Best way to convert MKV for Apple TV 2...?

PaulMoore · Jan 5, 2011

Hi there

This is maybe a question answered elsewhere but I wanted to see if anyone had any more recent suggestions.

What is the best way to convert an HD MKV file for Apple TV 2? Should I be using Handbrake? If so, is the nightly build the best? Any suggestions for settings? I want to convert the files with the best possible quality and then drop them into iTunes purely for playback on the Apple TV 2.

As an aside- should HD content I've converted have an 'HD' flag in the list of titles on the Apple TV menu (like purchased content does)?

kuwisdelu · Jan 5, 2011

If the mkv has H.264 video and AAC audio (many of them do) within the ATV2's specs, you just need to put them into an mp4 container. You can do that with something like Subler or MKVTools to remux them into an mp4/m4v without re-encoding, which takes a lot of time. If it's in H.264 video but weird audio (like ogg) you can use MKVTools to convert only the audio to AAC and pass-through the video into an mp4/m4v. For any mkv's needing re-encoding, Handbrake is usually best.

aelalfy · Jan 5, 2011

PaulMoore said:
Hi there

This is maybe a question answered elsewhere but I wanted to see if anyone had any more recent suggestions.

What is the best way to convert an HD MKV file for Apple TV 2? Should I be using Handbrake? If so, is the nightly build the best? Any suggestions for settings? I want to convert the files with the best possible quality and then drop them into iTunes purely for playback on the Apple TV 2.

As an aside- should HD content I've converted have an 'HD' flag in the list of titles on the Apple TV menu (like purchased content does)?

Hi

Use iFlicks, I won't go into detail about it but it's a very nice program.

Thanks
AE

newagemac · Jan 5, 2011

PaulMoore said:
Hi there

This is maybe a question answered elsewhere but I wanted to see if anyone had any more recent suggestions.

What is the best way to convert an HD MKV file for Apple TV 2? Should I be using Handbrake? If so, is the nightly build the best? Any suggestions for settings? I want to convert the files with the best possible quality and then drop them into iTunes purely for playback on the Apple TV 2.

As an aside- should HD content I've converted have an 'HD' flag in the list of titles on the Apple TV menu (like purchased content does)?

You don't have to get the nightly build anymore. They just released 0.9.5 and it has the ATV2 preset. Use that for your MKVs for some fantastic results.

PaulMoore · Jan 5, 2011

Thanks for the tips. Out of curiosity- should I expect a HD icon on the Apple TV menu?

kuwisdelu · Jan 5, 2011

PaulMoore said:
Thanks for the tips. Out of curiosity- should I expect a HD icon on the Apple TV menu?

Unless you intend to have both a standard version and an HD version, you needn't worry about it. If you want to, it's a piece of metadata you can set with an app like Subler.

PaulMoore · Jan 5, 2011

OK no I will only have the HD- I didn't know whether it was a flag when iTunes 'recognized' it was HD or if it was cosmetic.

Ritsuka · Jan 7, 2011

The latest version of Subler converts audio from unsupported formats to aac. It works quite well for mkv.

simen02 · Jan 7, 2011

PaulMoore said:
Hi there

This is maybe a question answered elsewhere but I wanted to see if anyone had any more recent suggestions.

What is the best way to convert an HD MKV file for Apple TV 2? Should I be using Handbrake? If so, is the nightly build the best? Any suggestions for settings? I want to convert the files with the best possible quality and then drop them into iTunes purely for playback on the Apple TV 2.

As an aside- should HD content I've converted have an 'HD' flag in the list of titles on the Apple TV menu (like purchased content does)?

Apple tv 2 can handle mkv 720p with no problem. You don't have to encode again, just use mkvtools an remux to mp4, takes 1-5 min. take the mp4 file and use iflicks to tag it like itunes orginal movie.

patent10021 · Jan 7, 2011

simen02 said:
Apple tv 2 can handle mkv 720p with no problem. You don't have to encode again, just use mkvtools an remux to mp4, takes 1-5 min. take the mp4 file and use iflicks to tag it like itunes orginal movie.

Hi

I used MKVTools on Conviction.mkv (4.5GB 620p file). In the track info area it listed Video #1: (h264) and Audio #1: (dts 6ch.) I used the mp4 tab and left the settings to default (video/audio passthrough). In 5 minutes on my old 2007 MacBook it spat out Conviction.mkv.a1.dts (968mb) + Conviction.mkv.v1.h264 (1.7GB). What do I do with these two files? I need to remux them into one m4v/mp4 file right? With what?

EDIT: Ah I see what I did wrong. I used the mp4 tab when I should've just used the Quick tab-> ATV option.

.

kuwisdelu · Jan 7, 2011

patent10021 said:
Hi

I used MKVTools on Conviction.mkv (4.5GB 620p file). In the track info area it listed Video #1: (h264) and Audio #1: (dts 6ch.) I used the mp4 tab and left the settings to default (video/audio passthrough). In 5 minutes on my old 2007 MacBook it spat out Conviction.mkv.a1.dts (968mb) + Conviction.mkv.v1.h264 (1.7GB). What do I do with these two files?

Are you sure you didn't do "Extract" under the "Edit" tab?

I'm not sure why you got those as the output, but those are the raw audio and video files that were inside the mkv. Ideally, you'd want to put the H.264 video and the audio (converted to a more iDevice-friendly codec like AC3) into an mp4. The H.264 video should be fine, but the DTS audio may be troublesome. I'm not sure if MKVTools has the capability to convert DTS audio yet. I'm not sure what does, so hopefully someone who knows can give you a better answer about the audio.

patent10021 · Jan 7, 2011

kuwisdelu said:
Are you sure you didn't do "Extract" under the "Edit" tab?

I'm not sure why you got those as the output, but those are the raw audio and video files that were inside the mkv. Ideally, you'd want to put the H.264 video and the audio (converted to a more iDevice-friendly codec like AC3) into an mp4. The H.264 video should be fine, but the DTS audio may be troublesome. I'm not sure if MKVTools has the capability to convert DTS audio yet. I'm not sure what does, so hopefully someone who knows can give you a better answer about the audio.

Nope. Was the mp4 tab. At any rate, I did it again under the Quick tab.

BlackMangoTree · Jan 7, 2011

MKVtools is by far the best apple to remux our movies. Subler you will lose surround if there is a dts track and iFlicks made movies unplayablle when the Apple TV was updated.

Stick with MKVtools, works excellent.

patent10021 · Jan 7, 2011

Isn't there a way to batch conver with MKVTool? Could process a lot while I'm sleeping.

Fizzoid · Jan 7, 2011

Doesn't the full version allow that? It's only $4.99

patent10021 · Jan 7, 2011

Fizzoid said:
Doesn't the full version allow that? It's only $4.99

I'll try it. I have the full version but didn't see any batch area. This does take longer than I thought thought. My single 4.5GB mkv took about 30 minutes on my 2007 Macbook. Hopefully no more than 10 minutes when I get my iMac. All done automatically but still. I have about 2TB of mkv files. That's why I JB'd. I'm testing this MKVTools method to see what is worth it for me. Also my Japanese anime mkv files have hard coded subs so I'll have to see if MKVTools keeps those.

EDIT: So I ended up with a 3.85GB m4v file and aTV doesn't recognize it in my movies folder. I thought it was supposed to end up a mp4 file?

.

Fizzoid · Jan 7, 2011

Taken from the MKV Tools website

The Queue Drawer

1. The Queue Drawer opens to display any completed, running or queued processes. It also shows the progress of the current job.
2. If you have registered MKVtools, then you can add more than one process to the queue at a time. Or you can add files to the queue in batches if you've dragged multiple files to MKVtools. So you can load the queue and then let MKVtools run all night, Jobs will be handled in the order that they are entered in the queue.
3. You can delete individual processes in the Queue Drawer by selecting the X button for a particular process.
4. Click on Clear to delete all completed processes from the Queue Drawer.
5. You can click on the Pause/Restart button to pause the processing. This can be helpful on slow computers when you temporarily need to focus the cpu on another task.

Going to give it a try and probably buy it myself because of this. I can then convert all my MKV files by simply leave it running overnight

newagemac · Jan 7, 2011

patent10021 said:
I'll try it. I have the full version but didn't see any batch area. This does take longer than I thought thought. My single 4.5GB mkv took about 30 minutes on my 2007 Macbook. Hopefully no more than 10 minutes when I get my iMac. All done automatically but still. I have about 2TB of mkv files. That's why I JB'd. I'm testing this MKVTools method to see what is worth it for me. Also my Japanese anime mkv files have hard coded subs so I'll have to see if MKVTools keeps those.

EDIT: So I ended up with a 3.85GB m4v file and aTV doesn't recognize it in my movies folder. I thought it was supposed to end up a mp4 file?

.

Actually .m4v is the preferred container for the Apple TV so that is not the same. An mp4 and m4v are essentially the same. You can change them back and forth by just changing the file name extension. However, Apple designed the Apple TV to look for certain things only when they have an .m4v extension like subtitles, chapters, etc. so always use the .m4v extension for the Apple TV which is why most tools like MKVTools default to .m4v with their Apple TV presets.

patent10021 · Jan 7, 2011

newagemac said:
Actually .m4v is the preferred container for the Apple TV so that is not the same. An mp4 and m4v are essentially the same. You can change them back and forth by just changing the file name extension. However, Apple designed the Apple TV to look for certain things only when they have an .m4v extension like subtitles, chapters, etc. so always use the .m4v extension for the Apple TV which is why most tools like MKVTools default to .m4v with their Apple TV presets.

Right...I've always known m4v to be basically the same and what Apple devices like, but aTV2 does not see my new m4v file. wtf

dtaylor · Jan 7, 2011

PaulMoore said:
OK no I will only have the HD- I didn't know whether it was a flag when iTunes 'recognized' it was HD or if it was cosmetic.

I use MetaX to modify/add the metadata.

http://www.kerstetter.net/index.php/projects/software/metax - Mac
http://www.danhinsley.com/metax/metax.html - Windows port

I love it. It is quick and easy and gives you good control. By default, HD is set to 'no' for everything I have put in there. I don't have it in front of me right now, but I believe that is one the second tab.

Just make sure you set your source and destination directories to be different, or you may actually send the file into the void.

rayward · Jan 7, 2011

PaulMoore said:
OK no I will only have the HD- I didn't know whether it was a flag when iTunes 'recognized' it was HD or if it was cosmetic.

Your ATV will recognise the higher resolution of an HD file, and automatically flag it as "HD" in the menu. iTunes will not but, as mentioned above, this only matters if you plan to nest HD and SD versions of the same movie. FWIW, you can get iTunes to show the HD flag by tagging your file as HD using Subler.

newagemac · Jan 7, 2011

Are you sure about that? I don't think it actually flags it automatically. I think it requires you to use a tool to give it the HD flag.

rayward · Jan 7, 2011

newagemac said:
Are you sure about that? I don't think it actually flags it automatically. I think it requires you to use a tool to give it the HD flag.

I always tag my video files, but it is my understanding that ATV flags content as HD automatically if there are more than 480 lines. Can't confirm that from first hand experience, though.

owine · Jan 7, 2011

I run my MKVs thru MKVTools. Under the MP4 tab, I select the Apple TV preset, pass thru the video, pass thru AAC or AC3 audio or convert to one of those formats. You can also simply mux in subtitles instead of having to burn them into the video track. I then run the created .m4v file thru Vidalin in order to tag with metadata and cover art and then add the tagged file to iTunes.

It's a process with a few easy steps and by no means fully automated, but at the end I get pristine quality, full surround sound and beautiful metadata tags on my movies. Works for TV shows too.

owine · Jan 7, 2011

rayward said:
I always tag my video files, but it is my understanding that ATV flags content as HD automatically if there are more than 480 lines. Can't confirm that from first hand experience, though.

This isn't true. Files need a special tag to have the HD flag. Vidalin is one of the few programs I know that can add this flag.

Best way to convert MKV for Apple TV 2...?

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