I can’t see my videos with IOS 13.4

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?

I've encoded all of my videos to the strict encoding profiles established six years ago. They all still play just fine. If you encoded outside of those profiles and they don't work... well, doesn't take a rocket scientist.

Again, what profile did you use? Do you want to actually solve this?

I’m not an expert and don’t really understand what you mean by “strict encoding profiles” but I know all my video content is encoded to H.264 with the .mp4 or .m4v suffix and has worked on all manner of iPads I’ve owned, but not the new one with 13.4. They all still play on both my old 10.5 inch iPad Pro and my 11 Pro Max which are still on 13.3.1, but my new 2020 12.9 inch Pro which has 13.4 pre-installed, and is now on 13.4.1 since yesterday won’t play anything. Clearly a bug to me.

Then you don't understand bugs. A bug represents an unintended action or failure within the confines of normal operation.

In this case, the codec and container requirements were set three operating systems ago to ensure future compatibility. This was not Apple that set these standards, These were set by ISO.

Since nobody here wants to do the legwork, I'm out. I can't help people who have zero interest in helping themselves.

Except Apple advertises the new iPad as compatible with H.264 like every one before it. I’ve had issues with content encoded to H.265 because Apple devices aren’t compatible with that.

I don’t think you read my response. These videos have worked and continue to work no problem on other devices with the previous iOS, 13.3. Nothing about the videos or the way they are encoded has changed. It is quite clear a bug has occurred that prevents the videos from being played in 13.4.

Firstly in case you didn't notice, I'm a different person than the other one you were originally discussing this with - it seems like you think you're talking to the same person.

Secondly, you're right about the H.265 I got that part wrong. I actually knew that as I sorted the issue I was having with it a couple months back.

I'm using a simple programme called MP4 Tools available through the Mac App Store as I need to convert most content I have from .mkv to .mp4 before syncing it to my iDevices, but the codec doesn't change. All the videos come as H.264 and all I do is convert the audio to AAC from AC3 as I've had issues playing content with AC3 audio.

I say again though, why would these videos suddenly not work on 13.4 unless it's a bug? Nothing has changed, at least not as advertised, from Apple's end about what should and shouldn't work now, so video content that works on other iDevices should still work on the new one. The only difference is 13.4.

No sorry, and I can't find it with a quick Google search. It's a programme I have used for a long time and is simply called MP4 Tools. It may not be available anymore but it was free and was updated a few months ago to handle H.265 conversions which it couldn't previously do, which is where my previous problem came from.

What's your opinion on the fact that the same videos still work on the previous OS version on other devices but not 13.4 though? I'm grateful you're trying to help but I don't see how this is an encoding issue. Several people are reporting this same problem since upgrading to 13.4 including on older devices so it's not a 2020 iPad Pro issue either. 13.4 appears to be the problem, whether intentional or unintentional, though I hope the latter.

We are not allowed to discuss any procedures about ripping any type of commercial tv/movie content and Apple doesn't spy onanyone, but they have, in the past, shutdown avenues that made it possible for stored, custom ripped commercial content from playing on both Macs and iOS.

I use a third party app on my Mac for this purpose.

I custom rip such content, but my workaround for this has not been affected by the recent iOS updates as I have been using a third party wireless drive with an iOS third party wireless drive app that allows my content to still be played from this external, wireless drive and NOT played directly from Apple's TV app.

Again, specific discussions of the apps and procedures to do this cannot be discussed here under the User Agreement Terms of Use of these support communities.

MichelPM.

MichelPM wrote:

We are not allowed to discuss any procedures about ripping any type of commercial tv/movie content and Apple doesn't spy onanyone, but they have, in the past, shutdown avenues that made it possible for stored, custom ripped commercial content from playing on both Macs and iOS.

I'm not discussing that at all and you are speculating on the intent of others and myself here.

I post MY OWN videos on my site that are free from copyrighted material.

use a third party app on my Mac for this purpose.

I custom rip such content, but my workaround for this has not been affected by the recent iOS updates as I have been using a third party wireless drive with an iOS third party wireless drive app that allows my content to still be played from this external, wireless drive and NOT played directly from Apple's TV app.

That doesn't help this situation.

gain, specific discussions of the apps and procedures to do this cannot be discussed here under the User Agreement Terms of Use of these support communities.

Again, stop putting words into my mouth. I never said anything related to that. Your assumption is not my intent.

Benjamin Ing wrote:

In my email, I specifically mentioned that the content still plays fine in the TV app on my MacBookAir running Catalina. This is not an encoding issue.

Maybe you want a solution? Doesn't seem anyone else wants wants to.

Do they work in VLC?

What are you using to encode these videos?

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?

They all still playback perfectly fine in the TV app on my MacBook Air. That is why I am calling it a bug.

I can open them in another app on my iPad but transferring is a pain since I can’t just plug in and sync it.

I understand the underlying content security issues but there are plenty of other apps that allow you to copy content and play it back off of an iPad (Netflix, Hulu, Sling, etc.) This was all litigated before with VCRs and the DCMA, but if Apple is truly worried, they should let people know. And fwiw, your continuing insinuation that I am doing something wrong is not helpful, if it isn’t a bug particular to iOS 13.4 why does the exact same content play back in iOS 13.3 and in the Mac desktop apps?

Benjamin Ing wrote:

They all still playback perfectly fine in the TV app on my MacBook Air. That is why I am calling it a bug.

I can open them in another app on my iPad but transferring is a pain since I can’t just plug in and sync it.

I understand the underlying content security issues but there are plenty of other apps that allow you to copy content and play it back off of an iPad (Netflix, Hulu, Sling, etc.) This was all litigated before with VCRs and the DCMA, but if Apple is truly worried, they should let people know. And fwiw, your continuing insinuation that I am doing something wrong is not helpful, if it isn’t a bug particular to iOS 13.4 why does the exact same content play back in iOS 13.3 and in the Mac desktop apps?

Not a bug. Two different devices with two classifications of hardware acceleration. I've posted in this thread many times on how to determine what the issue actually is. If you don't want to do the legwork in helping me help you, then I'm not going to waste my time. Post an analysis using mediainfo linked above and then I can help.

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.