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[Spafe]

Hi there,

In MC12 I had got mp4 audio files to play using the CCCP and the tutorials posted on the various wikis, however, upon upgrading to MC13 the program will no longer play them and continues to insist I should download Quicktime or some alternative.

I have searched these forums and the MC12 ones and found the relevant wiki pages for this problem, however, most are either for MC 12 and are not relevant any more (menu's being changed etc) or simply don't work.

A summary of my findings:

http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/DirectShow_Playback_Guide#What_filters_do_I_need_and_where_do_I_get_them.3F

Read through this and concluded I needed the correct directshow filters. So I downloaded the latest direct x and the CCCP (including the Halli media splitter) and tried various settings in the CCCP set up to try and get things going. No luck. I went on to find this:

http://wiki.jrmediacenter.com/index.php/MP4_and_M4A_File_Support

Most of this is for MC12 and included images of menus which are no longer in MC13... Though, an interesting quote is:

"Generally, DirectShow playback will give better results for M4A files, but because most people have Quicktime installed already, MC disables DirectShow support in favor of Quicktime by default"

Could this be the cause of the problem? I imagine MC13 isn't very different in the playback and codec support aspect (if not better) than MC12, however, maybe this setting got overlooked?

Another thing that caught my attention was the 'Set Perceived Types' option in the CCCP setup. The CCCP FAQ:

http://www.cccp-project.net/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ

As the name suggests this task sets the perceived type and also content type of various file extensions. What this means is Windows is told a .mkv, for example, is of perceived type 'video' and content type 'video/x-matroska'. This task does not overwrite the settings of any of the extensions. It only writes their values if not already set.
This task is of most significance to Media Center users. As the Media Center application only displays files which have a perceived type of video or audio, otherwise the files are ignored. There may be other applications which utilize the perceived type of an extension to organize files. To non-MC users this task is harmless.
The extensions which are set with this task are:
.avi
.divx
.flv
.mkv
.mka
.mpg
.mpeg
.mp4
.m4a
.3gp
.3g2
.ogg
.ogm
.evo
.ts
.m2ts
.wv

I don't quite understand what it's saying...

I could just install quicktime (and I did for a bit) but when it plays back mp4 files the CPU spikes and there is a delay in playing them and ending them. Plus the display window won't show the cover art oscilloscope! However, I would prefer if I could get the CCCP method working.

[leezer3]

MC13 has the option of using the Quicktime engine, and this is set to play these files natively as default.
Go into the Options, and head into the filetypes section. There select Quicktime (mov,qt,mp4,m4v), and set the playback method to JRiver Video Engine (Using DirectShow filters)
You may also need to do this for Quicktime in the audio section too.

Should fix it

-Leezer-

[glynor]

It has been thoroughly changed for MC13.  Unfortunately, I'm not 100% clear on where to go right at this moment.  I believe you just want to go to Options --> File Types and select the QuickTime file types (under Video) and set it to Playback Method: Automatic.  If Automatic doesn't work for some reason, try JRiver Video Engine (directshow).

Don't do what Leezer suggests, because Quicktime's playback support is dismal (quality is bad in addition to bad CPU usage).

The Wiki needs updated for MC13, as a bunch of this has changed.  I haven't felt like doing it since the changes have only recently been finalized (and could still change again, I suppose).

[leezer3]

It has been thoroughly changed for MC13.  Unfortunately, I'm not 100% clear on where to go right at this moment.  I believe you just want to go to Options --> File Types and select the QuickTime file types (under Video) and set it to Playback Method: Automatic.  If Automatic doesn't work for some reason, try JRiver Video Engine (directshow).

Don't do what Leezer suggests, because Quicktime's playback support is dismal (quality is bad in addition to bad CPU usage).

The Wiki needs updated for MC13, as a bunch of this has changed.  I haven't felt like doing it since the changes have only recently been finalized (and could still change again, I suppose).

Thats what I just said  ?
IIRC Automatic defaults to the Quicktime engine, although I'm willing to be proved wrong.

-Leezer-

[Spafe]

Lol, I think he just misread your post.

Thanks guys, all sorted

[glynor]

Thats what I just said  ?
IIRC Automatic defaults to the Quicktime engine, although I'm willing to be proved wrong.

Oops.  Did misread.  Sorry, Leezer.  (I was surprised that you gave that advice.  Now it makes sense.)

[Alex B]

In MC12 I had got mp4 audio files to play...

The container format is MP4, but are your filename extensions also mp4?. If yes, I'd recommend changing them to m4a. By default .mp4 is detected as video and .m4a as audio. Also the DirectShow options use this logic.

The Find and Replace tool can easily mass change the filename extensions. (Tick only the Filename (name) field and replace .mp4 with .m4a)


I attached some screenshots of the possible DirectShow decoding settings. I think they are very easy to configure.

If CCCP is installed the "JRiver audio engine (using DirectShow filter) / Automatic" setting should work. (pic 1)

However, if MC doesn't automatically use the correct filters it is possible to select the Haali Media Splitter and FFDShow Audio Decoder filters manually. (pic 2)

I prefer to use the DC-Bass Source filter. In addition to AAC m4a files it can decode Apple Lossless m4a files. DC-Bass Source has the splitter and decoder parts in a single filter so it must be selected only as a source filter. (pic 3)


(You must be logged in to see the attached pictures.)

[Alex B]

BTW,

the .mov and .mp4 filename extensions are now under the same "QuickTime" video file type.

MP4 should be listed separately from the traditional QuickTime file types so that a different filter setup could be used.

Maybe also .m4v should have its own category. Then it would be possible to configure two separate settings for MP4 videos. One would be used when the extension is .mp4 and the other one would be used when the extension is .m4v.

[Spafe]

Ah, whoops, I meant m4a... -.-

But fortunately it's all the same thing (sorta).

I'll try this DC-bass source thingy out too.

Thanks to everyone again.

[glynor]

I have mixed feelings on this Alex.  M4A and M4V are absurd, non-standard file extensions invented by Apple for little-or-no-reason.  They are all just MP4s.

That said, the pragmatist in me says that if it does something useful... 

[Alex B]

Bumping my requests:

BTW,

the .mov and .mp4 filename extensions are now under the same "QuickTime" video file type.

MP4 should be listed separately from the traditional QuickTime file types so that a different filter setup could be used.

Maybe also .m4v should have its own category. Then it would be possible to configure two separate settings for MP4 videos. One would be used when the extension is .mp4 and the other one would be used when the extension is .m4v.