Can't play downloaded AVC/H.264 videos

[gumbygum]

I can view AVC encoded videos on Flash Video sites, but when I download them and rename the file with a flv extension, none of my media players will play them. Some of the players give an error message that there's a codec problem, other players don't do that and you see the time ticker running, but there's no video or audio.

I have ffdshow installed and AVC/H.264 seems to be enabled, says libavcodec in VFW configuration and video decoder configuration.

I've tried to play them in VLC, GomPlayer, MPC Home Cinema, FLVPlayer4Free and other programs and no program will play them.

I have no problems playing FLV files that are encoded in other codecs, the problem is only with AVC.

I know they're AVC because I checked them with mediainfo and the files that won't play are all AVC.

I assumed that since these vids are from "Tube" video sites, that they should have a FLV extension, but perhaps that's not necessarily true. However, I've tried renaming them to a few other extensions that I found in googling this problem, with no success.

How can I get these vids to play? Thanks.

[Baldrick]

Maybe corrupt. How do you download them?

Try open in a video editor like avidemux and see what happens.

[Ai Haibara]

Flash video created using h.264/AVC is usually actually MP4-format (container) video, as I recall. Try renaming the videos using the .mp4 extension, rather than .flv, and see if the problems persist.

[DarrellS]

Or demux with flvextract and remux to mp4 with Yamb or MyMP4BoxGUI or mkv with mkvmerge. Make sure to use the same framerate as the flv or the files will be out of sync.

They should be playing without having to put in a different container though. You have to be missing something for them not to play.

Haali media splitter, flvsplitter? Are you sure these are flv files? What is the file extension when you download them?

If they are truly h264 flv files then you should be able to open them with Virtualdub and the new flv input plugin from fcchandler and ffdshow set to open h264 in vfw configuration (mine is set to ffmpeg-mt but libavcodec should work). It does not rely on flv splitter. If it does, it still doesn't explain why they won't play in mpc-hc.

I also have all flash video types set to libavcodec in ffdshow (both vfw and regular) but you say you're able to play regular flv.

[gumbygum]

Maybe corrupt. How do you download them?

Try open in a video editor like avidemux and see what happens.

Thanks for the suggestion, Baldrick. The method I used to download them was to copy them from the Firefox cache and rename.

I don't think the files are corrupt, because I doubt it's a coincidence that my only files that won't play are all AVC. I tried opening them in Avidemux, got a message "Confirmation. H.264 detected. If the file is using B frames as a reference it can lead to a crash or stuttering. Avidemux can use another mode which is safe but YOU WILL LOSE FRAME ACCURACY.Do you want to use that mode?"

I clicked OK and Avidemux could not display the file, although the ticker was running as if the file were playing.

[Baldrick]

Try Darrells suggestion. Remux with mymp4boxgui, just open the flv/mp4 and make a new mp4.

[gumbygum]

Flash video created using h.264/AVC is usually actually MP4-format (container) video, as I recall. Try renaming the videos using the .mp4 extension, rather than .flv, and see if the problems persist.

The problems persist, unfortunately, when I change ext to .mp4. Same behavior. Gom Player says I don't have the right codec, VLC doesn't say that, but no video displays, although it's ticker runs.

[DarrellS]

Can you post a mediaInfo text from the file?

[poisondeathray]

how did you "download" them ?

can you post a url or example of the type of video ?

[gumbygum]

Or demux with flvextract and remux to mp4 with Yamb or MyMP4BoxGUI or mkv with mkvmerge. Make sure to use the same framerate as the flv or the files will be out of sync.

Well I dropped the files on FLV extract and it extracted them into various files including a .264 file, a .txt file and an .aac file. It worked on both the ones I named with the FLV extension and the ones I changed to .MP4 extension. However, I can't get the .264 file to play in any of my players.

As for Yamb and the other programs you mention, that sounds like a lot of work to learn them and I'll try that later if necessary, thanks. But I shouldn't have to do that, should I? I'm sure the average person is viewing AVC files without having to go to all that trouble.

They should be playing without having to put in a different container though. You have to be missing something for them not to play.

Yes, I wish I knew what it is that I am missing.

Haali media splitter, flvsplitter? Are you sure these are flv files? What is the file extension when you download them?

I download them by copying them from the Firefox cache, which has no extension. Then I rename them .flv which works for everything except the AVC files. All other files that I name .flv (mostly VP6 files) play fine in my players.

I don't know about Haali media splitter and flvsplitter? Do I need these programs? All my non-AVC FLVs play without any problem.

If they are truly h264 flv files then you should be able to open them with Virtualdub and the new flv input plugin from fcchandler and ffdshow set to open h264 in vfw configuration (mine is set to ffmpeg-mt but libavcodec should work). It does not rely on flv splitter. If it does, it still doesn't explain why they won't play in mpc-hc.

Installed Virtualdub FLV Input Plugin, but when I try to open the files in VDub, I get error: File "_____.flv" does not have a video stream." This happens whether the file has extension flv or mp4 and whether FFDSHOW VFW config is set to libavcodec or ffmpeg-mt.

Oh, wait a minute, I installed the moitah.net FLV input plugin.. Is the "fcchandler" plugin a different one?

I also have all flash video types set to libavcodec in ffdshow (both vfw and regular) but you say you're able to play regular flv.

Right, I play regular FLV, no problem.

[gumbygum]

Can you post a mediaInfo text from the file?

The mediainfo report says the name of the file ___.flv, "Container and general information: Flash Video: 25.5 MiB, 1h 5mn. 1 video stream: AVC. First video stream: 45.7 Kbps, AVC

That's only for one file, but I get a similar report for the others.

[DarrellS]

Or demux with flvextract and remux to mp4 with Yamb or MyMP4BoxGUI or mkv with mkvmerge. Make sure to use the same framerate as the flv or the files will be out of sync.

Well I dropped the files on FLV extract and it extracted them into various files including a .264 file, a .txt file and an .aac file. It worked on both the ones I named with the FLV extension and the ones I changed to .MP4 extension. However, I can't get the .264 file to play in any of my players.

As for Yamb and the other programs you mention, that sounds like a lot of work to learn them and I'll try that later if necessary, thanks. But I shouldn't have to do that, should I? I'm sure the average person is viewing AVC files without having to go to all that trouble.

They should be playing without having to put in a different container though. You have to be missing something for them not to play.

Yes, I wish I knew what it is that I am missing.

Haali media splitter, flvsplitter? Are you sure these are flv files? What is the file extension when you download them?

I download them by copying them from the Firefox cache, which has no extension. Then I rename them .flv which works for everything except the AVC files. All other files that I name .flv (mostly VP6 files) play fine in my players.

I don't know about Haali media splitter and flvsplitter? Do I need these programs? All my non-AVC FLVs play without any problem.

If they are truly h264 flv files then you should be able to open them with Virtualdub and the new flv input plugin from fcchandler and ffdshow set to open h264 in vfw configuration (mine is set to ffmpeg-mt but libavcodec should work). It does not rely on flv splitter. If it does, it still doesn't explain why they won't play in mpc-hc.

Installed Virtualdub FLV Input Plugin, but when I try to open the files in VDub, I get error: File "_____.flv" does not have a video stream." This happens whether the file has extension flv or mp4 and whether FFDSHOW VFW config is set to libavcodec or ffmpeg-mt.

Oh, wait a minute, I installed the moitah.net FLV input plugin.. Is the "fcchandler" plugin a different one?

I also have all flash video types set to libavcodec in ffdshow (both vfw and regular) but you say you're able to play regular flv.

Right, I play regular FLV, no problem.

1. You have to remux the 264 and aac files that you demuxed using flvextract into a usable container that players and editors can read. Just open up mkvmerge and drag and drop the 264 and aac files into the first window. You'll need to know the framerate and set that under format specific options" tab or the file will be out of sync. If you would rather have have the files in an mp4 container then open Yamb, Click to create an mp4 file, drag the 264 and aac file into the window, set framerate under properties and click next.

3a. As you can see, this is not the best way to download flash video. Get a software that was made for this. I use Replay Media Catcher.

3b. You have to have Haali media splitter installed to be able to view files that have H264 video. If you do not have it installed then that is a reason that the files do not play. You need Haali media splitter and ffdshow set to decode h264.

4. You need the flv input plugin from ffchandler to open 264/flv in Virtualdub. The Moitah one does not support h264. You will also need ffchandler's aacacm to decode the aac audio.

The first thing I would do is install Haali media splitter and try playing the files with flv extension. If you're happy then you can leave them as FLV or if you want them to play in hardware media players then you can put the 264/aac into mp4 or mkv containers.

Also, I use a program called Properties Plus which intigrates into Windows Explorer. If you right click on Properties Plus in explorer, you can select all the files with no extension, put a tick next to extension and select flv and click OK and it will change the extension of all the files to flv.

[gumbygum]

Okay, I will bring you all up to date on this problem.

I realized that, on all the files that wouldn't play, mediainfo shows "1 video stream: AVC" but it doesn't list an audio stream. Aha, I figured, that's the reason they won't play.

but then I found some other videos in my downloaded collection that mediainfo says are AVC, but I am able to play them successfully. Mediainfo says that those files have 1 video stream AVC, and also 1 audio stream.

So I tried to download the problem vids again, often finding the same vid on a different site, to see if that made any difference. But the result was the same, whether I downloaded them by copying from the Firefox cache, or with a Flash video download program, they wouldn't play.

To make it more confusing, they wouldn't play, even though mediainfo said that these new downloads of the problem vids had both AVC video and also audio streams.

And to make it even more confusing, on a few of them, i downloaded just a small portion of the vid as a test, and that portion was able to be played in my vid players. But when I downloaded the whole thing, it wouldn't play.

(i am talking only about "playing" the downloaded vid in my video players. All of the vids are able to play when I am just streaming them in my browser)

Other info:

After installing FCCHandler's FLV input plugin, I tried to open the problem AVCs in Virtualdub and got error "Unsupported FLV"

Tried muxing them in MyMP4BoxGUI and got an error message, I don't recall exactly what it said, but it was something like "no video or audio streams present."

And I just now installed Haali media splitter, and it made no difference. The files still wouldn't play.

It's almost as if these files are locked to prevent people from playing them offline, because I have no problem playing them as streaming video in Firefox, but can't play the saved files in my media players. Are video files lockable in that way?

Thanks again for all the help. I haven't tried yamb or mkvmerge yet.

[DarrellS]

Can you post the address to these videos so that we can try to figure them out?

[gumbygum]

I think I've figured out what the problem was with the AVC files. I am in the habit of downloading fragments of files, rather than the whole video. I just try to get the scenes I'm interested in. I have been able to do this easily by copying from the Firefox cache, because every time I click in the timeline of an online vid, FF starts a new file in the cache.

These FLV files are always playable when they are VP6 format, but if they are AVC, they are not playable if the scene I want is in the middle of the movie. If the scene I want starts at the beginning of the AVC vid, then I can get that scene and it will play. Or if I download the whole vid, it will play. But a file fragment won't play unless it starts at the beginning of the vid.

So it seems that AVC has some critically important info at the beginning of the file that VP6 doesn't have. And you need that info to play the file. If you grab a piece of the vid that's not at the beginning, mediainfo shows no audio track, only a video track, and the file doesn't play at all, not even the video track.