[FFmpeg-user] x264 output is hardly watchable in QT7

Sun Nov 24 02:07:22 CET 2013

I’m converting a 1080p ProRes video to 1080p x264, and the following command produces a file that doesn’t work in QuickTime Player 7.  Seek time is slow (~30 seconds), playback stutters, and sometimes shows visual glitches.  It plays fine in QuickTime X and VLC.  Anyone know what might be wrong with the encoding settings?

$ ffmpeg -i input.mov -pix_fmt yuv420p -acodec libfdk_aac -b:a 128k -vcodec libx264 -preset veryslow -crf 21 -level 41 -profile high -bf 16 -rc-lookahead 250 -tune film  output.mp4
ffmpeg version N-57394-gea9632b Copyright (c) 2000-2013 the FFmpeg developers
  built on Oct 24 2013 11:58:12 with Apple LLVM version 5.0 (clang-500.2.79) (based on LLVM 3.3svn)
  configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-nonfree --enable-static --enable-libass --enable-libbluray --enable-libfdk-aac --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libvpx --enable-libx264 --enable-opencl --enable-libfreetype --disable-shared --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libvorbis --enable-libtheora
  libavutil      52. 47.101 / 52. 47.101
  libavcodec     55. 38.101 / 55. 38.101
  libavformat    55. 19.104 / 55. 19.104
  libavdevice    55.  5.100 / 55.  5.100
  libavfilter     3. 89.100 /  3. 89.100
  libswscale      2.  5.101 /  2.  5.101
  libswresample   0. 17.104 /  0. 17.104
  libpostproc    52.  3.100 / 52.  3.100
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from ‘input.mov':
  Metadata:
    creation_time   : 2013-11-23 03:05:21
  Duration: 00:20:08.12, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 164970 kb/s
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: prores (apch / 0x68637061), yuv422p10le, 1920x1080, 163431 kb/s, SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 24k tbn, 24k tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2013-11-23 03:05:21
      handler_name    : Apple Alias Data Handler
      timecode        : 01:00:00:00
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: pcm_s16le (sowt / 0x74776F73), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 1536 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2013-11-23 03:05:21
      handler_name    : Apple Alias Data Handler
    Stream #0:2(eng): Data: none (tmcd / 0x64636D74) (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2013-11-23 03:44:04
      handler_name    : Apple Alias Data Handler
      timecode        : 01:00:00:00
Please use -profile:a or -profile:v, -profile is ambiguous
File ‘output.mp4' already exists. Overwrite ? [y/N] y
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] using SAR=1/1
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] DPB size (16 frames, 130560 mbs) > level limit (4 frames, 32768 mbs)
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] profile High, level 4.1
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] 264 - core 138 r2358 9e941d1 - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2013 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: cabac=1 ref=16 deblock=1:-1:-1 analyse=0x3:0x133 me=umh subme=10 psy=1 psy_rd=1.00:0.15 mixed_ref=1 me_range=24 chroma_me=1 trellis=2 8x8dct=1 cqm=0 deadzone=21,11 fast_pskip=1 chroma_qp_offset=-3 threads=24 lookahead_threads=6 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=16 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=2 b_bias=0 direct=3 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=23 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=250 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=21.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00
Output #0, mp4, to ‘output.mp4':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : Lavf55.19.104
    Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (libx264) ([33][0][0][0] / 0x0021), yuv420p, 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], q=-1--1, 24k tbn, 23.98 tbc (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2013-11-23 03:05:21
      handler_name    : Apple Alias Data Handler
      timecode        : 01:00:00:00
    Stream #0:1(eng): Audio: aac (libfdk_aac) ([64][0][0][0] / 0x0040), 48000 Hz, stereo, s16, 128 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2013-11-23 03:05:21
      handler_name    : Apple Alias Data Handler
Stream mapping:
  Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (prores -> libx264)
  Stream #0:1 -> #0:1 (pcm_s16le -> libfdk_aac)
Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
frame=28966 fps=4.0 q=-1.0 Lsize= 1098582kB time=00:20:08.12 bitrate=7449.2kbits/s    
video:1078915kB audio:18878kB subtitle:0 global headers:0kB muxing overhead 0.071911%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] frame I:154   Avg QP:18.61  size:221478
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] frame P:9173  Avg QP:22.78  size: 67374
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] frame B:19639 Avg QP:25.88  size: 23050
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] consecutive B-frames:  7.6%  9.9% 13.0% 46.7%  8.6%  7.4%  1.6%  1.0%  0.4%  0.5%  0.3%  0.2%  0.9%  0.4%  0.1%  0.1%  1.2%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] mb I  I16..4: 13.8% 72.3% 13.9%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] mb P  I16..4:  3.0% 15.0%  1.6%  P16..4: 45.3% 11.7% 10.0%  0.3%  0.1%    skip:13.1%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] mb B  I16..4:  0.3%  2.3%  0.3%  B16..8: 39.8%  6.7%  1.6%  direct: 5.2%  skip:43.8%  L0:54.8% L1:37.4% BI: 7.8%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] 8x8 transform intra:77.0% inter:74.4%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] direct mvs  spatial:99.6% temporal:0.4%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: 71.4% 67.8% 24.5% inter: 21.5% 19.7% 1.5%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] i16 v,h,dc,p: 18% 14%  8% 60%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] i8 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 12% 10%  9%  8% 12% 12% 13% 11% 13%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] i4 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 13%  9%  4%  8% 13% 14% 14% 11% 13%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] i8c dc,h,v,p: 33% 29% 20% 18%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] Weighted P-Frames: Y:5.7% UV:3.3%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] ref P L0: 48.6% 13.6% 13.1%  4.7%  4.0%  3.1%  2.8%  1.5%  1.4%  1.3%  1.2%  1.1%  1.0%  0.9%  0.9%  0.7%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] ref B L0: 78.2%  7.0%  3.7%  2.0%  1.7%  1.5%  1.3%  0.8%  0.7%  0.7%  0.7%  0.6%  0.6%  0.4%  0.2%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] ref B L1: 94.5%  5.5%
[libx264 @ 0x7fb0fa806600] kb/s:7315.86