Issues importing certain MP4 videos - in need of help to determine the required format settings

Report · Nov 03, 2017

Hey everyone,

I'm using the newest version of Lightroom Classic CC on Windows 10 (64 Bit).

Until recently I've been rendering videos using the now outdated version of Magix Video Deluxe 2013. Importing those to Lightroom (or playing them) is still working just fine.

However, I've switched over to a new version of that Magix VDL which provides a slightly different encoder and now It seems that I'm completely unable to export any AVC MP4 anymore that is being supported by Lightroom.

I can't see any previews during the import selection and when trying to process the files anyway I receive an error message reading "video does not contain video frames" (roughly translated from German version).

Important: The files in general are fine as they are playing flawlessly in VLC, Windows Media Player and can be read a whole lot of other tools.

Interestingly, when I re-encode the same file using Handbrake, the resulting file seems to work. But as encoding multiple times is certainly not an option, I'm trying to figure out which of those settings are making the big difference for Lightroom.

Below, I've attached the MediaInfo for an example file that cannot be imported ("VDL Cannot Import") and two Handbrake-processed files that seem to be working.

To be honest: I'm quite new to all those video formats and settings as I have simply been using the same preset again and again with the previous version of VDL. I've tried to fiddle around with the available export format settings (e.g. BASE or HIGH and format 3.1, 4, 5.1, etc) but to no avail.

I really hope that you can help me with this.

Many thanks in advance!

--- Unable to import ---

General

Complete name : F:\VDL Cannot Import.mp4

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media

Codec ID : isom (isom/avc1)

File size : 574 MiB

Duration : 6 min 37 s

Overall bit rate mode : Variable

Overall bit rate : 12.1 Mb/s

Encoded date : UTC 2017-11-02 18:16:02

Tagged date : UTC 2017-11-02 18:16:02

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : Main@L3.2

Format settings : CABAC / 3 Ref Frames

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, RefFrames : 3 frames

Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=25

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 6 min 37 s

Bit rate mode : Variable

Bit rate : 12.0 Mb/s

Maximum bit rate : 16.0 Mb/s

Width : 1 280 pixels

Height : 720 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate mode : Constant

Frame rate : 25.000 FPS

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.519

Stream size : 567 MiB (99%)

Language : English

Color range : Limited

Color primaries : BT.709

Transfer characteristics : BT.709

Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : mp4a-40-2

Duration : 6 min 37 s

Bit rate mode : Variable

Bit rate : 162 kb/s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz

Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 7.69 MiB (1%)

Language : English

--- Can be imported ---

General

Complete name : F:\Can Import 1.mp4

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media / Version 2

Codec ID : mp42 (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)

File size : 248 MiB

Duration : 6 min 37 s

Overall bit rate mode : Variable

Overall bit rate : 5 239 kb/s

Writing application : HandBrake 1.0.7 2017040900

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : Main@L3.1

Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, RefFrames : 4 frames

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 6 min 37 s

Bit rate : 5 076 kb/s

Width : 1 280 pixels

Height : 720 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate mode : Variable

Frame rate : 25.000 FPS

Minimum frame rate : 12.500 FPS

Maximum frame rate : 25.000 FPS

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.220

Stream size : 240 MiB (97%)

Writing library : x264 core 148 r2708 86b7198

Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=2 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x1:0x111 / me=hex / subme=6 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=0 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=1 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=30 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=21.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=14000 / vbv_bufsize=14000 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Encoded date : UTC 2017-11-02 21:13:41

Tagged date : UTC 2017-11-02 21:13:41

Color range : Limited

Color primaries : BT.709

Transfer characteristics : BT.709

Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : mp4a-40-2

Duration : 6 min 37 s

Bit rate mode : Variable

Bit rate : 158 kb/s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz

Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 7.47 MiB (3%)

Title : Stereo / Stereo

Language : English

Default : Yes

Alternate group : 1

--- Also importable ---

General

Complete name : F:\Can Import 2.mp4

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media / Version 2

Codec ID : mp42 (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)

File size : 219 MiB

Duration : 4 min 9 s

Overall bit rate mode : Variable

Overall bit rate : 7 371 kb/s

Writing application : HandBrake 1.0.7 2017040900

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : High@L3.1

Format settings : CABAC / 5 Ref Frames

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, RefFrames : 5 frames

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 4 min 9 s

Bit rate : 7 208 kb/s

Width : 1 280 pixels

Height : 720 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate mode : Constant

Frame rate : 25.000 FPS

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.313

Stream size : 215 MiB (98%)

Writing library : x264 core 148 r2708 86b7198

Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / lookahead_threads=2 / 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=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=19.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=17500 / vbv_bufsize=17500 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00

Encoded date : UTC 2017-11-02 23:16:58

Tagged date : UTC 2017-11-02 23:16:58

Color range : Limited

Color primaries : BT.709

Transfer characteristics : BT.709

Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : mp4a-40-2

Duration : 4 min 9 s

Bit rate mode : Variable

Bit rate : 156 kb/s

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 kHz

Frame rate : 46.875 FPS (1024 SPF)

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 4.66 MiB (2%)

Title : Stereo / Stereo

Default : Yes

Alternate group : 1

Report · Nov 09, 2017

Ok, I've found a workaround for what I start to believe might be a Lightroom bug.

The issue seems to be related to the Codec ID ("brand") that is written by the used encoder. My previous Magix version used a MediaConcept encoder which wrote "mp42". That worked fine.

Handbrake uses the x264-encoder (I think) which writes "mp42" and works as well.

The new Magix uses an Intel Encoder which writes "isom" as tag. According to some web recherches, this is valid. Apparently, only Lightroom seems to be unable to cope with it. Other media player and tools do just fine.

Similar problems have been described here: ISOM Codec and PPro CC , although no final solution was found.

My current workaround:

Create media file
Use mp4box [1] and the command "mp4box -brand mp42 [filename]" to change the Codec ID without reencoding the whole file
Profit. It works immediately.

If Lightroom just supported this encoding, everyone would be happy

[1] MP4Box | GPAC

Issues importing certain MP4 videos - in need of help to determine the required format settings

1 Correct answer