does apple tv play .mkv hd files converted into apple .mp4 format and does it have a file size limit it can support or any HD movie like 720p or 1080p can me converted into apple tv .mp4 format to played back on apple tv
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Apple TV & HD
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file size limit is 3.3GB afaik. it should play anything converted to mp4 with the right audio track as well.
I have an
tv...... I also have over 200 HD mp4s converted from MKV format...
... Every single one of them is larger than 3.3GB...
... They all play perfectly.
In my experience if an mp4 is larger than 4GB it will still play, but if you try to add artwork to them, iTunes will corrupt the file.
Keep all your conversions below 4GB, and you'll have no problems whatsoever.
MKV and MP4 are just container formats. They combine, or 'mux,' the audio, video and subtitle streams into a single file. Since we're not converting any of these streams, only changing how they are stored/read, we don't need to re-encode and worry about quality loss.
so what are you saying
you still need to use like visual hub to convert mkv to mp4 in order to play on apple tv .. u can't just rename the extension of the mkv file to mp4 and it will work
No, it doesn't seem to work. I just tried it and I cannot drop it into iTunes, nor will it open in Quicktime (which is what the ATV uses for playback). This was an h.264/AC3-encoded MKV file simply renamed with a '.mp4' extension.
The .mkv file that I have are all encoded with h264. Like exhibitionist said, .mkv and .mp4 are just containers format. In theory, you should be able to take the h264 movie stream and aac sound stream from .mkv file and dump it to a .mp4 file without transcoding.
The problem is, I don't know if such a program exist. Maybe exhibitionist knew something that we don't.
The problem is, I don't know if such a program exist. Maybe exhibitionist knew something that we don't.
The problem is that the majority of the mkv files you find on the internet use a higher profile of the h.264 standard than the AppleTV is capable of processing. You have to use a program to convert the h.264 to a lower profile for the file to playback on the AppleTV.
Otherwise, you could do it pretty easily, and quickly.
Otherwise, you could do it pretty easily, and quickly.
I second that... Also an earlier post mentioned trying to RENAME an .mkv to .mp4. I wish it were that simple. I've recently been experimenting with demuxing mkvs and re-muxing them into .mp4. The fact that .mp4 supposedly cannot contain ac3 audio throws a slight kink into that proposition. At the very least, the ac3 will have to be re-encoded to aac.
But the fact remains that
tv simply cannot playback the high profile h.264 video contained in these commonly found .mkv files. Something's gotta give. Unfortunately, the brave souls encoding these .mkvs aren't concerned with what our little tvs can handle.this works folks and it requires no recoding
I recoded an HD tv show in < 2 minutes to mp4, and imported to iTunes.
http://blog.kifr.net/2007/12/convert-mkv-to-mp4-with-your-mac.html
I recoded an HD tv show in < 2 minutes to mp4, and imported to iTunes.
http://blog.kifr.net/2007/12/convert-mkv-to-mp4-with-your-mac.html
I second that... Also an earlier post mentioned trying to RENAME an .mkv to .mp4. I wish it were that simple. I've recently been experimenting with demuxing mkvs and re-muxing them into .mp4. The fact that .mp4 supposedly cannot contain ac3 audio throws a slight kink into that proposition. At the very least, the ac3 will have to be re-encoded to aac.
But the fact remains that
Does anyone know if this is a software limitation (that could be fixed, say, in the upcoming update) or a hardware one? Is there somewhere on the ATV I can just drop in the higher-profile 264 codec?
You aren't re-encoding it, you are changing the container type. It's still good to know how to do for those that didn't.