Black screen when playing local DV P8 video on iPad

I’m using the latest infuse 8.0 release with iPad Pro 13-inch. I notice that when playing the local DV P8 file downloaded to iPad, I will get black screen with only audio and subtitles. Meanwhile when I streaming the same DV P8 file from NAS, everything seems working just as fine.

It seems that this situation only happens when play backing local DV P8 files. I also test play backing the local DV P5 files, it works without any issue.

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I did the same test on iPhone and there is no issue playback local DV P8 file. So, I think the black screen issue only applies to iPad OS.

Just to rule out the possibility that some gremlin in the iPadOS is corrupting the file, could you send the local file that is showing problems on the iPad back to your NAS in a different directory and then try to stream it to the iPad? If you can’t stream it then it may be what you said that the iPadOS is suspect.

Would you be able to send in a sample file you are seeing issues with so we can test it here?

I have some new findings. Please see the video below:

1: Play DV P8 local file downloaded from NAS
The playback starts instantly. You will get black screen with normal audio and subtitles. Video can be seen in the preview window when skipping forward and backward.

2: Streaming DV P8 file from NAS
The playback buffers a little time and then starts. Everything works just fine.

It seems that in order to normally playback DV P8 file, a little buffer time should be added. Same issue happens on my iPhone 15 pro as well, sorry for the mislead in the previous post.

In addition to that, I also notice that sometime when my iPad’s wifi connection is strong, streaming DV P8 from NAS can also starts almost instantly. In that case, I will also get black screen just like the local file situation.

I think the black screen issue only applies to iPad OS.

Update. The issue persists on the latest 8.0.2 update

If you have a chance to send in a sample file you are seeing this with (see link above) it would be helpful in tracking down what may be going on here. Thanks!

@James , I have uploaded the sample video clip for your investatgation

I have an iPad air 5, whenever i play a 4K video in infuse that have Dolby vision everything works right except the video itself there’s no signal it is pitch black, but if i turn Dolby vision off the video plays normal

I moved your post to a currently running thread discussing this issue.

Note that it’s tagged as “pending” so it’s being looked at. :wink:

Sample received! :white_check_mark:

Looking into this.

I have a media file using Dolby Vision profile 8.1. The file plays fine on my AppleTV 4K (3rd gen, tvOS 18.1) using Infuse 8.0.3 but on a M4 iPad Pro (ipadOS 18.1.1) running Infuse 8.0.3, there’s no video. Seemed to be different than other issues I found here from searching, hence the new post.

ffprobe output (non-video streams omitted):

Input #0, matroska,webm, from '/media/movies/media.mkv':
  Metadata:
    encoder         : libebml v1.4.4 + libmatroska v1.7.1
    creation_time   : 2024-05-09T10:11:59.000000Z
  Duration: 02:45:49.02, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 30217 kb/s
  Stream #0:0: Video: hevc (Main 10), yuv420p10le(tv, bt2020nc/bt2020/smpte2084), 3840x1608, SAR 1:1 DAR 160:67, 23.98 fps, 23.98 tbr, 1k tbn (default)
      Metadata:
        BPS             : 26035604
        DURATION        : 02:45:49.023000000
        NUMBER_OF_FRAMES: 238538
        NUMBER_OF_BYTES : 32378604003
        _STATISTICS_WRITING_APP: mkvmerge v78.0 ('Running') 64-bit
        _STATISTICS_WRITING_DATE_UTC: 2024-05-09 10:11:59
        _STATISTICS_TAGS: BPS DURATION NUMBER_OF_FRAMES NUMBER_OF_BYTES
      Side data:
        DOVI configuration record: version: 1.0, profile: 8, level: 6, rpu flag: 1, el flag: 0, bl flag: 1, compatibility id: 1

Turning off “Dolby Vision” in the Infuse player settings (Advanced Options) allows the video to appear.

I found a curious bug: when having a Bluetooth headset connected, playback of local downloaded Dolby Vision videos only play with sound. If i disable the BT headset, playback works fine.

If I do the same test with distant files from a NAS, playback works fine with or without the BT headset.

Edit: this is specific to DV videos, HDR and H264 works fine.
Edit2: Scrolling shows thumbnails correctly

Infuse Pro v8.0.5 (5028)
Sony WH-1000XM5 headset

Facing the same issue as this guy.
I have an M4 iPadPro (ipadOS 18.1.1) running Infuse Pro 8.0.5 > DV file runs as black screen with sound, but turning off DV from Advanced Settings in Infuse makes the movie/picture show up.

It still seems to be HDR, although not sure if it’s as vibrant as with DV turned on.

I don’t have the original .mkv file on my PC anymore, only inside the Files app on iPad. Is there a way to create a sample from that, to send it @Firecore?

I’m seeing mixed behavior on whether I get a black screen on Apple TV/Mac Infuse.

This file plays in DV on both Mac and Apple TV:

Codec HEVC
Bitrate 93327 kbps
D O V I B L Compat I D 1
D O V I B L Present true
D O V I Level 6
D O V I Present true
D O V I Profile 8
D O V I R P U Present true
D O V I Version 1.0
Bit Depth 10
Chroma Location topleft
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Coded Height 2160
Coded Width 3840
Color Primaries bt2020
Color Range tv
Color Space bt2020nc
Color Trc smpte2084
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Height 2160
Level 5.1
Profile main 10
Ref Frames 1
Width 3840
Display Title 4K DoVi/HDR10 (HEVC Main 10)
Extended Display Title 4K DoVi/HDR10 (HEVC Main 10)

But this one only plays on the Mac and is a black screen on Apple TV:

Codec HEVC
Bitrate 47526 kbps
D O V I B L Compat I D 1
D O V I B L Present true
D O V I Level 6
D O V I Present true
D O V I Profile 8
D O V I R P U Present true
D O V I Version 1.0
Bit Depth 10
Chroma Location topleft
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Coded Height 2160
Coded Width 3840
Color Primaries bt2020
Color Range tv
Color Space bt2020nc
Color Trc smpte2084
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Height 2160
Level 5.1
Profile main 10
Ref Frames 1
Width 3840
Display Title 4K DoVi/HDR10 (HEVC Main 10)
Extended Display Title 4K DoVi/HDR10 (HEVC Main 10)

Hi everyone, i have the 2024 iPad Pro with “Tandem OLED” - I tried to play a 4K DV video, but the screen is black the entire time. When I try to scrub using the bar, the scenes show up at the bottom, but the screen is black.

Which leads me to ask, for the iPad that I have, should I just be sticking to 1080p to get the best quality out of the iPad or is 4K HDR or 4K DV even worth it?

Aka, for a 11 inch screen size, will we actually see a difference? I currently don’t have an OLED TV to really make a comparison, so wanted to ask the community - thanks!

That file may be something other than a profile 5 or 8 DV which could cause what you’re seeing. You could run that video through mediainfo and post the results here.

Silo.se2.ep2.mkv.Text.txt (7.9 KB)

Here you go! Appreciate your help

I also have iPad Pro M4. The issue must be related to Dolby Atmos in MKV container. Every movie with DV Profile 8 and DTS track have played fine but when comes to MKV movie with DV Profile 8 and Atmos tracks it always results in black screen. I removed Atmos track in MKV Toolnix to test it and left only HEVC video with subtitles and voila - the movie played fine.

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