Video to Apple TV Conversion using Videora Apple TV ConverterOriginal Page URL: https://www.digital-digest.com/articles/Video_to_Apple_TV_Using_Videora_page1.htmlAuthor/Publisher: DVDGuy Date Added: Jul 22, 2007 Date Updated: Jul 22, 2007 The Apple TV tries to bring multimedia to the TV screen. Apple TV does not support all the video formats unfortunately (including DivX/XviD), but it does support H.264 (including HD) video playback (as well as MPEG-4 SP). This guide shows you how to convert your video files to an Apple TV compatible video file using the freeware Videora Apple TV Converter. A version of this guide dealing with the very similar Videora iPhone Converter is available here. Software you'll need (all freeware): This guide is divided into two section, you only need to follow one of the sections, not both. The first section shows you the easiest way to use Videora Apple TV Converter, using the built in VideoWizard tool, making conversion an almost one-click affair. The second section goes into more detail and is intended for those that want to tweak the settings a bit, want to find out how to use the batch conversion/queuing feature. Time to choose: For the easy VideoWizard method, go on to the next page For the slightly more complex but a method with more options and functions, skip to page 3 Method 1: Using the VideoWizardVideora Apple TV Converter comes with a function called the VideoWizard, which makes conversion so easy that a guide is almost not needed. Almost. Start Videora Apple TV Converter and click on the "Settings" button at the top.  Click on the "Devices" tab and select "Apple TV" under "Device Settings". Here, the output location of your converted Apple TV video files will be listed - you should make a note of this directory, or change it to another directory. Press the "Save Device Settings" button to save these changes. If you do decide to change it, make sure that the directories exist, otherwise Videora will fail when you try to convert the video.  Click on the "Convert" button at the top.  From the bottom, click on the "Select File" button to load in your original video file (the one that you want to convert to Apple TV format).  Click on the "Set Title" tab to change the title of this video file if you wish.  Back to the wizard, the video settings slider bars should now be shown. These sliders determine the encoding quality, and hence file size and encoding speed. The "Conversion Speed", "Output Video Quality" levels and the "Estimated File Size" is shown at the bottom. Setting the Video Size to HD will produce 720p (1280x720) video, but it's best to only use this when your source is 720p or better.  As an example, the file I used was an XviD encode that was 4.03 MB in size. I kept the "Video Format" at "New" ("New" is H.264, "Old" is MPEG-4). Video Size was set to "TV" since the file I had was not HD (720p). I applied a "High" video quality setting, with the "Enhance Quality" option set to "On", and with audio quality left at "High" - the estimate file size becomes 3 MB. Generally, because Apple TV uses H.264, is it about 80% efficient than DivX or XviD, so to get the same quality file from an DivX/XviD source, try to keep the file size at about 80% of the original. When you are happy with the video settings, press the "Next" button to continue. The "Start Converting" button should now show up at the bottom, press it to start the conversion process.  Conversion should begin and after a while, depending on the length of your video, the Apple TV video file should now be created in the output directories that were set earlier. If you want to playback these H.264/MP4 files on your computer, you can refer to our H.264 Playback Guide, or if you don't mind using a codec pack, use these simple instruction instead.  The next page deals with a more complex method for using Videora Apple TV Converter, which gives you more options and functions (like queued encodings), but it's not needed if you've already followed this section. So in this case, we're done Method 2: Full GuideSo you have chosen the more advanced method. Let's go. Start Videora Apple TV Converter and click on the "Settings" button at the top. Under "Encoding Profiles", listed are several profiles that you can select for encoding - each profile has a pre-defined set of settings (eg. resolution, bit-rate, and encoding options). Apple TV supports both H.264 video and MPEG-4 (Simple Profile) video - H.264 is the new codec which is more efficient than MPEG-4 SP, and you should use H.264 whenever you can. In addition to editing an existing profile, you can also create your own. To create your own profile (which is optional, so if you don't mind using an existing profile, skip to the next page), click on the "New Profile" button. In the "General" section, you can specify a title for your profile, and select an encoder. For best quality, select "Apple TV - 2-Pass - FFmpeg MINB", this will activate 2-pass encoding which doubles the encoding time, but also improves quality. You can also set a default starting position and encoding duration, if you don't wish to encode the entire video.  Now go to the "Video" section. Here is where you can configure the video settings for this profile. Let's go through the options: 
Click on the "General 2" tab. More options are available: 
Click on the "Advanced 1" tab. More options are available: 
Click on the "Advanced 3" tab. Only one option here, and that is to enable CABAC. Enabling it will improve quality, at the expense of encoding speed and decoding speed. Click on the "Audio" button at the top, here you can configure the audio options: 
Press "OK" to save your profile. Click on the "Devices" tab and select "Apple TV" under "Device Settings". Here, the output location of your converted Apple TV video files will be listed - you should make a note of this directory, or change it to another directory. Press the "Save Device Settings" button to save these changes. If you do decide to change it, make sure that the directories exist, otherwise Videora will fail when you try to convert the video. Click on the "Convert" button at the top. Click on the "Current Conversion" tab. Click on the "Convert Video" button and load in your original video file (the one that you want to convert to Apple TV format).  You can change the title of the video, and select an encoding profile to use (for more on profiles, see the previous page).  Click on the "Start" button just underneath the above ("New Video to Convert") section to start the encoding. On the left hand side, you can change the priority of the encoding process, depending on if you have other software running or not. While your video is encoding, you can click on the "Convert Video" button again to load in other video you wish to convert, select a title/profile as above, and then click "Start" to add the video to the encoding queue. You can click on the "Shutdown when complete" to shutdown Windows when all the processes complete.  If you want to playback these H.264/MP4 files on your computer, you can refer to our H.264 Playback Guide, or if you don't mind using a codec pack, use these simple instruction instead. We're done |
