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I am trying to serve video using MPEG-DASH. No success. I have tried the following:

Following the instructions on webproject.org, using FFMPEG, I have created several variants of the original video and the DASH MPD manifest, containing metadata. However, the manifest does not validate using http://dashif.org/conformance.html. This validator itself is quite useless, as it provides unusable info about the error. I have found in a post from 2014, that one of the errors generated by FFMPEG is capital letters in some metadata (not a critical one, but could have been fixed for years!). Other errors detected, but not described. No tangible info from any of these other validators either: http://www-itec.uni-klu.ac.at/dash/?page_id=605 (produces rubbish info), https://github.com/Eyevinn/dash-validator-js (throws an exception)

Following instructions on mozilla.org, produces the same non-working result, as the instructions are nearly identical (including same resolution*bitrate sets), except that Mozilla omits the use of dash.js, which is deemed necessary by the rest of the internet.

This guide on Bitmovin, utilizing x264 and MP4Box does not work either. Going by the instructions, I have to recode the original x264 video twice. The final version of videos are in some cases twice the size of their intermediate versions and 720p video is actually larger than its 1080p, higher bitrate counterpart. No need to go further. (Yet, this is the only way that actually produced segments..)

I have spent 3 days on the above, read about all there is on the web from the other frustrated adopters, and ran out of options. I would really apreciate some pro tips! Thanks!

marko-36
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  • What about sharing the manifest or at least the results of the DASH validators (http://dashif.org/conformance.html and/or http://www-itec.uni-klu.ac.at/dash/?page_id=605)? Without further details I could only recommend to use an online service such as [encoding.com](https://www.encoding.com/), [Bitmovin](https://bitmovin.com/encoding-service/) or similar services for your encodings. – Daniel Nov 22 '17 at 05:40
  • Daniel, thanks for the reply. If the issues was more isolated, I would supply the specifics. But the options described above actually produce very different results. For example, one method actually produces segments in separate files, the other does not. But I don't think one of them is actually wrong, and so searching for an error is not an answer. – marko-36 Nov 23 '17 at 09:10
  • A problem solver would be a way, of getting it right, valid by the standards, without using an online transcoder, or learning it all. Even a piece of software, that can simply create the manifest right by reading the video files would do the job. – marko-36 Nov 23 '17 at 09:17
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    Both, separate files (e.g. using DASH's live profile) and a single file per quality (e.g. DASH's on-demand profile) are perfectly fine and valid. If you want to handle it on your own, without using a cloud solution your best options are probably `mp4box` or `ffmpeg`. Not sure what you mean "you have to recode the original video twice" when you talked about the [guide utilizing x264 and MP4Box](https://bitmovin.com/mp4box-dash-content-generation-x264/)? Regarding the size: this not only depends on the resolution but much more on the used bitrate. – Daniel Nov 23 '17 at 16:43
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    Thanks for info on profiles. As for options, I did both mp4box and ffmpeg, as described briefly in the post. None of them lead to a result. MP4Box solution makes you go from original video to .264-raw and then to a final version (just following the guide). Anyway, I am probalby able to created multiple dash-compatible video of different bitrates with FFMPEG, I get a non-valid .MPD. And that is what I am after - a way to get the MPD right. – marko-36 Nov 24 '17 at 17:39

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