Unable to load video footage created on iPhone

Help
1

Hello. Running kdenlive 23.04.0 on Windows 10. Most of my source footage was recorded on Android and loads without a problem, but for my current project I need to use some videos that I got from someone who recorded it on iPhone. I’m not an iOS person so maybe this is an easy noob question but please bear with me because I’m stumped!

When I try to load any of these .MOV files into my project bin, kdenlive exits without any error messoge and without any confirmation dialog and without offering to save my project.

According to ffmpeg, here is what’s in the file:

Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'IMG_2771.MOV':
  Metadata:
    major_brand     : qt  
    minor_version   : 0
    compatible_brands: qt  
    creation_time   : 2023-04-14T03:12:11.000000Z
    com.apple.quicktime.make: Apple
    com.apple.quicktime.model: iPhone 13
    com.apple.quicktime.software: 15.6.1
    com.apple.quicktime.creationdate: 2023-04-13T21:12:11-0600
  Duration: 00:00:49.13, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 15347 kb/s
  Stream #0:0[0x1](und): Video: hevc (Main 10) (hvc1 / 0x31637668), yuv420p10le(tv, bt2020nc/bt2020/arib-std-b67), 1920x1080, 15068 kb/s, 30 fps, 30 tbr, 600 tbn (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2023-04-14T03:12:11.000000Z
      handler_name    : Core Media Video
      vendor_id       : [0][0][0][0]
      encoder         : HEVC
    Side data:
      DOVI configuration record: version: 1.0, profile: 8, level: 4, rpu flag: 1, el flag: 0, bl flag: 1, compatibility id: 4
      displaymatrix: rotation of -90.00 degrees
  Stream #0:1[0x2](und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 44100 Hz, stereo, fltp, 186 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2023-04-14T03:12:11.000000Z
      handler_name    : Core Media Audio
      vendor_id       : [0][0][0][0]
  Stream #0:2[0x3](und): Data: none (mebx / 0x7862656D), 0 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2023-04-14T03:12:11.000000Z
      handler_name    : Core Media Metadata
  Stream #0:3[0x4](und): Data: none (mebx / 0x7862656D), 30 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2023-04-14T03:12:11.000000Z
      handler_name    : Core Media Metadata
  Stream #0:4[0x5](und): Data: none (mebx / 0x7862656D), 44 kb/s (default)
    Metadata:
      creation_time   : 2023-04-14T03:12:11.000000Z
      handler_name    : Core Media Metadata

Do I need to transcode the file before I can load it into kdenlive? If yes, do you have any advice on doing this losslessly? I did try “ffmpeg -i IMG_2771.MOV -vcodec copy -acodec copy IMG_2771.mp4” but the resulting mp4 file causes the same issue.

Thanks!

2

With what is currently going on with 23.04.0a I recommend to stay on a previous version. Your ffmpeg report looks legit to me and I don’t know why kdenlive would have a problem using it but who knows what monkey wrench got into 23.04.

I use the appimage (Linux) or the standalone (Windows) versions as a general rule …

3

can you share a very small clip taken from this iphone (just to help developers to find a fix) ?
thank you!

4

I would at least convert the HEVC to an editable codec, for example FFV1 (lossless, with GPU decoding), DNxHD (lossless), ProRes or FFvHuff (lossless). Audio to WAVE or at least Flac if necessary.