M1 cannot play some video files smoothly

[macbrush]

I noticed my Macbook Air M1 cannot handle some H.264 files, the Finder couldn't preview them, and Quicktime and TV.app couldn't play them smoothly. For example, if I downloaded the LG Europe demo, which is 4K 60FPS 1-1-1 2:20 125Mb/s file, M1 simply fails to preview it and play it extremely choppy. Granted, my Intel Macbook couldn't handle it as well with Quicksync, but if I force gvaAMDdecode to my eGPU RX590, then it plays very nicely.

I am wondering, what makes this file special? Just curious, really. Any idea?

LG: Europe UHD 4K Demo | 4K Media

LG Europe is a promotional video capturing some of Europe's most iconic landmarks, in Ultra-HD, for LG 4K TVs.

4kmedia.org

 

[matrix07]

I don't think any 4K video will be h.264 file. Likely it is h.265.

and it's not M1. It's QuickTime. Likely this variant of CODEC is not supported. It plays fine on VLC on my M1 MBA.

 

[AidenShaw]

I don't think any 4K video will be h.264 file. Likely it is h.265.

W:\AS> ffprobe "LG Europe 4K Demo.mp4"
ffprobe version git-2020-08-31-4a11a6f Copyright (c) 2007-2020 the FFmpeg developers
Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'LG Europe 4K Demo.mp4':
Metadata:
major_brand : mp42
minor_version : 0
compatible_brands: isommp42
creation_time : 2012-07-25T16:06:44.000000Z
Duration: 00:02:20.22, start: 0.041708, bitrate: 124999 kb/s
Stream #0:0(eng): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, bt709), 3840x2160 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 124997 kb/s, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 23976 tbn, 47.95 tbc (default)
Metadata:
creation_time : 2012-07-25T16:06:45.000000Z
handler_name : Mainconcept MP4 Video Media Handler
encoder : AVC Coding

 

[mi7chy]

I don't think any 4K video will be h.264 file. Likely it is h.265.

and it's not M1. It's QuickTime. Likely this variant of CODEC is not supported. It plays fine on VLC on my M1 MBA.

AVC does support combinations up to 8K, 4:4:4 chroma, 14-bit, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Video_Coding

Plays fine on my other devices Galaxy S21 Ultra (Snapdragon), Lenovo Yoga 6 (AMD 4650U) and Surface Pro X SQ2. After some digging it also plays fine on my MBA M1 with IINA but not with Quicktime or VLC. Problem solved.

https://github.com/iina/iina

 

[matrix07]

but not with Quicktime or VLC

Strange. I have no problem playing it on VLC, the video is smooth, just there is no sound.

 

[matrix07]

AVC does support combinations up to 8K, 4:4:4 chroma, 14-bit, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Video_Coding

Oh didn't know that. Thanks.

 

[mi7chy]

Strange. I have no problem playing it on VLC, the video is smooth, just there is no sound.

Latest VLC 3.0.12.1 doesn't work well playing across SMB network share with pauses throughout the video. Locally, aside from the initial scrambled white screen it does appear to play ok. IINA works best in all scenarios. There's no audio track for that video.