MP4 videos not shown in XnView after installing ffdshow

[simon1967]

Hi, since I've installed a new ffdshow which is necessary for cutting H264-avi-files XNVIEW cannot show my mp4-videos which are decoded with H264. Deinstalling the ffdshow did not help. What now??

I'm using version 1.96.2
Answers are welcomed in English or German.
Thanks
RS

[xnview]

Your file has .mp4 extension?

[mesh07]

I have got the same problem.
Mp4 videos don't appear in the preview window.

I installed the latest ffdshow codec pack (ffdshow-rev3128_20091108_xxl) and also the latest xvid codec (Xvid 1.2.2.07062009)
Do i need another codec? Or do i have to activate the mp4-extension somewhere?

My system:

Windows XP SP3 - with all updates
AMD Phenom II 905e
4 Gb Ram

Edit:

Ok, now i uninstalled ffdshow and installed k-lite codec pack 5.44 full - now it works.

[mesh07]

Ok, now with my new system it doesn't work again.

I'm using Windows 7 Home premium 64bit and K-Lite 64 bit codec pack.

Are there any suggestions for solving this problem?
Or are there other codecs i could try?

[matt1696]

Does it make a difference if you rename the file extension to another video container format like .mpg and then rebuild the thumbnail?

If so that's the same issue as my thread here:

http://newsgroup.xnview.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=18942

Unless I'm missing something, XNView appears to treat .MP4 extensions as audio files.

[mesh07]

No, i already tried to rename the extansion.
That doesn't work.

I guess there is a codec-problem.
But i don't know, how to solve it.

[matt1696]

MP4 may just be the container format, rather than the actual video codec.

Do you have either G-Spot or MediaInfo installed so you can check the codec details? If not install MediaInfo (more up-to-date than G-Spot) from the below. It's freeware.

http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net/en

In the example of that page, the container shown on the top line is Matroksa (an MKV file), and the video stream (codec) is Real 4. Let me know what your video clip is.

Matt

[mesh07]

Media Info shows me this information:

MPEG-4 (Base Media / Version 2)
1 video stream: AVC
1 audio stream: AAC

At "first video stream" it shows: 640x480@29,970fps, AVC (Baseline@L1.3] [3 Ref Frames)

At "first audio stream"
128kbps, .... AAC (Version 4) (LC)

So i would guess, i need a AVC/h.264 codec.
But the K-Lite Codec pack contains such a codec.

[matt1696]

I'm not sure about codec packs, personally I wouldn't use them.

The way I'd get this to work is with FFDshow. Your codec pack may already have installed this, but if not here's the link:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/ffdshow-tryout/

- From the ffdshow entry in your Start menu choose the Video Decoder Configuration (red icon)
- Click on the top entry in the left pane titled "Codecs"
- The top entry on the right pane is H.264/AVC. Use the drop-down to make sure that this is set to "libavcodec"

This settings tells FFDshow to decode AVC video.

Hwever, it's possible that another setting somewhere in your system is taking precedence over FFDshow, that's the problem with codec packs. If it's still not working let me know and we'll see what your system is actually doing.

[mesh07]

Yes, thats what i tried first.
Normally i only use ffdshow package.
But as that did not work properly, i tried the k-lite codec pack.

I uninstalled k-lite and installed ffdshow again - with "libavcodec" (its activated by default).

And of course it doesn't work either.

What confuses me: xnview plays mkv-container files - which - correct me if thats nonsense - is also avc/x.264.

[matt1696]

Some MKV files are AVC yes, but MKV is just the container, and as such it can actually contain any number of differently encoded video and audio streams, so some will be AVC, but others may be something different. In each case you need to check with MediaInfo.

XNView's gonna need two components to play the file (three if you count the audio, but for thumbnails we don't need to worry about that):

1. A splitter to get the video stream out of the container
2. A codec to decode that stream.

Since you said that AVC codec streams in a different container (MKV) work OK, it sounds like it may be the splitter that may be the problem. Can you keep your ffdshow installed and then also install Haali Media Splitter:

http://haali.su/mkv/

If it still doesn't work, can you let me know the following:

- What media player do you use?
- When you play the file in your media player, does it play?
- If it plays, does the red FFDshow icon appear in your system tray?

Matt

[mesh07]

After installing the Haali media splitter it works.

What i don't understand: the haali media splitter was included and installed with the k-lite codec pack.
While watching some vids it appeared at the taskbar.

Strange!

Thank you for your help!

[matt1696]

No problem.

That's why I don't trust codec packs. With the mixture of their installing so many utilities and all the other things that people have on their PCs, you end up many possible routes that can be taken to play a file. Then when something doesn't work because a preferred route causes a conflict or something, it's difficult to pull them apart and force the player to use a particular method.

Better to keep it clean and install something like FFDshow that does most things, and then a few extra splitters and codecs that are needed in addition when you come across them.

But basically it's a minefield!

[XnTriq]

Thanks for your explanations, Matt

[kimi]

Your file has .mp4 extension?

Hello,
The topic is really old, however i have version old, too. But it's "very" newer than the version mentioned on this thred. I'm using 1.97.8 (Sep 2010) version and found out that XnView fails to decode AVC (.mp4 extension) videos. Only audio is decoded and "no" video.

Whereas Windows Media Player 11 decoding those files just fine. I beleive it uses "Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder" which is default built-in "Media Foundation" filter (not DSHOW, isn't it?), but XnView fails to locate and use that filter, or other filters on system to decode some AVC videos.

I'm using Windows 7 SP1 x64, and i'm suspecting that XnView might fail to locate decoders under "SysWOW64" folder like in the scenario i'm facing.

Any explanation is appreciated.