QT for Windows: can’t read files over 2 Gb.?

[Edward Richards]

I have the exact same problem.

I had some progressive super 8mm telecine done for me and it was delivered as DV-NTSC in a MOV container.

It plays fine on Mac.
On Windows it doesn’t.
And no it’s not a copy problem from ISO9660 or HFS+ or NTSC/FAT thing.

When playing it in QuickTime when it crosses the 2gig boundary (9:14 in my case) all you get from the video stream is colorful blocking. ( I have no audio so I can’t comment on that stream ).

I’ve tried it on pretty much every Windows combo…

Win7 32bit brand-new install :- Windows Media Player can’t play it.
Win7 32bit brand-new install + Quicktime :- fails at 9:14 (ie 2Gig)

Win7 64bit brand-new install :- Windows Media Player can’t play it.
Win7 64bit brand-new install + Quicktime :-fails at 9:14 (ie 2Gig)

WinXP 32bit brand-new install :- Windows Media Player can’t play it.
WinXP 32bit brand-new install + Native Adobe Premiere DV codec :- fails at 9:14 (ie 2Gig) (note I think this is a QT dll so as expected)
WinXP 32bit brand-new install + Quicktime :- fails at 9:14 (ie 2Gig)

SO….. I threw some more tools at it and concluded that Apple Compressor has a bug when creating MOV|DV files >2Gig…

If anyone knows a way of getting Apple to fix Quicktime for Windows so that it doesn’t care about the mdat length bug (see below) – the same was as the Mac QuickTime doesn’t that would help me greatly.

I’m currently looking to do a Mac based Apple Compressor conversion to some other NLE friendly codec (lossless motion jpeg, huffyuv?) so that I can finally start editing the footage. Not exactly the best of workflows.

HELP! and THANKS!

Edward.

Here’s the technical gory details if you’re interested…

$ MP4Box -v -info Sequence1.mov
[iso file] Read Box type ftyp size 32 start 0
[iso file] Read Box type wide size 8 start 32
[iso file] Read Box type mdat size 2899976384 start 40 <<<<< This 2899976384 is the problem [iso file] Read Box type ha.8 size 2277414870 start 2899976424 [iso file] Read Box "ha.8" failed (Out Of Memory) Error opening file Sequence1.mov: Out Of Memory

The way MOV files work (btw MOV files are also MPEG4 files) is that they have boxes of information that mean different things. They all have a header name (eg "ftyp", "moov", "mdat") and then its contents.

MOV files start with a file type box ("ftyp") which says that it's Quicktime ("qt") (MPEG4 files have a different "ftyp" value)

...then it has a "wide" box for a special case that doesn't apply here...

...then the actual (huge) chunk of data that makes up the video & audio streams "mdat".

After that there is supposed to be a "moov" box which describes what's in the "mdat" box. It's here that the width x height, the Frame rate, the codec type etc etc are defined.

So this means that the size of the "mdat" is corrupted because immediately after the "mdat" box (of 2.8Gb) it shows that the next box is a "ha.8" box.

But there is no such thing as a "ha.8" box, thus the length of "mdat" is wrong.

I've looked for "moov" in the file and have found some. I'm going to play with modifying the size of the "mdat" section to see if it fixes the file.

Here is an example of the (working) Sequence 5.

$ MP4Box -v -info Sequence 5-15869 DV NTSC 4_3.mov
THE FILE TYPE ("ftyp"):
[iso file] Read Box type ftyp size 32 start 0

THE WIDE BOX ("wide"):
[iso file] Read Box type wide size 8 start 32

THE "mdat" info - see that it's 680Mb long.
[iso file] Read Box type mdat size 680483128 start 40

THE "moov" box with all the information about it following...
[iso file] Read Box type moov size 14809 start 680483168
[iso file] Read Box type mvhd size 108 start 680483176
[iso file] Read Box type trak size 12177 start 680483284
[iso file] Read Box type tkhd size 92 start 680483292
[iso file] Read Box type tapt size 68 start 680483384
...snip...
[iso file] Read Box type stco size 20 start 680497957

Which results in a summary of....

* Movie Info *
Timescale 2997 - Duration 00:02:59.579
Fragmented File no - 3 track(s)
File Brand qt - version 537199360
Created: GMT Wed Mar 02 16:10:27 2011

File has no MPEG4 IOD/OD

Track # 1 Info - TrackID 1 - TimeScale 2997 - Duration 00:02:59.579
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "vide:dvc " - 5382 samples
Media Data Location: (null)
Visual Track layout: x=0 y=0 width=720 height=480
Visual Track - Compressor "►DV/DVCPRO - NTSC" - Resolution 720 x 480
Vendor code "appl" - Version 1 - revision 0
Codec configuration data size: 88 bytes

Track # 2 Info - TrackID 2 - TimeScale 48000 - Duration 00:02:59.546
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "soun:twos" - 8618219 samples
Media Data Location: (null)
Audio Track - Sample Rate 48000 - 2 channel(s)
Vendor code "...." - Version 1 - revision 0
Codec configuration data size: 24 bytes

Track # 3 Info - TrackID 3 - TimeScale 2997 - Duration 00:02:59.579
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "tmcd:tmcd" - 1 samples
Media Data Location: (null)
Unknown media type
Vendor code "...." - Version 0 - revision 0
Codec configuration data size: 22 bytes

[Edward Richards]

Correction…
the file isn’t corrupted so it must be a 2gig boundary bug in QuickTime for Windows…

F:\My Downloads\Video Editing>MP4Box.exe -v -info "Sequence 1.mov"
[iso file] Read Box type ftyp size 32 start 0
[iso file] Read Box type moov size 58989 start 32
[iso file] Read Box type mvhd size 108 start 40
[iso file] Read Box type trak size 49741 start 148
[iso file] Read Box type tkhd size 92 start 156
[iso file] Read Box type tapt size 68 start 248
[iso file] Read Box type load size 24 start 316
[iso file] Read Box type edts size 36 start 340
[iso file] Read Box type elst size 28 start 348
[iso file] Read Box type mdia size 49501 start 376
[iso file] Read Box type mdhd size 32 start 384
[iso file] Read Box type hdlr size 58 start 416
[iso file] Read Box type minf size 49403 start 474
[iso file] Read Box type vmhd size 20 start 482
[iso file] Read Box type hdlr size 57 start 502
[iso file] Read Box type dinf size 36 start 559
[iso file] Read Box type dref size 28 start 567
[iso file] Read Box type alis size 12 start 583
[iso file] Read Box type stbl size 49282 start 595
[iso file] Read Box type stsd size 190 start 603
[iso file] Read Box type dvc size 174 start 619
[iso file] Read Box type stts size 24 start 793
[iso file] Read Box type stsc size 36772 start 817
[iso file] Read Box type stsz size 20 start 37589
[iso file] Read Box type stco size 12268 start 37609
[iso file] Read Box type udta size 12 start 49877
[iso file] Read Box type trak size 7440 start 49889
[iso file] Read Box type tkhd size 92 start 49897
[iso file] Read Box type edts size 36 start 49989
[iso file] Read Box type elst size 28 start 49997
[iso file] Read Box type mdia size 6831 start 50025
[iso file] Read Box type mdhd size 32 start 50033
[iso file] Read Box type hdlr size 58 start 50065
[iso file] Read Box type minf size 6733 start 50123
[iso file] Read Box type smhd size 16 start 50131
[iso file] Read Box type hdlr size 57 start 50147
[iso file] Read Box type dinf size 36 start 50204
[iso file] Read Box type dref size 28 start 50212
[iso file] Read Box type alis size 12 start 50228
[iso file] Read Box type stbl size 6616 start 50240
[iso file] Read Box type stsd size 92 start 50248
[iso file] Read Box type twos size 76 start 50264
[iso file] Read Box type stts size 24 start 50340
[iso file] Read Box type stsc size 328 start 50364
[iso file] Read Box type stsz size 20 start 50692
[iso file] Read Box type stco size 6144 start 50712
[iso file] Read Box type meta size 461 start 56856
[iso file] Read Box type hdlr size 32 start 56864
[iso file] Read Box type keys size 276 start 56896
[iso file] Read Box type ilst size 145 start 57172
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 57180
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 57208
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 57236
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 57264
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 25 start 57292
[iso file] Read Box type udta size 12 start 57317
[iso file] Read Box type trak size 585 start 57329
[iso file] Read Box type tkhd size 92 start 57337
[iso file] Read Box type edts size 36 start 57429
[iso file] Read Box type elst size 28 start 57437
[iso file] Read Box type mdia size 437 start 57465
[iso file] Read Box type mdhd size 32 start 57473
[iso file] Read Box type hdlr size 56 start 57505
[iso file] Read Box type minf size 341 start 57561
[iso file] Read Box type gmhd size 86 start 57569
[iso file] Read Box type hdlr size 57 start 57655
[iso file] Read Box type dinf size 36 start 57712
[iso file] Read Box type dref size 28 start 57720
[iso file] Read Box type alis size 12 start 57736
[iso file] Read Box type stbl size 154 start 57748
[iso file] Read Box type stsd size 54 start 57756
[iso file] Read Box type tmcd size 38 start 57772
[iso file] Read Box type stts size 24 start 57810
[iso file] Read Box type stsc size 28 start 57834
[iso file] Read Box type stsz size 20 start 57862
[iso file] Read Box type stco size 20 start 57882
[iso file] Read Box type udta size 12 start 57902
[iso file] Read Box type meta size 1065 start 57914
[iso file] Read Box type hdlr size 32 start 57922
[iso file] Read Box type keys size 629 start 57954
[iso file] Read Box type ilst size 396 start 58583
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 58591
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 58619
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 58647
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 58675
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 58703
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 25 start 58731
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 58756
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 58784
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 58812
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 28 start 58840
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 37 start 58868
[iso file] Read Box type .... size 74 start 58905
[iso file] Read Box type udta size 42 start 58979
[iso file] Read Box type WLOC size 12 start 58987
[iso file] Read Box type SelO size 9 start 58999
[iso file] Read Box type AllF size 9 start 59008
[iso file] Read Box type free size 24 start 59021
[iso file] Read Box type wide size 8 start 59045
[iso file] Read Box type mdat size 2899250960 start 59053
* Movie Info *
Timescale 2997 - Duration 00:12:45.298
Fragmented File no - 3 track(s)
File Brand qt - version 537199360
Created: GMT Sun Mar 27 21:23:34 2011

Moov Meta type: "mdta" - 0 resource item(s)
File has no MPEG4 IOD/OD

Track # 1 Info - TrackID 1 - TimeScale 2997 - Duration 00:12:45.298
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "vide:dvc " - 22936 samples
Visual Track layout: x=0 y=0 width=720 height=480
Visual Track - Compressor "►DV/DVCPRO - NTSC" - Resolution 720 x 480
Vendor code "appl" - Version 1 - revision 0
Codec configuration data size: 88 bytes

Track # 2 Info - TrackID 2 - TimeScale 48000 - Duration 00:12:45.265
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "soun:twos" - 36732733 samples
Audio Track - Sample Rate 48000 - 2 channel(s)
Vendor code "...." - Version 1 - revision 0
Codec configuration data size: 24 bytes
Track Meta type: "mdta" - 0 resource item(s)

Track # 3 Info - TrackID 3 - TimeScale 2997 - Duration 00:12:45.298
Media Info: Language "Undetermined" - Type "tmcd:tmcd" - 1 samples
Unknown media type
Vendor code "...." - Version 0 - revision 0
Codec configuration data size: 22 bytes