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[cncb]

I have several MP4 videos from my digital camera.  When imported into MC all information is missing: Duration, Dimensions, etc.  Thumbnails are also not generated.  Windows 7 explorer shows all the relevant information as well as the thumbnails properly.  These play back fine in MC using the "Windows Media Player Engine" and the built-in Windows 7 decoders.  I can send a small sample if necessary.  Thanks.

[JimH]

You may not have DirectShow filters that MC can use.  Installing CCCP often fixes problems like this.  Our wiki has a link.  Turn off Task Bar notifications for Haali and FFDShow.

[cncb]

You may not have DirectShow filters that MC can use.  Installing CCCP often fixes problems like this.  Our wiki has a link.  Turn off Task Bar notifications for Haali and FFDShow.

Ok, but I would rather not install extra filters/codecs that I don't need.  Are you saying that MC requires different filters for import than for playback?  Playback is fine using the Windows Media Player engine inside MC so can't it use that for import?

[glynor]

MC supports MP4 files in a number of different ways (including via Quicktime or via DirectShow filters).  If you don't have appropriate DirectShow filters, your use of many MPEG-4 file types will be limited to what is possible using the Quicktime engine.  This includes no thumbnails, detailed file analysis, no visualizations (for audio-only MP4 files), and other side-effects.  It is likely that you are using either Quicktime engine for MPEG-4 playback, or the built-in MPEG-4 filters in Windows 7 (if you happen to be on Windows 7).  Both of these options work, but provide only base-level capabilities.

The best way to handle MPEG-4 playback is via DirectShow.  However, this requires additional software.  I agree that you shouldn't go installing filters willy-nilly.  However, CCCP installs only a very base level of filters that really work well together without causing any issues.  If you want to do it yourself, the actual filters you need for MPEG-4 playback support are:

Haali Media Splitter (or another MPEG-4 source filter, Haali's is generally considered the best, though there are other options)
FFDSHOW
VSFilter (for subtitle support if you need it)

You can certainly download and install each of these manually and configure them yourself.  However, finding the proper builds of each of these filters that work well together, and getting them all configured properly can be very challenging.  That's why we often recommend CCCP because it (1) tries to "do no harm" and (2) supports the most common playback types in a way that works well for most people.

[glynor]

PLEASE NOTE: If you are on Windows 7, you will also need to download and use the Windows 7 Preferred Filter Tweaker in order to "override" the default Microsoft filters built into Windows 7.  I recommend only overriding the following codec types:

H.264
Xvid
DivX
MP4V

The rest of the Microsoft filters work quite well (like their MPEG-2 filter) unless you REALLY know what you are doing and what you need.

Download Here: http://www.codecguide.com/windows7_preferred_filter_tweaker.htm

[cncb]

Thanks for the help, glynor.  As detailed in the first post I am using Windows 7 and Windows Explorer determines the duration of these files and WMP plays them well with the built-in decoders.  I assumed that is what MC would use when using the "Windows Media Player engine" but apparently not.  Maybe I will just convert them to WMV for simplicity and so that I can (hopefully) embed tags in them.

The other problem I'm having is that the dates are all wrong for them.  MC is using the "modified date" instead of the "creation date".  I tried to copy the fields over but got some strange results.  Maybe this is all the same problem which might be fixed by converting them or installing the additional filters or Quicktime.