ATV1 problem with mkv -> mp4 not working

[cookieme]

I've got the first gen Apple TV and I have many mkv videos that play fine on my Mac with Perian. However, I want to organise my videos in iTunes and also have them pkay on my ATV without the Perian plugin.

I downloaded Subler and MP4Tools and I've tried converting several mkvs and although they work in iTunes, they don't on ATV.

On my ATV the movie loads and I can hear sound, but the video is stuck on the first frame and after a while the ATV crashes.

Any ideas?

 

[Kev052683]

I've got the first gen Apple TV and I have many mkv videos that play fine on my Mac with Perian. However, I want to organise my videos in iTunes and also have them pkay on my ATV without the Perian plugin.

I downloaded Subler and MP4Tools and I've tried converting several mkvs and although they work in iTunes, they don't on ATV.

On my ATV the movie loads and I can hear sound, but the video is stuck on the first frame and after a while the ATV crashes.

Any ideas?

Download Handbrake and convert the MKV using the ATV2 preset. After that, just drag and drop into iTunes. Should play fine after that.

 

[cookieme]

Download Handbrake and convert the MKV using the ATV2 preset. After that, just drag and drop into iTunes. Should play fine after that.

I'd rather not transcode if possible. After all the mkv has h.256 video, so using subler or mp4tools should be enough, but I don't know why my ATV crashes when I try to play the m4v or mp4.

 

[dynaflash]

I'd rather not transcode if possible. After all the mkv has h.256 video, so using subler or mp4tools should be enough, but I don't know why my ATV crashes when I try to play the m4v or mp4.

er, simply having an h.264 video track is not enough. there are many x264 options that are not compatible with the atv 1.

B-Pyramid is one h.264 option that *will* crash an atv 1 (there are others). If in fact your source video's have an "h.265" track, that is sure to crash an atv

Transcode with HB and it will work.

 

[nateo200]

er, simply having an h.264 video track is not enough. there are many x264 options that are not compatible with the atv 1.

B-Pyramid is one h.264 option that *will* crash an atv 1 (there are others). If in fact your source video's have an "h.265" track, that is sure to crash an atv

Transcode with HB and it will work.

+1...I love Subler because it saved me allot of time with unnecessary transcoding but it doesn't touch anything on the video and audio tracks...it just remuxes into a mp4 container format. I don't get why the Apple TV can't handle almost any kind of H.264 format...my iPhone 4 can play nearly anything yet a dedicated streaming device that is built around the idea of video play back can't? I keep wanting to buy one myself but I have a feeling half my videos wouldn't play!

 

[cookieme]

er, simply having an h.264 video track is not enough. there are many x264 options that are not compatible with the atv 1.

B-Pyramid is one h.264 option that *will* crash an atv 1 (there are others). If in fact your source video's have an "h.265" track, that is sure to crash an atv

Transcode with HB and it will work.

Hmm..now I'm confused. I launched Subler and added my mkv and I get two tracks, one H.264 and one MP3, 2ch.

I thought the point of Subler/ MP4Tools was to change the container from mkv to mp4/ m4v to avoid transcoding, as the video track is already in the correct format for iTunes/ ATV. The only conversion would be for audio which needs to be in AAC.

As I'm a complete novice to this please correct me

 

[nateo200]

Hmm..now I'm confused. I launched Subler and added my mkv and I get two tracks, one H.264 and one MP3, 2ch.

I thought the point of Subler/ MP4Tools was to change the container from mkv to mp4/ m4v to avoid transcoding, as the video track is already in the correct format for iTunes/ ATV. The only conversion would be for audio which needs to be in AAC.

As I'm a complete novice to this please correct me

H.264 is a pretty broad standard. The H.264 specification for BluRay for example allows allot more advanced encoding features "burned" into the video track that the Apple TV can not handle. The H.264 specification for iTunes is far more simple. Basically put all H.264 is not created equal, and the AppleTV is picky because it can not handle high profile H.264. Subler can mux any H.264 into a container, but it will not change incompatible H.264 video.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC

 

[dynaflash]

Hmm..now I'm confused. I launched Subler and added my mkv and I get two tracks, one H.264 and one MP3, 2ch.

I thought the point of Subler/ MP4Tools was to change the container from mkv to mp4/ m4v to avoid transcoding, as the video track is already in the correct format for iTunes/ ATV. The only conversion would be for audio which needs to be in AAC.

As I'm a complete novice to this please correct me

er, no its not as said above ... correct for iTunes / ATV (especially atv 1). thats the whole point. Subler will simply remux the source tracks ... untouched into a new mp4 container. Period.

As to why the atv 1 is not as compatible as an iPhone 4 ... well its about 5 years old now for one thing and was not exceptionally powerful when it was new and it was designed specifically to playback iTunes content leveraging as much as possible to the gpu (which was good in its time ... but time rolls on .. ). Can it do more ? Yes, if you hack it, it can play back raw decrypted bluray if you want.

Box stock ... transcode your movies if you want the atv 1 to play them (assuming as you say a remux doesn't work).