XYZ was not copied to the ATV because it cannot. So what formats does the

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Level 1

52 points

XYZ was not copied to the ATV because it cannot. So what formats does the

I get this message occasionally and fix the offending video using either QT Pro, the iTunes built in Convertor, or Handbrake.

I can produce better picture quality when playing the video on the ATV on a 42 inch screen, by converting with either Handbrake or QT pro....but not consistently. Some times a set of settings produce good results and iTunes and the ATV recognise and play the file, sometime not.

Anyone know what is/are the ATV limiting factors? Frame rate ? bit rate?...a combination of these, or something else.

Sometimes the Handbrake ATV preset works, then sometimes it does not ...same goes for the QT Pro preset...

Any one get a set of settings for either of these apps to get the best pic quality....I have over 4TB storage, so going for quality rather than space saving

Cheers

Neil

Mac Pro 2 x Quad Core 3.0Ghz 10Gb RAM 4 x 1Tb HD's, Mac OS X (10.6.2), FreeNAS servers and Other Windoze and Linux machines

Posted on Mar 7, 2010 9:53 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 7, 2010 10:03 AM in response to Neil Paisnel

{quote:title=Neil Paisnel wrote:}
Anyone know what is/are the ATV limiting factors? Frame rate ? bit rate?...a combination of these, or something else.{quote}

Available from Apples own website: http://www.apple.com/uk/appletv/specs.html

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Answer 2

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Mar 7, 2010 11:39 AM in response to Neil Paisnel

Max of 720p at 24/25fps using h264 simple profile (CABAC hit or miss - best avoided unless you have a good preset) at <5Mbps with AAC audio at 160kbps or less for stereo or a 5.1 passthrough.

I suspect you may be picking AppleTV preset and increasing bitrate to maximise quality.

The developers will have expended a lot o time getting things as good as possible for them so best to stick with vanilla preset unless curious - if you alter settings just to short encodes to test.

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Answer 3

Neil Paisnel Author

Level 1

52 points

Mar 7, 2010 12:24 PM in response to Alley_Cat

Alley_Cat wrote:

I suspect you may be picking AppleTV preset and increasing bitrate to maximise quality.

No, that is the thing...sometimes the handbrake ATV preset does not produce ATV compatible files.

Now I have some figures, I can do a few more, and try again.

Thanks All

Neil

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Answer 4

Mar 7, 2010 10:10 PM in response to Alley_Cat

I have a couple of movies that apparently should play but will not unless given the Handbrake treatment.

What is incompatible with the original file? :
Name: movie.mp4
Data from QT inspector:
Format H264, 1280x720, AAC, 5.1(CLRLsRsLFE), 48khz
FPS 23.98
Data rate 2114kbits/s

Is this a problem with the h264 profile? if so how can I see what profile has been used to encode the file?

Using HB I can make a playable file but the 5.1 soundtrack but this is distilled down to 2ch stereo. Is there any way to keep 5.1 sound and make it playable on my ATV?

Thanks

JW

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Answer 5

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Mar 8, 2010 1:02 AM in response to Neil Paisnel

Neil Paisnel wrote:
No, that is the thing...sometimes the handbrake ATV preset does not produce ATV compatible files.

not true. i use handbrake 100% of the time, and the AppleTV preset has never created a file that wasn't appletv compatible.

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Answer 6

Neil Paisnel Author

Level 1

52 points

Mar 8, 2010 11:17 AM in response to Chenks

Well maybe you have been lucky. If the file was not so big I would mail it to you. but we shall just have to disagree on this one 🙂

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Answer 7

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Mar 8, 2010 11:22 AM in response to Neil Paisnel

Neil Paisnel wrote:
Well maybe you have been lucky. If the file was not so big I would mail it to you. but we shall just have to disagree on this one 🙂

you can post the full stats/spec of the file here and it should be obvious when looking as to why it is not appletv compatible.

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Answer 8

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Mar 8, 2010 11:35 AM in response to James Wilson

Do you have 2 audio tracks, if not try maiing a file with - 1st one stereo, 2nd one DD passthrough.

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Answer 9

Neil Paisnel Author

Level 1

52 points

Mar 8, 2010 11:40 AM in response to Alley_Cat

It is not a big issue, I re encoded that one in QT Pro...or was it the iTunes convertor...cant remember, but anyway it plays fine on the ATV now.

I will try and re encode from the original again, using Handbrake and see if I can re create the 'not workin' ATV file

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Answer 10

Chenks

Level 5

7,435 points

Mar 8, 2010 11:41 AM in response to Alley_Cat

Alley_Cat wrote:
Do you have 2 audio tracks, if not try maiing a file with - 1st one stereo, 2nd one DD passthrough.

i thought the problem with not having 2 audio tracks was fixed with 3.0 or a previous release? (i'm sure someone in here said that was the case).

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Answer 11

Alley_Cat

Level 7

20,560 points

Mar 8, 2010 12:00 PM in response to Chenks

So did I, but I can't remember if there was 1 track and it was a surround multichannel track if it caused issues or not - i.e. stereo only track works but 5.1 only track doesn't.

Quick enough for any of us to test I guess.

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