Converting a variety of formats for iPod (mkv h264 mp3)

[Jdub87]

I'd like to start out by saying I abhor Videora iPod Converter and 3GP, please don't recommend them. I have Nero 8 and recode 3 but it doesn't seem to support h264 video.

I have a 5th gen iPod Video 60GB and want to load it up with some music videos, maybe web clips and possibly movies with the idea that I can use the dock I got off ebay to play it on friends TV's and show them random crap. I think what I really need is kind of a mp4 "finisher", something to shove various things into a final mp4 container and check for compatibility.

What I have now is an MKV file with h264 656x368 23.98fps video and 44100Hz 224Kbps mp3 audio in it that I want to throw on the iPod. I've had one HELL of a time trying to do that without resorting to tools that completely reencode. I used GOTsent and it gave me a working mp4 but it felt the need to decode the audio and re-encode it and I had to use gain to keep the volume. And of course the resolution still isn't supported so I cant put it on my iPod with iTunes. The mp4 container/format supports mp3 right? The iPod will play it back right?

I used MKVextractGUI or MKVEWizard (cant remember which) to demux the video/audio and that seems to have worked. It game me a file_Track1.h264 for video and file_Track2.mp3 for audio. Though of course no program like Total Video Converter will work with them to merge/convert for iPod playback. It just creates a 32 kb file whenever I try to merge the video/audio.

I find myself in the same position I always seem to be with video conversion needs, the exception or bizare case that requires cluttering my computer with 7 new tools some of which were abandoned 3 years ago and dont work with the newer versions of formats that I have and I don't end up getting the job done in the best way possible.

What would you do to get this particular case in order to retain the highest quality video and audio? Whats the max bitrate supported by the iPod for 264 playback again? Isn't the h264 codec by its nature variable? frickin Apple... but that wont help me.

What about avi's and FLV's and WMVs?

I tried reading the guides and sifting through the tools, I really did but most of them don't help much by way of giving technical info. Just a quick set of screenshots for beginners that fall outside the scope of what I need.

[guns1inger]

Pity you hate Videora, as I use it all the time, with custom profiles, and get fast, clean conversions from it. However if you don't want to use it, you might also consider

WinFF
Handbrake
SUPER

One thing to note : the current iPods only allow mp3 audio for audio playback. Video only allows AAC audio. I don't know if the previous generation supported MP3 as audio in video. This would explain why current converters insist on re-encoding your audio.

As for the max bitrate - it suspect 1500 kbps has been chosen as a good compromise between quality required for the low resolutions, and the slow read speed of the hard drives used in iPods.