Is anyone successfully using MP4 files from LRT to use as source material for longer/larger sequences (with say iMove, Premiere or FCX)?

I have the Personal edition that can't export to ProRes so I'm limited to MP4 exports. These play just fine in QTPlayer and VLC but won't play correctly in the editing timelines in any of the above video editors. Often I'll get a blank playback or a stuck frame with the timeline otherwise indicating the file is playing. Editing sequences is therefore next to impossible.

I've tried every possible combination of MP4 export in LRT but they all suffer this same issue. MP4 files sourced elsewhere work just fine so it appears to be entirely related to the MP4 export tool. Tested LRT 4.7.1 ~ 4.7.4.

The only way forward right now is to either purchase LRT Pro or transcode my MP4s to ProRes. If I transcode to ProRes first it works perfectly but I'm concerned this will impact the final quality.

Running OSX 10.12.1.

That's really strange. Are you using the latest versions of the video editing programs? They should work just fine with the MP4 files.
Which resolution did you use when rendering from LRT?

I spent the afternoon yesterday rendering every combination. All resolutions suffer the same problem. I did seem to get better results by forcing 16:9 output in the render dialogue but it wasn't consistent.

iMovie & Premiere are latest versions.

Curiously I noted during my testing that earlier rendered sequences don't play properly in VLC...they suffer similar playback issues as that experienced in the editors. I switched from QTPlayer to VLC when I read your recommendations elsewhere. So only freshly rendered MP4 files from LRT4.7.4 play properly in VLC.

BTW, 4K video off my Nikon D500 play and edit perfectly in all of the above tools. I have a 2015 27" 5K iMac with 2 TB Fusion drive.

Even more curious...MP4 files from LRT behave the same as OSX on my Windows 10 Laptop with VLC.

It seems that MP4 rendering from LRT is completely broken on my iMac.

Anything I can check in terms of pre-req's?

First let me say that I haven't had one single other report with a problem like this. For me it seems to be something on your system.
Please try reinstalling LRTimelapse. Maybe some other program has overwritten the encoder (on mac it's located in a public folder).
Then try again. If it happens again, send me the log file after rendering one of those files from LRTimelapse (info menu/show log in LRT).
Send me one of those video files via http://wetransfer.com or dropbox too.
On windows I'd rather use MPC player, it's more reliable: http://mpc-hc.org/

Uninstalled and reinstalled 4.7.4. Same issue. I may just need to reload my iMac (gah!)

Link to a 10 second sample. This plays a frozen frame for the first 5 seconds then plays very broken/distorted video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/496cfr32g3kw2s...B.mp4?dl=0

Maybe there is something obvious in the log:

[2016-12-13 20:35:27] DEBUG: Launching mpeg converter: /usr/local/bin/ffmpeg
[2016-12-13 20:35:27] INFO: Deleted existing file.
[2016-12-13 20:35:27] DEBUG: Writing aspect ratio 3:2 to metadata of video file.
[2016-12-13 20:35:27] DEBUG: Launched encoder.
[2016-12-13 20:35:27] DEBUG:   Speed 1.0
[2016-12-13 20:35:27] DEBUG:   Quality 3
[2016-12-13 20:35:27] DEBUG:   Frame rate 24
[2016-12-13 20:35:27] DEBUG:   Output cs 420
[2016-12-13 20:35:27] DEBUG:   Width 3840
[2016-12-13 20:35:27] DEBUG:   Height 2560
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: ffmpeg version 3.1.4 Copyright © 2000-2016 the FFmpeg developers
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   built with llvm-gcc 4.2.1 (LLVM build 2336.11.00)
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   configuration: --prefix=/Volumes/tempdisk/sw --as=yasm --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-pthreads --disable-ffplay --disable-ffserver --disable-shared --enable-static --enable-libvpx --disable-decoder=libvpx --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopus --enable-libtheora --enable-libvorbis --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxvid --enable-zlib --enable-avfilter --enable-fontconfig --enable-libfreetype --enable-libass --enable-libvidstab --enable-filters --enable-postproc --enable-runtime-cpudetect --disable-indev=qtkit --disable-indev=x11grab_xcb
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   libavutil      55. 28.100 / 55. 28.100
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   libavcodec     57. 48.101 / 57. 48.101
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   libavformat    57. 41.100 / 57. 41.100
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   libavdevice    57.  0.101 / 57.  0.101
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   libavfilter     6. 47.100 /  6. 47.100
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   libswscale      4.  1.100 /  4.  1.100
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   libswresample   2.  1.100 /  2.  1.100
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   libpostproc    54.  0.100 / 54.  0.100
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: Input #0, image2, from '/Users/blondienbaldie/Desktop/LRT_Castle_Point/LRT_%05d.jpg':
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   Duration: 00:00:09.60, start: 0.000000, bitrate: N/A
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:     Stream #0:0: Video: mjpeg, yuvj444p(pc, bt470bg/unknown/unknown), 4096x2731, 25 tbr, 25 tbn, 25 tbc
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: [swscaler @ 0x7ff69c000a00] deprecated pixel format used, make sure you did set range correctly
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: [swscaler @ 0x7ff69b8c8a00] deprecated pixel format used, make sure you did set range correctly
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] using SAR=1/1
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] frame MB size (240x160) > level limit (36864)
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] using cpu capabilities: MMX2 SSE2Fast SSSE3 SSE4.2 AVX FMA3 AVX2 LZCNT BMI2
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] profile High, level 5.2
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] 264 - core 148 r2721 72d53ab - H.264/MPEG-4 AVC codec - Copyleft 2003-2016 - http://www.videolan.org/x264.html - options: 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=6 lookahead_threads=1 sliced_threads=0 nr=0 decimate=1 interlaced=0 bluray_compat=0 constrained_intra=0 bframes=3 b_pyramid=2 b_adapt=1 b_bias=0 direct=1 weightb=1 open_gop=0 weightp=2 keyint=250 keyint_min=24 scenecut=40 intra_refresh=0 rc_lookahead=40 rc=crf mbtree=1 crf=10.0 qcomp=0.60 qpmin=0 qpmax=69 qpstep=4 ip_ratio=1.40 aq=1:1.00
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: [mp4 @ 0x7ff69b000000] Using AVStream.codec to pass codec parameters to muxers is deprecated, use AVStream.codecpar instead.
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: [mp4 @ 0x7ff69b000000] Failed to parse creation_time "2016-12-13T20:35:27"
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: Output #0, mp4, to '/var/folders/rh/80ycksy56j7385pj592c38lw0000gn/T/LRT_Render_2720984428601571853.mp4':
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   Metadata:
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:     creation_time   : "2016-12-13T20:35:27"
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:     encoder         : Lavf57.41.100
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:     Stream #0:0: Video: h264 (libx264) ([33][0][0][0] / 0x0021), yuvj420p(pc, bt2020c/bt2020/bt2020-10), 3840x2560 [SAR 1:1 DAR 3:2], q=-1--1, 24 fps, 12288 tbn, 24 tbc
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:     Metadata:
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:       encoder         : Lavc57.48.101 libx264
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:     Side data:
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:       cpb: bitrate max/min/avg: 0/0/0 buffer size: 0 vbv_delay: -1
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: Stream mapping:
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   Stream #0:0 (mjpeg) -> scale
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG:   unsharp -> Stream #0:0 (libx264)
[2016-12-13 20:35:28] DEBUG: Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: video:381691kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: 0.001205%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] frame I:1     Avg QP:11.40  size:3026130
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] frame P:61    Avg QP:10.72  size:2283051
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] frame B:180   Avg QP:12.89  size:1380879
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] consecutive B-frames:  0.8%  0.0%  0.0% 99.2%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] mb I  I16..4:  6.3% 64.4% 29.3%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] mb P  I16..4:  6.2% 38.5% 10.0%  P16..4: 16.4% 16.6% 12.1%  0.0%  0.0%    skip: 0.3%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] mb B  I16..4:  3.3% 18.6%  5.1%  B16..8: 20.5% 12.0%  9.0%  direct:28.2%  skip: 3.3%  L0:34.1% L1:27.5% BI:38.4%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] 8x8 transform intra:69.5% inter:42.9%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] coded y,uvDC,uvAC intra: 98.9% 58.7% 56.0% inter: 89.6% 50.0% 21.9%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] i16 v,h,dc,p:  3%  5% 31% 60%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] i8 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu:  7% 21% 41%  4%  5%  4%  7%  3%  8%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] i4 v,h,dc,ddl,ddr,vr,hd,vl,hu: 10% 23% 24%  6%  9%  5%  9%  4% 10%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] i8c dc,h,v,p: 58% 31%  8%  3%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] Weighted P-Frames: Y:4.9% UV:4.9%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] ref P L0: 40.1% 17.7% 27.9% 14.1%  0.2%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] ref B L0: 78.3% 15.2%  6.5%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] ref B L1: 93.9%  6.1%
[2016-12-13 20:38:14] DEBUG: [libx264 @ 0x7ff69b001c00] kb/s:310096.28
[2016-12-13 20:38:15] DEBUG: External encoder finished successfully.
[2016-12-13 20:38:17] INFO: Copied temporary file to render directory.
[2016-12-13 20:38:17] INFO: ...deleted temporary file.
[2016-12-13 20:38:17] INFO: Rendered video is located at: /Users/blondienbaldie/Desktop/Castle_Point_h264-420_4KUHD_24_VHQ+.mp4
[2016-12-13 20:38:17] DEBUG: Locating in Finder: /Users/blondienbaldie/Desktop/Castle_Point_h264-420_4KUHD_24_VHQ+.mp4

This post was last modified: 2016-12-13, 13:03 by Gunther.

The video file is totally okay and plays back nice and smoothly here.
Make sure to not use Quicktime player for playback since that one is know for causing many problems (especially with high resolution or uncommon video aspect ratios like 3:2).
Better use VLC player and make sure that your computer is fast enough for 4K playback.
The files the LRTimelapse produces are High Quality masters that are meant for further editing in video editing software rather then for direct playback.

Thanks. I'd say a 27" 2015 iMac is fast enough in terms of specs. It must be, I'm editing 4k video off my Nikon just fine and much larger clips too.

BTW, that test file and all the others play perfectly in QTPlayer. Its VLC that refuses to play them. Anyway, that's not the point of my post...the files aren't editable unless I transcode to ProRes first.

Maybe I'll reload the iMac over the holidays and see if that improves anything. Maybe I'll just upgrade to Pro so I can create ProRes directly

Cheers.

This post was last modified: 2016-12-13, 23:59 by Gunther.

I can send you a prores file from LRTimelapse, if you want to test. Just drop me an email (support(at)lrtimelapse(dot)com).

This post was last modified: 2017-01-22, 02:37 by guttedgeek.

I thought I'd followup on this post...

I reloaded my iMac over the holidays and it made no difference. For whatever reason my machine seems to lack the throughput to play the MP4 files directly in VLC. I have found however that FCPX will happily import them and if I select "optimise media" on import, the resulting clips work perfectly and I've been able to finally edit my first time lapse movie