Output file is not playable on Windows

Can you help me replicate the test conditions?

I'm using Vegas Pro 20 build 411 and Voukoder 13.1

I've got a single event with 20 seconds of audio. I rendered using two presets I had from the past- both include AAC low complexity audio.

The resulting file loads in MPC-BE as usual.

I then tried Windows Media Player.

One worked fine:

General

Complete name : C:\Users\Roger\Desktop\Untitled1.mp4

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media

Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)

File size : 30.9 MiB

Duration : 29 s 229 ms

Overall bit rate mode : Variable

Overall bit rate : 8 864 kb/s

Frame rate : 23.976 FPS

Writing application : Voukoder (VEGAS)

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : High@L4

Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, Reference fra : 4 frames

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 29 s 196 ms

Bit rate : 8 626 kb/s

Width : 1 920 pixels

Height : 1 080 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate mode : Constant

Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.174

Stream size : 30.0 MiB (97%)

Writing library : x264 core 164

Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=10 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=32 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=2 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=48 / keyint_min=3 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=48 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=23.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=22 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=2:0.70

Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC LC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity

Codec ID : mp4a-40-2

Duration : 29 s 229 ms

Source duration : 29 s 205 ms

Bit rate mode : Variable

Nominal bit rate : 242 kb/s

Maximum bit rate : 320 kb/s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel layout : L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz

Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)

Compression mode : Lossy

Source stream size : 863 KiB (3%)

Default : Yes

Alternate group : 1

The second one played back but the video was frozen:

General

Complete name : C:\Users\Roger\Desktop\Untitled.mp4

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media

Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)

File size : 40.2 MiB

Duration : 29 s 229 ms

Overall bit rate mode : Variable

Overall bit rate : 11.5 Mb/s

Frame rate : 23.976 FPS

Writing application : Voukoder (VEGAS)

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : High@L4

Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, Reference fra : 4 frames

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 29 s 196 ms

Bit rate mode : Variable

Bit rate : 11.3 Mb/s

Maximum bit rate : 2 000 kb/s

Width : 1 920 pixels

Height : 1 080 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate mode : Constant

Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.228

Stream size : 39.4 MiB (98%)

Codec configuration box : avcC

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC LC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec Low Complexity

Codec ID : mp4a-40-2

Duration : 29 s 229 ms

Source duration : 29 s 205 ms

Bit rate mode : Variable

Nominal bit rate : 242 kb/s

Maximum bit rate : 320 kb/s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel layout : L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz

Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)

Compression mode : Lossy

Source stream size : 863 KiB (2%)

Default : Yes

Alternate group : 1

Zitat von Vouk

Seems its exactly the same issue Joe has. I use MPC-HC too. Seems it can handle and correct broken files on the fly better than other players.

I guess it's a VEGAS only issue?

I’m experiencing similar problems to Joe24 when using Davinci Resolve Studio. It only happens when using Nvenc HEVC or Nvenc H.264 as the codec. I get some videos that only play audio and still images when seeking. But I also get videos that’ll play but freeze at points when playing. Some videos appear to play correctly.

If I uncheck export audio in Resolve, all output videos will play okay. Like Joe24, when downgrading to Voukoder version 13, there are no problems.

Zitat von Trancer

I’m experiencing similar problems to Joe24 when using Davinci Resolve Studio. It only happens when using Nvenc HEVC or Nvenc H.264 as the codec. I get some videos that only play audio and still images when seeking. But I also get videos that’ll play but freeze at points when playing. Some videos appear to play correctly.

If I uncheck export audio in Resolve, all output videos will play okay. Like Joe24, when downgrading to Voukoder version 13, there are no problems.

Yes, in Davinci Resolve Studio I also saw sometimes rendered output videos not playing.

Zitat von Vouk

Is this version any better?

Unfortunately, 13.2 beta 2 even not able to do rendering, always shows "Cannot add audio track to clip" error.

Zitat von Vouk

Is this version any better?

It’s still the same for me. I'm not getting the audio error that auluswang is.

I'm sorry to say that the problem still exists, although that message is no longer present in the log.

My settings are this (although as I mentioned, I've tried several other known working presets, both h.264 and h.265):

Software: Vegas 20.0 build 411, Vegas 15.0 build 416, Voukoder 13.1 through 13.2beta3, Windows 10 version 22H2 build 19045.3086.

Audio: AC3 96kbps, no boxes checked in Voukoder settings, 48 kHz 16-bit Vegas project output.

Video: 1080p29.97, 8-bit (full range), Nvidia NVENC on RTX 3060 Ti, drivers v536.23 DCH patched with keylase.

Voukoder parameters: b=2500000 bluray-compat=1 bufsize=2500000 coder=cabac cq=0 g=48 gpu=0 level=4 maxrate=5000000 multipass=disabled preset=p7 profile=high rc=vbr rc-lookahead=20 tune=hq

Player: VLC 3.0.18 64-bit

My (older server) processors do not have Intel QSV, although I doubt that's the problem.

Zitat von Vouk

Joe24 Do you have that error message in the log file again?

No, the error message is not present in the 13.2beta3 logs.

Would a byte-compare of the files rendered by working/non-working versions of Voukoder be useful? The problem might be something at the very beginning of the file, because the clip posted above has zero video-motion throughout. Something breaks immediately at the start of playback, and stays broken.

I've attached 2 files and their logs below. Absolutely nothing is different between the 2 files except the Voukoder version. The 13.0.2 file plays normally, the 13.2beta3 file gives a still picture and plays audio only.

test files.zip

I also tried the 32-bit version of VLC, and a beta version v4.0. No change.

Zitat von Vouk

If the error is still present: Please tell me exactly how to reproduce it! And with which player incl. version number it is not playable with.

I was wrong saying unchecking export audio always fixes it in Resolve. I’ve been downloading a bunch of stock clips to see if I can find a short video that doesn't play correctly when exported.

This one is the shortest I found. The video is only 5 seconds and has no audio, but the output video still has the problem. This time unchecking export audio in Resolve didn't change anything.

https://mixkit.co/free-stock-video/one-on-one-in-a-soccer-game-43483/

I downloaded the Full HD version.

I dragged it into a 1920x1080 23.976 fps timeline in Davinci Resolve Studio (18.1.4). Exported with Nvenc H.264 or Nvenc HEVC (both have the problem), applying the default preset. Audio and output container on default AAC (FFmpeg) and mp4.

The output video freezes on the first frame or shows nothing until seeking in the following apps on my PC.

VLC Media Player (3.0.18 64-bit)

Films & TV app

Windows Media Player

It plays fine in MPC-BE

It freezes on my android tablet and phone in VLC player for android but plays in the gallery app.

I should be clear that not all of my exports come out broken. That seems to be different to those using Vegas? Some will come out fine. When I get a problem export, it doesn't matter how many times I render, it'll always come out that way.

I'm on Windows 10. Downgrading to Voukoder 13 and the problem goes away.

Zitat von Vouk

Resolve users: Does the export work with VoukoderPro? Or is there the same issue?

VoukoderPro exports correcly. I tested the 5 sec clip from above along with two of my problem projects with both NVENC H.264 and NVENC HEVC. I changed audio to AAC and output container to MP4 to match the Voukoder defaults. All three files don't have the issue.

Audio confirmed working with VoukoderPro v0.7.1.4 and Vegas Pro 20.0 build 411.

Been off the grid for the last few months, now back to edit the video I shot while gone and appear to be hitting this "no play issue". I'm using Windows PPro 2020 - 2023 and all fail to play with versions 13.1->13.2beta. Works fine with 13.0. Yes, it appears to be a mux issue as "playing the video" seems to start not at the beginning and/or ends somewhere in the middle. All fails (shows parts of video) when trying to play thru my set top DVD player or via LG smartTV and Win10 Mediaserver. I followed ideas and suggestions above and

* MKV versions do play

* Remux MKV -> mp4 does play

* unfortunately I can't figure out a way for Vouk to generate an mp4 with PCM audio directly.

I can upload logs and videos if needed.

Versions after 13 were pulled so we're back to using 13 now.