iPhone 4S encoding settings seem to work in one X264, but not in another?

I've been encoding an 8-bit tif sequence with 2 encoding GUI's , MeGUI and Handbrake for my iPhone 4S. The videos that MEGUI's been producing do not seek, show white frames when the Photos application tries to build a seek image bar, and fail to playback when the video freezes when there are a lot of of cuts. The same file encoded in Handbrake works fine (I feed it an uncompressed AVI of the original) Here is the media info for both files. Is there something going on with the settings, or is this an x264 version issue? MEGUI: Video ID : 1 Format : AVC Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec Format profile : High@L4.1 Format settings, CABAC : Yes Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames Codec ID : avc1 Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding Duration : 3mn 7s Bit rate : 20.0 Mbps Maximum bit rate : 33.9 Mbps Width : 1 920 pixels Height : 1 080 pixels Display aspect ratio : 16:9 Frame rate mode : Constant Frame rate : 23.976 fps Color space : YUV Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 Bit depth : 8 bits Scan type : Progressive Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.402 Stream size : 446 MiB (98%) Writing library : x264 core 120 r2164 da19765 Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=4 / deblock=1:-2:-2 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=umh / subme=8 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.25 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=6,6 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-4 / threads=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=0 / 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=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=20000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.80 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=31250 / vbv_bufsize=31250 / nal_hrd=none / ip_ratio=1.10 / aq=1:0.50 Encoded date : UTC 2012-02-13 03:46:28 Tagged date : UTC 2012-02-13 03:47:42 Material_Duration : 16183 Material_StreamSize : 467259456 Material_FrameCount : 4484 And the working file from Handbrake: Video ID : 1 Format : AVC Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec Format profile : High@L4.1 Format settings, CABAC : Yes Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames Codec ID : avc1 Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding Duration : 3mn 7s Bit rate mode : Variable Bit rate : 20.0 Mbps Width : 1 920 pixels Height : 1 080 pixels Display aspect ratio : 16:9 Frame rate mode : Variable Frame rate : 23.955 fps Minimum frame rate : 7.992 fps Maximum frame rate : 23.981 fps Color space : YUV Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 Bit depth : 8 bits Scan type : Progressive Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.403 Stream size : 446 MiB (99%) Writing library : x264 core 112 Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / 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=3 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=2 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=50 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=20000 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=3 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00 Encoded date : UTC 2012-02-14 04:51:38 Tagged date : UTC 2012-02-14 05:12:27 Material_Duration : 187187 Material_StreamSize : 467703328 Material_FrameCount : 4484 Color primaries : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4, SMPTE RP177 Transfer characteristics : BT.709-5, BT.1361 Matrix coefficients : BT.709-5, BT.1361, IEC 61966-2-4 709, SMPTE RP177 Both files were encoded at 1920x1080 at 20Mbps. Apple's Spec page claims that the iPhone 4S supports AVC level 4.1 at High profile. Is the newer x264 not making 4.1 compliant files, or is this a MEGUI issue?

To get the MeGUI encode running I would compare encoding parameters to handbrake. What jumps into my sight is: try to reduce some parameters in MeGUI: Number of refs to 3, Bitrate and vbv-bufsize to 16Mbps, max bitrate to 20Mbps. But I wonder how the same source file can be VFR in Handbrake and CBR in MeGUI... well, I don't know Handbrake.

I am currently using HB 0.9.5 They do have there nightly builds also where some things have changed in regards syntax and for VFR and CFR But in any case by deafault HB encodes in VFR unless told not to Here are the commands from the command line in the GUI its just a matter of choosing an FPS Note, choosing "same as source" could produce a VFR so picking a numeric choice would be needed and unticking the Peak Framrate VFR option -r, --rate Set video framerate (5/10/12/15/23.976/24/25/29.97) Be aware that not specifying a framerate lets HandBrake preserve a source's time stamps, potentially creating variable framerate video --vfr, --cfr, --pfr Select variable, constant or peak-limited frame rate control. VFR preserves the source timing. CFR makes the output constant rate at the rate given by the -r flag (or the source's average rate if no -r is given). PFR doesn't allow the rate to go over the rate specified with the -r flag but won't change the source timing if it's below that rate. If none of these flags are given, the default is --cfr when -r is given and --vfr otherwise Also When viewing a file with MediaInfo Youll notice this when using for ex -r 23.976 Frame rate mode : Variable Frame rate : 23.976 fps Minimum frame rate : 23.974 fps Maximum frame rate : 23.981 fps I once posted in the HB Forum as to why it states Variable and as to why there are the Min and Max rates In a nuthsell they partially blame MediaInfo but also admit, some work would be needed to make "true" CFR with HB In any case the CFR produced by HB does work/play well with clients that wont work with VFR I have also used MP4Box to remux the video to see how it would or would not retain its CFR and or VFR state Havent done it in a while, since I became ok with HB version of CFR But if memory serves me well I used this command which leaves all tracks in place, but changes the output to VFR state I wouldnt do this on a true VFR file the resulting file would not sync right mp4box.exe source.mp4:fps=23.976 output.mp4

Here is that thread on the HB forums in where I asked about HB CFR showing as Variable

I'm still not getting a solid answer from anybody. Here is my guess what the problem could be: a) Settings used in MEGUI are not actually level 4.1 compliant. b) the version of x264 used has a bug c) The Multiplexing software used in MEGUI has some sort of a bug. The MeGUI file is PS3 compliant and it doesn't even play on a PS3 either.

If you compare the Encoding settings The megui one has these settings that the hb doesnt bluray_compat=0 / vbv_maxrate=31250 / vbv_bufsize=31250 I dont know megui, but the bluray_compat=0 sticks out to me If I had to start, that one peeked my interest as where to Also, the bit rate types are different Bit rate : 20.0 Mbps Maximum bit rate : 33.9 Mbps Bit rate mode : Variable Bit rate : 20.0 Mbps And, these are different ref=4 / ref=3 direct=3 /direct=1 it could be the audio tracks, probably not though

Specs for video on iPhone 4S from Apple's website: "Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 30 frames per second, High Profile level 4.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format" One time I, on accident, I had two audio tracks running simultaneously on a video (forgot to mark them in an alternate group) and that kept making the video crash. I thought I was going crazy because I checked and re-checked that I set up the encoder right and then I found out that too many simultaneous audio channels were fouling it up. :rolleyes: