Apple TV 2nd Gen - Avi Files & Hack

Jordan_Safc · Oct 11, 2010

Hey guys,

I was just dropping this thread to find out some information on the new apple tv i have purchased, ive got to say it has potential.. however i have a external hard drive with avi files on which i would love to watch on my new product but itunes wont allow avi to added to the library, this is a shame because it will take ages to export the files to mv4 or mp4 which i have tried and it works but it takes 2hours an avi. I was wondering if you guys know a way around this issue? or will it come in the hack thats going to be released soon on the apple tv? or maybe the next software update?

I feel if there isnt a way around this then its a pretty pointless gadget as it was one of the main reasons i bought it :/

If any of you guys could help me on this i would be very grateful!

Cheers
Jordan

baggss · Oct 11, 2010

2 Hours? I just converted a bunch of AVI movies I "acquired" to M4V and it took about 45 min per movie. What App are you using to convert? Handbrake does a bang up job...

As for it being useless, maybe you should have done some homework before you spent your money. iTunes has never worked with AVI (or many other formats) so why this came a surprise is beyond me.

TomTomTuning · Oct 11, 2010

I use iSkysoft iMedia Converter, works great and it's pretty quick.

iSkysoft iMedia Converter for Mac - Convert DVD and video to AVI, FLV, MOV, MP4, MP3, etc. on Mac OS X Snow Leopard

There "Video Converter for Mac" is 15.00 cheaper then the iMedia Converter.

baggss · Oct 11, 2010

TomTomTuning said:
There "Video Converter for Mac" is 15.00 cheaper then the iMedia Converter.

...and Handbrake is free.....

Jordan_Safc · Oct 12, 2010

baggss said:
2 Hours? I just converted a bunch of AVI movies I "acquired" to M4V and it took about 45 min per movie. What App are you using to convert? Handbrake does a bang up job...

As for it being useless, maybe you should have done some homework before you spent your money. iTunes has never worked with AVI (or many other formats) so why this came a surprise is beyond me.

Yeah ive heard handbrake is a great app, i was using quicktime before a=and just exporting it via that it was on average taking as long as the avi file was to convert and even then it was sometimes losing a bit of video audio sync towards the end :/

I like the fact you can add a queue to handbrake and say leave it on over night so it can convert, if thats the case i could hopefully bang on between 10-15 a night which sounds ideal! but i am in need of one little help, whats the preset for the Apple TV, could you help me?

Thanks for the feedback man

XJ-linux · Oct 12, 2010

Just use the "Universal" setting and you can play it on ATV, iPhone, iPod and Android.

Jordan_Safc · Oct 12, 2010

XJ-linux said:
Just use the "Universal" setting and you can play it on ATV, iPhone, iPod and Android.

Thanks man i will keep this in mind when i start converting!

iggibar · Oct 12, 2010

XJ-linux said:
Just use the "Universal" setting and you can play it on ATV, iPhone, iPod and Android.

Thanks for that tip, helped me out too

baggss · Oct 12, 2010

Handbrake is probably one of if not THE single best freeware Apps for the Mac. These guys don't take donations even if you want to give them money. Sometimes you gotta love open source.

TattooedMac · Oct 14, 2010

This still doesn't exactly answer the OP's question that I'm interested in. ... the HACK !!! Will this be possible with the new ATV ?

TattooedMac · Nov 3, 2010

baggss said:
2 Hours? I just converted a bunch of AVI movies I "acquired" to M4V and it took about 45 min per movie. What App are you using to convert? Handbrake does a bang up job...

And i found a easier and much quicker way with my .avi format to m4v.
Open the .avi in QT and then shift~cmd~s and save as movie. Takes me about 1 minute or less to do this then i just drag said .mov to iTunes and i can watch to my hearts content

Works well and is quicker than a HB conversion

Cheers

baggss · Nov 3, 2010

TattooedMac said:
And i found a easier and much quicker way with my .avi format to m4v.
Open the .avi in QT and then shift~cmd~s and save as movie. Takes me about 1 minute or less to do this then i just drag said .mov to iTunes and i can watch to my hearts content

Works well and is quicker than a HB conversion

Cheers

Depends on the size of the video to begin with. I was referencing full movies not just video clips. QT isn't going to convert a 2 hour movie in under a min.

TattooedMac · Nov 4, 2010

1Hr 48mins in 62secs isnt bad IMO

Beats 45mins in HB. Dont get me wrong, i love HB and use it quite a bit, but this trick saved me when i first bought my Movies into iTunes

Cheers

Jordan_Safc · Nov 4, 2010

WOW it really works haha!

however ive just noticed something... ive added it to my library in itunes and its showing however when i try to play it on my ATV2 i cant seem to find it? can anyone explain this?

TattooedMac · Nov 4, 2010

Jordan_Safc said:
WOW it really works haha!

however ive just noticed something... ive added it to my library in itunes and its showing however when i try to play it on my ATV2 i cant seem to find it? can anyone explain this?

I get my ATV2 delivered in next day or 2. Will have a look and see whats up. Does it bring up the PLAY window in iTunes ??

baggss · Nov 4, 2010

TattooedMac said:
1Hr 48mins in 62secs isnt bad IMO

Beats 45mins in HB. Dont get me wrong, i love HB and use it quite a bit, but this trick saved me when i first bought my Movies into iTunes

Cheers

It looks like you're saving it as a "reference file" not a self contained video (.mov or .m4v). Are you able to delete the original AVI file and still play the video in question? What's the file size of the resultant file as compared to the original?

I tried this on both my Quad G5 and my C2D MacBook and neither save a large file in 62 seconds. Something isn't making sense.

baggss · Nov 4, 2010

Jordan_Safc said:
WOW it really works haha!

however ive just noticed something... ive added it to my library in itunes and its showing however when i try to play it on my ATV2 i cant seem to find it? can anyone explain this?

From the ATV2 Specs page:

H.264 video up to 720p, 30 frames per second, Main Profile level 3.1 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
MPEG-4 video, up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats
Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

Maybe I'm reading that wrong but it says nothing about .mov files. Try the QT trick but save them for ATV format vice .mov instead.

TattooedMac · Nov 5, 2010

baggss said:
It looks like you're saving it as a "reference file" not a self contained video (.mov or .m4v). Are you able to delete the original AVI file and still play the video in question? What's the file size of the resultant file as compared to the original?

I tried this on both my Quad G5 and my C2D MacBook and neither save a large file in 62 seconds. Something isn't making sense.

When i shift~cmd~s it saves the .mov file right beside my .avi file. I then delete .avi as i have no need for it anymore then drag .mov to itunes and start to watch ....
They work in iTunes as to if it works on the ATV2 am yet to find out. But here is the two side by side and the one on the right is the original

So yea atm it works

Jordan_Safc · Nov 5, 2010

yeahh it works fine in itunes but when i went to watch it on my ATV2 it just wasnt showing for some strange reason :/ shame because that is a very fast way to convert!!

baggss · Nov 5, 2010

TattooedMac said:
When i shift~cmd~s it saves the .mov file right beside my .avi file. I then delete .avi as i have no need for it anymore then drag .mov to itunes and start to watch ....
They work in iTunes as to if it works on the ATV2 am yet to find out. But here is the two side by side and the one on the right is the original

So yea atm it works

Hey, if it works in iTunes then it's good for you. I only have WMVs to work with right now. Once I find a good AVI I'll give it a shot again. Either way, it doesn't look like they work on ATV.

Jordan_Safc said:
yeahh it works fine in itunes but when i went to watch it on my ATV2 it just wasnt showing for some strange reason :/ shame because that is a very fast way to convert!!

I suspect my last post explains that. Try it again but change the output format to Apple TV and see what happens.