How can I convert an MP4 file into another format?

[Deezle]

Hi,

I've got several MP4 files from a friend. But because my Xbox is way too slow to play'em back, I wish to convert them into another video format. Preferably using the DivX codec.
I have absolutely no clue which codec was used to encode the movies, but I am able to play them back with Windows Mediaplayer.
Can anybody tell me which program(s) I have to use to convert the files?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Greetz

Deezle

[Elias]

No converting is needed. Just demux the video stream with MP4Box to an avi. Xbox will play the file, since it can handle XviD.

[Deezle]

Hi,

I used MP4Box this way:

mp4box -avi 1 file.mp4

The result was the file file_track1.avi. The XboxMediaCenter was not able to play that file. I am using the CVS 2005-10-30.

Using YAMB gave me that info:
* Movie Info *
Timescale 600 - Duration 00:43:12.135
Fragmented File no - 2 track(s)
File Brand isom - version 1

File has root IOD
Scene PL 0xff - Graphics PL 0xff - OD PL 0xff
Visual PL: AVC/H264 Profile (0x15)
Audio PL: AAC Profile @ Level 1 (0x28)
No streams included in root OD

Copyrights:
(und) ShAQ

Track # 1 Info - TrackID 1 - TimeScale 25 - Duration 00:43:12.080
Media Info: Language "und" - Type "vide" - Sub Type "avc1" - 64802 samples
MPEG-4 Config: Visual Stream - ObjectTypeIndication 0x21
AVC/H264 Video - Visual Size 608 x 336
Self-synchronized

Track # 2 Info - TrackID 2 - TimeScale 22050 - Duration 00:43:12.136
Media Info: Language "und" - Type "soun" - Sub Type "mp4a" - 55817 samples
MPEG-4 Config: Audio Stream - ObjectTypeIndication 0x67
MPEG-2 Audio AAC LC - 2 Channel(s) - SampleRate 22050
Synchronized on stream 1



What went wrong?

Greetz

Deezle

[Elias]

Copyrights:
(und) ShAQThat copyright info might b0rk playback actually. At least it does with QT6 (and possibly 7, haven't tried). But hey, Apple's player doesn't cover much support of the MPEG-4 standard. Anyway, try creating an mp4 track of the aac and avi video of that mp4 file without that copyright information and see if it plays in your Xbox. It might even work as an mp4 file.

By the way, does your Xbox handle AVC? AVC cannot be exported properly to avi with MP4Box if I'm not mistaken. You must extract it to raw tracks: -raw instead of -avi and it'll work.

[Deezle]

That copyright info might b0rk playback actually. At least it does with QT6 (and possibly 7, haven't tried). But hey, Apple's player doesn't cover much support of the MPEG-4 standard. Anyway, try creating an mp4 track of the aac and avi video of that mp4 file without that copyright information and see if it plays in your Xbox. It might even work as an mp4 file.

By the way, does your Xbox handle AVC? AVC cannot be exported properly to avi with MP4Box if I'm not mistaken. You must extract it to raw tracks: -raw instead of -avi and it'll work.

Sorry, I didn't describe my problem clear enough.
My Xbox CAN handle the playback, but after 1 or 2 minutes the picture freezes and I can only hear the audio part of the video. That's afaik, because the Xbox is way too slow to decode my video. Increasing the cache size for video playback gives me 1 or 2 minutes more of playback before the picture freezes. So I don't think, I have a problem with the copyright.

Raw extraction did work, but the file didn't play on my Xbox. :confused:

Because if this my question is still the same: Is it possible to re-encode these videos with DivX? If yes, how?

Greetz

Deezle

[vlada]

It is very easy to convert the video using AviSynth and VirtualDub. You will find a lot of guides on how to do it. Basically you create an AviSynth script with following code:
DirectShowSource("video.mp4")
Then you open the script in VD and compress it to XviD/MP3. But you have to check first, which MPEG-4 ASP features are supported in XboX.

[Deezle]

It is very easy to convert the video using AviSynth and VirtualDub. You will find a lot of guides on how to do it. Basically you create an AviSynth script with following code:
DirectShowSource("video.mp4")
Then you open the script in VD and compress it to XviD/MP3. But you have to check first, which MPEG-4 ASP features are supported in XboX.

Hi,

I've already encoded a lot of videos using the DivX codec 5.x. These videos were running fine in my Xbox. I think, I'll give DivX/MP3 a try. XviD should also be no problem.

BTW, where can I find these guides you mentioned above? Here on Doom9.org?

Greetz

Deezle

[vlada]

http://www.doom9.org/divx-encoding.htm
http://www.doom9.org/virtualdub_procedures.htm
http://avisynth.org/index.php?page=YourFirstScript

[bond]

No converting is needed. Just demux the video stream with MP4Box to an avi. Xbox will play the file, since it can handle XviD.this is only true for mpeg-4 asp video streams

this will not work for avc and as the stream he has is avc and the xbox is too weak to decode avc he needs to reencode the video

as mentioned the best is to open the .mp4 via directshowsource("input.mp4, fps=whatever fps it has) and than encode with xvid

btw there is no need to reencode the audio stream

[Deezle]

...

as mentioned the best is to open the .mp4 via directshowsource("input.mp4, fps=whatever fps it has) and than encode with xvid

That worked pretty well. Now I have reencoded the video stream and it runs smootly in my Xbox. And now for the audio stream...


btw there is no need to reencode the audio stream

How can I demux my mp4 file to obtain the audio stream? Preferably as wave.

Greetz

Deezle

[bond]

why dont you simply mux the new video stream into the .mp4 again and enjoy the file without loosing the audios quality by reencoding again

[Deezle]

why dont you simply mux the new video stream into the .mp4 again and enjoy the file without loosing the audios quality by reencoding again

Umh, sorry for asking a noob question: But how do I do this?

Greetz

Deezle

[bond]

search for yamb

[Deezle]

search for yamb

Ok, I used YAMB for muxing, but the result was not satisfying. The playback was choppy again.
The avi file I made using VirtualDub runs fine (video stream only). So I think the problems I have, are caused by the audio stream. Is it possible to convert the raw audio stream extracted by YAMB to mp3? If yes, how?

Greetz

Deezle

[vlada]

Deezle> YAMB should be able to extract the audio in it's original format. It is probably AAC (MPEG-4) or MP3 (MPEG-1). So you should get an AAC or MP3 file from YAMB. Didn't you?

[Deezle]

Deezle> YAMB should be able to extract the audio in it's original format. It is probably AAC (MPEG-4) or MP3 (MPEG-1). So you should get an AAC or MP3 file from YAMB. Didn't you?

I've got an AAC file as expected. I muxed the AAC file into the AVI I created with VirtualDub using YAMB. But the result was choppy playback again.

The last thing I did was successful: I converted the AAC file to MP3 and muxed it with VirtualDub. That did the job. I fear that the MP4 container doesn't work to good in my Xbox.


@all
:thanks: to all who helped me with my conversion problem.

Greetz

Deezle

[bond]

I've got an AAC file as expected. I muxed the AAC file into the AVI I created with VirtualDub using YAMB. But the result was choppy playback again.

The last thing I did was successful: I converted the AAC file to MP3 and muxed it with VirtualDub. That did the job. I fear that the MP4 container doesn't work to good in my Xbox.well if aac-in-avi was choppy too i doubt that the problem is caused by the handling of mp4 on the xbox, but by the handling of aac on the xbox

for me this smells like a bug cause aac shouldnt be that hard to decode, but maybe the xbox is also simply to weak to handle even aac speedwise?

[Deezle]

well if aac-in-avi was choppy too i doubt that the problem is caused by the handling of mp4 on the xbox, but by the handling of aac on the xbox

for me this smells like a bug cause aac shouldnt be that hard to decode, but maybe the xbox is also simply to weak to handle even aac speedwise?

I also tried to mux the AVI (generated with VirtualDub/XviD) with the audio stream (reencoded to mp3/cbr) with YAMB. The playback was also choppy. The only thing that worked, was to mux with VirtualDub (AVI + MP3).
Wherever the bug/problem lies, I have a workaround I can live with.

:thanks: again!

Greetz

Deezle