Video Conversion Fu - Why's My Encode So Bad?

[Keith Justice]

Okay... it started with me getting Error 2041 when I tried to watch an MP4 file. MP4's have played all just fine and all others played fine except for these newly downloaded ones.

I cleaned up my registry like what was suggested from a Google Search and then tried changing the mp4 extension to gp3 or 3gp... I forget per another forum.

Neither worked, problem persisted.

Finally I could get it to work on VLC, but the end game was to get it to play on my 360 using TVersity. 360 still could not see the video.

Now, I picked up a video converter called Any Video Converter. Not knowing much, I just clicked "Go" basically and was able to transform the MP4 into a video format both my computer and 360 are cool with... MPEG II and AVI.

The last problem is.... a HUGE drop in video quality. What can I do to assure my converted encodes are as clean and pretty as the initial video?

[guns1inger]

For computer playback I would suggest VLC, The KM Player or MPC HC. You might also try FFDShow and the Haali splitter.

For Xbox360 playback you may have to re-encode the file, or you may just have to repackage it. There are a selection of tools here : https://www.videohelp.com/tools/sections/htpc and links to guides where they exist.

[Keith Justice]

The link to the video converters is a bit overwhelming. Is there a recommended one? And like.... something I should be doing or setting so that video quality isn't lost in the conversion?

[guns1inger]

Again, you need to start by determining if you need to re-encode. I don't know what the requirements for the Xbox are. mp4 H264 is encoded based on profiles. The Xbox may play only some. You will have to do some research.

A simply place to start is Xvid4PSP. You can use it to re-package or re-encode. It has profiles for the Xbox360 if re-encoding is necessary.

Otherwise you may have to look at Yamb or similar to repackage manually