can't open MP4s rendered by x264vfw

3d87c4 wrote on 1/16/2018, 4:49 PM

I did a little searching and consulted the Why won't VEGAS open my file correctly? FAQ, but didn't find this case covered:

I am editing 3840x1920 3D top/bottom VR videos, with ambisonic audio, in Vegas (Sony 13 and Magix 14) and rendering them using x264vfw. To prevent audio/video sync problems I render the audio as a 4-channel avi, and use the x264 file option to send the video into a separate MP4. I combine both using FFMPEG, using the -c v copy option for the video. This works fine for the final render & I've posted a number of videos to YouTube this way.

I am now working on a larger project and would like to use files rendered this way in a larger project and discover that Vegas 13/14 cannot read them!?!?! I will post the mediainfo and file properties (from Vegas) below.

I am able to run them through Handbrake---using the pass through option for the audio.

I had assumed having the x264vfw codec would allow me to write and read the files...is there something more I should do to make this work?

Any chance this would work in V15?

Here is the mediainfo for a file I rendered this morning (surprised I cannot upload this as a text file?):

General
Complete name : E:\Videos\Vuze\Antarctic\MP4\HET_0035 360.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 169 MiB
Duration : 34s 490ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 41.1 Mbps
Writing application : Lavf57.72.100

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L6
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 34s 468ms
Bit rate : 40.9 Mbps
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 3 840 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 1.000
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.093
Stream size : 168 MiB (100%)
Writing library : x264 core 152 r2851bm ba24899
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=23.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 34s 490ms
Duration_LastFrame : -7ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel(s)_Original : 4 channels
Channel positions : Front: L C R, Side: C
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Frame rate : 46.875 fps (1024 spf)
Compression mode : Lossy
Stream size : 801 KiB (0%)
Default : Yes
Alternate group : 1

Here are the file properties from Vegas 13:

And here's the file on YT:

Comments

Musicvid wrote on 1/16/2018, 9:53 PM

"and rendering them using x264vfw

1. Why are you using an inefficient lossy Codec as a digital intermediate? There are a half dozen better choices in Vegas without installing a hack codec.

2. Vegas can be picky about nonstandard multichannel audio. Is there a difference if you try to open the file in a surround project? If you leave out the 4 channel (again, why?) audio track?

3d87c4 wrote on 1/17/2018, 1:36 AM

Please recommend an alternate codec that can render 3840x1920 top/bottom full 3D and ambisonic audio. Seriously, this is new to me. x264vfw works, so I use it & will gladly switch if there is another way.

Vegas cannot open the MP4 that doesn't have any audio, so I suspect it has more to do with the pixel size of the video and/or the way it's encoded.

The four tracks of audio are required for ambisonic (directional) audio.

Musicvid wrote on 1/17/2018, 9:41 AM

Your previous thread:

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/vuze-camera-ambisonic-audio-experimentation--108582/

Maybe submit your feature request formally?

https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/what-are-the-top-new-features-you-d-like-to-see-in-vegas--109038/#ca672143

Looks like x264 may be down mixing your audio to stereo.

Maybe post MediaInfo for your SOURCE, upload an original source sample ( not YouTube!), and someone here may be able to help you get a fresh start.

3d87c4 wrote on 1/17/2018, 2:35 PM

Working backwards...

Here's a link to the video file in my google drive:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BKkgamhc3aoZOoB7qFTo1WLtdVbd2CWQ

Here's the mediainfo for one of the AVI files, created by Autopano Video Pro, that I'm feeding into Vegas:

General
Complete name : E:\Videos\Vuze\Antarctic\AVI\HET_0035_left.avi
Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
Format profile : OpenDML
File size : 1.41 GiB
Duration : 34s 468ms
Overall bit rate : 352 Mbps

Video
ID : 0
Format : CineForm
Codec ID : CFHD
Codec ID/Info : CineForm 10-bit Visually Perfect HD (Wavelet)
Duration : 34s 468ms
Bit rate : 351 Mbps
Width : 3 840 pixels
Height : 1 920 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.000
Frame rate : 29.970 fps
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 1.586
Stream size : 1.41 GiB (100%)

Audio
ID : 1
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Codec ID : 1
Duration : 34s 468ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 1 536 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 6.31 MiB (0%)
Alignment : Aligned on interleaves
Interleave, duration : 33 ms (1.00 video frame)
Interleave, preload duration : 33 ms

Here is the MediaInfo report for the wav file, created by Reaper, with the ambisonic audio:

General
Complete name : E:\Videos\Vuze\Antarctic\audio\HET_0035.wav
Format : Wave
File size : 13.0 MiB
Duration : 35s 496ms
Overall bit rate mode : Constant
Overall bit rate : 3 072 Kbps
Producer : REAPER
Encoded date : 2018-01-16 11-06-58

Audio
Format : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign : Signed
Codec ID : 1
Duration : 35s 496ms
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 3 072 Kbps
Channel(s) : 4 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Stream size : 13.0 MiB (100%)

3d87c4 wrote on 1/17/2018, 4:28 PM

Hmmm...I just may have to install V15, after all. Thank you.

Did the full audio (4 tracks) load too?

Marco. wrote on 1/17/2018, 6:44 PM

While the four audio tracks play fine in VP15 on my system, the video is just black (So4 Compound still enabled and no matter if GPU processing is enabled or not in VP).

3d87c4 wrote on 1/17/2018, 7:35 PM

Did the full audio (4 tracks) load too?

Look again, I showed it.

Didn't realize that was an mp4, sorry, nothing happened when I clicked on it earlier.

I just downloaded and watched it. Thank you!

NickHope wrote on 1/17/2018, 11:07 PM

While the four audio tracks play fine in VP15 on my system, the video is just black (So4 Compound still enabled and no matter if GPU processing is enabled or not in VP).

Me too. I guess this much be GPU-dependent, regardless of the setting of GPU acceleration of video processing. I have an old AM HD6970.

The 3rd audio track is silent, as it is in Cornico's video.

3d87c4 wrote on 1/18/2018, 2:02 AM

The camera has microphones at each corner, all in the same plane, so there is no vertical component to the sound. That is why the 3rd track is silent.

The ambix track order is W,Y,Z,X. W represents the non-directional component of the sound, Y is the left/right component, Z is up/down, and X is front/back.

3d87c4 wrote on 1/18/2018, 4:18 PM

Downloaded and installed V15 build 261 and successfully loaded the file. Audio and video appear and play as expected. Thanks for the final nudge to get onboard with V15.

It would be nice if there were a fix for V13 and/or V14, but this get's me going.

Suggestions for alternate intermediate formats/codecs are welcome...my workflow involves several intermediates. The ambisonic audio is added fairly late in the process, so is not an absolute requirement for intermediate renders.

Marco. wrote on 1/18/2018, 4:33 PM

I like using CineForm as intermediate, dependend on the stuff I do with "Filmscan 1" or "High" as quality setting. XDCAM HD, HDCAM SR, ProRes, XAVC-I – all these can be good intermediate choices dependend on your projects.

3d87c4 wrote on 1/18/2018, 8:48 PM

It would be nice if there were a fix for V13 and/or V14, but this get's me going.

My Vegas 13 and 14 Pro don't have a problem if I convert your file with Handbrake into also mp4. It imported and played well in those older Vegas versions.

Yes, I had already checked that. Had to use a passthrough option on the audio to preserve the 4 channel.

I will be using handbrake to create proxies for when I edit all these clips together, but wanted to avoid the extra re-render on the full sized clips.

I like using CineForm as intermediate, dependend on the stuff I do with "Filmscan 1" or "High" as quality setting. XDCAM HD, HDCAM SR, ProRes, XAVC-I – all these can be good intermediate choices dependend on your projects.

Thanks. Are they available in Vegas, as-is, or do I need to load them from somewhere?

Marco. wrote on 1/19/2018, 4:15 AM

Except of CineForm they're all available in the Vegas Pro 15 core. CineForm would be available in Vegas Pro via installation of GoPro's Studio software. Beware not all of them offer UHD/4k rendering.

3d87c4 wrote on 1/24/2018, 9:05 PM

It appears it is so4compoundplug that allows V15 to read the files with ambisonic audio.

I use Vegas to adjust the 3D alignment for each of the four 3D camera pairs of the Vuze camera, using the Batch Render V2 script to render the corrected left and right views to separate files for stitching.

I modified Batch Render V2 to function in V15, loaded a Vuze clip into V15, and got 4 mono audio tracks where I should have had 2 stereo tracks. Disabling so4compoundplug resolved that, but now the files with the ambisonic audio cannot be read!!!!

The batch render step is the most time consuming part of the 3D alignment. I have to run it 8 times and each run can take a couple of hours using the MediaConcepts encoder, so I really want to use the new Magix NVENC encoder.

I will, therefore, become adept at turning so4compoundplug on and off...