Some videos won't transfer, others do and won't play?

Question

Level 1

9 points

Some videos won't transfer, others do and won't play?

I have had success so far with converting videos for my iPhone using iSquint, MPEG Streamclip, and QT Pro, and use specs according to http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html. However, I have subscribed to a few podcasts with video content (which appear to fall within the accepted parameters by a large margin) and yet will either

1: transfer to iPhone and not play ("This movie format is not supported")
or
2: not transfer at all ("Some of the videos in your iTunes library were not copied to the iPhone because they cannot be played on this iPhone")

Case in point: I got one of those videos (of #1 variety) to play on the iPhone by using "Convert Video to iPod" in iTunes. This is one that came down from the Ricky Gervais podcast. When I do a Get Info on the original downloaded file, here are the specs:

Kind: MPEG-4 video file
Size: 3.4 MB
Bit Rate: 55 kbps
Profile: Low Complexity
Channels: Mono
Total Bit Rate: 298 kbps
Video Dimensions: 320 x 180
Video Codec: H.264

They seem perfectly within standards according to http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html

The converted file is:

Kind: MPEG-4 video file
Size: 7.8 MB
Bit Rate: 126 kbps
Profile: Low Complexity
Channels: Stereo
Total Bit Rate: 687 kbps
Video Dimensions: 320 x 180
Video Codec: H.264

So it increased the size and bit rate, and recoded for stereo. What gives here? Why wouldn't the original video play on iPhone? Both vids play fine in iTunes. All of the videos of #2 variety above work out about the same. Anybody have an idea why iPhone just doesn't like some videos? BTW, it's definitely not the 'stereo' thing - other vids with otherwise similar specs that are stereo still won't play on iPhone. Another thing I'd like to add is that I don't want to have to convert all those videos - I have an old computer and to convert that 2 min video took 10 min...

Message was edited by: mokomok

G4, Mac OS X (10.4.10), it's old

Posted on Aug 24, 2007 11:51 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 7, 2007 1:57 PM in response to mokomok

I'm having the same problem with my tv shows... the first season worked fine, but the second season gives me the error "..was not copied because the video format is not supported by the iphone.." Also, itunes won't let me convert selection for ipod and I have the most recent version.

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Answer 2

mokomok Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 8, 2007 8:57 PM in response to CUsprinter

still trying for help on this issue. Seems to come up regularly on podcast videos - at least half of them will transfer to the iPhone and show up in the video list, but when you try to play them, it just says 'this video format is not supported'. Just today, in fact, an updated video from the Ricky Gervais podcast which has these specs:

Kind: MPEG-4 video file
Size: 16.4 MB
Bit Rate: 55 kbps
Profile: Low Complexity
Channels: Mono
Total Bit Rate: 256 kbps
Video Dimensions: 320 x 240
Video Codec: H.264

That all seems like it should work - but the iPhone won't play it. Any help?

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Answer 3

jtrimmer

Level 1

0 points

Sep 24, 2007 8:39 PM in response to mokomok

I'm having the same problem (with the Ricky Gervais podcast as well). I'm really hoping there is a solution to this.

Any luck so far?

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Answer 4

Mike Kelley

Level 7

29,299 points

Sep 24, 2007 8:43 PM in response to jtrimmer

None of you mention fps, and this is critical as well.

If there are free downloads that don't work point me to them and I can figure out what's going on (I have lots of video tools).

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Answer 5

jtrimmer

Level 1

0 points

Sep 24, 2007 8:48 PM in response to Mike Kelley

Hi Mike-

If you download "Ahhhh, Robin" from The Ricky Gervais Podcast in iTunes that is one of the videos giving me trouble. I'm not aware of an fps limitation, you think this could be it?

As a side note, not all of the ricky gervais podcasts are problematic. Some play just fine.

Thanks!

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Answer 6

Mike Kelley

Level 7

29,299 points

Sep 25, 2007 6:04 AM in response to jtrimmer

Unfortunately, without converting it I can't look at the frame rate... and this is critical for iPods. My guess is that is what the conversion is doing, setting it right for the iPhone.

Unfortunately there is no way to keep producers from making video that doesn't conform to certain devices -- and at the present there are so many specs it probably would drive someone crazy to try (just as an aside -- the touch, while looking in most respects like an iPhone without a phone, actually can play much higher frame and data rates, so it's likely it won't have a problem with these videos).

However, I'm amazed it takes your computer that long to convert. On my own (Windoze) computer it was instantaneous -- literally a second or two. It really shouldn't take long if it's a frame rate issue. You have the latest version of iTunes, right? Unless this is a Mac v. Windows thing (unlikely) there's probably something wrong with your setup somewhere, and that's where I'd be looking.

You might want to go to the iTunes forum and ask the experts there why it takes so long for your setup to convert these videos (I'm going to guess that nearly any machine can do these in seconds versus minutes).

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Answer 7

jtrimmer

Level 1

0 points

Sep 25, 2007 10:23 AM in response to Mike Kelley

Thanks for the reply Mike,

I'm not the original poster and I'm actually using the iPod Touch. I can't believe that a different frame rate would prevent me from viewing only some videos from a popular podcast. Though I suppose there might be some truth to that.

I haven't tried converting the file at all, I suppose I could use iSquint which doesn't take me long on my macbook (original poster said they have an old computer).

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