[mattmatt86]

My GF gave me an apple TV for Xmas and I want to import the video files I already have on my PC into itunes so we can watch them through the Apple TV. Almost none of them seem to be in formats supported by itunes, most are from torrents, .Xvid, .MKV, .AVI etc. Does anyone know a good (free) video convertor so I can get itunes to recognize the files? Preferably something I can convert multiple files/folders at a time, I have over 300 TV shows and movies...

Thanks Monkeys

 

[Je3Re3My]

If you are already familiar with torrents you can get Audials Tunebite. It can convert any format to the format of your liking. I have it and it works great. I have tried a few free programs but they do not work nearly as good, usually losing quality, like artifacting. Hope that helps.

 

[zdubyadubya]

Handbrake. The above all end all to video converters. Even has a AppleTV preset.

I have three apple TVs at my house with an iTunes server. I use handbrake + torrents for all my video/music needs. Most are in 720p.

Download Link

 

[Mr Jones]

I used this for converting stuff to put on my android phone... has an apple preset too.

http://www.freemake.com/free_video_converter/

 

[mattmatt86]

Thanks guys, I tried that Audials Tunebite this morning and it took 50 mins to convert a two hour movie? Is that par for the course?

 

[Mr Jones]

With freemake, converting a 1.5gb 1080i video file to 140mb 720p for my phone takes about 35min; which is a little slow for my taste, but my personal computer sucks. But it's free and it works, so I'm not really complaining.

I'm sure on a better machine, it would run so much faster though.

 

[kazlx]

Handbrake. The above all end all to video converters. Even has a AppleTV preset.

I have three apple TVs at my house with an iTunes server. I use handbrake + torrents for all my video/music needs. Most are in 720p.

Download Link

This. Handbrake is the shiz.

 

[zdubyadubya]

Thanks guys, I tried that Audials Tunebite this morning and it took 50 mins to convert a two hour movie? Is that par for the course?

Depends on the machine. My older macbook pro can only handle about 25 - 30 fps so it takes about as long to convert as it would to watch. However, my newer machine can run 45 -50 fps without breaking a sweat--so its really processor sensitive. But your numbers seem okay. I would seriously recommend using handbrake instead. its x264 library is much better than Tunebite.

also, if you want to rip dvds or bluray, you will need VLC (mac) or DVD43 (windows) to remove the copyright protection and then handbrake will take it from there. These utilities also work well for removing the DRM from purchased iTunes files.

 

[mattmatt86]

Depends on the machine. My older macbook pro can only handle about 25 - 30 fps so it takes about as long to convert as it would to watch. However, my newer machine can run 45 -50 fps without breaking a sweat--so its really processor sensitive. But your numbers seem okay. I would seriously recommend using handbrake instead. its x264 library is much better than Tunebite.

also, if you want to rip dvds or bluray, you will need VLC (mac) or DVD43 (windows) to remove the copyright protection and then handbrake will take it from there. These utilities also work well for removing the DRM from purchased iTunes files.

I'm using Handbrake on a file right now, seems pretty straight forward. It's gonna take a while to convert all my files...

Quick question: Does it convert the file and create an entirely new one? i.e Can I delete the original file after its been converted?

 

[Transcend]

So I converted a massive collection of movies and TV shows to make them Itunes compatible for my Apple TV. They are all stored on an NAS in their own separate library.

I use Handbrake for MKVs and iFlicks for everything else. iFlicks is rad as it will convert and pull in all the meta data and cover art for just about any movie and TV show, as long as the file name is fairly descriptive. You can also use a service that automatically installs to pull in info for any and all files you select in itunes itself. Super easy to use, just really slow on MKVs, where handbrake excels.

Just be aware that apple's surround sound implementation is a bit weird. I have converted everything to ac3 passthrough, and added an extra stereo track just in case I want to watch on my phone or laptop etc. You can also convert it to dolby digi2 and that works just fine.

You'll love your apple tv. I have fully nerded out and have a program installed to DL shows I watch automatically from torrent sources, then it drops into iflicks converts and drops into itunes with full metadata. I just turn on my apple tv, and my shows are there to watch as if they were PVRd. Yeah for no cable!

 

[mattmatt86]

You'll love your apple tv. I have fully nerded out and have a program installed to DL shows I watch automatically from torrent sources, then it drops into iflicks converts and drops into itunes with full metadata. I just turn on my apple tv, and my shows are there to watch as if they were PVRd. Yeah for no cable!

Anymore info on this? That is ideally what I'd like to setup. You can PM me if you'd like.

Thanks


To be honest, when I first opened the present I thought "I don't need this" because I have my computer hooked up to my TV (HMDI) so I just drag videos onto the TV and use it as a second monitor. But the more I'm playing with the Apple TV I realize it has a lot more potential and a nice interface. When her and I move and I don't have my computer hooked up to the TV I think it will prove it's full worth.

 

[mattmatt86]

You'll love your apple tv. I have fully nerded out and have a program installed to DL shows I watch automatically from torrent sources, then it drops into iflicks converts and drops into itunes with full metadata. I just turn on my apple tv, and my shows are there to watch as if they were PVRd. Yeah for no cable!

Anymore info on this? That is ideally what I'd like to setup. You can PM me if you'd like.

Thanks


To be honest, when I first opened the present I thought "I don't need this" because I have my computer hooked up to my TV (HMDI) so I just drag videos onto the TV and use it as a second monitor. But the more I'm playing with the Apple TV I realize it has a lot more potential and a nice interface. When her and I move and I don't have my computer hooked up to the TV I think it will prove it's full worth.

 

[zdubyadubya]

Anymore info on this? That is ideally what I'd like to setup. You can PM me if you'd like.

I have a similar setup. iFlicks is a mac only program though as far as I know. Its in the mac app store. I mainly use it just for metadata. haven't used it as a converter yet. my process isn't as automated at Transcend's but is basically the same procedure.

My process goes like this: download tv show or movie off torrent (preferably a .mp4 or .m4v), if not and its .mkv or .avi, then i convert it with handbrake (which makes a NEW file--you are free to delete the old one), then import into iflicks which adds all of the metadata and cover art, then exports straight to itunes (you no longer need to do the whole "add to library" thing. you can also set up this program to keep the old file or delete it as well (depending on how you have your itunes directory structured) as soon as itunes updates its library file, poof the movie shows up in the apple tv home sharing menu.

the NAS drive is also a nice feature because if you keep you itunes library file there instead of your home folder you don't need to have a specific computer turned on. i have my laptop and desktop both reading the library file on the NAS drive, so all i have to do is boot itunes on one of them and my library pops up on the apple tv.

you can even go one step further.... and use XBMC as your frontend for your apple TV. it adds 1080 support and enables you to customize the layout--but this requires some serious monkeying with the device. i ended up going back to the standard apple software and am in the process of just using a mac mini with XBMC as the media center for the bigscreen/theater TV. all the others do just fine @ 720p.

 

[mattmatt86]

then import into iflicks which adds all of the metadata and cover art, then exports straight to itunes (you no longer need to do the whole "add to library" thing. you can also set up this program to keep the old file or delete it as well (depending on how you have your itunes directory structured) as soon as itunes updates its library file, poof the movie shows up in the apple tv home sharing menu.

Do you know of anything similar to iflicks for PC?

I'd love to find something that automatically adds cover art, details etc. so I don't have to manually enter everything.

 

[syadasti]

I'd love to find something that automatically adds cover art, details etc. so I don't have to manually enter everything.

I've never tried it for video streams, but this auto downloads album art if you are grabbing from audio streams:

http://www.stationripper.com/

 

[vikingboy]

Can you jailbreak the apple tv which would enable it to play a wider range of formats?

 

[zdubyadubya]

Do you know of anything similar to iflicks for PC?

I'd love to find something that automatically adds cover art, details etc. so I don't have to manually enter everything.

MetaX. Works great. I think its free too.

*nevermind, its $10.00. but I'm sure you could torrent a registration code
http://www.danhinsley.com/metax/metax.html

Can you jailbreak the apple tv which would enable it to play a wider range of formats?

see my experiment above. you can--its just a pain and once completed still buggy. having been down that road and come back i can tell you that unless you NEED 1080 or must use .mkv (because you like the way it handles subtitles better or something) the apple software on the apple tv is hard to beat.

 

[mattmatt86]

see my experiment above. you can--its just a pain and once completed still buggy. having been down that road and come back i can tell you that unless you NEED 1080 or must use .mkv (because you like the way it handles subtitles better or something) the apple software on the apple tv is hard to beat.

One more question, for now. I didn't realize ATV only works with 720, if I have some 1080 movies will they still work once converted to work with iTunes?

 

[zdubyadubya]

Yup. The handbrake apple tv2 preset takes care of all that. Uses the best framerate settings as well.

 

[mattmatt86]

New Question: I think I'm going to jailbreak my ATV so I don't have to mess with converting everything and dropping it into itunes. Has anyone used Firecore? I'm just wondering if it's worth the 30 bucks.

 

[zdubyadubya]

XBMC is moar better and its free.

I jailbroke (??) my atv2 and just ended up restoring it back to apple's software. But the process is straightforward and works well. Good luck! Any questions, you are more than welcome to PM me. Or, it seems I am pretty close, I could help out if you wanted.

*edit* nevermind... its a software package-- I see now.

I would jailbreak first, install JUST XBMC, and see how you like things (hacked atv2 can be goofy sometimes), and if things are great, then go for it. seems like you get the best of both worlds with XBMC and Plex.

 

[mattmatt86]

Is jailbreaking and using XBMC the best way to watch downloaded content(torrents)? My GF and I are ditching cable and we've been using netflix the last month but there are still plenty of movies and shows we can't get streaming so I've been trying to figure out the easiest way to get them from my computer to the ATV. I haven't tried metaX yet, maybe that'd be the best solution, then just use handbrake for the files it can't convert to itunes. I need something that won't mess with the ATV interface too much since my GF will be using it as the primary source for TV.

Jailbreaking does have some other nice features though; the firecore software adds a browser, and I've also heard of jailbreaking allowing you to use Hulu and Hulu plus.

Maybe I've overthinking everything, I just want to be sure I'm making the best use of the ATV now that we're getting ready to cut the cord and ditch cable.

 

[zdubyadubya]

Yes, jailbreaking the atv2 is probably your best bet in regards to a media streaming device. Are you streaming from a computer or a NAS drive? I ditched cable several months ago and haven't looked back. It looks like firecore uses the XBMC engine to drive the media center and just puts a different skin over the GUI. In that case, if you want to save some money, trying out XBMC first would be a good idea. And yes, I had no trouble getting it to play .avi, .mkv, or .mp4 files. Luckily, the GUI for XBMC is super simple just like the atv2 one, so girlfriends (and my wife) have had no trouble with it.

Features like a browser, Hulu, etc. will require additional tweaking that I haven't messed with but there are lots of forums that discuss this stuff and the general opinion is that the atv2 makes a great little platform for custom software.

One of the best upgrades you can do for the atv2 also is a new remote. I connected it to my Logitech Harmony and life is sooo much better when trying to use the thing.

If all you want to do is just be able to play files that arent in itunes and play files off any drive connected to your network, XBMC is probably your best bet

 

[mattmatt86]

Are you streaming from a computer or a NAS drive?

One of the best upgrades you can do for the atv2 also is a new remote. I connected it to my Logitech Harmony and life is sooo much better when trying to use the thing.

Currently streaming from my computer but at our new house I'm planning on getting a NAS, I was looking at the Western Digital My Book.

I've been reading about the HD Remote app, I was planning on buying that. A universal might be nice to also control my SS receiver and TV.

 

[Transcend]

For movies I'm now using a jailbroken ATV2 with XBMC to stream 1080p stuff in just about every format on earth. It streams directly from directories on my NAS.

TV shows still go through regular ATV and itunes so that i have them for planes as well.

I have a harmony as well, but don't use it much. Turns out my damn TV doesn't like it?? Can't select certain tv modes in scripts. Thanks a bunch, sharp.

 

[mattmatt86]

Jailbroke the ATV this morning and installed XBMC, so far I'm not enjoying it. Maybe I need to find a Dummies guide to XBMC before I throw in the towel.

Edit: None of the setting for the Screen Saver are working now...

 

[Transcend]

Jailbroke the ATV this morning and installed XBMC, so far I'm not enjoying it. Maybe I need to find a Dummies guide to XBMC before I throw in the towel.

Edit: None of the setting for the Screen Saver are working now...

I basically set up the file menus to display my movies/tv shows off the NAS and that's it. Once you figure that out it isn't bad.

It's definitely very PC like and finnicky, definitely not as slick as the ATV interface (or anything else apple for that matter).