I'd like to figure out why my H.264 encoded stream in a MP4 container does not play back correctly in Window Media Player 12 in Windows 7. The file plays well in VLC and other players including WMP from Windows 10 but I'm just wondering why WMP12 from Win 7 does not play it.
It seems that only I-type frames are displayed and blank black frames are shown instead of all P-type frames in between. If I force my device encoder to produce only I-type frames then the file plays back ok in WMP12 (Win 7) but the size of the file increases too much. What are the limits of H.264 decoder in Windows 7?
I'm adding below ffprobe -show_frames video.mp4 (just a few frames but there are no reported errors by ffprobe):
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'video.mp4':
Metadata:
major_brand : isom
minor_version : 512
compatible_brands: isomiso2avc1mp41
encoder : Lavf57.83.100
Duration: 00:00:05.51, start: 0.024000, bitrate: 513 kb/s
Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (Constrained Baseline) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 720x480, 510 kb/s, 30.11 fps, 59.94 tbr, 90k tbn, 180k tbc (default)
Metadata:
handler_name : VideoHandler
[FRAME]
media_type=video
stream_index=0
key_frame=1
pkt_pts=2160
pkt_pts_time=0.024000
pkt_dts=2160
pkt_dts_time=0.024000
best_effort_timestamp=2160
best_effort_timestamp_time=0.024000
pkt_duration=2340
pkt_duration_time=0.026000
pkt_pos=48
pkt_size=2979
width=720
height=480
pix_fmt=yuv420p
sample_aspect_ratio=N/A
pict_type=I
coded_picture_number=0
display_picture_number=0
interlaced_frame=0
top_field_first=0
repeat_pict=0
[/FRAME]
[FRAME]
media_type=video
stream_index=0
key_frame=0
pkt_pts=4500
pkt_pts_time=0.050000
pkt_dts=4500
pkt_dts_time=0.050000
best_effort_timestamp=4500
best_effort_timestamp_time=0.050000
pkt_duration=4320
pkt_duration_time=0.048000
pkt_pos=3027
pkt_size=1662
width=720
height=480
pix_fmt=yuv420p
sample_aspect_ratio=N/A
pict_type=P
coded_picture_number=1
display_picture_number=0
interlaced_frame=0
top_field_first=0
repeat_pict=0
[/FRAME]
[FRAME]
media_type=video
stream_index=0
key_frame=0
pkt_pts=8820
pkt_pts_time=0.098000
pkt_dts=8820
pkt_dts_time=0.098000
best_effort_timestamp=8820
best_effort_timestamp_time=0.098000
pkt_duration=3060
pkt_duration_time=0.034000
pkt_pos=4689
pkt_size=1073
width=720
height=480
pix_fmt=yuv420p
sample_aspect_ratio=N/A
pict_type=P
coded_picture_number=2
display_picture_number=0
interlaced_frame=0
top_field_first=0
repeat_pict=0
[/FRAME]
[FRAME]
media_type=video
stream_index=0
key_frame=0
pkt_pts=11880
pkt_pts_time=0.132000
pkt_dts=11880
pkt_dts_time=0.132000
best_effort_timestamp=11880
best_effort_timestamp_time=0.132000
pkt_duration=2970
pkt_duration_time=0.033000
pkt_pos=5762
pkt_size=829
width=720
height=480
pix_fmt=yuv420p
sample_aspect_ratio=N/A
pict_type=P
coded_picture_number=3
display_picture_number=0
interlaced_frame=0
top_field_first=0
repeat_pict=0
[/FRAME]
[FRAME]
media_type=video
stream_index=0
key_frame=0
pkt_pts=14850
pkt_pts_time=0.165000
pkt_dts=14850
pkt_dts_time=0.165000
best_effort_timestamp=14850
best_effort_timestamp_time=0.165000
pkt_duration=3060
pkt_duration_time=0.034000
pkt_pos=6591
pkt_size=987
width=720
height=480
pix_fmt=yuv420p
sample_aspect_ratio=N/A
pict_type=P
coded_picture_number=4
display_picture_number=0
interlaced_frame=0
top_field_first=0
repeat_pict=0
[/FRAME]
[FRAME]
media_type=video
stream_index=0
key_frame=0
pkt_pts=17910
pkt_pts_time=0.199000
pkt_dts=17910
pkt_dts_time=0.199000
best_effort_timestamp=17910
best_effort_timestamp_time=0.199000
pkt_duration=2970
pkt_duration_time=0.033000
pkt_pos=7578
pkt_size=1344
width=720
height=480
pix_fmt=yuv420p
sample_aspect_ratio=N/A
pict_type=P
coded_picture_number=5
display_picture_number=0
interlaced_frame=0
top_field_first=0
repeat_pict=0
[/FRAME]
[FRAME]
media_type=video
stream_index=0
key_frame=0
pkt_pts=20880
pkt_pts_time=0.232000
pkt_dts=20880
pkt_dts_time=0.232000
best_effort_timestamp=20880
best_effort_timestamp_time=0.232000
pkt_duration=2970
pkt_duration_time=0.033000
pkt_pos=8922
pkt_size=1850
width=720
height=480
pix_fmt=yuv420p
sample_aspect_ratio=N/A
pict_type=P
coded_picture_number=6
display_picture_number=0
interlaced_frame=0
top_field_first=0
repeat_pict=0
[/FRAME]
[FRAME]
media_type=video
stream_index=0
key_frame=0
pkt_pts=23850
pkt_pts_time=0.265000
pkt_dts=23850
pkt_dts_time=0.265000
best_effort_timestamp=23850
best_effort_timestamp_time=0.265000
pkt_duration=3060
pkt_duration_time=0.034000
pkt_pos=10772
pkt_size=1972
width=720
height=480
pix_fmt=yuv420p
sample_aspect_ratio=N/A
pict_type=P
coded_picture_number=7
display_picture_number=0
interlaced_frame=0
top_field_first=0
repeat_pict=0
[/FRAME]
Please let me know if you spot any errors in these frames that might affect playback.
The encoded H.264 stream is created using Freescale libimxvpuapi and the MP4 container using ffmpeg.
More information on the file:
exiftool video.mp4
ExifTool Version Number : 10.10
File Name : video.mp4
Directory : .
File Size : 346 kB
File Modification Date/Time : 2018:10:02 11:27:20+02:00
File Access Date/Time : 2018:10:02 11:41:14+02:00
File Inode Change Date/Time : 2018:10:02 11:27:21+02:00
File Permissions : rw-r--r--
File Type : MP4
File Type Extension : mp4
MIME Type : video/mp4
Major Brand : MP4 Base Media v1 [IS0 14496-12:2003]
Minor Version : 0.2.0
Compatible Brands : isom, iso2, avc1, mp41
Movie Data Size : 351479
Movie Data Offset : 48
Movie Header Version : 0
Create Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Modify Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Time Scale : 1000
Duration : 5.51 s
Preferred Rate : 1
Preferred Volume : 100.00%
Preview Time : 0 s
Preview Duration : 0 s
Poster Time : 0 s
Selection Time : 0 s
Selection Duration : 0 s
Current Time : 0 s
Next Track ID : 2
Track Header Version : 0
Track Create Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Track Modify Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Track ID : 1
Track Duration : 5.51 s
Track Layer : 0
Track Volume : 0.00%
Matrix Structure : 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Image Width : 720
Image Height : 480
Media Header Version : 0
Media Create Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Media Modify Date : 0000:00:00 00:00:00
Media Time Scale : 90000
Media Duration : 5.51 s
Media Language Code : und
Handler Description : VideoHandler
Graphics Mode : srcCopy
Op Color : 0 0 0
Compressor ID : avc1
Source Image Width : 720
Source Image Height : 480
X Resolution : 72
Y Resolution : 72
Bit Depth : 24
Video Frame Rate : 30.109
Handler Type : Metadata
Handler Vendor ID : Apple
Encoder : Lavf57.83.100
Avg Bitrate : 510 kbps
Image Size : 720x480
Megapixels : 0.346
Rotation : 0
Many thanks!
Please find a video sample here:
I figured out that if I add:
if (this->keyFrame) {
pAVPacket->flags |= AV_PKT_FLAG_KEY;
}
Then the file plays back well in WMP Win 7 too. I was missing this flag for key frames.