Converting Movies to play on Apple TV

Question

Level 1

8 points

Converting Movies to play on Apple TV

I have a number of movies (.avi, .divx, etc, etc) that I would like to watch on my HDTV via Apple TV (just got it today) ... what is the procedure to convert them so that I can watch them .. what format?

Thanks in Advance

D

iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.3)

Posted on Jun 2, 2008 6:19 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 2, 2008 6:34 PM in response to Don Mann

Your best bet is probably Visual Hub

http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/

It has an Apple TV preset and can take almost anything for an input.

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Answer 2

agiamiul

Level 1

100 points

Jun 2, 2008 7:34 PM in response to Don Mann

Are many possibilities, such as: Toast 9 , Quicktime Player Pro, Handbrake (free).
The quality of the conversion is sometime questionable.
Good Luck!

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Answer 3

Don Mann Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2008 4:45 AM in response to agiamiul

So I assume that to play using Apple TV the movie MUST be converted to m4v format than imported into iTunes? Is that correct? Also, any issues with audio not coming theu and/or video degradation?

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Answer 4

Jun 3, 2008 5:52 AM in response to Don Mann

It depends on what codecs you have isntalled. for isntance, if you have a divx with ac3 audio, quicktime will not convert the audio when you export the movie to ATV (I'm referring to Quicktime Pro here). So you need to make sure that whatever you use, you have the correct codecs. You will also need to import them into iTunes as this is where ATV gets its sources from.

I use quicktime pro for my divx and avi files and the output is fine on a 37" plasma.

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Answer 5

Jun 3, 2008 6:23 AM in response to Surflogic

This is why I recommend Visual Hub over QuickTime Pro. It supports more formats and also is able to output AC3 audio tracks to .mov files for playback on the AppleTV.

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Answer 6

Don Mann Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2008 9:32 AM in response to wallybarthman

What about the option of playing the avi's, divx's, etc direct from n iBook using cables ?? better video with guarenteed audio?? vs doing conversions to m4v format for all movies prior to playing

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Answer 7

Rudegar

Level 10

180,636 points

Jun 3, 2008 10:05 AM in response to Don Mann

not sure which output you got from your ibook but unless it's hdmi or dvi
it will be pretty poor SD analog output quality

and if it indeed is svhs or composite the longer the cables the worse it gets

Message was edited by: Rudegar

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Answer 8

Don Mann Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 3, 2008 11:51 AM in response to Rudegar

THere's a cable that Apple Store sells that will connect the iBook to an HDMI cable ... then audio is routed out via 1/8 mini to 2 rca's ..
any thoughts/experiences ..

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Answer 9

Jun 7, 2008 8:03 AM in response to Don Mann

I just got my ATV yesterday now the UK has movies and TV to rent/buy.
I would suggest using VLC for conversion . I am in mid conversion at the moment !
It's free , plays pretty much anything and has some extensive transcoding capabilities including m4v . You will need to make some settings for transcode by opening from the file menu and then checking the Streaming/saving box and then click on settings to setup a source file and the parameters for the recoded files video and audio formats , bitrates etc.
After transcoding - save to a folder in movies for transcoded copies - add to library from within iTunes ( apple O ) Then you can stream or copy the file to ATV .
Or QT7 pro will work with some but not all files and has an easy convert for ATV dropdown.

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