Artifacts while playback mp4

[Darret]

Hello,
recently I rendered vacation film, but strangely it has some weird artifacts while playback.
They are visible while transiting from one pic to another (they are zooming on each photo), but only on 3 spots. I tried to re-render it, but still the same. So I took this vid and playback it on other PC, and there was none of them. So I just removed all codecs and reinstalled MPC-HC, but artifacts were still visible. I compared versions of mpc-hc and windows, and they are exactly the same.

Screenshots attached.
01-several frames are visible like that, then 02 -> and after that video is okay.

I moved thread from newbie questions, probably this section is more accurate.

[davexnet]

The GIF is not that helpful, upload 5 seconds of your source and the corresponding compressed output.
Much more likely somebody will recognize the problem

[DB83]

+1


But why these odd frame sizes ? 1921 or 1923 pixels are not valid widths and neither are the heights. That could have something to do with it.

[Darret]

Ye sure, I will upload it asap

[Darret]

Ok so here is the thing, once I use WinFF to cut out those damaged fragments, they become undamaged.
When I try to render this fragment from source program it also shows it correctly.
About frame size, I just cut it from the bottom. So I can record it as mp4 or gif only via external tool (ex. Screen to gif).

[Darret]

Here is fragment of video trimmed by WinFF.

[davexnet]

Here is fragment of video trimmed by WinFF.

This is your render? Please provide some of the actual camera source also

I'm sure I've seen these artifacts recently; not sure if it was another thread or an article somewhere

[DB83]

The gif showed artifacts around the top-left title. Is that what I am expected to see since if it is then they are not there when I play your fragment in vlc.

[davexnet]

The gif showed artifacts around the top-left title. Is that what I am expected to see since if it is then they are not there when I play your fragment in vlc.

I opened it in Virtualdub2. Navigate frame by frame from approx frame 100-106 - there is a kind of pulsing as it switches from p/b frames,
also frame 117-125, 223-230

[DB83]

Well I do not really see it although it might be there even viewing it frame-by-frame.


But this is not a video is it. It's a cleverish attempt at a slide-show and perhaps we need more info on the methods employed if this is what the OP refers to. But his initial post also refers to blank frames.

[Darret]

Uhm. Not quite understood what you mean to be honest. Should I provide you something more?

[DB83]

Well for clarity. Is your final cut a video from a video camera or a slide-show video from a stills camera.


And if the latter what software did you use.


And for additional clarity, where EXACTLY do you see the artefacts ?

[Darret]

Since those are photos with zoom effect, there is likely no way that photo is corrupted.
Then I did project in Vegas studio 14 (64 bit), render it with some preset (I can provide screen of properties if needed).
Then I launched this video on my PC and exactly this fragment of video gets corrupted, but on another PC this fragment is clear.

[davexnet]

I see profile/level high 5.1, perhaps limit it to level 4.0 as a test,
see if there is any difference

[DB83]

Well you do not make it any easier for yourself by not answering all the questions.


But then if the video plays fine on one PC and not another - and I had no apparent issue - then the problem is not the video but the PC.

[jagabo]

16 reference frames and 8 bframes is probably what's screwing up your playback. Many hardware decoders don't support that. Step back to level 4.1. With 4 reference frames, 3 bframes.

[Darret]

I just set render that high because I do not want to have any compression blocks on video. But sure, I will try it.

[jagabo]

I also recommend you blur the source image a bit to reduce aliasing artifacts, strobing, etc. Try using x264's slow preset. That should give you video that will play on pretty much all devices.

[Darret]

Im sorry DB83 which question did I missed?

[DB83]

The one where the artefacts actually appear on the video. The gif has a disturbed pattern top-left. I do not see that on my screen.


I will always bow to the knowledge of members such as jagabo. But my own graphics system must be 10+ years old. I certainly used it for WinXP (and can actually dual boot in to that - might be worth a look)


It may also assist, assuming that the encoding alteration does not fix the problem, if your were to provide more details of the PC that you have the issue.

[DB83]

Anyway. I just fired up my dual-boot XP and played your video. Whilst I could not see any disturbance in the top-left there was a distinct delay/blanking when one picture changed to another.

[Darret]

I will try to re render whole video (because rendering is taking about 1,5h)
My pc:
AMD fx-8320, 24gb ram ddr3, gtx1070, rendering on SSD.

And for previous questions:

This is your render? Please provide some of the actual camera source also

Yes it is actual few seconds render of whole 13 minutes vid.
Stats attached

Try using x264's slow preset. That should give you video that will play on pretty much all devices.

Will try to do it!

[DB83]

Hmmn. But the above properties bear no resemblance bitrate-wise to the sample you provided. Pretty difficult to form a valid opinion then.

[jagabo]

Does this play back without the distortions?

[Darret]

Jagabo:
Yes it does.

[jagabo]

So the problem with the file you uploaded is likely the hardware decoder on your computer can't handle the high number of reference frames and bframes. You could try using VLC with the video output set to Windows GDI. That will force the CPU to do all the work. From VLC select Tools -> Preferences -> Video (tab) -> Output -> Windows GDI Video Output (pulldown). Save the preferences, exit and restart VLC.

By the way, there are other ways to disable GPU decoding in VLC but the one above is foolproof and easy. Many other players have similar options.

[DB83]

@jagabo


Would that not be the default since I have never altered any such settings in vlc and I played the clip fine in Win7/64. Only XP(32 bit) had some issues.


Maybe there is a setting for the video card driver itself.

[Darret]

I did the playback via VLC with settings you mentioned and I recorded this via Screen To Gif so you can see that artefacts still appears.
I will try to rerender project with x264, could not do it yesterday.

[Darret]

Last time when I got similar problem I just cut the video scene more and more till I get it without artefacts, but I believe it is not a valid solution.
And in this case at exactly this moment I used a picture, and I even try to replace it for similar one, but it does no effect.

[Darret]

I did render with attached settings, everything is almost okay. I see some interlace across whole video but mostly visible while transitioning between scenes. Is there something I can change to get rid of it?