PS3 to AppleTV

[vanfanel]

I have been using my PS3 as my streamer and I have a number of movies that were converted/muxed from mkv to mpg using the mkvtovob tool. I am switching over to AppleTV 3 and would like to know what's the easiest way to convert these movies. The videos are mostly encoded in h.264 so I assume it's a matter of just changing containers...is that right? If so what's the best tool for this?

[Baldrick]

Those are not any normal mpgs/vobs so I guess it will be tricky.

You could try some different multiplexers to change container to mp4,

avidemux, open video, under video and audio choose copy, format:mp4, save.

video to video converter, open vob, choose direct stream profile, under format choose mp4, convert.

ffmpeg -i video.vob -acodec copy -vcodec copy video.mp4 (from a command line box in same folder as ffmpeg.exe and your video.vob)

if all fails to read the vob then give up....

[vanfanel]

Thanks for the suggestions. I took a look at video to video converter and I tried a sample file and it seemed to create the mp4 file however there is only 1 audio track (AC3) I'm not certain but doesn't the appletv require an AAC track as well? Do I need to reinsert it somehow?

[jman98]

If you have not yet bought the Apple TV device, please take a look instead at the Western Digital media streaming devices. They are a superior product to the Apple TV devices. You won't need to convert anything.

[vanfanel]

If you have not yet bought the Apple TV device, please take a look instead at the Western Digital media streaming devices. They are a superior product to the Apple TV devices. You won't need to convert anything.

I've gone through a variety of different possibilities including roku and boxee. I was a big fan of the old xbox xbmc hack but my wife really likes the apple interface and it's simplicity and my favorite feature with the appletv is airplay. That feature alone is my biggest selling point.

[Wolfen]

Have you looked into using Handbrake, it has a preset for Apple TV.

[vanfanel]

Have you looked into using Handbrake, it gas a preset for Apple TV.

The problem with handbrake is that it re-encodes the whole movie so it takes quite a long time. The video is already h.264 encoded so I just needed to change the container. I was hoping just to remux (which only takes a few minutes) the files. I think the initial tools that Baldrick suggested has me on the right track however it creates a single AC3 audio track and if I read this correctly the appletv needs an AAC track as well to work. I found a tool for OSX which does exactly this (adds AAC track) without re-encoding the whole video but no windows equivalent:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/05/creating-videos-with-51-audio-for-the-apple-tv-mac-and-ios/

[Wolfen]

OK, How about Yamb ?

[Baldrick]

Have you checked if you can choose an audio codec in video to video converter? ANd leave the video track as direct stream copy?

Or else can you do that in other converters like xmedia recode, under the format choose mp4, under the video tab choose copy, under tab select aac.


Maybe mkvtomp4 will work also. Directly on the vobs or mp4. It can convert audio to aac.

[vanfanel]

Or else can you do that in other converters like xmedia recode, under the format choose mp4, under the video tab choose copy, under tab select aac.

Ok, this did the trick! copy video, then copy audio+add audio track with aac. Only took about 5 minutes to remux the file so shouldn't take too long to remux my collection. thanks!

[vanfanel]

I have a somewhat smaller problem. I can't seem to get the 5.1 AC3 to work. I think I followed the proper instructions according to http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1755 but I can't get the AC3 5.1 sound to work on the appletv 3. The AAC track works fine and both tracks work fine on my PC so there must be something simple I'm missing. Any ideas?

[vanfanel]

Ok I gave on xmedia recode lol. Tried mkvtomp4 and this seems to be the answer. After some config it seems to work even faster than xmedia recode and the search and tagging features just made it that much better. thanks again baldrick for the continued suggestions