Video Playback Problem

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Amos Kujenga

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Aug 18, 2016, 12:37:00 PM8/18/16
to Omeka Dev
Dear All,

I'm running Omeka 2.4.1 on Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 (64-bit).

When I upload videos, I cannot view them in the browser, instead I get an error: "Video can't be played back because the file is corrupt" in Firefox 48 and Chrome seems to recognise the file (MP4) as an audio file and even plays it okay.

Any quick help would be most appreciated.

Regards


Amos

Amos Kujenga

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Aug 19, 2016, 2:36:28 AM8/19/16
to John Flatness, omek...@googlegroups.com
Hi John,

Thanks for the response but then the strange thing is that I can play the same video(s) in the browser using another application: ResourceSpace. I was also previously able to play videos in Omeka in Mac OS X 10.6.8 before switching to Ubuntu. I'd therefore rule out anything being wrong with the videos [though I still maintain I'm human and prone to error].

Further searches seem to indicate something to do with ffmpeg parameters but then I'm not sure where to change those.
Using Firefox's Web Console, I'd noticed that the browser says, "Media resource .... could not be decoded"

If I type "ffmpeg -version", I get "ffmpeg version 2.8.6-1ubuntu2..."

Where could I possibly play around with video playback settings in Omeka?

Regards


Amos

...And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. II KINGS 2:2

On 18 August 2016 at 18:41, John Flatness <jo...@zerocrates.org> wrote:

Amos,

 

MP4 videos can contain basically any kind of actual video and audio parts: the MP4 part only refers to the container holding the audio and video together into one file.

 

What you’re describing sounds like you have a .mp4 file that uses a video codec that the browsers don’t support (the most common one for .mp4 that usually doesn’t work is MPEG-4 Visual/ASP, or related formats like “XviD”). For browser support your best bet is almost always H.264 video.

 

-John

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John Flatness

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Aug 19, 2016, 11:23:24 AM8/19/16
to Omeka Dev, jo...@zerocrates.org
(I think my reply in the middle there might have accidentally gone directly to you instead of to the list, whoops.)

It looks like ResourceSpace might actually make short "preview" videos from uploaded videos, which could explain how you were getting HTML5-playable videos from that system. Also, Safari is sort of the odd man out in terms of HTML5 compatibility in a lot of ways, so that could be an explanation as well.

Are the videos you're having trouble with web-accessible at some URL? Then it would be easy to say for sure what their specific format is and whether it should work.

-John


On Friday, August 19, 2016 at 2:36:28 AM UTC-4, Amos Kujenga wrote:
Hi John,

Thanks for the response but then the strange thing is that I can play the same video(s) in the browser using another application: ResourceSpace. I was also previously able to play videos in Omeka in Mac OS X 10.6.8 before switching to Ubuntu. I'd therefore rule out anything being wrong with the videos [though I still maintain I'm human and prone to error].

Further searches seem to indicate something to do with ffmpeg parameters but then I'm not sure where to change those.
Using Firefox's Web Console, I'd noticed that the browser says, "Media resource .... could not be decoded"

If I type "ffmpeg -version", I get "ffmpeg version 2.8.6-1ubuntu2..."

Where could I possibly play around with video playback settings in Omeka?

Regards


Amos

...And Elisha said unto him, As the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee. II KINGS 2:2

Amos Kujenga

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Aug 24, 2016, 5:22:43 AM8/24/16
to Omeka Dev, jo...@zerocrates.org
Hi John,

Apologies for the delayed response.

Yes, ResourceSpace does play previews of uploaded videos and I think by default it converts them to FLV format.

I've tried to summarise the situation below. 

URL for the version working on "all" browsers:
Ubuntu 14.04 32bit
ffmpeg version 0.8.10-6:0.8.10-0ubuntu0.13.10.1

URL for the version not working on "most" browsers except Safari:
Ubuntu 16.04 64bit
ffmpeg version 3.1.2

I've just noticed that the video(s) plays in Safari (I've just tested from Win 7). However, I am strongly inclined to believe this has something to do with the ffmpeg version. I'm still trying but struggling to find a way to install ffmpeg 0.8 on the Ubuntu 16.04 machine. I've only managed to install version 2 point something but would like the exact version (0.8.10-6:0.8.10...) that's working on Ubuntu 14.04. If anyone can assist with this I'd be grateful.

Is there anybody out there with everything working on Ubuntu 16.04 and ffmpeg 3.12?

Regards


Amos

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John Flatness

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Aug 30, 2016, 11:06:52 AM8/30/16
to Omeka Dev, jo...@zerocrates.org
Amos,

It's like I was saying: your non-working source video is encoded with the "MPEG-4 Visual" video codec. Almost all the browsers don't support playing that type of video.

The working video is encoded with H.264, which is the best-supported video codec.

The ffmpeg version likely doesn't have anything to do with do with this: it's just that one of the videos is in a well-supported format and the other isn't. Unlike ResourceSpace, Omeka won't convert your video, but you can of course do so yourself before uploading with any of many tools (ffmpeg would be one of them).

-John
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