Fedora 20 64 bit, VLC playback problems, h.264

[netmgr7]

Hello all.

Since moving to Fedora 20 64 bit, I haven't been able to play any videos, many which contain an h.264 video track. I've done some searches and have seen some people say vlc works fine for them while many also have playback issues.

When I attempt to play an h.264 video, I get an error

No suitable decoder module:
VLC does not support the audio or video format "h264". Unfortunately there is no way for you to fix this.

Can anyone shed some light on this?

To try to isolate the problem, I created a test virtual machine in VMware Player and have done the following:

- Install Fedora 20 64bit from DVD iso
- Enable rpmfusion (free and nonfree)
- yum install vlc
- yum install gstreamer1-libav
- yum install ffmpeg
- yum install mencoder
- yum install mplayer mplayer-doc mplayer-gui mplayer-tools
- yum install vlc-extras
- yum install vlc-plugin-jack
- yum update gstreamer1-plugins-base gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free gstreamer1-plugins-good

The stream info for the test file I'm using is the following (from ffmpeg -i):

Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'test.mp4':
Metadata:
major_brand : mp42
minor_version : 0
compatible_brands: isommp42
creation_time : 2013-11-17 20:31:15
Duration: 00:03:07.50, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 593 kb/s
Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (Constrained Baseline) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 480x360, 494 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 60 tbn, 60 tbc (default)
Metadata:
handler_name : VideoHandler
Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 96 kb/s (default)
Metadata:
creation_time : 2013-11-17 20:31:16
handler_name : IsoMedia File Produced by Google, 5-11-2011

Not sure what else to do other than the last resort of going back to Fedora 19. Any tips/hints regarding the above would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[David Batson]

Get VLC and the codecs from the RPMFUSION repository.

In particular, get ffmpeg and faad from RPMFUSION.

[dobbi]

h.264 aka MPEG-4 AVC

Encoder
x264

codec(aka encoder/decoder) for MPEG-4 ASP aka MPEG-4 Part 2 Advanced Simple Profile (Xvid is a different codec)
xvidcore

in the package gstreamer-plugins-ugly (most probably the codec you are looking for is this one)
/usr/lib64/gstreamer-0.10/libgstx264.so

Those codecs are in the gstreamer plugin packages

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XviD
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X264
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/codecs

[netmgr7]

Thanks David, dobbi for your replies.

David, I installed vlc, ffmpeg from rpmfusion. As for faad, I installed the only faad packages that came up from 'yum list' (faad2, faad2-devel, faad2-libs). They are also from rpmfusion.

Dobbi, I installed two packages that came up from 'yum whatprovides' for libgstx264.so. (gstreamer-plugins-ugly, gstreamer1-plugins-ugly).

Now, when I play my test.mp4 file I no longer get an error message. However I get audio but no video. When playback is started, I get a glimpse of one frame of video then black all the way to the end.

[netmgr7]

By the way, for the OS installation I just went with the default desktop Gnome.I noticed that I omitted that detail in my original post.

Just thought I'd mention it for the sake of clarity, and perhaps relevance.

[dobbi]

mp4?

$ vlc -l | egrep -i mp4
VLC media player 2.1.4 Rincewind (revision 2.1.4-0-g2a072be)
  mux_mp4                MP4/MOV muxer
  mp4                    MP4 stream demuxer

Did you install the codecs for it?

Searching for the plugins:

$ yum search gstreamer-plugins | egrep -i 'x86_64|noarch' | awk '!/mingw/ && !/devel/ && !/debuginfo/ && !/entrans/ && !/fc/ {print $1" \\"}'; yum search gstreamer1-plugins | egrep -i 'x86_64|noarch' | awk '!/mingw/ && !/devel/ && !/debuginfo/ && !/entrans/ && !/fc/ {print $1" \\"}'
gstreamer-plugins-bad.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-bad-free.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-bad-free-extras.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-bad-nonfree.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-base.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-base-tools.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-espeak.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-good.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-good-extras.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-ugly.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-extras.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-bad-freeworld.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-base.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-base-tools.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-good.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-good-extras.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-ugly.x86_64 \

Installing the plugins:

yum -y install gstreamer-plugins-bad.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-bad-free.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-bad-free-extras.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-bad-nonfree.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-base.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-base-tools.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-espeak.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-good.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-good-extras.x86_64 \
gstreamer-plugins-ugly.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-extras.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-bad-freeworld.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-base.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-base-tools.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-good.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-good-extras.x86_64 \
gstreamer1-plugins-ugly.x86_64

Reference:

$ yum --help | egrep -i '\-y'
  -y, --assumeyes       answer yes for all questions

You may also be interested in:

yum -y install mediainfo-gui mediainfo x264-libs x264

[David Batson]

Try running vlc from terminal using the -v switch (for verbose output).
I.E. $ vlc -v /home/~/Videos/yourvideo.mp4

This might give you a clue to the problem.

[netmgr7]

I had most of the gstreamer and gstreamer1 plugins already installed, but just to be thorough I installed the outstanding ones from the list posted by dobbi. Still no video.

Here are my latest observations.

1) From Gnome Desktop, from the file manager, right-clicking on the file test.mp4 to 'Open WIth' either mplayer or vlc will result in a window opening but only audio, no video.

2). From Gnome Desktop, running mplayer from terminal window works. '$mplayer test.mp4'. A window opens and audio/video playback is as it's supposed to be.

3). From Gnome Desktop, running cvlc from terminal window launches a window with audio, but no video. The terminal output is as follows:

[odin@localhost ~]$ cvlc -v test.mp4
VLC media player 2.1.4 Rincewind (revision 2.1.4-0-g2a072be)
[0x9155b8] dummy interface: using the dummy interface module...
[0x7ff3b8c01538] mp4 stream warning: unknown box type btrt (incompletely loaded)
[0x7ff3b8c01538] mp4 stream warning: unknown box type gsst (incompletely loaded)
[0x7ff3b8c01538] mp4 stream warning: unknown box type gstd (incompletely loaded)
[0x7ff3b8c01538] mp4 stream warning: unknown box type gssd (incompletely loaded)
[0x7ff3b8c01538] mp4 stream warning: unknown box type gspu (incompletely loaded)
[0x7ff3b8c01538] mp4 stream warning: unknown box type gspm (incompletely loaded)
[0x7ff3b8c01538] mp4 stream warning: unknown box type gshh (incompletely loaded)
[0x7ff3b8c01778] mp4 demux warning: elst box found
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
[0x7ff3b8d08eb8] faad decoder warning: decoded zero sample
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
[0x7ff3b8c3ed18] avcodec decoder warning: disabling direct rendering
[0x7ff3a4001248] main vout display error: Failed to resize display
[0x8da328] pulse audio output warning: starting late (-19088 us)
[0x8da328] main audio output warning: playback too late (101816): up-sampling
[0x8da328] main audio output warning: playback way too late (189098): flushing buffers
[0x8da328] main audio output warning: playback way too early (-302801): playing silence
[0x8da328] main audio output warning: playback too early (-57579): down-sampling
[0x8da328] main audio output warning: playback way too early (-139978): playing silence
[0x8da328] main audio output warning: playback too early (-43133): down-sampling
[0x8da328] main audio output warning: timing screwed (drift: -111784 us): stopping resampling
[0x8da328] main audio output warning: playback too early (-112045): down-sampling
[0x8da328] main audio output warning: playback way too early (-138110): playing silence
[0x8da328] main audio output warning: playback too early (-40480): down-sampling

[David Batson]

Works fine here. Installed VLC from rpmfusion, which also installed ffmpeg and faad.

$ vlc -v /home/~/Videos/GimmeShelter.mp4
VLC media player 2.1.4 Rincewind (revision 2.1.4-0-g2a072be)
[0xfe4118] main libvlc: Running vlc with the default interface. Use 'cvlc' to use vlc without interface.
[flv @ 0x7f691804a480] Stream discovered after head already parsed
[flv @ 0x7f68f8c04e80] Stream discovered after head already parsed
[0x7f68f80048d8] avformat demux warning: unsupported track type (2:0) in avformat demux
[0x7f68f8e8b7a8] faad decoder warning: decoded zero sample
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
Fontconfig warning: FcPattern object size does not accept value "0"
[0x7f68f91385a8] avcodec decoder warning: disabling direct rendering
[0x7f68e0001248] main vout display error: Failed to resize display
[0x10afec8] pulse audio output warning: starting late (-657 us)

vlc from rpmfusion

$ rpm -qa vlc*
vlc-2.1.4-1.fc20.x86_64
vlc-core-2.1.4-1.fc20.x86_64

ffmpeg codec from rpmfusion

$ rpm -qa ffmpeg*
ffmpeg-libs-2.1.4-1.fc20.x86_64

faad codec from rpmfusion

$ rpm -qa faad*
faad2-libs-2.7-5.fc20.x86_64

gstreamer plugins from fedora

$ rpm -qa gstreamer*
gstreamer-plugins-base-0.10.36-6.fc20.x86_64
gstreamer-plugins-espeak-0.4.0-2.fc19.x86_64
gstreamer1-plugins-good-1.2.3-2.fc20.x86_64
gstreamer-0.10.36-6.fc20.x86_64
gstreamer-plugins-good-0.10.31-10.fc20.x86_64
gstreamer-plugins-bad-free-0.10.23-20.fc20.x86_64
gstreamer1-plugins-base-1.2.3-1.fc20.x86_64
gstreamer1-plugins-bad-free-1.2.3-1.fc20.x86_64
gstreamer-tools-0.10.36-6.fc20.x86_64
gstreamer1-1.2.3-1.fc20.x86_64

[netmgr7]

Not sure why but the 'Failed to resize display' message that I got from running cvlc caught my interest.

I created another virtual machine and did the following:

- Clean OS install from Fedora-20-x86_64-DVD.iso. This time I selected KDE instead of Gnome for the desktop
- Let all the software updates complete
- Enabled RPM Fusion (free and nonfree)
- Installed vlc ($yum install vlc)

When logging into a normal KDE session, right-clicking on test.mp4 and doing an Open with VLC, I still get a window with audio but no video.

However, when logging in and specifying KDE failsafe mode, VLC opens and plays the file without any problems.

[David Batson]

I am using Gnome with Fedora, however likewise, I haven't had any problems with KDE in Mageia.

Perhaps you have a hardware acceleration problem with ffmpeg. Don't know what type of GPU you have. Try installing libva and perhaps vaapi. Run vainfo (part of libva-utils) from terminal and see what your output is.

$ vainfo
libva info: VA-API version 0.34.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns 0
libva info: Trying to open /usr/lib64/dri/i965_drv_video.so
libva info: Found init function __vaDriverInit_0_34
libva info: va_openDriver() returns 0
vainfo: VA-API version: 0.34 (libva 1.2.1)
vainfo: Driver version: Intel i965 driver - 1.2.2
vainfo: Supported profile and entrypoints
      VAProfileNone                   :	VAEntrypointVideoProc
      VAProfileMPEG2Simple            :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileMPEG2Main              :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264Main               :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264High               :	VAEntrypointEncSlice
      VAProfileVC1Simple              :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Main                :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileVC1Advanced            :	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:	VAEntrypointVLD
      VAProfileH264ConstrainedBaseline:	VAEntrypointEncSlice

[dobbi]

Nothing wrong on the vlc -v maybe you should try vlc -vvv and pay special attention to avcodec muxer messages since is the image having problems and nothing else.

Also you can look up what codec is being selected in VLC, mplayer and mediainfo.
Also it may not hurt to see what the settings for the H264 codec are in VLC, it is in "preferrences->show all->input/codecs"

This is a decoding problem is either Xorg, the H264 codec or some setting in one of both.

ps: With Nouveau(open source driver for NVidia) enabling VAAPI or VDPAU can cause the system to crash and freeze up, if you experience those things disable hardware acceleration in VLC.

When you see this:

main demux debug: looking for demux module matching "mp4": 63 candidates

After that message is what you are interested in.

The alias of the codec being used will be shown also:
avcodec decoder debug: avcodec codec (H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10)) started

I have some problems with some mp4 videos sometimes but mostly because they are baddly encoded, so this leads to the question how did you encode test.mp4?

e.g.:

$ vlc -vvv "/run/media/americansuperhero/curiosity/avi/TV Series/Animation/TMNT/TMNT 'Fight The Foot' Trailer 2014.mp4" 2> '/home/americansuperhero/Documents/vlcdebug.txt'

Resources:
http://www.tldp.org/LDP/abs/html/io-redirection.html
https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=42328&f=2
https://wiki.videolan.org/VLC_GPU_Decoding/
http://dexviajiboy2.blogspot.de/2011...layer-for.html
http://www.tienhuis.nl/archives/125 (hardware issues?)
https://www.ehow.com/info_12165028_p...lc-player.html
http://www.stardot.com/kb/index.php?...ry&EntryID=186 (frame rate?)
http://www.moviecodec.com/video-code...layback-48504/ (disabling loop filter for H.264 decoding)

[netmgr7]

My host machine is an Intel box with a Geforce 8600 GTS video card. However, since I'm doing this testing / troubleshooting on a virtual machine under VMware Player v.5.0.2, I'm not sure how meaningful vainfo will be since the video card is virtual adapter.

[odin@localhost ~]$ lspci | grep -i VGA
00:0f.0 VGA compatible controller: VMware SVGA II Adapter

[odin@localhost ~]$ vainfo
libva info: VA-API version 0.34.0
libva info: va_getDriverName() returns -1
libva error: va_getDriverName() failed with unknown libva error,driver_name=(null)
vaInitialize failed with error code -1 (unknown libva error),exit

[netmgr7]

dobbi, when I started this testing I just randomly selected an mp4 with an h264 video stream in it. So far I've tested a wmv file (wmv3 video, wmav2 audio), and a ts file (mpeg2video, ac3). Same problem.

These files are all playable by vlc on my host OS (Fedora 18), and various virtual machines running Fedora 19 and older.

Also, last night I created a test virtual machine using VirtualBox and playback for all the test files was fine. So it appears the issue I'm having is specific to a Fedora 20 install under VMware Player.

Next chance I get, I'll run the verbose cvlc on each test file to see if it yields any additional info.