Video: Allow streaming of all HEVC videos under Windows, e.g. by transcoding to AVC

[metorm]

Describe what problem this solves and why this would be valuable to many users

There is a lot of discussion and controversy about what standards trigger transcoding and when. I believe that allowing users to choose to play the original file or the transcoded file on the page can solve many similar problems.

The specific problem I encountered is that some hevc/mov files shot by iPhone play normally on windows, and the avc files generated by transcoding after uploading play normally in browsers without hevc support. However, in Windows browsers with HEVC support, the system automatically selects the HEVC data stream, but it cannot be played due to some unknown reasons.

In fact, I don't care what kind of data stream I'm watching, I just want to be able to preview the file normally. However, since my browser has a HEVC decoder, I lost the ability to view the AVC stream. This is unreasonable.

Describe the solution you'd like

I wish there was an additional option on the webpage to watch the transcoded video.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Alternatively, there can be a global option in the system to control whether to provide transcoded video to all clients.

[lastzero]

This should not be happening and could be related to either your browser or graphics driver. It might also be an issue with the specific HEVC file, as our video format support detection does not include checks for optional features like HDR10 and HDR10+:

photoprism/frontend/src/common/caniuse.js

Lines 45 to 47 in 5bd822e

	export const canUseHevc = canUseVideo // HVC, Basic Support
	? !!document.createElement("video").canPlayType('video/mp4; codecs="hvc1.1.6.L93.90"')
	: false;

So instead of investing time in a workaround, it would be great to get help improving those three lines of code (or our troubleshooting guide if it's a browser/driver issue that can be diagnosed and fixed). Thank you very much! 🙏

[metorm]

OK. My problem may have been caused by a cracked version of a HEVC UWP decoder. I'll test it later.

[metorm]

No, I think it's not a problem in the front end, but something in the core.

I tested more videos, and it turned out only those shot by iPhone triggered the issue. Those taken by Android phones are OK.

The network monitor indicates that when playing a hevc-encoded mp4 file, the browser gets a normal hevc stream like below:

However, when I click a hevc-encoded mov file shot by iPhone, I got this in the network monitor:

no data found for resource with given identifier

That's all I can found. May it be caused by a failed file parsing or something similar?

[lastzero]

To force the transcoding of non-AVC videos that are currently being streamed as original, a workaround could be to set a lower bitrate limit in your configuration, as HEVC-encoded videos with special features such as HDR/HFR generally have a high bitrate (despite the more modern codec).

In our upcoming release, the hvc1.1.6.L93.90 part in the code snippet above could be changed to (also) check support for any optional features (like HDR10) so that such HEVC videos are not streamed to Windows, but only to macOS/iOS for as long as only these support them. Any help with this is much appreciated! ❤️