Handbrake Android Codec Won't Play Online Until...

Soniclight wrote on 11/8/2014, 8:46 PM
... the whole file is local on my computer (I don't own or use a smartphone of any kind).
But before reading this OP...

LATER NOTE: A couple posts down one can see the old code that works for my older stuff but I since downloaded the new version of JW player and it partially fixed the problem described here directly below. The new problem is in part different now.

Tested in in Chrome, IE and Safari (Win version), all act the same. One watches the buffering circle thing for way too long, and then it starts to play. So it's acting like an SWF in the old days and why one used FLV back then. It's been some time since I created a video and used Handbrake to make my MP4 files for my site.

Why am I choosing this codec?

Due to so many people watching stuff on tablets and mobile, I chose the current "Android Tablet" MP4 in HB because while people could see my previous MP4 at my site on computers -- but not some smartphones, tablets -- especially Android. The world is increasingly mobile, got to keep up.

And this video is barely a blip -- under 2 minutes.
But even on my 5-6 Mbps connection the buffering is way too long.

I welcome anyone's input and settings suggestions in HB but of course especially Musicvid10 since he created the now albeit somewhat dated Vegas/HB tutorial for YouTube. And speaking of YT...

Anything I upload there now, be it HB generated regular MP4 or high quality Vegas rendered WMV dulls everything -- i.e. blacks are kind of 90-95% gray. Didn't used to happen before. What's causing this?
__________

Help on core subject here is primary, but also welcome some on the YT matter.

~ Philip


Comments

Soniclight wrote on 11/8/2014, 9:27 PM
Here is the player code as it stands. The page isn't finished and there is an "----------" in lieu of the still screen image for I have not finished that yet.



class="style77" 

				style="border: 0pt solid rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); width: 911px;" 

				align="center" valign="top">

				<font color="#808080">

				<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" 

				id="single9" name="single8" height="400" width="800">

					<param name="movie" 

					value="http://www.compassionsensuality.net/NW/player.swf">

					<param name="allowfullscreen" value="true">

					<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always">

					<param name="wmode" value="opaque">

					<param name="flashvars" 

					value="author=Philip Steven Knight&file=http://www.compassionsensuality.net/nw/Noble Wand Short Rev_800_AndroidTablet.mp4&image=http://www.compassionsensuality.net/NW/----------&backcolor=000000&frontcolor=CCCCCC&lightcolor=6666FF&screencolor=000000&stretching=exactfit">

					<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" id="single10" 

					name="single9" 

					src="http://www.compassionsensuality.net/NW/player.swf" 

					bgcolor="undefined" allowscriptaccess="always" 

					allowfullscreen="true" wmode="opaque" 

					flashvars="author=Philip Steven Knight&file=http://www.compassionsensuality.net/nw/Noble Wand Short Rev_800_AndroidTablet.mp4&image=http://www.compassionsensuality.net/NW/----------&backcolor=000000&frontcolor=CCCCCC&lightcolor=6666FF&screencolor=000000&stretching=exactfit" 

					height="400" width="800">
Soniclight wrote on 11/8/2014, 10:51 PM
And more bad news...

Had a friend who owns a Verizon Android Eclipse tablet test out the video player and it got can't-use-this-plugin error message. She just gets a gray box where the player screen is. Applies to all older MP4s at my site too. Looks like I may have to contact Ethan at Longtail/JW as well as download new player...
musicvid10 wrote on 11/8/2014, 10:55 PM
Can't speak to your player config, but it sounds like Web Optimized was. Not checked when you encoded your filled.
Soniclight wrote on 11/9/2014, 12:04 AM
Thanks for reply. All my presets in Handbrake seem to be dead since a couple of updates (when I click on one I want, it does nothing). So I probably lost the settings you had given in which you may have told us to check Web optimized which I used as a template for MP4 at my own site.

Since I had HB open still to the Android Tablet preset I used in which I had only changed the resolution (800 x 400), I checked Web Optimized, re-rendered it, uploaded that copy. The new downloaded and installed JW player almost solved the primary problem though another one showed up...

The new 6x version of JW player is far simpler than that old code and/but uses what JW calls its "cloud player" (inserted at "Head" in page). Unlike the old code, I have to figure out how to make my own player bar colors for it has no “param” or “flashvar” lines in it. But that can wait. Here is the new problem which is browser specific, it seems:

-- In Chrome, the new player starts up fine -- but... the color are de-saturated and blacks are dark gray as mentioned with my recent YT upload too. Same for Firefox.

-- In Windows Safari it's both problems: needs to buffer/download whole file before playing -- and -- is desaturated/gray.

-- IE 11 is the only one that plays right and shows correct colors.

Sounds like a Handbrake choices/settings problem perhaps, even though... the HB rendered MP4 runs with correct colors on my Win7 64-bit system with Media Player and VLC (though it stutters in it -- so it could be having problems with that HB Android version of MP4).

I read somewhere that Chrome lacks something related to color management or such, and perhaps so does Firefox/Mozilla. Never had this desaturated-gray blacks problem before when testing between browsers. I'm stumped for now.

The new raw default player code looks like this now:



</div>

<p><div id='playerhMAiYtkdDAKI'></div>

<script type='text/javascript'>

    jwplayer('playerhMAiYtkdDAKI').setup({

        file: 'http://www.compassionsensuality.net/nw/Noble Wand Short Rev_800_AndroidTabletWA.mp4',

        image: '//www.longtailvideo.com/content/images/jw-player/lWMJeVvV-876.jpg',

        title: 'The Noble Wand',

        width: '800',

        height: '400'

    });

</script>;

The above is the HTML5 version of the player. Here is the Flash one:


<div id='playerkAHpIEIUeMBk'></div>

<script type='text/javascript'>

    jwplayer('playerkAHpIEIUeMBk').setup({

        file: 'http://www.compassionsensuality.net/nw/Noble Wand Short Rev_800_AndroidTabletWA.mp4',

        image: 'http://www.compassionsensuality.net/nw/NOBLE WAND 800 VID STILL_800-400.jpg',

        title: 'The Noble Wand',

        width: '800',

        height: '400',

        primary: 'flash'

    });

</script>
Soniclight wrote on 11/9/2014, 12:46 AM
I better get this saturation-gray problem in Chrome fixed for it's now the preeminent browser according to that Stats that JW uses as data: over one year period, and even when one adds "Mobile" to the drop-down list below, almost identical results (must be due to Android). The default is "Worldwide" but one can also choose by country.

Top 5 used browsers as of Oct 2014 (though it probably keeps up over time too):
Soniclight wrote on 11/9/2014, 1:11 AM
I did some further research and it IS a browser color management problem - in part. For example, once I changed the about:config value for color management in Firefox, the Flash version of JW played well and showed correct colors on my current online test page. However, the HTML5 version of the player shows the same drabness. The Flash version shows the poster or stand-in image, the HTML5 doesn't. !!!@@??

From what I've read, this drab factor is due to something called sRGB being used or not in various browsers. Also applies to still images and any image too from what I've seen. Though I only am having this problem with my own video at this time. My site and elsewhere look fine to me.

Hopefully someone can tell me how to Handbrake my videos so this problem is bypassed regardless of browser management differences...
musicvid10 wrote on 11/9/2014, 7:22 AM
Disable dynamic contrast on your video card.
John_Cline wrote on 11/9/2014, 2:51 PM
Working on getting your video to look "correct" on every viewer's machine is an exercise in futility. Very few people have bothered to calibrate their monitors, even if they knew how. Just make sure the levels in your file are correct and then toss it into the wind.
ushere wrote on 11/9/2014, 4:19 PM
+ 1 jc's comment.

as much as i appreciate one wanting to produce picture perfect material it is, as jc says, a futile effort when it comes to how it's viewed by the end user.

i learnt this lesson almost as soon as i started producing commercial videos over 40 years ago. all we can do is try to produce what we consider the best product and try not to think about tv's left at showroom / vivid / saturated / cinema settings,
Grazie wrote on 11/9/2014, 11:33 PM
Q&A-ing stuff is essential when handing over to a client. To do that you/we need to know just what they will view our work on. To do that it is essential to have the client SIGN-OFF on at least your output on your kit. That's what I do. I visit the venues where my work will be seen and provide for several versions of my work. All through the client-facing, client-side production schedule I spend time insuring that what I produce is what is wanted. I haven't spent 40 years in video, but I have 40 years running my own business and working for local government, and if I've learnt anything, it's that people don't like or relish "surprises" - in that respect clients are just like me!

So, I hope I've added to our colleagues observations here.

Grazie
Soniclight wrote on 11/10/2014, 1:39 AM
Thanks to all for added replies (I was out in nature away from computers and the Net, hence late reply).

First: Musicvid10 wrote: "Disable dynamic contrast on your video card."

I went into my nVidia Control Panel and it was already unchecked. However.... I've been around enough to know that sometimes glitches happen so I toggled a couple of the options there, then set it back to unchecked. And... VOILA: it fixed the drabness on said video on all browsers. So thank you for that.

I'll be curious to see if this will (it should) work on some of the ads I see at Hulu and a couple of other places online -- some have seemed similarly washed out compared to others. Seemed strange to me considering they were produced at by large corporations. So it is a local color management, etc. issue.

As to Handbrake, is there any way for one to send someone a preset? If so, would you have one that would be best for my MP4s at my own site? I have the latest v.09.9.5530 64-bit version.

As data above shows, I've been keeping them at 800x400 for now, but may change that. What concerns me more is the various settings on the tabbed settings that are for the most part over my head due to lack of under-the-hood knowledge of what they mean. If you do have such, please simply click on my username and send me a message to which I will reply and then we can do the preset send. If this is not possible or inconvenient, forget about it. I just still want to have the best settings I can manage.

Thanks.
_____________

Now on to the gist of what you others have stated: besides what Grazie mentioned in terms of specific client and asking them what their viewing and such platform is to best match it, I have to accept as you all do that one really does not have control over how other people in the world do or do not tend to fine-tuning their hardware and video drivers, etc. Especially in the ever increasing diversification of how one views things -- desktops, computer HDMI-ed TV screens, tablets, smartphones and who knows what else is in the pipeline.

Then there is a small saving grace too: as creators of video and film, we are by nature highly sensitive to the most minor details. I can actually get a bit obsessive at times. The average viewer is far more forgiving and/or unaware. Even the state of a desaturated and drabby ad or video may not even get noticed... :)