Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mp4

I need an automated way to convert MKV to MP4 on Mac OS X

joshrholloway — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:00:41 -0800

I am trying to build an automated solution to convert MKV files to MP4 without re-encoding on Mac OS X, using AppleScript, Automator, etc. and I need help! Multiple times a day I get MKV container files that I need to convert to MP4 files. There is a great application for Windows called XenonMKV that can extract the individual components out of an MKV container and re-assemble them as an MP4. It does this process without re-encoding the video, which saves tons of time. A process that would normally take an hour or two can be done in three to five minutes with XenonMKV.

Unfortunately, there is apparently nothing like this application for OS X. There is, however, a little trick you can pull off using QuickTime 7 Pro and Perian. Perian will let you open MKV files with QuickTime, which you can't normally do, and you can use the Pass Through option during export from QuickTime which achieves basically the same effect as XenonMKV.

So now that I know this process is possible, and since I have to do it multiple times a day, I want to try to automate it. It's pretty easy to slap together an AppleScript that can take a video file as input and then export it, but there are two hitches:

1. QuickTime Pro needs to use the specific Pass Through export settings no matter what the last export settings used were.

2. When you open an MKV file in QuickTime, the entire video must be indexed fully before you can run an export. This can take anywhere from a minute to three minutes or so, depending on the length and file size of the video.

The second problem seems to be the biggest because it doesn't appear there's any way to tell QuickTime to wait until a video is indexed before running a command. The best I could come up with was to parse the file size and then tell QuickTime to wait for a certain amount of time that's really just a best guess of how long it will take to index the video file based on its size. This is really not a good solution, because I'd like to share this with other people who might not have a system as fast as mine, and the numbers may be off.

So does anyone have any ideas on how I could make this process work? Ideally I'd like to see the final form as a standalone .app that can be used as a droplet and do everything automatically without any input from the user. Any help at all would be appreciated.

AVI-to-MP4 while preserving creation dates?

philosophygeek — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:06:08 -0800

I'd like to make a script to mass convert .avi files from my digital camera into iPod-sized .mp4 files, while preserving the creation dates from my camera. I'm on a (non-snowy) Leopard mac. My current workflow involves getting my movies off the camera through iPhoto and then exporting/converting the files to .mp4 via MPEG Streamclip. The downside is that the new .mp4 files have the current date/time rather than the time that the movie was taken on the camera, which messes up my organizational system. I'm sure there's a way to automate the creation date conversion, but I don't know how.

Free methods are obviously preferable to paid ones.

Best way to edit MP4 HD video in FCP?

unSane — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 18:29:19 -0800

Preventing slowdowns when editing HD video in FCP? I am editing some H.264 720p video in FCP6. When I am just laying in the raw footage in insert mode, everything plays back fine, but as soon as I add a transition, playback gets really stuttery, and remains so even if I delete the transition and restart FCP.

I'm on a top end iMac so I know I'm probably pushing things a bit but it's frustrating that it plays fine until I add a transition.

Any clues? Should I transcode into something before editing? Would upgrading to the latest help much?

Video editing n00b

gnutron — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:08:47 -0800

Please recommend a free, reliable program that will allow me to crop and edit .mp4 videos. I have a Sanyo Xacti that takes video in .mp4 format. I am looking for a free, reliable program that will allow me to crop these video clips. Other editing features could be nice, too - although I imagine trimming the beginning and ends off of clips will be the primary task.

I'll be using DVD Flick to create .iso files for burning. Programs that allow me to edit the clips and create isos would be worth considering, too.

How to merge mp4 files without re-encoding?

ptsampras14 — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:40:05 -0800

How can I merge mp4's with out re-encoding, or losslessly? I have 21 minute TV shows, divided up in to 3 clips seven minutes each. I need to merge them or join them into one large clip in mp4 format, the three clips are mp4 format. I tried Mediacoder, but that re-encodes them so it takes about a half hour.. I have 50 shows so thats not possible..
I need to merge the clips losslessly so it should be quick. I know YAMB can do this, but when I try, part 1's audio shows with video from part 2. I don't know how to fix it.

DVD/Handbrake Divx Burning Woes

snap_dragon — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 15:59:36 -0800

I using Mac the Ripper than Handbrake to turn DVDs into mp4 files. (I use DVD dual layer)...When I use Roxio Popcorn, I can fit several movies on a disc (4) but it takes honestly a day and a half to burn on DVD !!!! But the DVD plays perfectly in my cheap player. Trying a different route, I tried dragging the mp4s to a blank DVD disc and then clicking "Burn" -- it burns and takes only 30-40 minutes but this version will not play on my DVD player. Anybody out there have an idea what I can do to make the process more efficient? Different software or different method? I appreciate your insight. By the way, I am running Mac OX X 10.5.5.

Boosting the volume of iPod movies...

stackhaus23 — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 04:40:31 -0800

iPodfilter: How do I increase the volume of movies I want to put onto my iPod? I sometimes convert movies from DVD or videos I've downloaded into .mp4 files for my iPod using Handbrake or iSquint. However, when I actually get to listen to them on my iPod they are always far too quiet to the point they are unlistenable. Is there anything I can use to boost this volume. Increasing the volume using iTunes still doesn't make them nearly loud enough.

Editing DIVX directly in iMovie/FCP

unSane — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 06:46:26 -0800

I've got a VIO POV1 helmetcam which records video as .avi files in DIVX format. What do I need to edit this directly in iMovie and Final Cut Pro? Whenever I've tried to do this kind of thing before (using Flip4Mac as I remember) I've run into issues, for example FCP requiring me to render sound for the clips I drop into the timeline.

I've already tried Flip4Mac, Perian and the regular DIVX/XVID codecs and although some will allow me to play the movies with sound in QT, none of them so far will allow iMovie to recognize the files.

Solution before has been to transcode to DV or some other format using ffmpegx or similar, but the movies are long and this takes up a heck of a lot of disk space and it's slow.

Quicktime says the format is 'XVID', 720 x 480, Millions.

(I'll probably transcode to DV for final editing but I'm looking for a quick and dirty way to edit movies on my laptop to play to a group of riders each day on a trip to Moab).

PORTABLE VIDEO + MP3 PLAYER

selton — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 17:56:36 -0800

I want a mp4/3 IPOD like gadget and I'd like to use it for... 60% to play videos (converted from my DVD collection), 35% to play music (MP3 etc) and 5% to listen to FM radio - the radio is negotiable, not vital. I've never owned or used an MP3/4 player and I'm clueless. Options I've considered below: please add any others that I've missed.

SONY NWZA818B (8gb) for £70.

IPOD Classic (80gb) for approx £159.

IPOD Touch (8gb) for approx £179.

IPOD Nano (8gb) for approx £120.

CREATIVE ZEN (8gb) for approx £90.

Is watching a movie on a 2inch screen actually watchable ?

I'm currently in London (UK) but I'll soon be flying to Thailand via Abu Dhabi... so I have duty free options also.

Split my mp4 videos!

raygan — Fri, 23 May 2008 18:06:51 -0800

How can I split an mp4 video file in two (or three or four) on my Mac, preferably without a lengthy re-encode? I'm getting quite fond of playing HD mp4 video files on my PS3, but it has the unfortunate drawback of only reading FAT32 disks, with their maximum file size of 4gb. Up to now when I ran across a file that was too large, I had been using VisualHub to re-encode to a lower bitrate, but I'd rather not take the hit in video quality. I'd prefer to split the mp4 into smaller chunks that the file system can handle.
So far, I haven't been able to find a program that will let me do the splitting. I thought VisualHub would do it, but I don't see any options for that. Any suggestions? Thanks!

How to get iTunes to recognise an MP4 movie?

different — Wed, 21 May 2008 16:53:36 -0800

iTunes thinks my MP4 movies are audio tracks, but I beg to differ. How to fix it? I'm using the latest version of iTunes (7.6.4.) and it has suddenly stopped recognising MP4 videos as videos. It will play them as audio tracks, but there are no visuals.

I can view the videos using QuickTime, so the files haven't been corrupted. I wouldn't mind so much, but I want to watch the videos on my iPod, which can't be done now. The movies have all vanished from the movie section, and appear only as songs.

Does anyone know what's up, and how I can fix it?

How do I convert and edit Sanyo digital camera video?

CollectiveMind — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:56:53 -0800

I just bought a Sanyo Xcati Digital Video Camera. It produces .MP4 files, which don't seem to be convertable for use in ULEAD 7 or Windows Movie Maker video editing software. The camera came with Sanyo CDs full of ULEAD file managing, DVD creating software and Quicktime. My assumption was, since Quicktime was on the Sanyo CD, that is the format the video plays in and can be edited in. And I thought since ULEAD programs were on the CDs, they would naturally work with the ULEAD 7 video editing software I already had. But I can't edit the video and I can't seem to convert the video from Quicktime or .MP4 to .AVI files or anything else. Windows offers a video encoder/converter and that doesn't convert the video either. I can play the video with the Quicktime player, but whenever I try to import video to either video editing software, or convert video to another format, I get an error message that says "Unable to Open File. File Format Mismatch." When I select the folder with the video, none of the video files in that folder appear even when I select Quicktime or MPEG files from the dropdown menu. Those video files only appear when I pick "All Files," and that is when I get the error when I choose one. Is there a simple way I can take the excellent video off this camera and easily edit it with some video editing software; either what I already have or something else?

iCan't get some video into iTunes

csg77 — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 19:43:43 -0800

Having switched to a Mac (love it!) and bought an Apple TV, I have used the Elgato Turbo.264 to covert a few years of TV/video to the H.264 mp4 format. When I try to import it to iTunes to use with Apple TV, only about half the files will add to library. All of the files open with Quicktime, and there is no error message from iTunes, they just don't add! Can't see any difference between the files (all .mp4, shortening the file names doesn't help), and nothing I can find will help with why only some files won't import. Waiting for Elgato to get back to me, but hoping some kind soul can save me from having 4 solid weeks of file conversions being wasted!

Oh, I also tried a few of the files in Lostify, which told me these were not valid mp4s. Can't understand this as they open in Quicktime and were treated exactly the same as the working files!

Thanks!

Movie transcoding advice: Does anyone have a good recipe?

colecovizion — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:52:25 -0800

Movie transcoding advice: Does anyone have a good recipe? I have a Canon SD700 which makes 640x480 video, 30 fps, mono, in the MJPEG AVI format. Unfortunately, while these files are pretty good quality, they are not compressed really well. I'd like to archive them in a more compressed form while retaining about 90% of the quality. I've tried a number of codecs (Divx, Xvid, Quicktime H264, 3ivx, Sorenson 3, etc), but haven't found a good combination of settings to balance the file size and the quality. I've been hoping to use a bit rate in between 2000-3000, however so far the video tends to lose its texture. Maybe I'm being unrealistic.

Here are the best "recipes" I've found so far:

1. XVid - Original size, original framerate, 2 pass, 3000kbs, MP3 mono 128k, 41000hz.

2. Quicktime - appleTV default settings (H264, aac). I'm not very sure of the original settings, they seem VBR.

Notes:

* I have a Intel Mac Pro, so I can use a program on either "side."
* As long as the codec isn't too far off the beaten path, I'll use it
* If required, I don't care if the program/codec costs money. I'm more focused on results right now
* I'm not concerned about speed, just quality

Any recommendations, tweaks that I'm not using? I know these settings are subjective, but I'm hoping someone has some insight or experience with this particular source movie.

Help Me Stop Watching My iPod With My Glasses Off, Please

interrobang — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:04:04 -0800

Audio and video are out of sync on mp4s downloaded from Google Video about 80% of the time. Is there anything simple that I can do about this? OSX, by the way, and it's mostly for watching on my iPod.

Easy video onto the PSP?

zardoz — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 05:38:54 -0800

I have a PSP and would like to download YouTube videos so I can watch them on my commute. This brings up a number of questions... I want to make this a daily thing--watching the news on the train. This news junky needs his fix, and the morning commute is the best time do it.

First off, I'd like to download political videos--clips from U.S. news shows, debate, etc. Other than the politics category at YouTube, are there any other sites I can download videos of this kind? .mp4 files are ideal, but anything I can download would be fine. If you've got a video iPod, then PSPs use the same .mp4 format.

And perhaps most importantly, is there a decent Firefox downloader for video files? I have a Firefox extension called Download Helper and another called FlashGot, but can't get either of them to download a batch of video files located on one page.

Having this process be as automated as possible is ideal. Yet another question I have is the .mp4 format for the PSP--Sony goes out of their way to make sure putting video on your PSP is as painful a process as possible. I can convert downloaded .flv files with PSP Video 9, but it's extremely time-consuming. Any REALLY simple way to get YouTube videos (along with the necessary THM files) onto my PSP?

Thanks for reading the whole thing!

DVR to Computer

Gideon — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 12:46:16 -0800

I've a Scientific American Explorer 8300 DVR with Cox cable. I don't have a stand alone dvd writer but would like to be able to keep certain shows. I know many people attach their DVR's to computers and download the videos off, and I'm fairly tech sufficient... but I can't seem to find any recent info about this device and how I can (if I can) download the recorded content. Thanks!

Mach Speed Trio Media Player firmware upgrade or reset? Device continuously reboots.

loquacious — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 23:44:12 -0800

I need help with a Mach Speed Trio MP4 1GB media player. Shortly after purchasing it has begun rebooting continuously. I'm looking for any or all of the following as pertaining to the cheap-ass SigmaTel-chipped MP3/SMV media player known as the "Mach Speed" "Trio" 1GB MP4 Media Player (recently available from Fry's Electronics):

1) The main manufacturer's website, with support/driver links. It doesn't seem to exist. SigmaTel provides no end user support.

2) A firmware updater for this device and/or chipset. The Win98 and video conversion utility was included on my min CD, but not the firmware utility. (Which is indicated in the manual.)

3) Any and all related utilities or advice.

It worked as well as could be expected for a number of days, and has begun spontaneously and continuously rebooting. I've tried formatting the drive, deleting the firmware-created config files, hard resetting and more. I've even cracked the case and inspected the power and battery connections, as well as inspected for obvious shorts, debris or unseated plugs/sockets. Nada.

The device appears to work just fine and very reliably as a drive, but the OS/interface doesn't load when disconnected from USB. (OS will not load with USB/power connected - it's just not designed to do that even when operating normally.)

Disclaimer: I should have known better, but it was shiny and purchased in the form of an on-the-spot gift in shape of "you have X dollars to spend here at Fry's the day after Thanksgiving in less than an hour. Go!" and I panicked.

I like the gadget otherwise, but it seems doomed for a refund. This is the player on Fry's Outpost.

This is the Mach Speed official website, which I just found but contains such a distinct lack of useful support that it transcends the surreal and bizarre.

Louder MP4s! LOUDER!

SansPoint — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 12:50:47 -0800

How do I increase the volume of an MP4 file on OS X 10.4? I have an MP4 that has incredibly low sound. I've tried playing with settings in Quicktime and iTunes, but I can't get it loud enough. What can I do?

What PC application will convert MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 and is scriptable?

McGuillicuddy — Tue, 22 Nov 2005 16:48:53 -0800

I have a video archive in MPEG-2 format. I'd like to create a script to convert the videos to MPEG-4 files for internet streaming. What are my options? I'd like to embed the MPEG-4 files in a webpage and compatibility with a major plugin video player like QuickTime (or WMP or Real) is a requirement. There should be no requirement for a non-default codec, like DivX, for the video player. Functionally, I'd like something along the lines of Helix Producer or Windows Media Encoder. Either Windows or Unix applications will work.

Can Darwin Streaming Server handle the conversion part of this job? If so, is it the best choice? Will the IBM Toolkit for MPEG-4 do the trick or do those videos have to be played in the Java player? What other software should I consider?

Do you have any good examples of MPEG-4 video implementations on the web? Good sources of documentation for MPEG-4?

AAC on non-iPod players?

jsbww — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 10:53:48 -0800

Any good iPod alternatives that support aac?

Mp4 to Mp3, or vice versa

mudpuppie — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 22:37:36 -0800

CD burning emergency: Itunes files to Mp3s, or vice versa. Must be done by morning! Help! Shit. Making a CD for a funeral, which must be done in approximately four hours (if I'm to sleep.)

I've downloaded the family's preferred songs from ITunes, but I can't seem to burn them on to a CD with the mp3s I already have stored in WMP.

Could be that I'm missing something.

Can someone tell me how to get both the mp3s and Itunes mp4s onto a single CD (preferably with software I already have: WMP, Itunes, Nero, Roxio).

Thanks for helping in a pinch.