkosp]

Go back to unrestricted and in the last tab, with the command line, add in the box the following code

Code: Select all

--ref 15

Why this? Because Apple is terrible and if they didn't bother getting something to work in their encoder, they likely didn't bother supporting it in their player either, which makes Quicktime a player with a LOT of missing features that it should be supporting as they are part of the H.264/AVC standard.
...one of these features being ref 16, the maximum allowed by the standard. Apparently Apple thinks that 15 is enough so they didn't bother supporting 16 refs.
One of the things that the preset "veryslow" does in x264 is setting the ref to 16. While this is a good thing for your encoding needs with proper decoders and players, if you have to do an encode that works in QT, you'll have to comply to its awful support and cut down on refs.
Possibly other settings aren't supported either, so if the encode doesn't work yet, I suggest you to ask in doom10's newbies section for further help in making a QuickTime compatible encode.
Personally, I just refuse to make encodes compatible with QuickTime if that's what it takes; even on Mac OSX there are much more valid alternatives, such as Mplayer OSX Extended and Mplayer2, so users should be using those instead.

[Zarxrax]

Mirko, if he used the profile setting, then that automatically limited the number of reference frames, so its probably gotta be something else.

[crickets]

I still haven't figured out what the deal with this is. Does anyone have any other suggestions. I have tried everything here.

I am pretty determined to get this two work for a couple of reasons:
1. I want my downloads to be compatible for anyone who downloads them.
2. I want to be able upload and play my encode on my personal webspace; because it is currently incompatible with quicktime, and I'm using JWplayer on my site, the final .mp4 that zarx produces, renders it unusable for this kind of web playback.
3. It's really pretty, darn it.
4. It's kind of infuriating that I can't get it to work. There *must* be a solution, right?

Is there any way to run a diagnostic on the final .mp4 that zarx produces; or is there any way to run a diagnostic on the original full size .avi (that I use to write my .avs file) in order to discover the problem?

[Beefy_Suavo]

QuickTime doesn't like mp3 audio jammed into a mp4 file.

mp4box.exe -info strangeanduntrue.mp4

[iso file] Box "avcC" has 4 extra bytes
* Movie Info *
Timescale 600 - Duration 00:04:48.600
Fragmented File no - 2 track(s)
File Brand mp42 - version 0
Created: GMT Wed May 11 01:45:34 2011

File has root IOD
Scene PL 0xff - Graphics PL 0xff - OD PL 0xff
Visual PL: ISO Reserved Profile (0x7f)
Audio PL: Not part of MPEG-4 audio profiles (0xfe)

Track # 1 Info - TrackID 1 - TimeScale 30000 - Duration 00:04:40.213
Track is present in Root OD
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "vide:avc1" - 8398 samples
Visual Track layout: x=0 y=0 width=848 height=480
MPEG-4 Config: Visual Stream - ObjectTypeIndication 0x21
AVC/H264 Video - Visual Size 848 x 480
AVC Info: 1 SPS - 1 PPS - Profile High @ Level 4
NAL Unit length bits: 32
Self-synchronized

Track # 2 Info - TrackID 2 - TimeScale 44100 - Duration 00:04:48.600
Track is present in Root OD
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "soun:mp4a" - 10729 samples
MPEG-4 Config: Audio Stream - ObjectTypeIndication 0x6b
MPEG-1 Audio - 2 Channel(s) - SampleRate 44100 - Layer 3
Synchronized on stream 1


I demuxed the video into a new mp4 file and it played fine in QuickTime.

[Zarxrax]

Hmm, well I'll be.
Maybe I'll add some kind of warning if people use mp3.

[crickets]

Wow this is all that it took to fix it. Wonderful. Thank you so much Suavo!

I would definitely add a warning about using MP3s as your audio input. (You write the guide right?) Because wow, this was a pain in the ass. I'm glad that we got it figured out, though. That way I'll know for next time.

I really appreciate all of your patience and help with this! I didn't even imagine it could have been my audio that was causing it, so I never ever would have figured this out. You guys are life savers!