I can’t see my videos with IOS 13.4

TigeyRai wrote:

I’ve figured out the problem. It’s with AAC surround sound audio. My content works if I use AAC 2-channel audio or AC3, but AAC 6-channel audio, which is what most of my videos are, is the problem. Fortunately it’s easy to convert the audio so that it works, but still annoying since I have several hundred videos that will need converting.

It may still be a bug, or Apple decided that AAC surround sound was no longer acceptable and didn’t tell us.

You can set up a batch encoding pretty easy. I would just add another audio stream instead of replacing one.

It's smart enough to search for a compatible stream before it gives up.

FFMPEG would sail through that pretty quick.

I have spent a bunch of time testing every iteration and I have come to the conclusion that Apple has removed support for multi-channel AAC audio in iPadOS/iOS 13.4. iOS 13.4 will support 2ch AAC but not 5.1 AAC. Part of what confused me was that Handbrake encodes video packages that will play back in the native TV app, but after looking carefully at the Handbrake parameters, it appears that in the iPad presets they use 2ch AAC along with 6ch ac3.

Considering that Apple has been one of the biggest proponents of AAC, this is a strange and unexpected turn of events. Even though Apple claimed that AAC was more efficient and transparent than ac3, it now appears that since Dolby's ac3 license expired in 2017, Apple has decided to follow that format while removing support for their "superior" solution. oth I am still not convinced that this is not a bug considering that media files with multichannel AAC audio are still able to playback on Mac hardware (including Catalina) and (as far as I have seen to this point) in TV OS and also with VLC or other video playback apps on iPads & iPhones. The issue is obviously not hardware based since it can play on an iOS device and appears to be constrained only to the native player. I am also wondering if this is related to Apple moving the video playback functionality into its own TV app - there are parts of the TV app that still appear to only be half-baked in the separation of audio and video into their own apps.

I have begun encoding all my newer multichannel video clips in ac3, but will likely leave the 10TB of other content in AAC unless I decide I am specifically going to play back on an iOS device. I still hold out hope that this is a bug that Apple will fix, but it certainly appears that it is a low priority for Apple to address. I doubt they will comment on this issue since they have proven over the past few years that they are perfectly happy to abandon some of their own highly touted technologies without any explanation.

Let's be more specific about this: The videos don't work in the TV app.

I can't tell you why your videos don't work in that app because I have no clue what encoder you used (not even a screenshot?!). There are a bunch of variables that go into encoding video and Apple maintains and updates the decoders USED IN THE TV APP to be strictly compliant with ISO specs.

You have two choices.

1. Learn how to encode videos properly.
2. Use a player that can play videos that are encoded poorly or out of specification.

I don't see 1 happening anytime soon with anyone who has participated in this thread, so, let's go with option 2.

Do the videos work in VLC?

It'll be listed as "VLC for Mobile" in the App Store.

Since this player will play out of spec videos it could potentially have issues like reduced battery life and occasional artifacts. This is why Apple sticks to established profiles. Established profiles don't have issues like that because they've been thoroughly tested. Any MKV you grab off the internet usually has been encoded for one thing in mind: Space. They fudge the profiles and sacrifice stability for space. That's why a blu-ray is 50 Gigabyte and an MKV is 4.5-7GB.

You ever wondered why blu-rays are that big? That's why. Compatibility, Stability, transfer capability and medium.

subler only remuxes the audio on any given input file, the video portion could still be out of spec.

There's a program called mediainfo:

https://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo/Download/Mac_OS

This will give further info on what the video actually consists of. Post a screenshot, like so:

TigeyRai wrote:

I have managed to narrow down the problem - it appears to be with multi-channel audio. I saw someone mention this in a thread on another site with others having the same issue and tested it with my own content.

Any of my videos with 2 channel audio actually still work. Guess I hadn't randomly checked anything with 2 channel before. The issue is with videos that have multi-channel or surround sound audio, which won't play anymore. Unfortunately most of my content has multi-channel audio but this is actually very easy, just tedious, to fix myself if Apple won't.

Can anyone else confirm this or have an idea for why it's now an issue when it wasn't before?

What multichannel audio is not playing? There are literally more than 20 types of multichannel audio being used in containers these days. Could be a bitrate issue as well. Some hardware decoders will just flat out crash with bitrates that are above spec.

Post a mediainfo analysis of a video file if you want any assistance.

I’ve figured out the problem. It’s with AAC surround sound audio. My content works if I use AAC 2-channel audio or AC3, but AAC 6-channel audio, which is what most of my videos are, is the problem. Fortunately it’s easy to convert the audio so that it works, but still annoying since I have several hundred videos that will need converting.

It may still be a bug, or Apple decided that AAC surround sound was no longer acceptable and didn’t tell us.

How you encoded them differently?

The top video has a lower profile, 4 vs 4.1. The bitrates and reference frames do match, that's good. Apple devices will reliably support AVC up to 5.1 @ 2.4mb/sec.

The bitrate for the six channel audio on the bottom screenshot is well below what it should be. Same codec appears to be used in both but the bottom one is trying to push four more channels with the same bitrate...

Again, get off the "Bug" train. This is not a bug. If you re-encode that audio to something within actual spec, and it works... not a bug. Tell me more about that six channel audio.

Dolby Digital? DTS? DTS-ES? DTS:NEO6? Dolby Pro Logic iix? Dolby Pro Logic llx? Dolby Digital EX? THX Surround EX? DTS-ES? Dolby Digital Plus? Dolby TrueHD? DTS-HD? DTS-HD Master? Dolby Atmos?.... etc. We haven't even got into the "side audio" stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpw2H9nH3gU

Work around but you will have to download the media player app.

Also I have found these home movies will play if you use Bluetooth

ear buds (Apple). Some posts are seeing the movie won’t load due to the seven channels of audio.

So when downloading if you just make it two channels (PCM) if you have that option.

hello , I am also having this issue.... I am using subler to encode the videos .... also I have found that videos with AAC 6 Ch Will not play .... but videos with AAC 2 ch players perfectly.

also, all the videos that don’t play on my iOS devices with 13.4 or 13.4.1 play perfectly on all other iOS devices running 13.3.

any help would be great.

thanks

I have managed to narrow down the problem - it appears to be with multi-channel audio. I saw someone mention this in a thread on another site with others having the same issue and tested it with my own content.

Any of my videos with 2 channel audio actually still work. Guess I hadn't randomly checked anything with 2 channel before. The issue is with videos that have multi-channel or surround sound audio, which won't play anymore. Unfortunately most of my content has multi-channel audio but this is actually very easy, just tedious, to fix myself if Apple won't.

Can anyone else confirm this or have an idea for why it's now an issue when it wasn't before?

I am seeing the exact same issue. Been ripping my own content myself - I have a couple SiliconDust boxes and am running HDHomeRun. I go through the time to edit out commercials and host all the content on an iTunes server running on an old cheese grater Mac Pro. Been doing this for years and realized the issue when the iPadOS 13.4 beta was released. I downgraded back to 13.3 and functionality was restored. I can still play my content back on my Macs running OS X Catalina, but when my iPad automatically upgraded to 13.4 it stopped loading my home brew content once again.

I spent a huge amount of time in chat and then on phone calls with Apple about a day after 13.4 dropped. Easily at least 2 hours straight. Got shuffled around a few people, even spoke to a senior advisor who then told me all I could do was to submit a bug report to the feedback.apple.com address. That was a couple of weeks ago and I have heard absolutely nothing from Apple. The update to 13.4.1 still hasn’t fixed the issue. Not sure how to get Apple to listen but the iPad is mostly a consumption device and not being able to watch my own ripped content is incredibly disappointing- especially during the quarantine period.

I’m a long time Apple user, back to the days of the 512 Mac. Had the 1st gen iPhone, 1st gen iPads, and Am even still hanging on to my Apple Newton. Incredibly disappointed at seeing this functionality not working and the lack of response that Apple is showing.

Hello,

Have you tried restarting your iPad?

Restart your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch - Apple Support

For all who have replied to this post,

You are free and welcome to submit feedback about this issue to Apple.

This is only one of the few ways to directly contact Apple about ANY product issues.

iPad Feedback

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Cognizant Apple employees read ALL feedback generated from all of the various feedback pages and transfers the data to the proper and responsible Apple teams and personnel, but NO Apple employees will ever respond with any type of direct, individual replies from the feedback you post.

The more users that post product feedback about any product issue, the faster Apple, in California, is made aware and starts working on a fix/solution for a future software update.

Also, I suggest contacting/reaching out to Apple Product support and services.

Tap on the first link below and scroll down some to get to the Apple Product Support section and phone numbers for your location/region.

https://www.apple.com/contact/

OR

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201232

Best of Luck to All!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpw2H9nH3gU

Work around but you will have to download the media player app.

First, you need to relax a bit and stop blaming everything on Apple. You're encoding the video incorrectly. This still works fine for my personal videos on 13.4. MichelPM, do you have direct experience with this issue or video encoding? If so, what are you using?

What container/codec are you using?