Resistant H.264 container

[urymf]

Hi,

I'm looking for a video container for H.264 videos, with which a partial file (for example: after a power failure or a software crash) is instantly playable, without the need for header fixing, reindexing etc.

Is there such a container? I'm afraid I can't use ASF/WMV, but AVI, MKV, FLV, MP4, MPG and other multiplexers (Haali, AMR...) are valid options.

Thanks,
Ury

[aedipuss]

are you talking about a power failure during a read or write operation? if during a dirve read then .mp4 with the mov atom at the beginning of the file might work for you the same way it starts playing streaming video before the file is completely downloaded. if during a drive write then forget it.

[jagabo]

What happens when the keyframe index is missing depends on the player. Some players will build a new index to allow fast seeking once they start playing. Some players will just start playing the video but not allow seeking, or have very slow seeking.

A transport stream (TS, MTS, M2TS) might work because it doesn't necessarily have a keyframe index. They are designed, for example, for broadcast where you just pick up the signal whenever you switch to the channel. You may not be able to seek while playing though -- depending on the player.

[urymf]

Thanks aedipuss.
I definitely talk about writing, but why forget it? Today it works perfectly with ASF. If I had H.264 support in ASF, I had a solution. I can also change the container in no time with ffmpeg. I only need an H.264-capable container which is as resilient as ASF.

[urymf]

jagabo
So which container are you suggesting? For example, partial AVIs (the flavors I know) won't play with any player.

[jagabo]

If I remember correctly, VLC will play AVI files without a keyframe index. If the AVI headers are totally corrupt, nothing will play the file.

[urymf]

Ok, just to be clear, I am talking about a partial file (no corrupted data), a result of an aborted download, a computer power failure, a software crash etc.

[El Heggunte]

I definitely talk about writing, but why forget it? Today it works perfectly with ASF. If I had H.264 support in ASF, I had a solution.

You might give a try to the SolveigMM ASF Multiplexer, then. But I don't know how many // which media players support H264 in an ASF container. For the record, the main problem in this case is the fact that ASF is just a glorified AVI, because it was not designed to store B-frames.