.mp4 videos not opening in Elan

ELAN
1

Hiya,

I’m using Elan 4.7.3. When I try to open video files on my computer (Windows 8.1), the audio is fine but the video is just a blue box. The video files are .mp4 files which have been converted from .m2ts using either Handbrake or Prism video converter (both give the blue box).

Any help would be much appreciated,
Laura

2

Hmm, and if you right-click the blue box and choose Player Info, does it say the Framework is JMMF, Java-Microsoft Media Foundation?

-Han

3

Hi,
Yes, that’s right, it says the framework is JMMF, Java-Microsoft Media Foundation. I’ve tried reinstalling Java, and reinstalling Elan, but I still just see the blue box. (The videos play fine in other software e.g. VLC, Windows media player, and Quicktime.)

Laura

4

And does it help to resize the video area (the top part of the window) after the window is fully initialised? Or to detach and attach again (via the context menu)? (Sometimes the video needs an extra event to display properly?)

-Han

5

Hi Han,

Resizing the video didn’t work, but detaching and reattaching it worked - once. So at least we know it’s possible! But now I can’t get it to work again, using the same .mp4 under the same conditions.

Laura

6

That’s weird, that it works once and after that not anymore. I have no clue.
Worse even, when I just tried on my Windows 8 system I didn’t get a player at all, but instead an error message about missing libraries. I’m not sure if this is related at all, but it is something that has to be figured out.

-Han

7

No problem Han - thanks for looking into this. I have my fingers crossed this might be something that’s resolved in the next update. Curse Windows 8…!!

Laura

8

Laura (and others): in case you still have ELAN 4.7.3 installed on your Win 8 system, I’ve uploaded a temporary possible fix for the mp4 player here:
MMFPlayer fix.

I’m not sure if it makes any difference to your situation, it at least seems to fix the problem that no player for mp4 can be created at all on some Windows 8 systems. If it works it will be part of the next release.

-Han

9

Hi Han,
Unfortunately it doesn’t make a difference for my blue box problem. But I’m glad to hear you’ve fixed yours!

Laura