OT: getting WMP to play .mp4 files

john-beale wrote on 9/29/2007, 10:58 PM
I've been generating MP4 files for web display since they seem to me to give the best quality for the bitrate. Most of the time, people can play them ok.

Today one person just told me that his default player (Real) didn't work with MP4. Specifically he could hear the audio but not see any video. So he installed WIndows Media Player 11 and it did not recognize the mp4 file. He then tried a codec download but it was not compatible (maybe intended for WMP 9/10?) Does anyone know if WMP 11 can play .MP4 at all? Is there a trick to it?

thanks any tips,
John

Comments

John_Cline wrote on 9/29/2007, 11:55 PM
To my knowledge, WMP11 does not support MP4 natively, Quicktime does though. I almost hate to suggest that anyone install Quicktime, but if you need to play MP4 off the web, it's kind of the only game in town.

John
Soniclight wrote on 9/30/2007, 2:39 AM
Yup, QT is sneaky with its startup "maleware" type thing.
Everybody likes to bash Microsoft, but Aople is no saint co. either.

But one does need to use QT for certain files, such as mp4.
So if you decide to go that route...

First, do not get QuickTime with ITunes bundled. Look for the standalone version at Apple QT page.

Once you download and intstall (and I'm talking XP-speak here, so translate to your own OS -- wherever you can see what is running on system startup/boot):

--- Go to Start/Run, type in msconfig. Then choose Startup Tab and un-check "qtask" or whtever it's called these days and any other apps with the /Quicktime program address/directory.

Do this once in a while thereafter for updates for QT will sneak startup stuff back in. This stuff is not a drain on one's system really, but why have useless progs running that you don't need, for Vegas or otherwise.
Grazie wrote on 9/30/2007, 3:46 AM
http://sum.inac.com/"Startup Manager" on my Desktop to zap those pesky progs[/link]

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/"VLC Player" for playing my MP4 renders from Vegas[/link]

Grazie





John_Cline wrote on 9/30/2007, 4:35 AM
Well, the fact of the matter is that .MP4 is not a particularly universal web video playback format.... yet. There is a beta version of the Adobe Flash player that supports h.264. also known as MPEG-4 Part 10, or AVC (for Advanced Video Coding). Currently, there is no default MP4 player for most people, playback requires installation of some third-party program; Quicktime, VLC, etc. Maybe it's best to use Flash Video with the On2 VP6 codec now and wait a short while until Flash supports .MP4.

John
Kennymusicman wrote on 9/30/2007, 4:43 AM
Codec's codec's and more codec's.. My PDA generates mp4 which play in Media PLayer 11 natively...

Anyhow, a codec pack to try is k-lite's bundle. Some people will be against installing more codec's than you need into a system, and some people are for covering just about every format out there. The k-lite can be fairly intelligent and does offer you plenty of choice on matters about what to install or not.

WM11 just needs to have a relevant codec for the mp4 to work.

HTH

Ken
john-beale wrote on 9/30/2007, 3:56 PM
As a followup, apparently he got the h.264 to play back using the VLC player.

I have never experimented with On2 VP6, what do I need to encode for that?
John_Cline wrote on 9/30/2007, 4:16 PM
There are several ways to encode Flash .FLV files with the On2 VP6 codec. I'm using the "official" Flix Pro encoder from On2. (www.on2.com) They have a lot of new information about h.264 support in the Flash player, particularly this FAQ: http://www.on2.com/company/news-room/h264_faq/.

John
mcgett wrote on 9/30/2007, 9:28 PM
What is being missed here in this thread is that the MP4 (both Sony AVC and Media file that is being created by VP8 can't be viewed in Real Player. I have the exact same problem with my projects. The MP4 file that rendered was playable in Quicktime and Nero Showtime, but I am only getting audio in Real Player and WMP11.

I can render MP4 files from Pinnacle Studio 11 and have them play in Real Player and WMP11.

Has anyone had any success with this?
Grazie wrote on 9/30/2007, 10:18 PM
OK . . .

What is being missed here in this thread is that the MP4 (both Sony AVC and Media file that is being created by VP8 can't be viewed in Real Player.

Sorry, what exactly IS being missed? Are you asking or telling us about Real not playing ball? Or are you asking for others to confirm this? Or what?

What exactly are you after?

And moving on, you are now saying that . . . I can render MP4 files from Pinnacle Studio 11 and have them play in Real Player and WMP11. - so, what exactly are you saying/implying/inferring now?

I honestly believe you are onto something, but I can't, for the life of me, focus on exactly what you are after - I am trying though!

Cheers,

Grazie
Soniclight wrote on 10/1/2007, 7:12 AM
Real Player: From my slowly increasing knowledge of things video and online video is that that format is becoming more and more irrelevant.

True/false?
mcgett wrote on 10/1/2007, 12:58 PM
The "missing" part was the OP saying that he had a customer that couldn't play their output in Real Player and as an alternative was trying to get WMP to play it instead. I also am having problems trying to get Real Player to play the MPEG-4 files from Vegas Pro 8.

I think the best thing will be to create a unique thread with a correct title.
farss wrote on 10/1/2007, 1:12 PM
Perhaps the clue lies with mp4 being a container much the same as avi. You need to specify what the mp4 file contains before the problem can be understood. For example a mp4 file could contain mpeg-1. Pretty well anything can play mpeg-1. If the mp4 file contained mpeg-2, systems without a mpeg-2 codec would not be able to play the file.
There seems to be something like 12 patent holders for mpeg-4 and the container is designed to hold a very large variety of streams and metadata.
Don't think this helps any but might explain why it's so confusing.

Bob.
mcgett wrote on 10/1/2007, 1:12 PM
> Real Player: From my slowly increasing knowledge of things video and
> online video is that that format is becoming more and more irrelevant.
>
> True/false?

I would say false. If you don't have a application that can play the format your online video is useless.

That's why in general I like MPEG-4 as it works in Windows Media Player, QuickTime and Real Player (well except for the VP8 output) and on Linux, Windows and Mac platforms.
mcgett wrote on 10/1/2007, 1:33 PM
I started another thread on this, but your post is interesting.

I knew that there were multiple audio options for MP4 files, but I've never heard that there were multiple video options as well. As a VP8 user, the only options I have are what are presented in the Render As dialog. Both the MainConcept and Sony MP4 options appear to use the AVC format for video is that correct?

Is it even possible to add another render output function to VP8? If so, where can I find out more about doing this?

Ed
AFW wrote on 10/3/2007, 8:38 AM
Once I installed DivX and Xvid on my machine, WMP11 played mp4 files just fine.
BTW, a really nifty and capable player is Gretech's GOMPLAYER. Try it. You'll be impressed. Clean. Fast. Plays broken files.