mediacodec decode h264 stream limitation

Question

I am using mediacodec to decodec a h264 stream on samsung S6, android 5.1.1, found the input buffer to mediacodec must start with "0001"(and don't need to set pps, sps), or the ACodec will report error.

I also tried to use mediaextractor to play a mp4 file, it works fine, but the buffer to mediacodec is not start with "0001".

I don't know why decodec a h264 stream has such limitation, currently i need to analyze the stream from socket, and cut the data into small packages(each package start with 0001) and then give them to mediacodec, but it is inefficient.

MediaFormat format = MediaFormat.createVideoFormat(MediaFormat.MIMETYPE_VIDEO_AVC, 1024, 1024);

MediaCodec operates on NAL units. It needs the start prefix. cf. http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1685494/what-does-this-h264-nal-header-mean — fadden, Jun 15 '16 at 18:06

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 16 '16 at 05:37

Some specific decoders may also be able to decode H264 NAL units in the "mp4" format (with a different kind of startcode), but that's not guaranteed across all devices.

It may be that Samsung's version of MediaExtractor returns it in this format, if they know that their own decoder can handle it. There is at least earlier precedent that Samsung did the same, nonstandard thing with timestamps with their version of MediaExtractor, see e.g. https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=74356.

(Having MediaExtractor return data that only the current device's decoder can handle is wrong IMO, though, since one may want to use MediaExtractor to read a file but send the compressed data over the network to another device for decoding, and in these cases, returning data in a nonstandard format is wrong.)

As fadden wrote, MediaCodec operates on full NAL units though, so you need to provide data in this format (even if you think it feels inefficient). If you receive data over a socket in a format where this information (about frame boundaries) isn't easily available, then that's an issue with your protocol format (e.g., implementing RTP reception is not easy!), not with MediaCodec itself - it's a quite common limitation to need to have full frames before decoding, instead of being able to feed random chunks until you have a full frame. This shouldn't be inefficient unless your own implementation of it is inefficient.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 22 '16 at 10:15

In general android will expect nal units for each input. For some devices i have found that setting the csd-0/1 on the media-format for h264 to not work consistently. But if you feed each of the parameters sets as input buffers the media-codec will pick it up as a format-change.

int outputBufferIndex = NativeDecoder.DequeueOutputBuffer (info, 1000);
if (outputBufferIndex == (int)MediaCodec.InfoOutputFormatChanged) {
    Console.WriteLine ("Format changed: {0}", NativeDecoder.OutputFormat);
} else if (outputBufferIndex >= 0) {
    CodecOutputBufferAvailable (NativeDecoder, outputBufferIndex, info);
}

Also note it is mandatory for Nexus and some other samsung devices to set:

formatDescription.SetInteger(MediaFormat.KeyWidth, SelectedPalette.Value.Width);
formatDescription.SetInteger(MediaFormat.KeyHeight, SelectedPalette.Value.Height);
formatDescription.SetInteger(MediaFormat.KeyMaxInputSize, SelectedPalette.Value.Width * SelectedPalette.Value.Height);

I am lucky in my situation i can query these resolutions. But you can parse the resolution manually from SPS and PPS nal units.

// NOTE i am using Xamarin here. But the calls and things are pretty much the same. I am fairly certain there are bugs in the iOS VideoToolbox Xamarin Wrapper so yeah.. Keep that in mind if your ever considering Xamarin for video decoding. Its great for everything but anything thats slightly more custom or low-level.

mediacodec decode h264 stream limitation

2 Answers2