4K MP4 60fps will not run on Sony KD55AG9 [SOLVED]

[Peter Burrows]

I am using the latest version of PTE to produce an AV of photographs.

No problems until I attempt to publish the show as 3840 x 2160 High Quality 60fps.

The conversion appears to finish ok and it is copied onto a USB 3 memory stick and plugged into the Television.

The Installed video player does not recognise the file. I have tried other video players and although they recognise the file they will not play.

If I reduce the fps to 24 the file plays ok but this is not an ideal situation.

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Does anyone know the solution to the problem?

Regards.

Peter.

[Igor]

Hi Peter,

We know about this issue and working on the solution.

Try two variants:

1. If you have a new NVIDIA graphics. Tick the option "Hardware acceleration" and encode 4K video.

2. Try to use "Video for mobile devices" option in the Publish menu. Set 3840 x 2160, High quality, 60p.
Untick the option "Hardware acceleration".

4 minutes ago, Peter Burrows said:

... I have tried other video players and although they recognise the file they will not play.

Let me know - what other players you tried for 4K videos?

[Peter Burrows]

Igor.

Thanks for replying.

I contacted the Sony forum and they suggested I tried other players. I tried Archos, VLC and Nova. They said the memory stick may be too slow but I am using USB 3 or 3.1. and the recommended inputs are only USB 2.

Unfortunately my PC is 5-6 years old although it was a high spec at the time it was built. The Graphics are an integral part of the mother board. The monitor will not produce 4K. 

PTE did produce a warning about hardware acceleration but I thought  it was primarily aimed at the PC and monitor and would not affect the production of the MP4 file. If you think the graphics card does limit the video file production I will purchase a 4K card for the PC.

I have tried various quality settings but that has not solved the problem.

I notice an error in my first message, I can run the files at 30 fps I am not sure if this is significant.

Regards.   Peter.

[Peter Burrows]

Igor.

I have tried the mobile configuration as you suggested at 60fps  none of the installed players will play the video.

 

Peter.

[Igor]

Hi Peter,

Do I understand rightly, that 30p 4K video plays on your Sony 4K TV?

Did you try 4K 60p video created with a mobile option on your TV?

Usual 4K videos (not with mobile option) should play fine in VLC and MPC-HC players on Windows 10. Probably you need faster video card to handle 4K videos.

I recommend NVIDIA Geforce 1660, 1650, or 1060 for desktop computers. These video cards provide a hardware acceleration for 4K video encoding in PTE 10 and also acceleration for playback (in PTE, in VLC, or MPC-HC players).

Another user of PTE AV Studio with a modern NVIDIA graphics reported that he creates 4K 60p videos with hardware acceleration option in PTE 10 and these video files play fine on his two 4K TVs.

I'll continue investigation of an issue with 4K videos. Please give me more time to work on this. This task has high priority for me.

[Peter Burrows]

Dear Igor.

Yes 30p 4k will play on the Sony AG9.

The mobile option I tried was as you suggested 60p 4k and did not play.

I am not concerned about playing the 60p 4k on my PC, on occasions the video quality is very poor with my old graphics on a non 4k monitor but I accept that.

I will purchase a 4k graphics card if you believe it will solve the frame rate problem on the tv.

I asked the Sony forum if anyone had experience of PTE 60p 4k playing on a Sony AG9 but did not receive a reply. It could of course be a problem with the model of tv or my tv in particular, it is a newish model.

Thanks for your support.

Peter.

[Igor]

Peter,

Try this 4K 60p test video on your Sony 4K TV and on PC:

https://send.firefox.com/download/3cde50b2fb78c859/#fjV9jnqHrK1djhyS9CZ7mA

I encoded it with Hardware acceleration option using my NVIDIA Geforce 1060 in PTE 10.

Also if you have iPhone 8 or newer. Try to record 60p 4K video and check on your TV.

[Ron67]

The Sony A9G was the only set in BestBuy that would play a 4K High Quality 60P file published with hardware acceleration,  so I ordered one.  Now you've got me scared! 

[Peter Burrows]

Dear Igor,

I may have a clue for you.

I downloaded files you posted on this forum on 31/12/2019. (Wedding album)

handbrake-4k-60p.mp4 and pte-4k-60p-hevc.mp4     play ok.

pte.4k-60pnvenc.mp4 and pte10-4k-60p,mp4     do not play.

I must confess I do not understand the differences between the encoding systems or how to encode using the successful formats.

Regards.

Peter.

[Igor]

Peter,
Ron,

Thanks for testing!

It seems that modern 4K TVs support well HEVC format (H.265) without problems. Probably we'll modify video output in PTE 10 to produce HEVC video in 4K. The only problem - encoding of HEVC video takes much more time than traditional H.264.

 

[Peter Burrows]

Igor.

Sorry I missed your last post.

I can confirm that PTE10-4K-60p-NVIDIA played successfully and with sound.

The previous 4 files had no sound.

iPhone 8+ video file plays ok except a portrait pan is played as a picture turned through 90 deg and the pan is vertical but it plays and the quality looks good. I believe this is HEVC format which supports the findings of the results of attempting to play one of your previous four files.

Maybe HEVC is the solution? Is the HEVC codec integrated into PTE10 or can it be incorporated? 

One of the codecs listed in the Sony manual is HEVC / H.265 3840 x 60p  - the other is AVC / H.264.380 x 1080 60p

Peter

[Ron67]

Thanks for your hard work, Igor!  The A9G is scheduled to be delivered Tuesday.  I will let you know if it plays the 4K HQ 60P files that I have produced with my system.

Ron

[Peter Burrows]

Igor.

Sorry for the delay in communicating.

I have been trying to use Handbrake to create HEVC 4K 60p files with some success using previously converted MP4 files converted via PTE.

It occurs to me that it would be much better to convert the .pte to HEVC directly and not have a double conversion.

Is this achievable and if so how? I cannot find a way of loading .pte files into Handbrake, or am I doing something wrong.

[Igor]

Right now I'm checking video encoder parameters to find optimal values for 4K. Please wait a little.

[Igor]

Please try 2 test 4K videos on your 4K TV:

https://send.firefox.com/download/772a494cfb1bad38/#V1J2WeFMX34E32AvuBYMUw

[Peter Burrows]

Igor.

Again sorry for the delay in responding.

I am very pleased to report that both the 4k files you emailed work fine on the Sony A9G TV.

Will these formats be incorporated into 10 in the near future?

 

Regards Peter.

[Igor]

Peter,

Thanks for the confirmation!

Please try a new version 10.0.6 Beta:

https://files.wnsoft.com/test/pteavstudio-setup.exe

If everything is OK, I'll publish it officially.

[Peter Burrows]

Dear Igor.

The pte beta version you downloaded works well.

I very much appreciate your time and knowledge in sorting out this problem in such a timely manner.

I am very grateful.

Regards.

Peter.

[Peter Burrows]

Igor.

Why did you choose H.264 rather than H.265?

H.265 apparently offers better compression among other things and is the more modern Codec for MP4.

Peter.

[Igor]

Peter,

I'm glad that the new version works fine.

We're still thinking about H.265 (HEVC) support.

Current disadvantages of H.265:

1. Encoding takes in 3x time longer than H.264. 

2. Old computers and even not so old PCs can't play smoothly H.265. It requires GPU hardware acceleration for video decoding. For example, NVIDIA Geforce 1050 or newer.

[Peter Burrows]

Igor.

Thanks for the explanation. H.264 good choice for me with 5-6 year old computer.

Thanks again.