iBooks Author 2.1.2 crashing on movie import

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Level 1

111 points

iBooks Author 2.1.2 crashing on movie import

Movies that were easily imported into version 2.1.1 of iBooks Author are now causing version 2.1.2 to crash. This appears to be related to the appearance of " ProTranscoderTool (Not Responding)" in Activity Monitor. The estimated time to completion of "optimizing" continually increases, even beyond the duration of the movie itself. Eventually, iBooks Author will crash.

Possibly related is the fact that all of the problematic video that I have encountered was encoded using x.264 (e.g. ScreenFlow, Handbrake, et. al.).

I'm thinking that I should report this to: https://bugreport.apple.com/problem/viewproblem

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9), 12 TB Disk Space

Posted on Jun 12, 2014 1:47 PM

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Answer 1

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Jun 12, 2014 4:11 PM in response to Frank Lowney

Telling Apple is a good place to start.

Have you opened the movie in Quicktime (the one inside /Applications). That should try to convert any movies that are not supported by the new Quicktime (technically the AVFoundation framework). Save that as a new file & try again? The pro encoder tool is part of the conversion process IIRC.

It's worth giving Quicktime time to complete - I think it uses very high data rates if it detects high quality video, so it could take time with large files.

x264 should be able to make compatible movies, it just depends on getting the combination of codecs, tracks and formats right! See if converting via any of the Handbrake default presets works any better.

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Answer 2

K T

Level 7

23,877 points

Jun 12, 2014 6:56 PM in response to Frank Lowney

Sorry if I missed it, but have you tried pre-processing those videos thru iTunes and exporting for iOS/iPad?

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Answer 3

Frank Lowney Author

Level 1

111 points

Jun 13, 2014 9:28 AM in response to Drew Reece

@Drew Reece

Yes, I have reported it via bugreporter.apple.com.

Yes, I have opened these movies in QuickTime X Player but, no, that app did not attempt to do any conversion. It simply played correctly. Ditto for iTunes.

@KT

Good idea to reencode. Tried that using MacOS X Service "Encode Selected Videos" which invokes VTDecodeXPCService and avconvert as shown in Activity Monitor nearly maxing out all cores in turbo mode on my 2009 MacPro. This created a slightly smaller file (293.1 vs 251.2) changing the suffix from *.mp4 to *.m4v. The new file exhibited the same issues, ProTranscoderTool becoming unresponsive, I also tried some Handbrake encoded video with the same result.

In any case, ingesting a video should not cause iBA to crash. At worst, it should produce a dialogue saying that the video could not be imported.

I'd be very interested in the results of others trying to bring video into iBA 2.1.2. I've gotten a few small videos through but video of 25 min duration or longer will always cause a crash. It takes a while but it is inevitable.

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Answer 4

K T

Level 7

23,877 points

Jun 13, 2014 9:59 AM in response to Frank Lowney

The reason I suggest pre-processing is that I've learned not to trust iBA's video 'optimization'. It's just a habit now to take away as much risk going in.

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Answer 5

Frank Lowney Author

Level 1

111 points

Jun 13, 2014 2:56 PM in response to K T

In yet another attempt, I did manage to get my 27 minute video (one vide track, one audio track) into a test iBA project. However, it took almost two hours to do so. The ProTranscoderTool (not responding) in Activity Mnitor persisted throughout and was the likely culprit in this taking so long. Well, at least it didn't crash this time.

Deconstructing the *.ibooks file (using the Unarchver) revealed an only slightly different video file.

The long, complex multi-track test movie still crashes iBA rather quickly.

It would be good to hear that others have experienced the same thing or not. Anybody up for a few tests?

My simple 27 minute video is at:

http://dig1.gcsu.edu/frank_lowney/screencasts/blog/FreeScreencastingVoiceTalent/ recap.html

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Answer 6

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Jun 13, 2014 8:28 PM in response to Frank Lowney

The movie does the same for me in iBooks Author.

The processing time increased, after an hour it said another 4h 30m was remaining so I gave up, sorry.

According to Apple 720 is big enough for iBooks Author 'HTML widgets'…

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5065

The 'Media widgets' iPad movie format link is broken so you may need to find the generic recommendations for iPad compatable movies. Handbrake seems to use 1280 so maybe it's fine as it is? I'd try a 720 version maybe?

I took a look at the movie with mediainfo it looks OK to me & I transcoded it with Handbreak (the GUI) with iPad settings it came out at 89Mb but still did the same thing. I really don't understand what iBA is doing.

http://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo/Download/Mac_OS (theres a command line version too).

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Answer 7

K T

Level 7

23,877 points

Jun 13, 2014 8:29 PM in response to Frank Lowney

I downloaded your video, opened it in QT Player, exported for iPad, started a new book in iBA v 2.1.2 using the Basic template and dragged it to the first page from the Finder.

No complaints/crashes from iBA...no messages about optimizing, etc.

I then exported as an .ibooks file and opened in iBook on Mavericks. Works fine. Say hi to Daniel.

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Answer 8

Drew Reece

Level 6

10,660 points

Jun 14, 2014 10:28 AM in response to K T

I have run the 720 iPad export on this movie too, and I see what you describe KT, the new export goes into iBA fine. I cannot do a larger export for iPad 2.

Here is what mediainfo says about each file…

It looks like the containers are different?

$ mediainfo FreeVoiceTalentRecap.m4v

General

Complete name : FreeVoiceTalentRecap.m4v

Format : MPEG-4

Format profile : Base Media / Version 2

Codec ID : mp42

File size : 280 MiB

Duration : 27mn 37s

Overall bit rate mode : Variable

Overall bit rate : 1 415 Kbps

Encoded date : UTC 2014-06-05 20:51:44

Tagged date : UTC 2014-06-05 21:04:14

Video

ID : 1

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : Main@L3.1

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 27mn 37s

Bit rate : 1 206 Kbps

Width : 1 280 pixels

Height : 720 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate mode : Constant

Frame rate : 30.000 fps

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.044

Stream size : 238 MiB (85%)

Encoded date : UTC 2014-06-05 20:51:44

Tagged date : UTC 2014-06-05 21:04:14

Color primaries : BT.709

Transfer characteristics : BT.709

Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio

ID : 2

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : 40

Duration : 27mn 37s

Bit rate mode : Variable

Bit rate : 205 Kbps

Maximum bit rate : 454 Kbps

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 40.5 MiB (14%)

Encoded date : UTC 2014-06-05 20:51:44

Tagged date : UTC 2014-06-05 20:52:15

[~]$ mediainfo FreeVoiceTalentRecap-qtx-ipad.m4v

General

Complete name : FreeVoiceTalentRecap-qtx-ipad.m4v

Format : MPEG-4

Codec ID : M4V

File size : 263 MiB

Duration : 27mn 37s

Overall bit rate : 1 334 Kbps

Encoded date : UTC 2014-06-14 17:13:11

Tagged date : UTC 2014-06-14 17:13:39

Video

ID : 2

Format : AVC

Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec

Format profile : Main@L3.1

Format settings, CABAC : Yes

Format settings, ReFrames : 5 frames

Codec ID : avc1

Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding

Duration : 27mn 37s

Source duration : 27mn 37s

Source_Duration_LastFrame : 66ms

Bit rate : 1 206 Kbps

Width : 1 280 pixels

Height : 720 pixels

Display aspect ratio : 16:9

Frame rate mode : Constant

Frame rate : 30.000 fps

Color space : YUV

Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0

Bit depth : 8 bits

Scan type : Progressive

Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.044

Stream size : 238 MiB (90%)

Source stream size : 238 MiB (90%)

Title : Core Media Video

Encoded date : UTC 2014-06-14 17:13:11

Tagged date : UTC 2014-06-14 17:13:39

Color primaries : BT.709

Transfer characteristics : BT.709

Matrix coefficients : BT.709

Audio

ID : 1

Format : AAC

Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec

Format profile : LC

Codec ID : 40

Duration : 27mn 36s

Source duration : 27mn 37s

Bit rate mode : Constant

Bit rate : 123 Kbps

Nominal bit rate : 160 Kbps

Channel(s) : 2 channels

Channel positions : Front: L R

Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz

Compression mode : Lossy

Stream size : 24.4 MiB (9%)

Source stream size : 24.4 MiB (9%)

Title : Core Media Audio

Encoded date : UTC 2014-06-14 17:13:11

Tagged date : UTC 2014-06-14 17:13:39

(Excuse the formatting, I can't get past 'permission denied' or 'an error occured' when posting the formatted version from Terminal)

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Answer 9

K T

Level 7

23,877 points

Jun 14, 2014 10:30 AM in response to Drew Reece

Perhaps - In any case, I think that's what iBA's digestion scheme has been reacting to.

Thanks for the data points 😎

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Answer 10

Frank Lowney Author

Level 1

111 points

Jun 21, 2014 5:09 PM in response to K T

Others have reported similarly. If the video presented to iBA has been re-encoded by an Apple app such as QuickTime X Player, it seems to get an easier row to hoe. OTOH, if the source is from an app that uses the x.264 CODEC (e.g I often use ScreenFlow 4.5 and Handbrake 0.9.9), the iBA optimizer tries to do things it cannot do (and crashes) or has great difficulty doing (take hours to handle a 27 minute video).

I did get a quick response to my bug report from Apple. They asked for samples so I've provided samples that crash iBA and samples that are very slow to process.

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Answer 11

MaciPad

Level 1

15 points

Jun 22, 2014 7:06 AM in response to Frank Lowney

Is Compressor - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/compressor/id424390742 better to use first for videos in iBooks Author?

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Answer 12

Frank Lowney Author

Level 1

111 points

Jun 22, 2014 9:36 AM in response to MaciPad

Short answer: Probably not

The long answer:

Actually, it would appear that Apple is trying to make it unnecessary to do any pre-processing of video. If you Control-click on version 2.1.3 of the iBooks Author.app and select Show Package Contents from the resulting contextual menu, you'll see a folder named Contents. Open that folder and look for a sub-folder named Plugins. Open that and notice a subfolder named Compressor. This, I gather, contains either all or part of the Compressor encoding engine. In other words, Compressor is now built in to iBA and is probably used by the Optimizer. All of this is in contrast to the 1.0 version of iBA which required a good bit of very specific kinds of video pre-processing.

I have dropped a 2+ GB ProRez file on iBA with good results. I wish that I could say that for all the video I bring to iBA but, so far, I cannot. If your video was created with Apple technologies, the results should be good. If your video was created with an app that uses the x.264 CODEC (e.g. Handbrake, ScreenFlow,) or has more tracks than just an audio and a video track, your results will be unpredictable. In my testing of x.264 video so far, I have seen iBA produce good results in some cases, extremely long optimizing sessions in other cases and outright iBA crashing in others. I have filed bug reports for the two problematic case types.

For those who want to play detective along with me, the procedure is pretty easy to follow. Here's how:

1) Create an expendable iBA project (just in case something goes very wrong).

2) Create a variety of test videos some using Apple apps and others using non-Apple apps, especially those that use x.264 such as Handbrake and ScreenFlow

3) Optionally, add extra tracks to some of your test videos using an app such as Subler (free) or iSubtitle. This is where iBA crashing is possible.

4) Add one or more videos to the expendable iBA project making sure that they are named differently and intuitively and noting how much time it actually takes to optimize as opposed to what iBA suggests it will take.

5) Export to iBooks creating an *.ibooks file

Now for the interesting part:

6) Download The Unarchiver (donation ware): https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-unarchiver/id425424353?mt=12 and use it to open the *.ibooks file that you just exported from iBA. Like a lot of the files produced by Apple apps, this is a package file which is nothing more than a folder full of files that has been gripped. If you are familiar with the internal structure of EPUB files, you'll see a lot that looks familiar.

7) The result of this unzipping will be a folder with the same name as the *ibooks file. We'll need to dig a little bit to find out what happened to our videos. Here's the path: OPS/assets/media/ Here, you will find the "after iBA" version of your video.

8) Take note of the differences between the before iBA and after iBA versions of your video. This step can be as simple as using QuickTime X Player doing a Window > Show Movie Inspector (Cmd-I) or as complex as using the MediaInfo app (free here: http://mediaarea.net/en/MediaInfo99 cents here: https://itunes.apple.com/app/mediainfo/id510620098).

Have fun.

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Answer 13

Fix-it

Level 1

0 points

Jun 30, 2014 4:00 AM in response to Frank Lowney

Hi Frank,

I faced the same problem when i used version 2.1.3 for the first time today. i.e. a file that was a .mp4 file kept on showing an ever increasing time for "optimising video". For a 24MB file. This took less than a few seconds in the previous versions.

The solution is simple (though i have not figured out why this extra step is now needed!!!):

1. Open the file in QT

2. Export for iPad (don't get frightened by the file size that is shown there)

3. Drag and drop to IBA. Works fine.

G.

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Answer 14

Frank Lowney Author

Level 1

111 points

Jun 30, 2014 8:49 AM in response to Fix-it

Yes, that will speed things up in iBA. However, this tactic simply shifts the burden from iBA to QuickTime X Player. If you are in a production environment where time is money, this extra step adds up fast. Yes, the optimizer is a background process but it still takes a lot of CPU cycles according to Activity Monitor (look for ProTranscoderTool).

It definitely wouldn't hurt to report this at https://bugreport.apple.com/ This is how Apple engineering prioritizes their work. More bug reports on an issue pushes it up the priority list.

If anyone has a video with subtitle or alternate audio tracks, you may see iBA crash. That would also be a very valuable bug report.

Be prepared for Apple to ask you to send them a movie that exhibits the problem reported. I've sent three already.

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