Exported video level seems different from original, downgrade from mp42 to mp41?

Help/How To
1

Hi,
expecting a comon situation:
Recorded clips with Panasonic Lumix camera in FHD 50p MP4.

Want to see the clip(s) on a
Computer (Win 10 with VLC) =Co
Tablet/mobile (Android with VLC App) =Ta
TV (via DLNA media server) =TV
Abbreviation: CoTaTV
(To stay general specifications of cam. & TV for the time being omitted. Both approx. 8 years old. Basically found an information that Panasonic with Sony did some development with a codec, but have no details.)

With a single clip CoTaTV is working properly, what is the question?

Some clips are not perfect and to be cutted. Some split and to be merged.
(Interesting: LossLessCut goes CoTaTV with cutted & merged clips.)
With the first text I wanted to see in my clip I arrived @ ShotCut.

My first collection of clips and text (FHD50p) fails on TV, CoTa properly running.
Facing a wall.
Message: Unknown file format.
Made a very short clip for testing with the camera.

Tried to animate ShotCut to preserve the original parameters and exported the timeline without clicking a profile.
The exported clip (FHD50p) fails on TV, CoTa properly running.
Looked at the clip with mediainfo.

Surprise:
Exported video level seems different from original. Why?

Original:
P1250235initCLIP.MP4.MediaInfo.txt (3.3 KB)

Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (mp42/avc1)
File size : 9.28 MiB
(File size greater uploadlimit.)

Exported:
P1250235initCLIP.MP4.AutoPARAM.mp4.MediaInfo.txt (3.7 KB)

Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 1.19 MiB

Attention: Unchanged in both(!) in the video section: Format profile: High@L4.2

Speculations:
Maybe the TV denied playing the clip due to one of the following:
1 Higher calculation capacity needed to decode
2 Inconsistent specifications in general & video section
3 Downgrade from mp42 to mp41
?

Final remarks:
I have not any clue if the described above solves my issue.
I had exported my first collection with 25p, guess: Yes, TV plays too.
With 25p would it not be necessary to contact the forum,
but I want still 50p.

Any help?
Thank you in advance!

2

I see the difference is in what FFmpeg calls the major_brand and compatible_brands metadata. In Shotcut Properties > menu-button > More Information… you get a detailed ffprobe output–similar in nature to MediaInfo but different view and sometimes results. The brand metadata is at the bottom of this output. Since you wrote that 25p worked, I doubt this is the issue. Maybe the brand metadata is fixed until you override it. Still you can try it. In Export > Other add the line:
brand=mp42

Now, mediainfo shows

Codec ID : mp42 (mp42/iso2/avc1/mp41)

The value before the parenthesis is major_brand and compatible brands are inside.

Some devices have more strict requirements about bitrate variance to prevent not only over-flowing their decoder buffer but also under-flow. That is what constant bitrate rate control is mostly about. First try average bitrate at 12 Mb/s. If that does not work try constant bitrate at 12 Mb/s.
It also might not like the default GOP length of 5 seconds. Try making GOP frame count the same amount as the frame rate (50), and if that does not work your input is 24 so try that.

3

Hi, thanks for the fast response. Testing will take time, apologies. Report later.

4

Hi,
I have to report:
First I attach the properties of the two playable files.
The original from camera and the output of LosslessCut.
(Opened each file with ShotCut after setting Video mode to [automatic]. Then created the property information file.)
P1250235initCLIP.MP4.Prop.txt (original)
P1250235initCLIP-00.00.00.000-00.00.02.880_LosslessCut_RAW.MP4.Prop.txt

Second I attach the properties of the recommended tests.
Not one of them plays on TV. :-((

Third I attach the properties of a variant which surprised me.
Changed the codec to h265 and the TV plays!
P1250235initCLIP.MP4.autoP__scf_Vf_h265.mp4.Prop.txt
Many variations of GOP, ABR, CBR too.
Hoping this may help solving the question.

Wondering if there is an influence of minor_version change from 1 to 512 setting brand=mp42?

Kind regards.

Properties:
Prop.zip (11.5 KB)

5

Hi,

only in case someone would like to tes

t his own h.264 export. The file is a little smaller, so the upload will work. 4.55MB Approx 1sec for testing.

Enjoy

6

Found a sentence which may guide someone who knows ffmpeg well towards a solution?

“found that certain videos I encode are unplayable on my LG TV streaming via Plex. I think the issue may have something to do with the Major_Brand and Minor_Version. Files that play are Major_Brand=mp42 and Minor_Version=0. Files that don’t are isom and 512. I can use the command “-brand mp42” and change the Major_Brand but the Minor_Version stays 512 (and the video still doesn’t play). How do I change the Minor_Version?”

Source:

7

Applying brand=mp42 change resp. set the minor_version=512

Assuming minor_version=0 would create playable files, minor_version=512 does not.

:-(((

8

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