Need advice: Exporting .AVI + 2 .MP3 audio tracks + .srt subtitles to .MP4

[mactivist]

I need advice on how best to configure QT Pro 7 for MacOS X to export (combine) files I demuxed from a .OGM file into a single .MP4 file (for viewing on TV via iTunes/Front Row, *not* an ipod).

Using D-Vision 3 I demuxed the following:

1 Video Track (.AVI using an XVid codec)
2 Audio Tracks (.ogg format, these are the English and Japanese tracks)
1 Subtitle Track (.srt format, these are the English subtitles for the Japanese audio)

I used Audacity to convert the .ogg files into .mp3.

Question #1: How do I import the .srt subtitle file as a QT7 Text Track?

I have successfully loaded the audio and video tracks into QT7 and designated each audio track with it's corresponding language. I need to associate the subtitle track with the Japanese audio track only.

QT7 says it doesn't recognize the format. I even downloaded some SRT QT component, but it didn't work. I also heard that TitleLab no longer works with QT7, though I've not tried yet. What are you guys using to get subtitles into QT7?

Question #2: How do I export to MP4 format without recompressing the audio and video?

For some reason, the "pass through" compression option for both the audio and video is grayed out.

Thanks for the help; I'll post a step-by-step tutorial to the forum for others to use when converting OGM to MP4 once I have perfected the process

[Baldrick]

moving you to our mac forum.

[celtic_druid]

I'd suggest mp4box. It can remux an XviD avi, including correctly handling packed bitstream. Supports ogg vorbis and srt's. I really wouldn't recommend vorbis in an mp4 container though. Convert to aac or use mkv (there is an mkv component for QT, works better than Apple's mp4 parser anyway I hear).

[jpschuck]

For some reason, the "pass through" compression option for both the audio and video is grayed out.

Quicktime only accepts passthrough if you have an Apple MPEG-4 or H264 video track, and an AAC or AMR audio track.

[mactivist]

Thanks for the help. Sure wish there was an OS X solution to this. Luckily I've still got 1 windows box at home, so I'll give MP4BOX a shot.

[jpschuck]

Thanks for the help. Sure wish there was an OS X solution to this. Luckily I've still got 1 windows box at home, so I'll give MP4BOX a shot.

There is a Mac OSX port of MP4box ! Use the "show package contents" on ffmpegX, you'll find the CLI version of MP4Box. Manual is here.

Basic usage is :
mp4box -add videofile -add audiofile outputfile.mp4
This should work with srt files also (although I don't think Quicktime is able to read them).

It supports Vorbis audio but keep in mnd that it is not relevant regarding the ISO mp4 standards. You should better transcode ogg to aac using Quicktime (with the Xiph component) or ffmpegX.

[celtic_druid]

Exactly GPAC is cross platform. OSX and windows are all both supported. That's why I suggested it.

[jpschuck]

Exactly GPAC is cross platform. OSX and windows are all both supported. That's why I suggested it.

You're right. I didn't notice on the Sourceforge site that it was platform independant. Still, there is no other binary available, so my suggestion remains a good alternative for those who do not want to compile by themselves (which would require an install of the developper tools).

[mactivist]

[quote="jpschuck"]

Basic usage is :
mp4box -add videofile -add audiofile outputfile.mp4
This should work with srt files also (although I don't think Quicktime is able to read them).

It supports Vorbis audio but keep in mnd that it is not relevant regarding the ISO mp4 standards. You should better transcode ogg to aac using Quicktime (with the Xiph component) or ffmpegX.

Ok, did the following:

mp4box -add 'Cowboy Bebop - 01 - Asteriod Blues.ogm-v1.avi' mymp4.mp4

AVI XVID video import - 480 x 352 @ 23.98 FPS - 34675 Frames
Indicated Profile: Simple Profile @ Level 3
Has B-Frames (2 max consecutive B-VOPs)
WARNING: indicated profile doesn't include B-VOPs - forcing Advanced Simple Profile @ Level 5
Import results: 34675 VOPs (868 Is - 13775 Ps - 20032 Bs)
Converting to ISMA Audio-Video MP4 file...
Saving to mymp4.mp4: 0.500 secs Interleaving

I just wanted to create a simple video (no audio or subtitles yet). The playback in quicktime is choppy compared to the AVI playback from the demuxed ogm container.

Suggestions to make it have the same smoothness?

[jpschuck]

Ok, did the following:
mp4box -add 'Cowboy Bebop - 01 - Asteriod Blues.ogm-v1.avi' mymp4.mp4

AVI XVID video import - 480 x 352 @ 23.98 FPS - 34675 Frames
Indicated Profile: Simple Profile @ Level 3
Has B-Frames (2 max consecutive B-VOPs)
WARNING: indicated profile doesn't include B-VOPs - forcing Advanced Simple Profile @ Level 5
Import results: 34675 VOPs (868 Is - 13775 Ps - 20032 Bs)
Converting to ISMA Audio-Video MP4 file...
Saving to mymp4.mp4: 0.500 secs Interleaving

I just wanted to create a simple video (no audio or subtitles yet). The playback in quicktime is choppy compared to the AVI playback from the demuxed ogm container.

Suggestions to make it have the same smoothness?

Look for the file properties (command-J) in Quicktime if there are any extra-tracks besides the video.

You can also try to rebuild the file by re-exporting the video to mp4 with Quicktime using passthrough (or saving it as MP4 in MPEGStreamClip)


Finally, there is this note in the MP4box manual :

Some existing MP4 files may use MPEG-4 Visual tracks with B-Frames in an improper way. There is currently no automatic cleaning of such files in MP4Box, but reimporting the track will solve the problem. To do this:

MP4Box -avi trackID file.mp4: exports track to avi (raw MPEG-4 video also possible).
MP4Box -import file.avi dest.mp4: converts avi into MP4 and handles B-Frame correct import (packed bitstreams, n-Vops).

[mactivist]

Ok, I've converted the two .OGG files into .M4P files using QT Pro (with the help of the Xiph OGG plugin for QT).

I have added the two m4p files to the .mp4 movie (which I converted from .AVI using MPEG Streamclip). I have designated audio track #1 as Japanese and audio track #2 as English. Both audio tracks start at time 0:00:00. I export the files to a single .mp4.

When the file gets played back (in QT player), only audio track 1 is heard; choosing English from the Choose Language menu doesn't activate the English audio track.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks!

[mactivist]

Just a quick follow up. If I "Save As" to a .MOV, both audio tracks are exported and are selectable (unfortunately, in VLC the language labels do not show up as "Japanese" and "English" but rather "Track - 2 [''k]" and "Track 1", respectively.

I guess you cannot export a dual audio MP4 from QT Pro?

[jpschuck]

Just a quick follow up. If I "Save As" to a .MOV, both audio tracks are exported and are selectable (unfortunately, in VLC the language labels do not show up as "Japanese" and "English" but rather "Track - 2 [''k]" and "Track 1", respectively.

I guess you cannot export a dual audio MP4 from QT Pro?

This seems to be a bit complex.
- put the two mpeg-4-audio tracks in a single Quicktime file using copy/add with QT Pro.
- set the appropriate languages in the "movie properties" window
- set the default language for Quicktime playback (check the box of the desired language)
- export to MP4 using passthrough
-> You should have a dual audio mp4 file.

Then :
- If it isn't already done, put your video track in an MP4 file
- use mp4box to mux audio and video in a new mp4 file.
(- optional : Oddly, you'll see that the audio-passthrough will be grayed out in QT for this file. If further export with Quicktime is needed, You should first export to Quicktime MOV, then export the MOV to MP4. Tha audio passthrough option will be there again.)

-> You have a dual audio MP4 file, with two tracks named "English" and "German" in VLC. However I don't know how to use the "choose language" menu-option in Quicktime (option grayed out). If you want to switch language in Quicktime Player, you can use the track activation system in the "Movie properties panel".



There are still several DivX/AVI video files that I'm unable to convert to MP4 with MP4box. The resulting file is unrecognized in Quicktime. Some of them are old divx 3.11 files which are probably not mpeg-4 compliant, but I get the same problem with recent DivX 4/5 videos and I have no clue of what's wrong with these files.
EDIT : it seems that Apple MPEG-4 codec doesn't handle every level of MPEG-4 Advanced Simple Profile (i.e troubles with B-Frames and QPEL)