Trouble playing mp4 video

**krishna.murphy** · 07-06-2010, 04:48 AM

I'm feeling a bit stuck on this one, so I'm throwing it out for ideas. I downloaded a hour-long video that I can't see when I play it in any of the video players, including SMplayer, which gives this info on the video:

Code:

Resolution    640 x 480
Aspect ratio 1.3333
Format         avc1
Bitrate          0 kbps
Frames per second      29.970
Selected codec            ffh264

I'm also attaching a screenshot re: video codec, which I suspect is the trouble. Anybody got an inspiration?

Krishna
p.s. Kaffeine doesn't even play the audio, like most of them; just croaks.

**kl522** · 07-06-2010, 06:27 AM

Originally Posted by krishna.murphy

...I can't see when I play it in any of the video players, including SMplayer, which gives this info on the video:

Code:

..
Selected codec            ffh264

...
p.s. Kaffeine doesn't even play the audio, like most of them; just croaks.

It's not the fault of the players. It seems all the players are somehow and someway relate back to mplayer. What is missing is actually the necessary codec library. I am not the codec expert but I suspect you will probably need 'libavcodec' or others. It's also useful to download the w32codecs. I used to have problem with video files, but after install all the codec libraries, I don't seem to encounter a single problem with video playback anymore.

**krishna.murphy** · 07-06-2010, 12:16 PM

Originally Posted by kl522

It's not the fault of the players. It seems all the players are somehow and someway relate back to mplayer. What is missing is actually the necessary codec library. I am not the codec expert but I suspect you will probably need 'libavcodec' or others. It's also useful to download the w32codecs. I used to have problem with video files, but after install all the codec libraries, I don't seem to encounter a single problem with video playback anymore.

I have the codec library, as shown in Synaptic:

ffmpeg codec library

This is the codec library from the ffmpeg project. It supports most existing encoding formats (MPEG, DivX, MPEG4, AC3, DV...).

This package contains a Debian-specific version of the libavcodec shared object that should only be used by Debian packages.

Do you have a recommended procedure for installing/using the Windows codecs?

Cheers!
Krishna

**ICPUG** · 07-06-2010, 05:53 PM

It seems to me from the initial message that the movie is encoded in AVCL and SMPlayer has tried to use H264 and failed.

I have never heard of AVCL before so googled for: avcl movie

It seems a weird one - nothing from wikipedia comes up! On the basis of a few random headers it looks as if it might be popular in Japan as a high definition movie format.

I don't think you are going to find an AVCL codec amongst the Windows collection and perhaps not amongst any collection - it does not seem to be popular enough here in the West.

**ICPUG** · 07-06-2010, 06:19 PM

Update to my previous post.

I may have misread the earlier screen. avc1 and not AVCL. If so, then avc1 is another name for h264 (used by vnc media player apparently). Now I don't know why it is not playing! I would try vnc player. This does seem to play just about anything - when all else fails!

**krishna.murphy** · 07-06-2010, 09:43 PM

Originally Posted by ICPUG

Update to my previous post.

I may have misread the earlier screen. avc1 and not AVCL. If so, then avc1 is another name for h264 (used by vnc media player apparently). Now I don't know why it is not playing! I would try vnc player. This does seem to play just about anything - when all else fails!

I assume you mean VLC - which is my default player. I just got a bunch of info on the movie from SMplayer.

**kl522** · 07-06-2010, 01:30 PM

The codecs world is a jungle, even if you have libavcodec, the versions will also have impact on the compatibility and suitability.

Here is a link about the codecs :-

http://www.mplayerhq.hu/DOCS/codecs-status.html

To install the w32codecs, I suggest you try to find the debian package for it ( .deb) . Then you can use 'dpkg' or equivalent to install it.

**krishna.murphy** · 07-22-2010, 11:02 PM

Here's what SMPlayer says my movie is:

Code:

Video Resolution  624 x 352
Aspect ratio         1.7727
Format                XVID
Bitrate                 997 kbps
Frames per second      23.976
Selected codec     ffodivx

I get a blank screen, but the sound's good; anybody got a clue as to what codec I need, and where to get it?

Krishna

**kl522** · 07-06-2010, 01:48 PM

Another way of keeping the codecs current is to upgrade the 'mplayer'.

**kl522** · 07-06-2010, 11:43 PM

As mentioned I am not the codecs experts, but maybe you can try to post the output of this :-
$ mplayer -vc help |grep 264

On my computer, this is what I get :-

Code:

$ mplayer -vc help |grep 264
ffh264      ffmpeg    working   FFmpeg H.264  [h264]
ffh264vdpau ffmpeg    working   FFmpeg H.264 (VDPAU)  [h264_vdpau]
coreavcwindows dshow     working   CoreAVC H.264 for x86 - http://corecodec.org/  [CoreAVCDecoder.ax]
vssh264     dshow     working   VSS H.264 New  [vsshdsd.dll]
vssh264old  vfw       working   VSS H.264 Old  [vssh264.dll]

It seems I have both the ffmpeg h264 codec as well as vssh264 codec in the form of win32.dll.