bigpal

Q: M4V/MP4 support on MacOS Sierra broken?

I have a decent movie collection I started some fifteen years ago. Whenever I purchase a DVD or BD, I digitize it, specifically into a m4v container using h.264 compression. The system has worked for years, and my AppleTV's have happily supported all of my media.

 

On El Capitan, all of my movies played on iTunes, Quicktime, AppleTV, and even Plex. Both mp4 and m4v. (both use h.264 compression, but m4v and mp4 containers differ slightly). When I upgraded to Sierra, I noticed the album art wasn't showing up in Finder or in iTunes. When I try to play certain movies, Quicktime fails. iTunes can't play them, and neither can Plex. VLC plays everything fine. It's happening on about half of the titles. They are encoded the same, and it makes no difference whether they are HD or SD. It happens on multiple systems, on have Sierra in common. They all have the same behavior, exactly. I restored my media server to the day before Sierra, and everything is working again on El Capitan. It doesn't appear that Quicktime has changed. All I can think is that Perian finally broke, since it is no longer under development. What puzzles me, is that I shouldn't need Perian for m4v, since this is a Apple supported format.

 

Any ideas on what the heck happened to h.264/m4v/mp4 support after the upgrade? Is anyone else experiencing this?

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12)

Posted on Oct 1, 2016 11:08 AM

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Q: M4V/MP4 support on MacOS Sierra broken?

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  • by Piyush Rajput,Helpful

    Piyush Rajput Piyush Rajput Oct 2, 2016 8:46 PM in response to bigpal
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Oct 2, 2016 8:46 PM in response to bigpal

    On m4v files that do not play on Sierra, please check if they contain original DTS soundtrack. Sierra does not recognise these files, and iTunes and QT do not play them.

    In my case, the m4v files that are encoded with AAC and AC3 soundtracks are recognised by Sierra and iTunes and QT play them fine. But the files that have original DTS soundtrack in addition to AAC and AC3 do not play on Sierra.

     

    Something Apple needs to fix.

  • by bigpal,

    bigpal bigpal Oct 2, 2016 8:49 PM in response to Piyush Rajput
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 2, 2016 8:49 PM in response to Piyush Rajput

    Here is an older movie that isn't playing through QT or iTunes. It has AAC and AC3 audio streams and H.264 compression. This should be relatively standard for mpeg video. Like I said, VLC plays it fine. There's some serious problems with how Sierra is handling video...

     

    Screen Shot 2016-10-02 at 8.45.06 PM.png

  • by bigpal,

    bigpal bigpal Oct 3, 2016 8:40 PM in response to bigpal
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 3, 2016 8:40 PM in response to bigpal

    In addition to this, my 4th generation Apple TV will not play any of my movies. Now that I rolled back to OS X el capitan, iTunes can play everything fine again, but now Apple TV is saying "error loading content".

     

    I can't be the only one having this issue.

  • by Piyush Rajput,

    Piyush Rajput Piyush Rajput Oct 8, 2016 11:30 AM in response to bigpal
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Oct 8, 2016 11:30 AM in response to bigpal

    For this file, could you please check if AAC is the default audio stream. You can check this by opening the file in Subler (not dragging the file in new Subler window, but right click and open in Subler). If AAC track is selected by default then the file should be OK as per previous OsX standard. However, if AC3 track is the default you can change this in Subler by unchecking the AC3 track and selecting AAC and then save the file. Try to play this updated file and see if this works.

    Thanks.

  • by Piyush Rajput,

    Piyush Rajput Piyush Rajput Oct 8, 2016 11:39 AM in response to bigpal
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Oct 8, 2016 11:39 AM in response to bigpal

    I have this problem on my ATV 4 as well. The new movies I am adding, the duration of these are shown as 0 minutes in both iTunes and ATV 4, and won't play. VLC plays all these movies fine. All my movies have original DTS 5.1 soundtrack and I am encoding my Blu Rays and DVDs in to m4v as I used to. OsX El Capitan had no issues with these files.

     

    My entire multimedia library is built around iTunes because I have Apple eco system (Mac, iPad, iPhone, ATV). My kids have just started their 5-day weekend and I am already frustrated not being able to play my movies via ATV 4. Right now I am going the old fashioned way by Airplaying them on ATV via VLC.

     

    Sadly, MacOs doesn't seem to be a priority for Apple anymore considering they release iOS ahead of MacOS and are now on iOS 10.1 Public beta 2.

     

    I highlighted these so-called bugs in beta versions of MacOS but they were ignored. I am considering moving back to El Capitan until this is fixed since iTunes and movies are a big part of my life right now.

  • by dpreston10,

    dpreston10 dpreston10 Oct 8, 2016 12:19 PM in response to bigpal
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 8, 2016 12:19 PM in response to bigpal

    Download the free Plex server for MacOS, and add the free Plex Media app on the latest-gen AppleTV. Point the Plex server on your Mac to your iTunes file director(ries), create a Plex account (free or paid) and set up the Plex app on the AppleTV to connect to your Plex Server with the Plex account information. Oh, and there are also Plex apps for the iPhone and iPad as well.

     

    Not only will files with multiple DTS and AC3/AACS soundtracks play again, but you can actually use voice search to find movies and TV shows, which does not work in iTunes - Plex searches your files, not the Apple Store. I find the Plex interface superior to the new iTunes UI, and it gathers media information and cover art better tan iTunes ever did. Also works fine with Handbrake-created files. My 3.800+ movies and TV shows all play just fine.

     

    If you have older-gen AppleTV boxes, they will still play the files with the broken iTunes on Sierra.

  • by bigpal,

    bigpal bigpal Oct 8, 2016 3:20 PM in response to Piyush Rajput
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 8, 2016 3:20 PM in response to Piyush Rajput

    I downgraded to El Capitan, so the movies work in the OS, however they still won't play on Apple TV. I am using plex in the interim and its working fine.

  • by bigpal,

    bigpal bigpal Oct 8, 2016 3:21 PM in response to Piyush Rajput
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 8, 2016 3:21 PM in response to Piyush Rajput

    I confirmed the AAC track is default, and not the AC3 track.

  • by jgub,

    jgub jgub Oct 8, 2016 9:35 PM in response to bigpal
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 8, 2016 9:35 PM in response to bigpal

    I'm having this same problem with about 100 of my m4v movies. Over the past 4 years I've digitized my entire collection and now can't play 1/4 of them on my ATV4, iOS devices or Sierra via Plex or iTunes. When I plug the hard drive into an El Capitan machine, I can play the files on the computer and ATV3 (not 4).

     

    Don't know how to get help on this one...

  • by jgub,

    jgub jgub Oct 8, 2016 9:37 PM in response to dpreston10
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 8, 2016 9:37 PM in response to dpreston10

    The movies I'm having problems with won't play via Plex either.

  • by dpreston10,

    dpreston10 dpreston10 Oct 9, 2016 4:11 AM in response to jgub
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 9, 2016 4:11 AM in response to jgub

    Please make sure they are not copy-protected. Movies purchased/downloaded from the Apple Store have embedded DRM that foils Plexs' ability to play them.

  • by bigpal,

    bigpal bigpal Oct 9, 2016 8:23 AM in response to dpreston10
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 9, 2016 8:23 AM in response to dpreston10

    They are not DRM protected. I couldn't get them to play with Plex either until I restored my Mac Pro with a El Capitan backup.

     

    The number of significant bugs in Golden Master iOS and MacOS releases is becoming alarming. The fact that this wasn't corrected in beta testing is very telling.

  • by dpreston10,

    dpreston10 dpreston10 Oct 9, 2016 8:34 AM in response to bigpal
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 9, 2016 8:34 AM in response to bigpal

    Sorry to hear your dilemma! My media investment is still 'safe' for the moment.

     

    I certainly agree about the number of 'flaws' that are not uncovered and fixed during beta phases (I am in the Developer program). After release, the number of fixed user issues is appallingly low for non-iPhone products.

     

    Look at the new AppleTV and it is clear that the product design is focused on getting you to spend money on streaming/download products from the Apple Store, or pay for third-party services (i.e., Netflix and the like).

     

    Apple now gives short shrift to those of us that have invested in our own media and storage over the years.

  • by bigpal,

    bigpal bigpal Oct 9, 2016 8:40 AM in response to dpreston10
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 9, 2016 8:40 AM in response to dpreston10

    I've made up my mind to either use Plex or VLC for Apple TV. Probably leaning more towards Plex, so I can organize my titles. I've gone through a ton of work (and cash) over the past several years to digitize my video library. The fact that I can't search my own movie titles, either with text or Siri, is ridiculous.

     

    You hit it spot on, they are about getting us to buy their content, not stream our own.

     

    For now I have a workaround (El Capitan and Plex). This is the first time since Jaguar that I have regretted upgrading immediately upon release of a new OS.

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