Why would I want to convert my ripped movies?

[swindmiller]

I am new to the Apple TV but not new to ripping and HTPC's. I currently have an Windows HTPC and play all of my movies over the network from an Unraid server that were ripped using Handbrake. Most of my movies are MKV's or Avi's using the "High Profile" profile in HB.
I just got the ATV2 and jailbroke it, installed XBMC and aTV Flash (black).

I can play my movies currently thru the Media program installed by aTV Flash and XBMC. I did notice that it takes a while to load the movie covers which does bother me a little.
I see alot of people converting their movies to import into iTunes to play that way. What is the advantage to that? I really don't want to have to convert my movies at all and keep everything the way it is on my Unraid server.
I also saw that people are using PLEX and this is a possibility since my WIN HTPC stays on all the time. Again what is the advantage to this? I know some people may say why use the ATV when I can just use the HTPC and my answer would be to be able to use it on other TV's and just because I can

I really like that on my HTPC when I goto my movies section the covers load right away (since the data is cached on the HD), but I understand the ATV has no real HD for this function...right?

I like XBMC but really like the regular Apple frontend and would like to use that to display the movies.

Thanks for any direction that can be given.

Scott

 

[mic j]

I am new to the Apple TV but not new to ripping and HTPC's. I currently have an Windows HTPC and play all of my movies over the network from an Unraid server that were ripped using Handbrake. Most of my movies are MKV's or Avi's using the "High Profile" profile in HB.
I just got the ATV2 and jailbroke it, installed XBMC and aTV Flash (black).

I can play my movies currently thru the Media program installed by aTV Flash and XBMC. I did notice that it takes a while to load the movie covers which does bother me a little.
I see alot of people converting their movies to import into iTunes to play that way. What is the advantage to that? I really don't want to have to convert my movies at all and keep everything the way it is on my Unraid server.
I also saw that people are using PLEX and this is a possibility since my WIN HTPC stays on all the time. Again what is the advantage to this? I know some people may say why use the ATV when I can just use the HTPC and my answer would be to be able to use it on other TV's and just because I can

I really like that on my HTPC when I goto my movies section the covers load right away (since the data is cached on the HD), but I understand the ATV has no real HD for this function...right?

I like XBMC but really like the regular Apple frontend and would like to use that to display the movies.

Thanks for any direction that can be given.

Scott

Doesn't sound like you need much "direction". Stick with what you like and what is working for you.

 

[radiogoober]

Yeah, it sounds like you're content with your setup.

Why do I do it all through iTunes? I like simplicity. I don't want to muck around with crap and depend on other people for things, ie, the jailbreaking team, etc. The current AppleTV 2 for iOS 5.0 jailbreak sucks, because if the AppleTV needs to be rebooted you have to re-tether it to a computer to re-do the jailbreak. That sucks. My AppleTV has a weird interface problem with my ****** soundbar so I have to unplug it and reboot like once a week, so that would drive me bonkers to have to then hook my computer back up to it, run the jailbreak tether, etc.

For me, it's just simple. All my movies and TV shows are organized perfectly in iTunes. I just turn on the AppleTV, and it all works. My workflow to get new media into my center is really two steps. I encode in Handbrake, which automatically sends it to my metadata app (iDentify.app), which usually automatically figures out what it is, I then (just for fun) pick out a nice cover art, click "save" and then its automatically added to iTunes. It takes seconds.

Just simple. I don't have to manage extra machines, or anything of the sort. Sure, I don't get the cool menus from XBMC or Plex, or some of the cool add-ons or apps, or the neat way to scroll the movie covers instead of a boring list of movie names, and all of those things would be really nice, but for me it's a trade off.

 

[chiefpavvy]

There's always a trade-off. I gave up a long, long time ago on the various front-end solutions like Plex, XBMC, etc. They have some cool features and capabilities but too many issues and configuration can be a real PITA. I don't want to spend my time scouring forums seeking out the latest nightly build or revision which fixes some incredibly annoying bug or issue and then repeat the process each week...

You can't get any simpler than iTunes and Apple TV...Not nearly as flexible and you have to live with the limitations (artificial or not) imposed by Apple, and it is indeed a trade-off, but one I'm willing to make.

 

[swindmiller]

I am starting to think this is the best bet. The problem is that I have about 1300 movies in mkv format. I want to just be able to switch them to iTunes compatible m4v's without having to re-encode the video and all. I found a bunch of ways for Mac but non reliable for Windows...any ideas?

Thanks,
Scott

 

[Sedulous]

I am starting to think this is the best bet. The problem is that I have about 1300 movies in mkv format. I want to just be able to switch them to iTunes compatible m4v's without having to re-encode the video and all. I found a bunch of ways for Mac but non reliable for Windows...any ideas?

Thanks,
Scott

There are remuxers for Windows. YAMB comes to mind.

 

[swindmiller]

I found a few that would let me convert the AC3 5.1 to AAC 2ch but I also wanted AC3 5.1 in there as well.

 

[miket019]

Why would I want to convert my ripped movies?

I convert my ripped movies because I have about 800 mkv movies (from blu ray). It would take over 30 TB of space if i didn't convert them and leave them the way it is. I don't want to spend money on 30 TB.

When you say you have 1300 mkv movies? do you mean from dvd? because if it's from blu ray I'd love to know how you back up all that.

 

[swindmiller]

Why would I want to convert my ripped movies?

I convert my ripped movies because I have about 800 mkv movies (from blu ray). It would take over 30 TB of space if i didn't convert them and leave them the way it is. I don't want to spend money on 30 TB.

When you say you have 1300 mkv movies? do you mean from dvd? because if it's from blu ray I'd love to know how you back up all that.

LOL...mixed and I used Handbrake already to scale them down. I should have used the Apple TV preset but did not since I did not have an Apple TV at the time. Now I will use that preset but was looking for a way to "convert" all my existing to be compatible with iTunes.

Scott

 

[maturola]

LOL...mixed and I used Handbrake already to scale them down. I should have used the Apple TV preset but did not since I did not have an Apple TV at the time. Now I will use that preset but was looking for a way to "convert" all my existing to be compatible with iTunes.

Scott

No advantages at all, you are already doing it the best/right way

If you want the default ATV UI, take a look at Plex, you can install plex server on your Windows machine, and Plex client on your ATV, it looks just like the ATV UI and you will be have access to all your existing movies (Movies covers will load faster since they are download from the server and not the net)

Not really hard to setup and doesn't really require much maintenance as other as saying this is a setup once as you like it and forget it

 

[swindmiller]

The problem I found with Plex is it does not work on v5 of IOS and did not look promising according to the developer.

 

[robertpolson]

I am starting to think this is the best bet. The problem is that I have about 1300 movies in mkv format. I want to just be able to switch them to iTunes compatible m4v's without having to re-encode the video and all. I found a bunch of ways for Mac but non reliable for Windows...any ideas?

Thanks,
Scott

Just use iVi, enable pass-through conversion and simply remux your MKVs to M4Vs. Works well.