Only ~20% of mp4 thumbnails are shown

[zupermario]

Hello all,
I don't understand why only about 20% of my videos are previewed.
My default video player is VLC. My OS is Win10.

This is the disheartening preview screen:
https://ibb.co/NVXkWPs

And these are the TC settings:
https://ibb.co/S3bzPJM

Thanks all.

[Horst.Epp]

Your post is missing any information about your TC and OS versions.
VLC itself doesn't provide Thumbnails.
What TC plugins do you have ?
Did you test Thumbnails in Explorer ?

[ghisler(Author)]

You can enable a debug log to view which method is used to load a specific thumbnail. Warning: This slows down the program a lot, so you should disable it when you have found the problem.

Please add the following string to the file wincmd.ini, section [Configuration]:
DebugIconThread=2

You can edit the wincmd.ini via Configuration - Change settings files directly.
Then close and re-open Total Commander.

It will create a file tcicolog.txt in your TEMP directory. Go there with command
cd %TEMP%

You can view the file with F3. Then search for a video which worked, and for one which didn't.
For example, I get entries like this:
thumb: f:\video2\20190622 1945 - SF zwei HD - sportflash.ts
f:\video2\20190622 1945 - SF zwei HD - sportflash.ts extract called:
f:\video2\20190622 1945 - SF zwei HD - sportflash.ts GetTextThumbFromListerPlugin returns: 0
f:\video2\20190622 1945 - SF zwei HD - sportflash.ts OleExtractThumbFromIdlist returns: 721761108
So according to the log, trying to get a thumbnail from Lister plugins returned nothing (0). Loading it from Explorer extensions via OLE2 worked, the number is a bitmap handle.

[zupermario]

You can enable a debug log to view which method is used to load a specific thumbnail. Warning: This slows down the program a lot, so you should disable it when you have found the problem.

Here is the log:

---------------------------
10/10/2022 09:56:22: Start icon thread
10/10/2022 09:56:22: Start thumb thread
10/10/2022 09:56:22: Start size thread
10/10/2022 09:56:23: Removing pending bitmap and icon notifications
10/10/2022 09:56:23: Removing bitmaps and icons from background thread queue
10/10/2022 09:56:23: Removing pending bitmap and icon notifications
10/10/2022 09:56:23: Removing bitmaps and icons from background thread queue
10/10/2022 09:56:23: thumb: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\JpgOk.jpg
10/10/2022 09:56:23: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\JpgOk.jpg extract called:
10/10/2022 09:56:23: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\JpgOk.jpg GetThumbFromGdiPlus returns: 0
10/10/2022 09:56:23: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\JpgOk.jpg GetTextThumbFromListerPlugin returns: 0
10/10/2022 09:56:23: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\JpgOk.jpg OleExtractThumbFromIdlist returns: 18446744071881167772
10/10/2022 09:56:23: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\JpgOk.jpg posting notification for bmp: 1694830866
10/10/2022 09:56:23: RefreshBitmap notification received, index=1, bmp=1694830866
10/10/2022 09:56:23: Adding image to item list, index=1
10/10/2022 09:56:23: thumb: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\Mp4NotOk.mp4
10/10/2022 09:56:23: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\Mp4NotOk.mp4 extract called:
10/10/2022 09:56:23: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\Mp4NotOk.mp4 GetTextThumbFromListerPlugin returns: 0
10/10/2022 09:56:23: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\Mp4NotOk.mp4 OleExtractThumbFromIdlist returns: 0
10/10/2022 09:56:23: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\Mp4NotOk.mp4 GetPictureThumbFromLister returns: 0
10/10/2022 09:56:23: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\Mp4NotOk.mp4 notification NOT sent
10/10/2022 09:56:23: thumb: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\Mp4Ok.mp4
10/10/2022 09:56:23: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\Mp4Ok.mp4 extract called:
10/10/2022 09:56:23: thumb: e:\__BOOOHH_SCHEDA_SD_\Camera\Museo\Test\Mp4Ok.mp4 posting notification for bmp: 1543839296
10/10/2022 09:56:23: RefreshBitmap notification received, index=3, bmp=1543839296
10/10/2022 09:56:23: Adding image to item list, index=3
10/10/2022 09:56:38: Removing pending bitmap and icon notifications
10/10/2022 09:56:38: Removing bitmaps and icons from background thread queue
10/10/2022 09:56:38: End size thread
10/10/2022 09:56:38: End icon thread
10/10/2022 09:56:38: End thumb thread
---------------------------

JpgOk.jpg thumbnail is displayed
Mp4NotOk.mp4 thumbnail is NOT displayed
Mp4Ok.mp4 thumbnail is displayed

[ghisler(Author)]

It gets them via OLE2 from Explorer extensions. There is probably no codec installed for those where it fails. Are you able to view these with F3?

I would try installing the open source LAV filters, they are very fast and support all the modern encoding formats:
https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters/releases

[zupermario]

I have installed LavFilters, restarted total commander, but nothing has changed. Must change some configuration?
Yes, with F3 I can see the files that do not have thumbnails

It gets them via OLE2 from Explorer extensions. There is probably no codec installed for those where it fails. Are you able to view these with F3?

I would try installing the open source LAV filters, they are very fast and support all the modern encoding formats:
https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters/releases

[ghisler(Author)]

Did you put the LAV filters just in the FILTER64 directory, or did you actually install them?
If you did only the former, then F3 will work, but there will be no thumbnails because the Explorer doesn't see the filters.
You have to actively install them. Or do it manually via
regsvr32.exe LAVSplitter.ax
regsvr32.exe LAVVideo.ax
regsvr32.exe LAVAudio.ax
from an elevated command prompt cmd.exe.

[Horst.Epp]

I guess for thumbnails LAV filters are not the solution.
I have installed K-Lite Codec standard pack in the OS
which contains the LAV filters useable for all application on the PC, not only TC.
It also includes the Icaros tool which provides the thumbnails for all sort of files.

[albertocasanova]

For thumbnail size use a "square": 256 x 256 (use any number divisible by 16), for example, and try again.
(Don't forget to "apply" the change in settings).