what are some mac programs to convert hd mkv files to play on xbox360

[Anarchy99]

.mkv with x264 encodeding is a common hd rip online
what are some mac programs to convert these or other hd mkv files to play on xbox360(without quality loss)
or is there a way to play these files on a xbox360 native

thanks

 

[kenyabob]

There is an application called Connect360:

Click here to see their site.

That makes your mac seem like a regular PC on the network. The only problem I've had is that Connect360 doesn't seem to see the .mkv files on my machine, even though they are encoded with .264. I don't know why. If anyone knows if I am missing a step in this mkv, .264 issue, please let me know.

 

[crazzyeddie]

mkv is a muxed file that nothing seems to like (or convert).

So even though an MKV contains h.264, it can't be decoded by an h.264 decoder.

 

[kenyabob]

Really?

Why is anyone downloading it then? Can they burn it to an HD-DVD?

 

[Anarchy99]

went out a purchased connect360
in the hopes the Automagic transcoding would transcode the files. i dont even see how to make it transcode anything....
but its isnt a total loss
i can use it to act like a media center pc so now i dont have to install the copy of vista that came with my pc laptop just to share video

hmm...
ok so is there anything that can demux the files and then convert these files

 

[mariobarba]

VisualHub

Visual Hub does a great job encoding these files using the AppleTV setting in the iTunes tab. My only gripe is that the 360 does not recognize any 5.1 audio with the .mp4 container. I can't seem to find any Xvid/Divx HD encoders so that I can keep the surround sound. After all,HD isn't HD if your neighbors aren't complaining.

went out a purchased connect360
in the hopes the Automagic transcoding would transcode the files. i dont even see how to make it transcode anything....
but its isnt a total loss
i can use it to act like a media center pc so now i dont have to install the copy of vista that came with my pc laptop just to share video

hmm...
ok so is there anything that can demux the files and then convert these files

 

[Stomps]

Visual Hub does a great job encoding these files using the AppleTV setting in the iTunes tab. My only gripe is that the 360 does not recognize any 5.1 audio with the .mp4 container. I can't seem to find any Xvid/Divx HD encoders so that I can keep the surround sound. After all,HD isn't HD if your neighbors aren't complaining.

I have found a way to re-encode a .mkv file to be compatible with my ATV, iPhone and with my Xbox 360 over Connect360 (but 5.1 is still lost)

First in VisualHub, passthrough the audio (open VisualHub, click Advanced, and in the field 'Extra FFMpeg flags:', select 'copy original audio track (passthrough). This tells VisualHub to skip re-encoding the audio), but re-encode the video. For example iTunes, optimized for All, Go Nuts with H.264 box checked.

Then with the finished file, open in Quicktime and passthrough the video, re-encoding the audio from 5.1 to stereo. For example Export to MPEG-4, options: File format - mp4, Video Format - passthrough. Audio - AAC-LC.

2-step process but doesn't really require any more time as the audio and video are done separately instead of together.

This is ripping my .mkv 5.1 files to stereo .mp4. You do lose the 5.1 but at least it works

 

[Jelite]

If you dont care about 5.1 then Gotsent (Windows only) just re-encodes the audio and puts it into an mp4 container (doesnt do anything to the video). It takes about 15-20mins to convert a 1hr episode for me on a 3ghz Pentium 4.

I know you said mac software but im not sure there's anything that does this, if there is i'd be interested to know myself.

 

[roderick]

here's what i did and it worked. I use both Quicktime Pro and Connect360. I loaded the .mkv into Quicktime pro then followed this guide: http://blog.kifr.net/2007/12/convert-mkv-to-mp4-with-your-mac.html

However the xbox still wouldn't play the mp4, i just got a black screen. So i decided to save it as .mov. i then found out that the xbox360 won't play anything over 4 GB so i just trimmed the end credits off of the .mov and ended up with a 3.95 HD .mov that i could stream with Connect360. there was no quality loss at all and if there was it wasn't noticeable. But now i've tried the same thing with another .mkv file and it won't work. it seems that this is not consistent. Both files even have the same format (AAC stereo, 48 khz, H.264)
the only thing that is different is that the one that works is 1280x544 and the one that doesn't is 1280x688. Does anyone know why this could not be working? it's really bugging me!

 

[CrashRay]

You can use VisualHub i think. It does all the stuff.