Xvids to Mp4s without transcoding?

[GeekOFComedy]

Hi there, is it possible to get XVids to MP4 without transcoding the video, Transcoding the audio is fine as that's easy but Transcoding 720p video is a timely process. From what I understand Xvid is a variation of the mpeg4 codec. However When I do a passthrough in visual hub it wont open. I change it to m4v so it works however when I try to play it on my AppleTV or iPad or iPhone I just get the audio and no video.

For a batch of my files here are the Xvid settings:

Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Simple@L3
Format settings, BVOP : No

[simsaladimbamba]

The iDevices need the H.264 codec and Divx or Xvid are not H.264, thus there is no way around transcoding unless you use some service, where you stream to your iDevice, like AirVideo.

[kreach]

You could import in isubtitle and export to apple tv;
For some reason, it takes ~ 10 mins only for a 700Mb file, but the file size gets doubled;

[AdrianK]

Format : MPEG-4 Visual
Format profile : Simple@L3
Format settings, BVOP : No

The MPEG4 standard is extremely broad, Apple does not provide decoders for every part of it. Xvid is H263 (which is part 2), which Apple does not provide support 4, you *will* have to re-encode in order to play the file through iTunes>ATV.

EDIT: I'm a moron, it works just fine, as pointed out by peterjcat below.

MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats

[peterjcat]

Apple TV does support MPEG-4 Part 2 Simple Profile, but the listed specs only go up to 640 x 480, so if you're using 720p sources they may not work for that reason (Apple's listed specs are often conservative but there are limits). The original Xvid settings may also have incompatible options selected and so on.

All you can do is try a remux and be happy if it works, if not resign yourself to transcoding.

[AdrianK]

Originally Posted by peterjcat

Apple TV does support MPEG-4 Part 2 Simple Profile, but the listed specs only go up to 640 x 480, so if you're using 720p sources they may not work for that reason (Apple's listed specs are often conservative but there are limits). The original Xvid settings may also have incompatible options selected and so on.

All you can do is try a remux and be happy if it works, if not resign yourself to transcoding.

Good catch. I wonder if ATV would support mp3 decoding inside mp4/m4v, probably not.

[GeekOFComedy]

Originally Posted by peterjcat

Apple TV does support MPEG-4 Part 2 Simple Profile, but the listed specs only go up to 640 x 480, so if you're using 720p sources they may not work for that reason (Apple's listed specs are often conservative but there are limits). The original Xvid settings may also have incompatible options selected and so on.

All you can do is try a remux and be happy if it works, if not resign yourself to transcoding.

Remux? How?

[peterjcat]

Like you're doing with VisualHub, or alternatively with Avidemux or MKVTools -- put the video into an MP4/M4V container without altering it, transcode the audio if you need to, and see if it works.

[peterjcat]

I did some testing today and MakeMKV did a good job converting Xvid to M4V -- transcoding the MP3 audio to AAC, leaving the video but maybe faking the headers somewhat? Watching on my ATV2 now.

[Sparky9292]

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Originally Posted by AdrianK

The MPEG4 standard is extremely broad, Apple does not provide decoders for every part of it. Xvid is H263 (which is part 2), which Apple does not provide support 4, you *will* have to re-encode in order to play the file through iTunes>ATV.

I've found that 99% of new releases in AVI container with mpeg4 work just fine on AppleTV2 with pass thru for video.

Of course search for releases in 264. Most groups post this info in the torrent name.

My only problem is that ac3 5.1 is the most popular audio codec which sucks because I don't use my optical out.

[Ritsuka]

The ATV 2 can play Mpeg-4 ASP too, so a remux should work.

[peterjcat]

Roger that, ASP seems fine.

[Sparky9292]

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Originally Posted by AdrianK

Good catch. I wonder if ATV would support mp3 decoding inside mp4/m4v, probably not.

Nope. The ATV2 doesn't support mp3 in video formats. Which is lame because it plays music mp3's just fine.

[GeekOFComedy]

Update: it doesn't work so I ended having to transcode 24 episodes. Next one:

How about Divx 4 codec? Anyway we can do passthroughs on them?

[mlongpre]

Hey all,

I am also wondering this same question. The divx and xvid mpeg4 video streams seem to stutter (on playback) when remuxing from avi into mp4. I wish this were not the case as it would be a lot easier to remux and just convert the audio from mp3 to aac and let the video passthru. But for some reason all my avi's with divx or xvid stuttter on playback after being remuxed.

Whats the deal?

[peterjcat]

What are you using to play the remuxed files? I find that they stutter when played on the Mac with iTunes/Quicktime X, but they're fine on the iPhone/iPad or on the Mac using VLC/Plex or even Quicktime 7 with Perian.