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    My m2t video' won't play

    I'm trying to have Irfanview play my movies in m2t-format, but get the error: "Windows can't play this file" and "Windows error text: Can't create video player or unknown Codec". On the other hand, Windows' own mediaplayer plays the movie just fine. How is this possible and what can I do about it?
    I would be willing to convert movies to another format, but I have, after trying a dozen or so, not found any format in which the movies play well (neither in Irfanview, or mediaplayer or VLC-player), so for some reason or other I seem to be stuck with m2t-files. (Although I do not really understand why.)
    Can someone help?

    #2
    The error message Unknown Codec says it all. IrfanView doesn't have any way of playing the file.

    Programs that can open m2t Files
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      #3
      There are a number of different options for the media interface you use in Irfanview, including Media Player, but a bit difficult to find. First in the Properties/Options, Video/Sound tab you need to select the External player (IV_Player). Then you need to find IV_player.exe in the Plugins folder of Irfanview and open it by double clicking. The Player Options is the fourth icon down on the left hand side. There you select Media Player.
      With luck your m2t files might then play in Irfanview.

      Click image for larger version

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      Last edited by Mij; 19.12.2015, 12:49 AM.

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        #4
        Thanks for your reactions!
        @Bhikkhu Pesala: That "IrfanView doesn't have any way of playing the file" I already knew:-) My question is: why not and - m ore importantly - what can I do about it? The link doesn't help much - playing the video is in itself not the problem (as I already said); I want Irfanview to play it. The m2t format is on the list of formats Irfanview is able to play , so why doesn't it? Moreover, the error message suggests that Irfanview gives the task of playing the file to Windows. Now why would Windows refuse to play it while it's own media player has no trouble with it?
        What interests me even more then answers to these questions, though, is: what is the remedy? Installing the right
        "codec(s)"? Right, but which ones and where do I find them and doesn't the fact that other software IS playing the file prove that the necessary codecs are already installed?

        @Mij: I had discovered the option to use an external player, but never knew where to choose the actual player being used; thanks to you I know that now. Yet, as it happens, it already said 'WMP' and indeed playing the video's this way was never a problem (I should maybe have explained that in my original posting; sorry.)
        But playing the video's this way kind of defeats the very reason why I've been using Irfanview for so many years in the past. I want to be able to present a 'show' where stills as well as short video clips are presented in a pre-set order, and full screen. This is where the 'external player' fails: it does NOT come up 'full screen', but as a (fairly small) window. To see the clip full screen, I have to double-click on it and this is really awkward when you're viewing, say, 50 video clips among 200 pictures. What's bugging me is a) that this used to work just fine under windows XP, as, admittedly after some twiddling, I could use the option 'Use Internal Player' and b) that the option 'Use Internal Player' is still available under win 7 and 8, but I can't find ANY video format which plays well that way.
        So let me re-formulate my question in a more modest way: for what video-format can I (or should I be able to) use the option 'Use Internal Player'?
        Mabel

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          #5
          So let me re-formulate my question in a more modest way: for what video-format can I (or should I be able to) use the option 'Use Internal Player'?
          That is quite a difficult question to answer. By default the option at the top of the Video/Sound tab dialog is DirectShow. That is a standard API which is built into your Windows operating system. You can find information about it online, here for example. From "Introduction to DirectShow" you can find a list of supported formats but it does not include your m2t videos. A popular way to extend the range is to use ffdshow from SourceForge (it often gets included automatically when you install one of the many free standalone media players).

          I suspect that you had something like that, with an m2t filter, installed under Windows XP and you have not yet installed the equivalent in Windows 7. I am afraid that, because I do not use m2t and do not have an example to try, I cannot tell you whether I can play it through the DirectShow option of Irfanview, but I do know that I can play a very wide range of other formats. It would not mean very much if I could test it though because it would almost certainly be using a filter that was installed without my knowledge when I downloaded either VLC, GOM or ZOOM media players, all of which I have tried in the course of choosing the best one for my purposes.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Mij View Post
            That is quite a difficult question to answer.
            Indeed, I'm starting to see that! The problem got even more hazy when I discovered that the Inrfanview on my partner's notebook, running win8.1/64 as well, has no problem with those m2t files!
            Most of the info under the link you sent me is too technical for me, but from the list of formats you refer to I can't make out whether m2t is supported. Wikipedia redirects from 'm2t' to MTS and the analyser GSpot confirms this: the file contains mp2-encoded video (H.264) and audio streams, both of which are supported by directX.
            So what's the problem? Indeed, what CAN BE the problem when WMP plays the file well?

            You say you can't give me sound advice on which other video format would (or should) play well with Irfanview's internal player. OK, I understand, but isn't that a damned shame?
            Mabel

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              #7
              Well you have actually just provided the answer to your own questions but probably do not realise it. M2T files are "squeezed up", to make them smaller, using MP2 encoding. To expand them again to play the video an MP2 codec (or filter) is required. That was what Irfanview was telling you that it could not find, in your first post.

              Irfanview does have a Plugin, MP3.dll, that provides DirectShow with an MP2 codec (as well as MP1 and MP3). It comes as part of the Irfanview PlugIns pack but if you only installed the basic programme you would not have it. Check that by clicking on "Installed plugins" in the Help menu. If MP3.DLL is not in the list tell us and we can suggest where to get it from. Irfan does recommend elsewhere in the help file that you install "K-Lite Codecs" to be able to play a much wider range of video files in DirectShow. That is another option.

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                #8
                Originally posted by Mij View Post
                Well you have actually just provided the answer to your own questions
                Thanks a lot for answering, but I'm afraid I don't see how your response is an answer to my question; still less do I see how my response contains, as you say, the answer to my own question I'm afraid. Am I that dumb or do I misunderstand you? (Or both, maybe:-)
                I installed all available plugins for Irfanview from the start and MP3.dll v.3.90 duely shows up in the list. MPEG-2 codecs ARE installed on my computers: several experiments confirm it as well as the analysing program Gspot. And - final proof - another mpeg-2 encoded format plays well in Irfanview.
                So, I'm still stuck with my question.
                And anyway what I'd like to understand is why Irfanview can sometimes NOT play video's which play well with WMP. As far as I can make out from the descriptions I found, they both rely on the same Windows mechanisms. If WMP plays the file shouldn't Irfanview play it as well?
                Mabel

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                  #9
                  You are right. You did not answer your question. I had not had time to investigate what your m2t format was and when you said that they were MP2 encoded, I remembered that there was a plugin that included MP2. In fact you really meant MPEG-2 encoded (they are videos). I think that MP3.dll Plugin is probably just for audio files, so not relevant at all. It is back to codecs.

                  I would not assume that just because you have an mpeg-2 filter that you can play all variants with it. Your m2t files appear to be streaming videos such as captured off-air TV programs. Is that so? I would look specifically for codecs that mention m2t. K-lite filter pack lists m2t I notice.

                  I have no idea what Windows Media Player is using to play videos these days. Microsoft are moving from DirectShow to MediaFoundation and I understand that WMP for Win7 shows some videos using one and some the other. It has moved on a lot from the program supplied with WinXP.

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                    #10
                    universally playable format

                    Thanks very much; stimulated by your answers I learned a lot since my last posting. For instance:
                    - The M2T format is a container which, among other formats, may contain MP4 (H264) encoded video.
                    - The advice i got from the web (to convert my MTS files to M2T) was a bad one. In fact, M2t does not even support 1920x1080 video. You can put 1920x1080 in the M2t container but issues are to be expected.
                    - As I now found that my MTS-files (an MPEG-2 container) in fact contain MP4 (H264) encoded video, a much better way is to (losslessly) re-mux them to an MP4 container. That's a LOT faster too.
                    - I also had some troubles with the interlaced video's (50i) my camera produces. In order to get the 'universally playable' files I am aiming for, de-interlacing beforehand seems, if not imperative, at least a good idea.
                    - Finally, DirectX, MediaFoundation and such seem like wonderful ideas but they terribly complicate trouble-shooting.

                    I think I now found the 'ideal' format for my video's:
                    - MP4 container;
                    - Non-interlaced (= 'progressive") video compressed with H.264;
                    - Audio encoded with AAC
                    These files play just fine with Irfanview's 'internal' player, with Windows Media Player, with Adroid's standard 'Gallery' player and with Apple's standard Ipad player.
                    I'm still left wondering, though: why was it so hard to find this format?
                    Mabel

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                      #11
                      M2TS files are commonly used to save video and audio data on Blu-ray discs, DVDs, hard drives, or other file storing devices. Those files are saved in high-definition, using the BDAV (Blu-ray Disc Audio/Visual) format. While M2TS files include such BDAV information, they refer mostly to the MPGEG-2 Transport Stream.

                      Additionally, M2TS files are used in a high-definition video recorder format called AVCHD - a simpler version of the Blu-ray disc standard. Used on Blu-Ray discs, M2TS files can contain various video and audio compression formats.

                      When it comes to AVCHD, more restrictions apply to the transport stream containers. It can only contain a much smaller number of compressed formats than M2TS containers used on Blu-ray discs. The file name of M2TS files compose of a 5-digit number which corresponds to the audiovisual clip. Files with the same number but a different file extension than M2TS are related to the same clip.

                      M2TS files support both 720p and 1080i formats. Thus, if necessary, transfer the file to another compatible format, like avi to move, m4k to mkv, m2t to mp4 etc.
                      Last edited by Bhikkhu Pesala; 17.01.2017, 11:20 AM. Reason: Removed spam link

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