MP4 Video Playback Ghosting?

When I try to playback some MP4 video files in the Zune software, I get an odd ghosting effect. Around all the people is a ghosted color in one direction of a pinkish red, the other, a greenish blue. Almost like those old projection TVs after they would go out of alignment.

I opened the MP4 file in VLC, Quicktime, and Realplayer and don't have any problems. I can't open it at all in Windows Media Player. This has happened to me often with MP4 files.

I did some web and forum searches but can't find anyone with a similar problem. Has anyone seen this before?

If anyone wants to try this here is the file:

http://newvoyages.us:1701/index.html?sort=1

Its the first file on the page: #00) Ep. 3 Star Trek New Voyages "World Enough and Time" Large (H.264 Codec) (.mp4)

This is a torrent download and the file is not copyrighted. Any help is appreciated.

I looked at the file in Media Player Classic and windows Media Player and saw nothing wrong. I looked at the video in the Zune software and saw what you are talking about. I think it has something to do with the way Zune software is rendering this video. I'll post a screen shot of all three as well (picture). By the way is that George Takei?

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Zune MVP
Contributor, http://www.insidethecircle.net

Wow! That's interesting. "Color bleed"? (not likely)
If only the Zune software has this problem, it cannot handle some encoding settings (motion estimate related???) or someting.
Can you play the video on your Zune? (I don't want to download it.)

Yes, that is George Takei, lol. This isn't the only video this has happened with. I got annoyed and deleted those. They were DVD rips, some not all. I just finally couldn't take it anymore.

I am syncing it to my Zune right now to see for sure. I really enjoy the Zune software and use it for almost all of my media needs now. But I run into odd problems like this with video and it bothers me. I have a Zune 30 so it is going to have to transcode in the Zune software. I will post an update when I try it.

Bad news, the color bleed / ghosting problem happens when I run the movie on the Zune 30 after syncing. This could be because the Zune 30 needs to transcode to WMV from MP4. A pain when I sync because I LOVE the Zune for video podcasts, but I can live with that till I have cash for a Zune80.

Solar, how were you able to get that to play in Windows Media Player? I couldn't even get Windows Media Player to see it when I tried to open the file when I browsed. It could have been me being stupid when trying to load it, it was late at night.

He probably used a klite codec pack or something to run. if you search you might find it if its in your needs. It has alot of the files(codecs) needed to play certain file types.

Yeah, I am using the k-lite codec pack version 3.5.7 Full with the included XviD coded removed and replaced by the official stable release from the XviD homepage (I was running into problems transcoding avi's). I don't think codecs are the issue since five programs (VLC, Quicktime, RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, and Media Player Classic) play the file perfectly while the Zune software is having issues.

I'll try it on my player as well to see if it shows up there. I'll let the software do the encoding and I'll let Windows Media Encoder have a go at it too.

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Zune MVP
Contributor, http://www.insidethecircle.net

Thanks for giving it a try. I know there are other routes to go with getting this on the Zune, but since I ran into this before, I am sure it will happen again. I love a good mystery.

This is very interesting. I wonder in anyone from the Zune Dev teams read these postings. It could be possible we found something that hasn't been encountered yet.

It would be great if they could help with this as well.

- Ken

Quick update: It looks like windows media encoder doesn't seem to like mp4s, or maybe it's just this one. I asked the Zune software to prepare the file for sync so hopefuly it'll transcode it while I'm off watching Super Bowl commercials. I'll have to look for another mp4 converter sometime in the future. I know the Zune Team is around and they do read threads, even if they don't comment in them. I think there's something specific to this file as I have podcasts that are mp4s and they play just fine.

Post superbowl: Yeah the video looks the same on the Zune device. It's almost as if it's meant for 3D glasses.

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Zune MVP
Contributor, http://www.insidethecircle.net

To transcode an mp4 video to wmv, the Zune software has to first decode the mp4 file. So it is natural that the program has problems playing it, it has problems transcoding it.

Anyway, according to another forum, it seems the Zune software uses its own codec to decode mp4 files.

I always encode my videos using x264 (an H.264 codec) and have never had any problems. So I wonder how you encoded your videos.

Hi there. The video was in H.264. Some DVDs I ripped also had the same problem with H.264 as well.

My question was more like "What program/codec/profile(preset) do you use?" kind of question.
Have you used other programs?
I think the problem was caused by the way you encode your videos, and probably the Zune software cannot handle them properly.