Do we know how to make 'dual-resolution' video files for iTunes?

[sandman42]

I want to make HD video files for my TV and also versions of the same video for my iPod Touch, but have them show up as one file in iTunes like the ones purchased from the ITMS. Do we know how to do that? Somehow the HD TV shows purchased from the ITMS sync to each device in the appropriate resolution. I would like to be able to do that with the TV shows I record with my EyeTV. Anyone know how?

 

[jaw04005]

I want to make HD video files for my TV and also versions of the same video for my iPod Touch, but have them show up as one file in iTunes like the ones purchased from the ITMS. Do we know how to do that? Somehow the HD TV shows purchased from the ITMS sync to each device in the appropriate resolution. I would like to be able to do that with the TV shows I record with my EyeTV. Anyone know how?

They're not dual resolution. It's actually two separate video files. You should be able to create the same effect by encoding two separate files and applying the same metadata to both.

 

[downinitjr]

Just tagging them the same will not do anything for you. Encode both files however you like. The hd version needs to be tagged with a hdvideo tag, and both files have to have a cnid number set exactly the same. Also it currently only works for files tagged as tv shows. You can get around this by tagging a movie/combo as a tv show, then once added to itunes change the type back to movie. To write the correct tags to the files use mp4v2. It is a command line utility, and I believe you will still have to compile it from the latest development build in order to write the appropriate tags. There is also a gui program out there that claims to be able to accomplish the same thing but I have not tried it myself. iFlicks.

 

[sandman42]

They're not dual resolution. It's actually two separate video files. You should be able to create the same effect by encoding two separate files and applying the same metadata to both.

Just tagging them the same will not do anything for you. Encode both files however you like. The hd version needs to be tagged with a hdvideo tag, and both files have to have a cnid number set exactly the same. Also it currently only works for files tagged as tv shows. You can get around this by tagging a movie/combo as a tv show, then once added to itunes change the type back to movie. To write the correct tags to the files use mp4v2. It is a command line utility, and I believe you will still have to compile it from the latest development build in order to write the appropriate tags. There is also a gui program out there that claims to be able to accomplish the same thing but I have not tried it myself. iFlicks.

Cool! Thanks. I know that they're really two files, I just want them to show up as one in iTunes and have iTunes manage which one goes to which device, as the purchased shows seem to do.

I looked at iFlicks, and it specifically claims to do what I want. Unfortunately, it appears that you have to use it to encode both MP4 files (I create them now with EyeTV), rather than just use it to tag the files. Luckily it supports Elgato's Turbo.264, so the encode times should still be fairly fast. I'll try it and see how it works.

 

[Shoesy]

I looked at iFlicks, and it specifically claims to do what I want. Unfortunately, it appears that you have to use it to encode both MP4 files (I create them now with EyeTV), rather than just use it to tag the files. Luckily it supports Elgato's Turbo.264, so the encode times should still be fairly fast. I'll try it and see how it works.

The way I read it it will happily keep your original files and make a mov container for them to write the new tags to- See here for the pertinent info: http://iflicksapp.com/faq

Interface seems a little clunky tho 🙁

It would be lovely if someone would write a quicktime export preset to do the job for you tho wouldnt it? 😎

 

[refulgentis]

my site i've been working on the past couple days has a couple rudimentary articles that explain how to set it up so you can do cnid and hdvd for free, the right way (i.e. with a real, fast, free encoder and in the mp4 format, not mov, which breaks some tags).

forgot to link: http://web.me.com/jpo/website_name/Technology/Technology.html
please feel free to write comments if its too confusing or too long, or you need explanation of something more -- I realized over the past couple months I'm wasting a great opportunity to start sharing all I've learned about video encoding over the last year, and I started learning here, so I've started giving back I suppose

 

[Chundles]

iFlicks works perfectly for already encoded files - it just turns them into a .mov file while it tags them. Takes less than a minute and the HD-SD thing works fine. Just watch where it puts the file, some of my TV shows ended up in the iTunes/Movies folder rather than the TV Shows folder but it was a minor thing to fix.

The tagging works really well too - much easier than MetaX etc.

 

[Shoesy]

my site i've been working on the past couple days has a couple rudimentary articles that explain how to set it up so you can do cnid and hdvd for free, the right way (i.e. with a real, fast, free encoder and in the mp4 format, not mov, which breaks some tags).

forgot to link: http://web.me.com/jpo/website_name/Technology/Technology.html
please feel free to write comments if its too confusing or too long, or you need explanation of something more -- I realized over the past couple months I'm wasting a great opportunity to start sharing all I've learned about video encoding over the last year, and I started learning here, so I've started giving back I suppose

Cool - nice one man! 🙂

 

[sandman42]

iFlicks works perfectly for already encoded files - it just turns them into a .mov file while it tags them. Takes less than a minute and the HD-SD thing works fine. Just watch where it puts the file, some of my TV shows ended up in the iTunes/Movies folder rather than the TV Shows folder but it was a minor thing to fix.

The tagging works really well too - much easier than MetaX etc.

I tried using iFlicks, but no joy. I had two versions of the same video file -- one encoded at 960x540 for my TV, and one at 480x264 for my iPod Touch. I tried to use iFlicks to write all the tags, converting the files to .mov with 'Add to iTunes' checked. iFlicks found all the data for the TV show, but when it added the files to iTunes the higher res one wasn't tagged as HD, even though I have iFlicks set to tag any file that's higher than 640x480, neither of the files were in iTunes as TV shows (both as movies) and when I switched them to TV shows they weren't combined (HD-SD) -- probably because the one wasn't tagged as HD. I checked my work and I seemed to be following the instructions.

my site i've been working on the past couple days has a couple rudimentary articles that explain how to set it up so you can do cnid and hdvd for free, the right way (i.e. with a real, fast, free encoder and in the mp4 format, not mov, which breaks some tags).

forgot to link: http://web.me.com/jpo/website_name/Technology/Technology.html
please feel free to write comments if its too confusing or too long, or you need explanation of something more -- I realized over the past couple months I'm wasting a great opportunity to start sharing all I've learned about video encoding over the last year, and I started learning here, so I've started giving back I suppose

This looks pretty cool, but I don't think I know enough about how to use it. How do I know what CNID to seed the script with? Does it matter? I know the HD and SD versions need to have the same one, but how do I know I'm not using one that's already in use by some other file, or does iTunes use the CNID in conjunction with other tags to differentiate the files?

Thanks!

 

[refulgentis]

I tried using iFlicks, but no joy. I had two versions of the same video file -- one encoded at 960x540 for my TV, and one at 480x264 for my iPod Touch. I tried to use iFlicks to write all the tags, converting the files to .mov with 'Add to iTunes' checked. iFlicks found all the data for the TV show, but when it added the files to iTunes the higher res one wasn't tagged as HD, even though I have iFlicks set to tag any file that's higher than 640x480, neither of the files were in iTunes as TV shows (both as movies) and when I switched them to TV shows they weren't combined (HD-SD) -- probably because the one wasn't tagged as HD. I checked my work and I seemed to be following the instructions.



This looks pretty cool, but I don't think I know enough about how to use it. How do I know what CNID to seed the script with? Does it matter? I know the HD and SD versions need to have the same one, but how do I know I'm not using one that's already in use by some other file, or does iTunes use the CNID in conjunction with other tags to differentiate the files?

Thanks!

You don't know...but iTunes uses a number similar to, say, 2XXXXXXX, so odds are you won't run into one 😛 I started numbering at 1, so I won't run into iTunes stuff anyway, I have 1,500,000 to go

 

[NightStorm]

I started at 1000 and have not had any problems. If I can get the cnID from the iTunes Store (easily done for TV shows), I'll use it; otherwise, I have a text document in my encoding folder that lists what cnIDs I've used.

 

[sandman42]

I started at 1000 and have not had any problems. If I can get the cnID from the iTunes Store (easily done for TV shows), I'll use it; otherwise, I have a text document in my encoding folder that lists what cnIDs I've used.

How do you get the cnID for TV shows from the ITMS? It would be great if I could do that.

Thanks!

 

[NightStorm]

How do you get the cnID for TV shows from the ITMS? It would be great if I could do that.

Thanks!

Right click on the episode and select copy iTunes URL. I believe it is the first number given in the URL (not sure, and don't have iTunes installed at work to check. I'll update this tonight with exactly which one it is, and even include an example. 🙂

 

[jbianco123]

Hmm...

Thanks so much for this info, I've been trying to do this for some time now. Unfortunately, I keep getting this:

-bash: ./cnid.sh: /bin/sh
start_cnid="$1"
echo: bad interpreter: No such file or directory

I'm admittedly new to this, so I'm sorry if this isn't enough info or if I've done something stupid...



Thanks!