MP4 files from AutoPano Video Pro import as audio only

DDDyson wrote on 4/1/2017, 1:31 AM

I'm rendering VR videos out of Kolor AutoPano Video Pro for furher editing in Vegas Pro. I decided to use high bitrate MP4 as the intermediate editing format, because the CineForm files (the other format AVP can render) are gigantic and slow to render.

However, when I try to import these MP4 files to Vegas Pro, they import as audio only, and are considered audio files by Vegas. The videos play OK in VLC, but Media Player Classic goes "cannot render file".

FFMPeg shows the following info of the video file:

Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media / Version 2
Codec ID : mp42 (isom/mp42)
File size : 30.9 MiB
Duration : 8 s 341 ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 31.1 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2017-04-01 05:20:09
Tagged date : UTC 2017-04-01 05:20:09
Writing library

Video
ID :1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.2
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=33
Codec ID : avcl
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 8 s 308 ms
Source duration : 8 s 242 ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 31.0 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate : 36.0 Mb/s
Width : 4 096 pixels
Clean aperture width : 4 096 pixels
Height : 2 048 pixels
Clean aperture height : 2 048 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.000
Original display aspect ratio : 3.636
Clean aperture display aspect ratio : 2.000
Frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel' Frame) : 0.124
Stream size : 30.8 MiB (99%)
Source stream size : 30.8 MiB (99%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2017-04-01 05:20:09
Tagged date : UTC 2017-04-01 05:20:09
Color range : Full
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709
mdhd_Duration :8308

Comments

DDDyson wrote on 4/1/2017, 1:36 AM

I found a workaround: if I import the video file to MyFFPMpeg and rewrap it as another mp4 (pass through video and audio), the new video file imports to Vegas OK, with audio and video included.

I see some differences in the metadata header. So does the original file's header contain something that confuses Vegas?

The metadata for the FFMpeg re-wrapped video looks like this:

Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 30.9 MiB
Duration : 8 s 342 ms
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 31.1 Mb/s
Encoded date : UTC 2017-04-01 05:31:51
Tagged date : UTC 2017-04-01 05:31:51
Writing application : Lavf57.56.101

Video
ID :1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L5.2
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=33
Codec ID : avcl
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 8 s 242 ms
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 31.3 Mb/s
Maximum bit rate : 36.0 Mb/s
Width : 4 096 pixels
Height : 2 048 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 2.000
Original display aspect ratio : 3.636
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 30.213 FPS
Minimum frame rate : 29.970 FPS
Maximum frame rate : 29 970.000 FPS
Original frame rate : 29.970 (30000/1001) FPS
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel' Frame) : 0.124
Stream size : 30.8 MiB (99%)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2017-04-01 05:31:51
Tagged date : UTC 2017-04-01 05:31:51
Color range : Full
Color primaries : BT.709
Transfer characteristics : BT.709
Matrix coefficients : BT.709

3d87c4 wrote on 4/6/2017, 9:15 PM

Encountered this problem today & ran the files through Handbrake.

DDDyson wrote on 4/10/2017, 11:13 PM

The thing is, however: there shouldn't have to be a workaround like this. I hope this gets fixed in Vegas.

john_dennis wrote on 4/11/2017, 10:16 AM

"I decided to use high bitrate MP4 as the intermediate editing format, because the CineForm files (the other format AVP can render) are gigantic and slow to render."

Have you asked Kolor for support with the way they're wrapping the .mp4 files? I would think they would like to know if their product is not working in popular editors. Do you have any friends that are using their .mp4 output files in Final Cut, etc?

If I understand the issue, Cineform decodes properly in Vegas Pro and otherwise works.

DDDyson wrote on 4/11/2017, 11:30 PM

Have you asked Kolor for support with the way they're wrapping the .mp4 files?

Not yet, but very well, I shall contact their support forum now regarding this.

I have noticed though that Vegas seems quite picky about the video formats it can import, more so than other programs I've had access to (at least Reaper, which works through FFMpeg and VLC). I had Vegas Movie Studio before upgrading to Pro, and the problems were there too.

Many AutoPano users are using Adobe Premiere and After Effects, and seem to have no problems. I've so far decided against subscribing to the Creative Cloud.

NickHope wrote on 4/15/2017, 4:47 AM

Could you share on a cloud service an MP4 file that has been rendered by Autopano Video? I want to see how easily command-line ffmpeg will make it play nicely in Vegas.

DDDyson wrote on 4/15/2017, 5:38 AM

Nick Hope, here you go:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1L7yKfxvrBTZDRQRDhmYmZORGc

If you import this to Vegas Pro, you get audio only - it fails to detect the video stream. But if you just rewrap the container in FFMpeg (mp4 container, copy video, copy audio) it will work in Vegas. I wonder if there was a quick way to just rewrite the header, instead of having to duplicate the entire file, because even that can take a bit long.

The video file imports to Reaper OK (it's working through FFMpeg and VLC), and also plays fine in VLC and Media Player Classic. I have the K-Lite Codec Pack installed, not sure how that affects the outcome.

I posted about this in the Kolor forum but so far there has been no response.

NickHope wrote on 4/15/2017, 6:17 AM

Thanks. I found that Xmedia Recode would make it play OK in Vegas if I set the video and audio modes to "copy". It's another ffmpeg GUI but free, unlike MyFFPMpeg.

I also tried...

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -vcodec copy -acodec copy output.mp4

...in a command prompt, using a recent Zeranoe 64-bit ffmpeg build (ffmpeg-20170312-58f0bbc-win64-static.exe), but I got the message "error reading header input.mp4: Invalid data found processing input", which surprised me as I would have expected the GUIs to fail in the same way.

If an ffmpeg build and command line could be found that could do the conversion, then a batch file could be written (similar to section 4 of this) that would be the fastest way of converting if you have many files to convert.

I guess someone who knows what they're doing might be able to rewrite the header with a hexeditor but unfortunately I don't. I Googled "edit mp4 header" but the results seem like old efforts and not very hopeful.

DDDyson wrote on 4/15/2017, 6:46 AM

I also had MyFFMpeg have difficulties with those video files if I used a beta build of FFMpeg. Maybe Xmedia Recode was referring to an older version of FFMpeg?

Thanks for the tip re: Xmedia Recode. Always good to have more options.

The header info that AutoPano writes doesn't look broken when viewed in FFMpeg, it just looks ... different. I hope the Kolor developers will respond soon.

NickHope wrote on 4/15/2017, 7:03 AM

I also had MyFFMpeg have difficulties with those video files if I used a beta build of FFMpeg. Maybe Xmedia Recode was referring to an older version of FFMpeg?

Yes, the latest update was 10.11.2016.

I just tried with Zeranoe's ffmpeg 3.2.4 64-bit build and the above command line worked.

I think I'll switch to using release builds rather than nightly builds for general work in future.

So you could install that ffmpeg build as per section 2 of this, then use a text editor to make a batch file called something like Autopano-fix.bat that contains this:

for %%a in ("*.mp4") do ffmpeg -i "%%a" -vcodec copy -acodec copy "%%~na-fixed.mp4"

If you double click it, it will create "fixed" copies of all the mp4 files in the folder in which it resides.

john_dennis wrote on 4/15/2017, 9:50 AM

Try this file rewrapped with VideoReDo TV Suite to see how it works.

Link Removed.

If it works well I'll post details of how it was done.

DDDyson wrote on 4/15/2017, 9:55 AM

Thanks for all the tips! But I'm already able to rewrap all my AutoPano videos to work in Vegas by using MyFFMpeg which I have purchased.

I would just prefer not to have to; either Kolor could make their MP4 output wrapper more compatible, or Vegas's import compatibility could be improved.

john_dennis wrote on 4/15/2017, 10:08 AM

I agree. I'll leave the file there for a few days. My dropbox is getting full.

3d87c4 wrote on 4/16/2017, 12:18 PM

Thanks for all the tips! But I'm already able to rewrap all my AutoPano videos to work in Vegas by using MyFFMpeg which I have purchased.

I would just prefer not to have to; either Kolor could make their MP4 output wrapper more compatible, or Vegas's import compatibility could be improved.

I just bought myFFmpeg too. I'm tinkering with a new Vuze VR camera, but can't use their stitching software because it doesn't run on Windows 7. The Vuze output file contains all 8 cameras in two video streams of 4 cameras each. I used myFFmpeg to crop each camera's video into separate files for input to AVP for stitching. I'm still using Handbrake to prepare the stitched video for editing in Vegas.

myFFmpeg has no way to select the second video stream, but does have an option to edit the ffmpeg input, so I was able to add the appropriate -map commands. After doing this a couple of times I realized I could copy the ffmpeg input statements into a batch file and run them through ffmpeg directly, saving some time.