How can I insert the mysterious iPod Atom to make a movie iPod friendly?

Question

How can I insert the mysterious iPod Atom to make a movie iPod friendly?

Hello. I've been looking for an answer to this problem all over the Internet and haven't found anything! An Quicktime GURU out there?

THE PROBLEM:

I have several mp4 video files that iTunes won't sync to my iPod. They play well on QT, FrontRow and iTunes but then iTunes says "This video cannot be played on this iPod".
Yes! you know that message too...
We all have gotten that message before, even when we know the video will play perfectly on the iPod because it was encoded on H.264, AAC, etc, etc...

Doing a little research I came to the fact that the problem is that these videos are missing an "iPod Atom Tag" which tells iTunes that the video can actually be played on the iPod. Seems quite simple but wait, there is a catch...

Nobody knows how to insert this iPod Atom in the mp4 file!!!

I found a nice UNIX app called AtomicParsley which let's you edit these tags but then I'm missing the important information... The iPod Tag code and the value which is supposed to be set to...

THE QUESTIONS:

Does anyone here has any idea on how to push the iPod Atom inside the mp4 file? Will AtomicParsley do the job?

Which is the code of the iPod Atom? Is it uuid?

Which value should I assign to it?

Is there anything else I have to do to the files to make them iPod friendly?

Most people would say that the easiest way is to use Quicktime Pro to re-encode the files but then the files grow in size, they loose some quality and features and not to mention that it takes forever to re-encode them again...

I believe that this app, AtomicParsley can do the job if I know which tags to modify and the values I should set them to but that's the information I'm missing...

I would really appreciate if someone can point me into the right direction and give me a little help with this matter. Thank you very much!

Alejandro Cordero
Costa Rica.

From 128K to Xeon, Mac OS X (10.5.2), Apple Collector

Posted on Mar 23, 2008 3:53 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 23, 2008 5:43 PM in response to Apple Lifestyle

Try the program Handbrake, it has a box to check to insert ipod atom

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Answer 2

Mar 24, 2008 1:26 AM in response to mommynearest

I appreciate your comment but I guess you didn't exactly understand my problem...

Handbrake is a program that extracts the video from DVDs and encode it into a movie file, usually mp4 files like the ones I need to fix. It won't work with movie files that you already have on your computer.

Here is the deal again:

1 - I have mp4 files in my HD. I am not encoding from my DVDs.

2 - AtomicParsley is a program that can insert atoms in an mp4 file and it only takes a few seconds to do it and the movie itself remains untouched. I believe this tool will work fine but...

3 - I just need to know what to tell to AtomicParsley. That is the iPod Atom code which I think is "uuid" and the value it must have which I really have no idea... :P

Using this tool will insert the atom in a few seconds so I don't have to re-encode everything from scratch. Each encoding takes a few hours for a whole movie. Why spend many many hours re-encoding when you can solve the problem in a few minutes...

Again, thank you for your comment. I'll keep waiting for an answer and keep the re-encoding option as a last resource.

Alec.

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Answer 3

jsunem

Level 2

417 points

Mar 31, 2008 10:27 PM in response to Apple Lifestyle

Alec,

Have you found an answer to this anywhere yet?

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Answer 4

Apr 1, 2008 7:11 AM in response to Apple Lifestyle

Open the file with QuickTime Player and then open the Movie Inspector window to see its format, dimensions, codecs and data rate.
iPods have special requirements (no special "atom") for each file format and your file probably exceeds them.
H.264 video, up to 1.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Low-Complexity version of the H.264 Baseline Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; H.264 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Baseline Profile up to Level 3.0 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats.

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Answer 5

Apr 1, 2008 2:32 PM in response to Apple Lifestyle

Alec

I had the same issue and the following worked:

I assume your movie(s) are already in iTunes; if not then import them. Select a movie, then in the menu bar select Advanced / Convert selection for iPod/iPhone. This leaves the movie unchanged, but creates a new version compatible with iPod.

It takes quite some time, but when finished the resulting movie should work.

Good luck

Andrew

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Answer 6

Apr 1, 2008 3:48 PM in response to QuickTimeKirk

Hello! and thank you all for your comments.

I have my movies in 720x480 or close to that (the DVD "native" resolution) because I encode them using HandBrake. The new version of HB includes this checkbox called "Insert iPod Atom" which makes the movie playable on the iPod even with this resolutions...

The funny thing, If I uncheck the box, the movie won't sync even when I use the exact same setting for encoding...

So, are you sure the atom is not necessary?

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Answer 7

Apr 1, 2008 3:53 PM in response to Andrew Rolfe

Thanks your your comment!

I know that I can use Quicktime Pro or iTunes to re-encode the files but then they will grow in size (wierd!), reduce the aspect ratio and quality of the video not to mention that it will take forever to do it. That is precisely what I am trying to avoid because I have around 150 of my DVDs already encoded. That is a lot of work.

In that case, I rather use HandBrake and get the directly from the DVD again but with the new version of HB that has this nifty new checkbox "Insert iPod Atom" which make the encoded videos compatible with iPod just by adding this atom.

I would love to know how to insert that atom to my already encoded movies so I can save hours of work encoding and tagging... :P

Alec.

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Answer 8

jsunem

Level 2

417 points

Apr 1, 2008 10:20 PM in response to Apple Lifestyle

Well said Alec. Its amazing how many times you have to repeat yourself in this forum to get the message across. I've been looking all over at posts on Atomic Parsley, Tagger, and Lostify and no one seems to know or cares to share what it takes.

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Answer 9

Apr 1, 2008 11:04 PM in response to jsunem

Je Je... I know, it's been quite a challenge... I have been over all those forums too and nobody seems to know anything... It's a mystery!

I wonder if it has something to do with the island...

You know, among the videos I need to fix are my complete 3 seasons of LOST!!! 😉

In any case, I really appreciate every comment and everybody's help. Thanks!

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Answer 10

thbarnes

Level 1

5 points

Apr 2, 2008 8:07 PM in response to Apple Lifestyle

I've been scouring internet forums with the exact same question.

I ended up re-encoding many of my movies using Quicktime Pro. It took about 40 minutes per 1.5 hour movie, but that's much shorter than ripping them from the DVD again, which runs pretty much realtime (1.5 hours to encode a 1.5 hour movie) on my MacBook.

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Answer 11

thbarnes

Level 1

5 points

Apr 2, 2008 8:12 PM in response to QuickTimeKirk

No, actually there is a special atom. Try again bud.

MPEG4 movies (including many Quicktime movies) contain meta-data encoded in "atoms" within the movie file. iTunes looks for one of those atoms to see if the movie is iPod-compatible.

http://www.chiariglione.org/mpeg/standards/mpeg-4/mpeg-4.htm
http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/mpeg-4files.html

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Answer 12

Apr 3, 2008 4:52 AM in response to thbarnes

iPods "read" the data at the head of the file to see if it meets the requirements for the iPod. I pasted those settings above.
If your file exceeds those settings then the iPod will give you the error message. If you edit the "atoms" (altering the file) your file will still exceed the setting limits.
You can't put two gallons of milk into a one gallon container and you can't put your file on an iPod until you meet the settings limits.

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Answer 13

Apr 3, 2008 1:19 PM in response to QuickTimeKirk

Hello Kirk!

All my videos meet the necessary requirements to play on an iPod. Believe me, I know how to encode them... 😉 IT IS ITUNES who doesn't sync them.

Here is the test I have done a few times:

I encode the videos using Handbrake 0.9.2. Great app. It has a checkbox that says "Insert iPod Atom".

If I encode the video using the "Insert iPod Atom" option checked, it syncs. If that checkbox is not checked, it won't sync. I use the exact same settings for video, audio and everything else, so the only difference between the two files is the iPod Atom.

That's the whole deal. The videos are good and are perfectly playable on the iPod. It's just that the atom wasn't inserted at the time of the encoding.

You may want to give it a try at home using Handbrake with that box checked and unchecked and see the results...

Thanks!

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Answer 14

Apr 3, 2008 1:38 PM in response to Apple Lifestyle

That's right but I think the question is....if you have already encoded it and did not check the atom box, is there a way to go back and add the ipod atom? I'm in the same boat. Probably 50 movies already encoded but I didn't even know what that box was when I did the encodes.

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Answer 15

Apr 3, 2008 10:05 PM in response to timurray2000

That checkbox wasn't present in previous versions of HandBrake. You had to set the parameters manually. Now, in the new version of HB (0.9.2) is conveniently located in the main window which made my life A LOT easier... 😉

I am still looking around. If I find anything, I'll post it here...

Alec.

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How can I insert the mysterious iPod Atom to make a movie iPod friendly?