Why one file opens with Microsoft Media Player and the other doesn't?

[theateist]

I have 2 files that can be opened by many video players, for example VLC, but Microsoft Media Player(MMP) succeeds to open only one of them. Both files were encoded with same library and with same codec. Below are info that I got from MediaInfo. FILE1 CANNOT be opened by MMP and FILE2 CAN be opened by MMP. What is the difference?

[smrpix]

Format profile. Keep it to High@L4.1 or less.

[theateist]

1. How to check what the max level Windows Media Player supports?
2. I used libavcodec library to encode my both videos. The encoder params(bit rate especially) were the same for both videos. I didn't set the LEVEL, the encoder chose the LEVEL by itself. Why for the 1st video the encoder chose LEVEL 5 and for second video it chose LEVEL 3.1?

[_Al_]

Encoder chose level by your video height: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264#Levels

[theateist]

Encoder chose level by your video height: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264#Levels

I have 3 questions:

1. According to wiki the level number is the parameter to DECODER and not encoder, right? I mean, I was able to encode the video with big resolution and bit rate though I've set level number to 3.2. So, the level number has no impact in encoding process, right?
2. I didn't find in net why the encoder choose level only by height and not width or both of them?
3. Do you know the answer to what level Windows Media Player supports?

[Hoser Rob]

I think your ultimate fix would be to stop using windows media player. It's awful. Poor codec support is merely one aspect of its general awfulness.

[sanlyn]

Window Media Player =

[El Heggunte]

If you have Windows 7 and insists on using WMP or WMC anyway, the least that you should do is download+install+use Win7DSFilterTweaker.

[_Al_]

Encoder chose level by your video height: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264#Levels

I have 3 questions:

1. According to wiki the level number is the parameter to DECODER and not encoder, right? I mean, I was able to encode the video with big resolution and bit rate though I've set level number to 3.2. So, the level number has no impact in encoding process, right?
2. I didn't find in net why the encoder choose level only by height and not width or both of them?
3. Do you know the answer to what level Windows Media Player supports?

Those specs were created by somebody and how player (SW or HW) is going to follow them is a question. You can encode video setting level 3.0 for example and give it bitrate that exceeds specs but player might play it anyway.

You might strictly follow specs , keep an eye on it and watch how to set level monitoring bitrate and resolution BUT you might encounter exactly what happened to you that player will refuse to play it. It is entirely up to you how you approach it. Think of setting label as kind of warning for player (its software or firmware) what it might encounter. Some of them chicken out and give up. It is written that way to send a message to user that this video might be too much for player (mobile devices ?), I don't know. Maybe your player did not refuse to play that level but because of resolution.

I'd say keep specs, watch resolution, frame rate and bitrate and set level for it, lowest one that just qualify first for it. If player will not play it it is not a good player I guess (desktop situation).

I have no idea if specs should follow just width or just height or both, I'd set it 4.1 just to be sure maybe, but I never happened to be in that situation.

[jman98]

I think your ultimate fix would be to stop using windows media player. It's awful. Poor codec support is merely one aspect of its general awfulness.

This cannot be emphasized enough.

One of my friends gave me a non-encrypted WMV file that his daughter's school gave to parents of some kind of school activity that he wanted me to convert to another video format. A fully patched and up to date WMP running under Win 7 (at the time the latest and greatest version of Windows) on my PC refused to open the file, yet VLC could play it without any problems. In fact, the reason he gave me the file to convert was that he also couldn't get anything on his Windows PC to play it. When WMP won't even open unencrypted WMV, it's time to give up on using it.

[theateist]

smrpix suggested to keep the level to 4.1 or less, BUT, I succeeded to create 2 video files with same profile(Hight) and same level(5). One of them can be opened in WMP though it's level is 5 and the other still cannot be opened. The only difference is that 1st file's height is 1020 and the 2nd is 1220. If the problem was with level 5 so why now one of them can be opened?

[smrpix]

Profile isn't simply a question of height (though the ones you mention are unusual) it's also a question of what kind of compression parameters are allowed. Note I said allowed, not required. It could be that your newer files do not use some of the more sophisticated methods that 5 allows. I mentioned 4.1 earlier because it's usually pretty safe.

But that may not even be the issue -- it was the only thing that jumped out as different in your original post.

If you want to post a sample we can have a look. But if your ultimate goal is simply to play the file, why not just use a different player?

[_Al_]

smrpix suggested to keep the level to 4.1 or less, BUT, I succeeded to create 2 video files with same profile(Hight) and same level(5). One of them can be opened in WMP though it's level is 5 and the other still cannot be opened. The only difference is that 1st file's height is 1020 and the 2nd is 1220. If the problem was with level 5 so why now one of them can be opened?

I just did a test, I loaded mp4 encoded by x264 to level 5 with height 1200 pixels and WMP played audio only, then I loaded video with 1080 pixels in height , exactly the same video, same settings just different height and video played ok.

[theateist]

mrpix, though WMP is very strict to specs I need my video be opened by WMP. I've attached an one sec video that cannot be opened in WMP. I tried different height values and found out that only if the height is up to 1080 it can be played. Even not standard value like 1000 can be played. I cannot figure out why WMP cannot play video with 1200 height!Help will be appreciated.

UPDATE:
I uploaded new "test.mp4" with 1 second (25 frames).

[smrpix]

Your file is one frame, not one second. It does open in WMP on my system (Win7 Pro 64 bit.)
You should also try using standard video sizes like 1920x1080 or 1280x720. Where do your odd dimensions come from?

[theateist]

This is the video dimension that we use in work. So, I cannot change it. Can you tell why it cannot be opened in WMP and other video with same encoder params but with height up to 1080 CAN be opened in WMP?

[_Al_]

If you cannot install anything on you work computer just download MPC-HC portable 32bit,
unzip and just copy the folder on desktop, run MPC-HC.exe, that player should play your video.

Or use WMV. Encode wmv file.

I am not sure what are you expecting to hear, WMP just will not play that resolution. Or did you try that Filter Tweaker?

[theateist]

I am not sure what are you expecting to hear, WMP just will not play that resolution. Or did you try that Filter Tweaker?

_AM_, I'm not sure that WMP refuses to play that resolution because it DOES play any other resolution up to 1080. Even weird resolutions like 1620x1060, 1620x610 WMP does play, so why it cannot play 1220?

[Krispy Kritter]

Scaling issue? The largest current video resolution is 1920x1080. Anything larger than 1080 needs to be downscaled to fit the monitor.

And again, we are talking about WMP. Which often has weird rules and playback issues with no clear reason why and lack of information to understand how it works or the ability to correct.

Instead of asking why, test to find out what works and then ensure all of your encodes adhere to those findings. This is no different than everyone that has to or needs to support various hardware players. At the end of the day, you only need to know what works, not why it works.

[_Al_]

Yes, I use one player MPC-HC for Avisynth scripts, other for regular video, one for interlace video,
VLC shows bitrate live or can be used as video receiver from remote VLC,
or just trying some other players like MPC-BE, some player seems to have slightest problem with something, dropping video on other player etc, etc

[smrpix]

Can you tell why it cannot be opened in WMP and other video with same encoder params but with height up to 1080 CAN be opened in WMP?

It opens fine in WMP for me. It's just very, very short duration.

[theateist]

smrpix, you'are saying that your WMP succeeded to open the file I've attached?? What version of WMP you used? Maybe the specific version will do success to open it

[smrpix]

12.0.7601.17514.

Still, a file of longer than 1 frame would be a more definitive test.

[jagabo]

It's likely your graphics card's DXVA decoder can't support the 1220 pixel height. Upgrading your graphics card's drivers to the latest WHQL certified driver might help. High@5.0 might be a problem too. Keep in mind that the Profile@Level that MediaInfo reports is only the value of the flags in the header. The actual AVC data may or may not conform to those flags.

[_Al_]

I encoded video with --profile main --level 3.1 to --profile high --level 5 , different combinations of those and WMP will not play anything for me as long as that height was more than 1080 pixels

[jagabo]

The maximum guaranteed resolution for DXVA acceleration is 1920 × 1088 pixels; at higher resolutions, decoding is done with DXVA, if it is supported by the underlying hardware, otherwise, decoding is done with software.

Note In Windows 7, the maximum supported resolution is 1920 × 1088 pixels for both software and DXVA decoding.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/dd797815%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

Try a different h.264 decoder.

[theateist]

WMP uses DirectShow to play the video. I know for sure that libavcodec has no problem to open the file. So, I changed the SourceFilter in the chain of filters of DirectShow to one that uses libavcodec to decode the video and everything worked. I know you'll say that I shouldn't use WMP, but I had to make the video work with WMP.Thanks everyone for the help. The information you've provided helped to fix the problem.

[Krispy Kritter]

WMP uses DirectShow to play the video. I know for sure that libavcodec has no problem to open the file. So, I changed the SourceFilter in the chain of filters of DirectShow to one that uses libavcodec to decode the video and everything worked. I know you'll say that I shouldn't use WMP, but I had to make the video work with WMP.Thanks everyone for the help. The information you've provided helped to fix the problem.

Didn't you previously state that you needed it to work on WMP because you were sharing with others (whom use WMP). If so, then a configuration fix/change on your PC isn't the answer. You should probably use a PC with a basic Windows install (no addons or changes) for testing before deciding what works.