VMS 10 and mp4 woes (yeah, another one of those)

tzickric wrote on 9/12/2010, 1:02 PM
Well, I attempted to do my research before posting, and see a wealth of difficulties with VMS and some mp4 files. I've tried to take (at least some of) the advice of the prior posts, but still haven't found the magic bullet. Maybe someone has an idea what I can try to get a successful playback/rendering of a file I really want to master to DVD.

First of all, I upgraded my system to VMS HD Platinum version 10 (build 179) yesterday. So that's as up to date as it gets.

The information from MediaInfo on the file I'm wanting to render and create a DVD from is as follows:

General
Complete name : D:\VIDEO\BBC Proms 2010 RnH\BBC Proms - 2010 [Rodgers and Hammerstein] [MP4-AAC] (oan)\BBC Proms - 2010 [Rodgers and Hammerstein] [MP4-AAC] (oan).mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 900 MiB
Duration : 1h 45mn
Overall bit rate : 1 188 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2010-09-01 21:09:28
Tagged date : UTC 2010-09-01 21:09:28

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 3 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 1h 45mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 1 056 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 25.0 Mbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : NTSC
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.122
Stream size : 800 MiB (89%)
Title : BBC Proms 2010 0001
Writing library : x264 core 98 r1643 59a9e03
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:2:2 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=1056 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=25000 / vbv_bufsize=25000 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00 / nal_hrd=vbr
Encoded date : UTC 2010-09-01 21:09:28
Tagged date : UTC 2010-09-01 21:11:02

Audio
ID : 2
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format version : Version 4
Format profile : LC
Format settings, SBR : No
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 1h 45mn
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Maximum bit rate : 135 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 97.4 MiB (11%)
Title : Imported with GPAC 0.4.6-DEV (internal rev. 5)
Language : English
Encoded date : UTC 2010-09-01 21:10:57
Tagged date : UTC 2010-09-01 21:11:02

When I pull this file into VMS and just play it as-is, it looks a little like broadcast HDTV with bad reception - color blocking all over the place, areas of the picture not panning as the picture pans across the screen, and an announcer who looks rather like a Picasso with half of her mouth stationary on one side of her face while the other half is moving. I have tried numerous things within VMS to see if it would make a difference, such as setting the project to match the input file format (widescreen 25fps) rather than what I want it to end up being (widescreen NTSC), unchecking the "Adjust Size and Quality for Optimum Playback" option on the preview window, without any effect. I also spent a fair amount of time rendering the file for DVD before I realized this wasn't just a playback window problem, but something more serious.

I did also uninstall QuickTime and reinstall version 7.6.2 as had been recommended for VMS 9.0, although one post did make me think VMS 10 might have solved that problem. But, that also had no effect (unless something more drastic than a simple uninstall of the other version is needed to make it completely go away).

This same file plays back correctly in Quicktime 7.6.2, RealPlayer SP 1.1.3, Windows Media Player 11, and CyberLink PowerDVD 6.0.

What are all these other programs doing (presumably correctly) that VMS 10 isn't? And is VMS 10 capable of correct playback/rendering of this kind of file without too many contortions? If I do need to try to convert the file to a different format in order for VMS to love it, is there a good quality converter for the occasional home user which also produces excellent results and doesn't break the bank?

Thanks much - hope there are some words of wisdom (or even links to previous posts if this really is the millionth time this has been successfully dealt with)

Comments

Ivan Lietaert wrote on 9/12/2010, 1:16 PM
VMS 10 HD is not - I repeat NOT - designed to edit copyright protected materials. You will be able to enter it on the timeline, if you are lucky, but from then on, it will give you headaches in the form of many, many technical problems (one being audio out of sync). This includes materials you ripped from dvds, but also recordings you made of digital broadcast in all kinds of forms.

So tell us, how did you lay your hands on this Rogers and Hammerstein recording? It ended up on your drive by divine intervention, not?
Why don't you give these hard working artists a break, and buy their produce?
tzickric wrote on 9/12/2010, 1:45 PM
I'd love nothing more than to buy this, believe me. And when/if it is available for sale in America, I'll be first in line. Until then, however, it's rather difficult to give these hard working artists a break, as you say, other than fly to London and attend the Proms in person. Which isn't an option since this happened some weeks ago. Perhaps if we're very patient and eat all our greens, Auntie Beeb will see fit to make a proper release of this program.

As far as divine intervention, that's rather silly. I think God has more important things to do than to deposit interesting recordings onto peoples' computers, unless He's really starving for a laugh.

Back to the technical aspect (I know it's difficult when one has a point to make), maybe VMS really isn't capable of handling whatever format this file is - purposely or not. If that's the answer, then OK, life goes on. It would be too bad to not be able to watch this on a bigger screen because of missing a simple setting or solution though.
Ivan Lietaert wrote on 9/12/2010, 2:23 PM
;-)

It will not work to your satisfaction with VMS. Nothing but headaches. It seems VMS is allergic to these 'copyright fingerprinted' ripped/recorded files. It will eat tons of your time, and cause lots of anger and frustration, but you'll never get it to work. Been there and done that.
Not to split hairs, but nowhere in the product description is this kind of use endorsed.
Beware that this type of protection is also in the hardware nowadays. Only last week, I bought a (cheap) Samsung DVD burner. After my purchase, I found out that its driver is 'riplocked' (it will read commercial cds at 4x although it is capable of 48x) in order to discourage ripping commercial cds, and it will not burn files that are 'copyright fingerprinted'...
It seems that the publishers are finally catching up with the technology in order to protect their products.


ggrussell wrote on 9/12/2010, 9:46 PM
Of course , you could always use an open source app like SUPER to convert the file to another format ready to burn to disc.