MOHO 14 .mp4 video output MP4(MPEG4-AAC) doesn't play in browser

[Mick]

When I output video in MOHO 14 using the default choice of MP4(MPEG4-AAC) the video will play in media players but will not play in any browser unless I first import it and export it through Camtasia Studio. I never had this issue with previous versions of MOHO. The browser will tell me "format is not accepted". Using a 3rd party application (Camtasia Studio) get's it to work, but seems like an unnecessary step. I'm sure I'm not the 1st to come across this... what can be done to fix it?

[Greenlaw]

Confirmed...can't get a Moho .mp4 to play in Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.

I don't typically use a web browser to play movie files, so I hadn't noticed. I guess the devs don't do that either.

Will report it.

I took a quick look at other video options, and I think exporting movie files is kinda broken in the current Moho.

FWIW, I always export a PNG image sequence, and then compile my video in a compositing or editing program, and this is probably what many advanced users do. If I were to use any video options in Moho, it would likely be H.265, but that seems to be broken. (H.265 is capable of significantly higher quality than H.264, and it's more compact too.)

Update: The Handbrake info that was here has been removed because it was incorrect. Handbrake is a great tool for converting video formats, but it doesn't convert image sequences to video. Will follow up up with more info.

[Greenlaw]

Ugh! Earlier I posted that Handbrake could be used to compile an image sequence to video, but it doesn't; it only converts video to other video formats. Sorry for the bad info.

You should be able to use Handbrake to convert the Moho .mp4 without recompressing the data, though, which should provide better quality than doing this through Camtasia. (I'm almost certain Camtasia will recompress it.)

I was probably thinking about VirtualDub, but that's a very old program that I haven't used in many years, so I'm uncertain about recommending it. I'm sure there are other free options, but I'll need to look into it.

Update: VirtualDub2 exists and was last updated in 2020. I haven't used this version, though. Will look into it.

Update 2: Hmm...VirtualDub2 is probably not the way to go, either.

Ok, now this feels like a mission to me...but I'll have to come back to it later. There's gotta be a free and easy tool that does this.

[Mick]

Thanks for the reply. Good to know you tested the video's in browsers and found the same thing I did. Means I'm not just imagining it, or using the program improperly. Since .mp4 is the standard for .html video, it seems like an unusual oversite that we can't take MOHO video output straight to the web. Previous versions of MOHO did it without any trouble. Thanks again for the response.

[Greenlaw]

I know other issues with exporting movie files from Moho 14.x had been reported earlier, and the developers are working on fixes. I'll let them know about this new one.

Hopefully, we'll see a fix before too long.

[SimplSam]

Looks like the cool animations at: http://mickbovenstudios.com were fun to make...

(see site for full quality/animation)

[Greenlaw]

Yeah, these animations are fun! Nice work, Mick!

[Mick]

That's very kind of you. I appreciate it. The green virus character was done in MOHO. Some of the characters were done with Adobe Flash and some, believe it or not, where done on an Amiga 2000. Good times...

[Greenlaw]

Some of the characters...believe it or not, where done on an Amiga 2000. Good times...

Cool! There was a time when I was envious of Amiga users.