Main Concept AVC Encoder & Quicktime

Streamworks Audio wrote on 3/13/2010, 2:42 PM

Hi folks,

Anybody else here notice that the Main Concept AVC encoder is creating files that are not 100% compatible with Quicktime (well for me it is Quicktime on a Mac Snow Leopard)?

I create files then open them on my Mac and I cannot move the transport anywhere - the audio will move to the new location but the video freezes at the point where I tried to navigate.

This does not happen to files that I create using Sony's AVC encoder... but I really would like to use a two pass encoding if I can or a least an average encoding... the Sony one is strictly CBR.

I am trying to move some home videos to my Apple TV and the Main Concept encodings are troublesome.... anybody else here notice this?

Chris

Comments

PerroneFord wrote on 3/13/2010, 3:15 PM

I've had some uploaded files not convert when I used the MainConcept encoder. I moved to the Sony encoder and have never had another problem. I just don't bother with it any more.

Any perceived gain in quality (and I am not sure there is any) is lost in incompatibility. I'd rather push the bit rate up a bit and KNOW my video is going to work.

Streamworks Audio wrote on 3/13/2010, 3:30 PM

Yeah that is what I am thinking.... I want to keep the file sizes a small as possible so my iTunes library does not get too big ;-) but yeah - making sure they work might be worth the extra bits.

NickHope wrote on 3/13/2010, 11:21 PM

Try remuxing the file in Yamb, which is a free GUI for mp4box. This may fix some errors and make the file behave itself properly. Please let us know if it works.

Streamworks Audio wrote on 3/13/2010, 11:26 PM

Yeah might be worth it... thinking of going back to creating an intermidate file and bringing that into MeGUI (avisynth,x264) - this was my main workflow for a while (encoding to raw files then muxing with MeGUI's mp4box gui)... wanted to remove the extra steps and keep everything in Vegas... but the AVC options might not be there yet.

NickHope wrote on 3/14/2010, 12:35 AM

Seems like SCS stopped working on AVC options ages ago. As far as I know they've never updated either of the 2 codecs and they're significantly behind the current start of the art. You can also frameserve to MeGUI using Debugmode's frameserver. Sort of saves a step.

Streamworks Audio wrote on 3/14/2010, 12:54 AM

Debugmode is only 32bit still no? I am running in 64bit Vegas only for now.

NickHope wrote on 3/14/2010, 4:27 AM

True. It's only 32-bit at the moment.

Another tool that might "repair" the AVC files is VideoReDo h.264 Beta version. There should be a "Quickstream Fix" in the tools menu that you could run on your AVC files as a batch. At least there is for MPEG2. There is a free trial. Would be interested to know if that does what you want.

Brad C. wrote on 3/15/2010, 6:07 AM

I don't really know if I am adding anything to this or hijacking a thread here, but I have noticed that QT will not play my MC AVC MP4's worth a crap anymore. I don't know if this is because I have been rendering things in VBR or what. The same file can be played in VLC just fine with no hesitation. When I open up the movie inspector, it says that the playback rate is only approx. 20fps when the file is a 30p VBR file. If memory serves correct, even my 24p CBR files are just as crap of playback. I have tried to uninstall and reinstall QT, but it doesn't make a difference at all.

Am I missing something here? Any suggestions?

daryl wrote on 3/15/2010, 7:20 AM

You might give the Sony AVC a try, I have had MUCH better results using it over MC. I have done a number of videos for a church that is all Mac, I renamed the mp4 to mov (just because that is the extension they are used to) and all have run beautifully.

Streamworks Audio wrote on 3/15/2010, 12:28 PM

Thanks Daryl,

As mentioned in my first post...

"This does not happen to files that I create using Sony's AVC encoder... but I really would like to use a two pass encoding if I can or a least an average encoding... the Sony one is strictly CBR. "

The Sony was is great (and fast) at high bit rates... but CBR makes it hard to maintain a consistent quality on certain spots where more bits are needed.

But with that said - I do use the Sony one for the time being. As for file names etc... most of the videos I am making for myself are going to my Apple TV... for that I can take the mp4 and ac3 renders created in Vegas and move them to my Mac where I use Subler to Tag and Mux them into a m4v container (which is really an mp4 file with a diff. extension).

Chris

daryl wrote on 3/15/2010, 12:54 PM

Oops, sorry, guess I read too fast.
D