Mezzmo & larger than 4GB MP4 files...

[thescarletfire]

....................................

[Paul]

Hi Ben,

Size shouldn't matter, as we've tested Mezzmo (and certain devices) with files up to 18 GBs and they work fine.

Please enable logging (see this thread: http://forum.conceiva.com/showthread.php/419-FAQ-How-to-turn-on-diagnostic-logging) then try playing one of those MP4s on one of the devices and once it fails, stop the server and send the logs to support. Also, please right-click on that file in Mezzmo and send the output of the "Get FFmpeg Information" command with your message.

[thescarletfire]

What devices can play 4GB MP4 files and larger?
My PC can't? Xbox360? Samsung 46" HDTV?

Sending log + information to you shortly....thanks! :)

[Paul]

Most devices can play large files, so I suspect it's not the file size, but something else. Once we get the logs, someone will get back to you via e-mail.

[FrankVincent]

Sure you don't have a problem because of a limitation with the files system.
Fat32 is limited to 4 GB files.

[thescarletfire]

I can't change the FAT32 on my Xbox360, can I?
And I don't think my HDTV has anything to do with it either.

Sending logs....

Thank you! :)

[thescarletfire]

Wait, I just had an idea. Could it be that I need an x64 OS in order to play these MP4 files that are greater than 4GB in size?? I just remembered the PC that I'm testing Mezzmo on is Windows 7 32 bit - would switching to x64 make a difference? :) Please say yes!

[Paul]

Could it be that I need an x64 OS in order to play these MP4 files that are greater than 4GB in size??

No, that will not be the reason. You can stream large files (> 4GB) with Mezzmo on either Win-32 or Win-64 systems. Have you sent in your logs and file information as yet? Once we get this, we will know more.

[thescarletfire]

Can anyone tell me how to create MP4 files, over 4GB, and have them able to be played to ANY device via Mezzmo? Blu-ray player, box, whatever. I don't care if I have to buy another player or whatever - I just don't understand why we're all forced to either a) compress Blu-rays to under 4GB if we want them streamable, or b) enable "Large File Size" in Handbrake, add 64bit headers so the video file isn't useless, and then still not be able to play that file anywhere... :(

Thank you!

[Paul]

I can't change the FAT32 on my Xbox360, can I?

The file system on your PC needs to be NTFS - right click on your hard disk in Windows Explorer and check the properties.

Also, the MPEG4 format itself may have limitations. Can you please post FFmpeg information on one of the files you are creating, so that I could see what they are technically, and I'll check the specs.

Certainly MKV and AVCHD with h264 video don't have any size restrictions (at least no restrictions that we found) and as I said earlier, we successfully stream files up to 18 GBs to devices.

It could also be a Handbrake issue - do you have any other encoders to try?

[thescarletfire]

Hi Dennis!

I read somewhere that the Xbox360 will absolutely NOT play 4GB+ larger files, period. That could explain that aspect of the failure, but what about other devices? I'd rather use an MP4 container vs. MKV, if possible - but yes, I will share the FF info with you, here is one that I just made as a test:

ffmpeg version N-33781-g35674a2, Copyright (c) 2000-2011 the FFmpeg developers
built on Oct 19 2011 10:31:16 with gcc 4.6.1
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=i686-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/media/ffmpeg --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/dennis/cc/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/dennis/cc/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config
libavutil 51. 22. 0 / 51. 22. 0
libavcodec 53. 21. 0 / 53. 21. 0
libavformat 53. 16. 1 / 53. 16. 1
libavdevice 53. 4. 0 / 53. 4. 0
libavfilter 2. 44. 0 / 2. 44. 0
libswscale 2. 1. 0 / 2. 1. 0
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'C:\Users\Ben\Desktop\Movies\The Passion of the Christ [2004]\The Passion of the Christ (Blu-ray) LARGE FILE.mp4':
Metadata:
major_brand : mp42
minor_version : 0
compatible_brands: mp42isomavc1
creation_time : 2011-12-06 23:55:08
encoder : HandBrake 0.9.5 2011010300
Duration: 02:06:32.12, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 7352 kb/s
Chapter #0.0: start -0.083411, end 4092.546789
Metadata:
title : Chapter 1
Chapter #0.1: start 4092.546789, end 4353.515833
Metadata:
title : Chapter 2
Chapter #0.2: start 4353.515833, end 4523.936078
Metadata:
title : Chapter 3
Chapter #0.3: start 4523.936078, end 4597.926667
Metadata:
title : Chapter 4
Chapter #0.4: start 4597.926667, end 4847.551033
Metadata:
title : Chapter 5
Chapter #0.5: start 4847.551033, end 4998.118122
Metadata:
title : Chapter 6
Chapter #0.6: start 4998.118122, end 5247.909333
Metadata:
title : Chapter 7
Chapter #0.7: start 5247.909333, end 5293.037744
Metadata:
title : Chapter 8
Chapter #0.8: start 5293.037744, end 5673.542867
Metadata:
title : Chapter 9
Chapter #0.9: start 5673.542867, end 5692.311622
Metadata:
title : Chapter 10
Chapter #0.10: start 5692.311622, end 6191.602078
Metadata:
title : Chapter 11
Chapter #0.11: start 6191.602078, end 6944.687744
Metadata:
title : Chapter 12
Chapter #0.12: start 6944.687744, end 7042.368667
Metadata:
title : Chapter 13
Chapter #0.13: start 7042.368667, end 7130.039578
Metadata:
title : Chapter 14
Chapter #0.14: start 7130.039578, end 7592.084500
Metadata:
title : Chapter 15
Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (Main) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p, 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 7155 kb/s, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 90k tbn, 47.95 tbc
Metadata:
creation_time : 2011-12-06 23:55:08
Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 191 kb/s
Metadata:
creation_time : 2011-12-06 23:55:08
Stream #0:2(und): Subtitle: mov_text (text / 0x74786574)
Metadata:
creation_time : 2011-12-06 23:55:08
At least one output file must be specified


---> DB Level Info: 40, 77
---> Frame rate: 23.98
---> Aspect ratio: 16:9


Handbrake is my go-to app for video encoding, what others do you suggest I try, free or paid? :)

Thanks Dennis!! Mezzo rocks!!

[Paul]

Yes, actually it appears you are correct - I've read a few articles that even streamed files cannot exceed the 4GBs, unless they are in WMV format (which is the format that Mezzmo will encode to for the XBox360). XBox360 is one of the few devices that actually has such a limit :(

It's a pity, since one of the benefits of DLNA is to actually remove those file size limitation, but I guess MS had their reasons for keeping this limit.

So, a solution would be to either let Mezzmo transcode files (do not pre-transcode them to MP4 - but that doesn't help with ripping disks of course), or transcode/rip them using any tool to high-def WMV.

[thescarletfire]

Alright, thanks for that clarification. So, can you or anyone tell me what devices (i.e. blu-ray players, etc) can support the streaming of video files larger than 4GB? I'd hate to convert all my movies to a super-compressed sub-4GB size, then soon enough, devices change and can in fact handle larger files, then I have to re-rip/encode them all lol oy!

So when you say Mezzmo can stream large files, how are you doing it? To what devices? Is there a list, or do you know offhand, of what devices can handle 4GB+ and larger files?

Thank you so much!

[Paul]

I think it's easier to find devices with such a limit than to list those without :) If you are looking to purchase a particular device or are thinking about a couple of devices, then I could check them more closely. For example, LG BluRays don't have such a limit when playing MKV files (for example). LG TVs are limited to roughly 16 GBs, however.

[thescarletfire]

Understood :) Thank you again!!!

You are the man!

[thescarletfire]

Wait, you said I could have Mezzmo transcode the MP4 files?

I thought I tried that, maybe I was wrong?

Say I have a 6GB mp4 file, and set up Mezzmo to allow transcoding on this particular device, the Xbox360 in this case - shouldn't it work, regardless of the 4GB+ file size? or am I totally off? Maybe I missed what you meant lol sorry

I'll deal with the transcode for now, if I have to - I have an i7 to handle it :)

[Paul]

The stock XBox360 profile will let MP4 through, because the XBox360 can play them natively (let's ignore the file size for now), so they are not transcoded.

What you can do is modify the device profile and remove this support by commenting out or deleting the following section:



<avcontainer id="mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2" name="mp4_video" encode="0" mimetype="video/mp4" supportschunked="0">
<video>
<format id="mpeg4" encode="0">
</format>
</video>
<video>
<format id="h264" encode="0">
</format>
</video>
<audio>
<format id="aac" encode="0">
<channels>2</channels>
</format>
</audio>
</avcontainer>


Let me know if you need help on doing that and I'll provide more detailed instructions.

[thescarletfire]

If I modify the profile, will that allow me to play larger than 4GB files to my Xbox360? If I 'force' the Xbox360 to transcode MP4 on the fly (which of course is not the default), will that get me around that 4GB limit?

If not, what would modifying the profile do, as far as benefits go? I'm lost - sorry!

Thanks,
Ben

[Paul]

Modifying the profile will remove native support for MP4s, so your large (and all other) MP4 files will be transcoded to WMV which doesn't have the 4GBs limit. You do need a good CPU for this to happen in real-time though.