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Can I watch mp4/DivX without hacking/transcoding????

C

callagga

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 2, 2007
84
0
Hi all,

Is there a way currently for me to watch my recordings & DivX videos from my PC on my Apple TV but without having to (a) open up my AppleTV to hack and without (b) having to pre-transcode my videos??? (i.e. transcoding on the fly would be ok)

Thanks
 
mp4 and divx are entirely different.

mp4 you can do, that's what apple intends for you to use.

divx, no.
 
DivX is usually MPEG-4 video with MP3 audio in a .avi container file.

I'm surprised to see there's no "repackager" available yet, as it shouldn't require any re-encoding to go from DivX to MP4.
 
Yvan256 said:
DivX is usually MPEG-4 video with MP3 audio in a .avi container file.

I'm surprised to see there's no "repackager" available yet, as it shouldn't require any re-encoding to go from DivX to MP4.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised aswell. Perhaps there are substantial differences when using a different container?
I end up just plugging in my laptop to the TV, or burning the avi's to disc and playing in a compatible dvd player. Its such a pain that apple is so stubborn about their formats. I'd love to organise my movies/tv shows (all DivX/Xvid) in iTunes, and I'd buy an apple TV to play them with.
 
use ffmpegx, and select passthrough for video and audio but change the container. this will make a new file in the container you select, but just 'pass through' the video and audio without translating it at all. if it's appletv readable codecs, but the container isnt compatable, this should fix your problem.
 
chaos86 said:
use ffmpegx, and select passthrough for video and audio but change the container. this will make a new file in the container you select, but just 'pass through' the video and audio without translating it at all. if it's appletv readable codecs, but the container isnt compatable, this should fix your problem.
Click to expand...
can you give just a bit more overview of your idea here? I kind of lost you. Thanks
 
callagga said:
can you give just a bit more overview of your idea here? I kind of lost you. Thanks
Click to expand...

okay, ffmpegx is an open source video encoding tool.

A video file is a container like mov, avi, etc, which contains the encoded video in divx, mpeg4, h264, and the encoded audio in mp3, aac, etc. You need to figure out which of the three the apple tv won't accept, if its the encoded video or audio, youll have to reencode that part of the file, but if its just the container that apple tv dosent like, the thats easy to change.

Back to ffmpegx. You put a file into ffmpegx then choose the container, video, and audio, and it makes you a new file with those specs. If you want to changed the video, but keep the container, you'd select the same container, different video, and 'passthrough' audio. 'Passthrough' just passes the same encoded audio right along to the new file. As such, if apple tv accepts the video and audio, but freaked out over the container, you could just pass the audio and video through in a different container.
 
chaos86 said:
Back to ffmpegx. You put a file into ffmpegx then choose the container, video, and audio, and it makes you a new file with those specs. If you want to changed the video, but keep the container, you'd select the same container, different video, and 'passthrough' audio. 'Passthrough' just passes the same encoded audio right along to the new file. As such, if apple tv accepts the video and audio, but freaked out over the container, you could just pass the audio and video through in a different container.
Click to expand...



I'm trying to do this, but every time I change the video/audio to passthrough it changes the format back to AVI, instead of ffmpeg mp4.

I dont think this will work as intended. This would transcode it.
 
chaos86 said:
'Passthrough' just passes the same encoded audio right along to the new file.
Click to expand...
Is there a way with the tool to do "on-the-fly" transcoding? Like if I find out what combination I need for appleTV, can I then run this tool such that when appleTV wants to play a file it can source it from the one set of files and initiate the on-the-fly transcoding tool.

If the answer to above is no, then is there a recommendation re software tool that is focused at monitoring a directory for new video files, and then transcodes them straight away ready for watching?

BTW - Some transcoding I've tried with MediaConverter (windows) and VisualHub (mac) was giving a resultant video file where the video wasn't in synch with the audio. I tried a couple of difference formats but for this particular source video the output videos always had the problem. I guess I'm just raising a concern I have re whether this trancoding stuff is very reliable or not.
 
Apple really needs to put some more effort into the AppleTV. I wanted one for the longest time, but now with MS offering Divx, MP4 and Xvid on the 360 with the new Fall Update on the 4th, I no longer have the desire. Connect360 + Mac + Xbox360 + HDTV is media nirvana. Only thing the 360 needs now is a built-in browser like the PS3.

Happy Holidays, all.

B
 
rxse7en said:
Apple really needs to put some more effort into the AppleTV. I wanted one for the longest time, but now with MS offering Divx, MP4 and Xvid on the 360 with the new Fall Update on the 4th, I no longer have the desire. Connect360 + Mac + Xbox360 + HDTV is media nirvana. Only thing the 360 needs now is a built-in browser like the PS3.

Happy Holidays, all.

B
Click to expand...
sorry for being off topic but M$ is actually allowing divx and such on their 360? when does that come out? dec.4?
 
rxse7en said:
Apple really needs to put some more effort into the AppleTV. I wanted one for the longest time, but now with MS offering Divx, MP4 and Xvid on the 360 with the new Fall Update on the 4th, I no longer have the desire. Connect360 + Mac + Xbox360 + HDTV is media nirvana. Only thing the 360 needs now is a built-in browser like the PS3.

Happy Holidays, all.

B
Click to expand...

Actually another thing the 360 needs is a big noise muffler. Man that thing is LOUD...
 
rxse7en said:
...but now with MS offering Divx, MP4 and Xvid on the 360 with the new Fall Update on the 4th, I no longer have the desire. Connect360 + Mac + Xbox360 + HDTV is media nirvana.
Click to expand...

Um, where did you hear that they were putting Xvid? I know about the Divx addition, they're doing that because Divx actually is a business and they figured out a way to make money with it on the 360. Xvid is just a free codec that was made because Divx went commercial. Most of my stuff is in Xvid.

EDIT: Never mind, I found an article on XB3F claiming that Xvid support is included too, even though most sites I've been reading haven't mentioned it in their later postings about the deal. Looks like it may be true.
 
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