What container for H264 video?

[thymej]

I plain on converting some videos I have to H264 using MeGUI+x264. The original videos are HD OTA MPEG2 in a .ts file. They are ether 720p or 1080i with AC3 6ch audio.

What would be a good container for H264 video? .MP4, .MKV, or .M2TS? [When I say good i mean supported by more devices (PC, console, or standalones) and or players (MPC-HC, VLC, KMPlayer, Zoomplayer, etc.). A container that might stand the test of time?]

I would soon just leave the audio as AC3 without converting it unless the more supported container for H264 video does not supports it. I would then convert to AAC 6ch.

Look at this question as a pull, rate in order?

[Guest]

Why do you want to convert them to AVC?

[linyx]

1. MKV - Supports most formats, opensource(?), not very standalone compatible.
2. MP4 - Supports some major formats, somewhat standalone compatible, does not normally support ac3 audio (but can (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=142190)).
3. M2TS - Never used it so don't know.

[Sagekilla]

IIRC, .mp4 is supported by the 360 and PS3. On the PC, it doesn't matter what format you use. For standalones, it's m2ts. I don't know if many standalones support mp4 right now, but if you have a popcorn hour A-110, you can use any one of those three formats. +1 for mp4 in that case, since you can use it across console/pc/A-110. As for audio, m2ts/mkv will support your AC3, but mp4 supports only AAC, so -1 for mp4 in my books. Leaves all of them as equally valid choices IMO.

@neuron2, the likely reason is he wants to reduce the size of the files. I would do that too, personally.


One last thing: It doesn't matter what container you use really. You can demux your video + audio and stick them in another container any arbitrary number of times. If you're going from mp4 to something else though, just be careful because mp4 only supports AAC.

[thymej]

Why do you want to convert them to AVC?

My external HDs are all getting full. The average file size is about 5GB for 45mins. I have All the Heros and Terminater SCC plus 2.5 seasons of Smallville all MPEG2 HD OTA.

The br is around 14mbs for the above videos. I was thinking of using 7mbs with a x264 DXVA-HD profile. I'll save about 50% space.

But then again, I like your thought, why convert them. I could just get more external HD's.

[Sagekilla]

If that were the case, I'd go with getting another hard drive too. $120 for 1 TB + $10 - $15 for external enclosure (unless you're sticking this inside a server) = Delicious HD goodness. If you use your figures, that's 150 hours of video you can get.

Edit: If it weren't for the fact that you'd have to swap a lot of DVDs, and that each movie can be up to 5 GB, I'd also recommend a DVD backup.

[Bigmango]

You are looking for M2TS as it is currently the most widely supported format.

You can play it back on PC, standalones and consoles, and you can keep AC3, DTS, and all of the HD audio tracks (DD true HD, DTS-MA etc...).

It takes a little more space than mp4 or mkv, but you can play it everywhere.

MKV is the better format, but you can't play it on most consoles and standalones. (the only advantage I see compared to m2ts, is that mkv uses less space. It also supports more PC video/audio codecs, but you won't need those anyway if you want standalone and console compatibility).

MP4 is playable everyhere, but it doens't support AC3 or HD audio.

As for the tool, Megui doesn't mux to m2ts. So you will need to remux or mux with another muxer like tsmuxer. I'd suggest you use ripbot instead. It's easier to use (does everything in 1 shot) and does the job very well. Ripbot's standalone level 4 profile also ensures your h264 files are compatible with standalones and play with gpu hardware acceleration.

[Sagekilla]

Does m2ts really have bloated file sizes compared to mkv? Personally I wouldn't care if the m2ts is a few megabytes bigger when the files are well over a couple of GB each.

[Bigmango]

A 4.11 Gb mkv file will fill a 4.37 Gb DVD (DVD5) once remuxed to m2ts (or if you make an AVCHD or BD5 disk).

... so compared to mkv you lose about 200 Mb for 1 full DVD5.

It's not too much. I now put all my HD movies on DVDs as BD5 or BD9 ("create blu-ray" output with ripbot, it does everything automatically). This way I can put the disk in any standalone blu-ray player and it plays automatically like any DVD or BD (the blu-ray output puts the m2ts into a blu-ray disk structure). And I see no visual quality difference due to the lost 200 Mb on my 46" fullhd screen.

[crypto]

I am shocked how many of you think that MP4 doesn't support AC3. It is part of the official specs since late August. Many tools have been adapted since then including ffmpeg, vlc, mp4creator, mp4box, mp4muxer, handbrake, qt, itunes,...

[Bigmango]

I am shocked how many of you think that MP4 doesn't support AC3. It is part of the official specs since late August. Many tools have been adapted since then including ffmpeg, vlc, mp4creator, mp4box, mp4muxer, handbrake, qt, itunes,...

Outside of the PC world mp4 currently doesn't support AC3. That's the whole point of the discussion. Maybe in 1 or 2 years the hardware players will implement this improved spec, but seeing how slow these developments are, it's better to forget it until we see something. And let's not even talk about DTS which isn't even in the new spec.... and other standards (-> everyday use standard codecs, as used everywhere including standalones, consoles, PCs, etc...)

Currently MP4 is a limited format primarily used for mobiles. It isn't a standard format for high quality multi channel files that can do the range of industry standard codecs, like M2TS.

You can play your AC3 mp4 on only a small couple of applications on PCs. Even on PCs most applications don't support it yet. Outside of the PC the AC3 mp4 is useless if you want compatibility, the same goes for mkvs. Maybe is a few years.... but we want to play our files today.

[shon3i]

I think you should go with M2TS and strict to BlyRay specifications, because nowdays, picture about compatability is very clear, all future players will follow bluray specification. I don't have anything against the other good containers (MKV, MP4), but is pointless, same as MPEG2 compactible DVD stream put on MP4, AVI, MKV or other container, or make MPEG2 stream outside DVD or BlyRay specs, like making now H264/VC-1/MPEG2 outside Bly-Ray specification.

[crypto]

...MP4 is playable everyhere, but it doens't support AC3 or HD audio.
This statement is wrong! If you ment it for standalone devices, please be more precise. And even that is wrong as AppleTV does support AC3 in MP4.

[Bigmango]

This statement is wrong! If you ment it for standalone devices, please be more precise. And even that is wrong as AppleTV does support AC3 in MP4.

Who the F cares if mp4 can play AC3 on Apple TV and only 1 single or 2 PC apps?

I think you can read what I wrote, can't you?

Read the post of Shon3i just above yours, he understands exactly what this is about.

The OP was about compatibility everywhere. Apple TV and 1 single or maybe 2 PC apps that can play mp4 with AC3 is nothing compared to the millions of players of all and every brands, consoles, media players, media centers, NAS devices, etc... etc... etc.... And I'm not even talking about DTS and full HD audio support. MP4 is nothing but a limited container primarily designed for mobile players and some specific limited needs.

The OP wants compatibility everywhere. You are only giving him some misleading information that will lock him into a limited hole.

[gav1577]

What i usually do is mux to a ts file using tsmuxer then rename the file ext to mpg works on the pc and ps3 don't know about the 360
ts has less overhead than m2ts :)

[thymej]

Thanks for all your input everyone. I will do some testing with .m2ts.

[Gabriel_Bouvigne]

Currently MP4 is a limited format primarily used for mobiles. It isn't a standard format for high quality multi channel files that can do the range of industry standard codecs, like M2TS.

Perhaps no one cares, but to me the big difference between both is that MP4 is a storage format, while MPEG2-TS is a streaming format. For some applications, it makes a huge difference.

Regarding compatibility, I think that it's true that right now you can put more types of streams within MPEG2-TS, mainly because it has been around for a lot more time than MP4.

[vmrsss]

My external HDs are all getting full. The average file size is about 5GB for 45mins. The br is around 14mbs for the above videos. I was thinking of using 7mbs with a x264 DXVA-HD profile. I'll save about 50% space.

But then again, I like your thought, why convert them. I could just get more external HD's.

It'll take very many hours to do this, and a fat electricity bill (this depends of course on where ou live): it may seriously be the case that burning on a bunch of DVDs will be cheaper (certainly orders of magnitude faster)...

[Sagekilla]

It would be tricky though, if the movies aren't perfectly within a DVD-5. It'd be a huge waste to use a DVD-9 just to burn something that might be slightly over what a DVD-5 can hold. If he has a bunch that are around 4500 MB big, then it works great. Otherwise, he has to transcode or find some that fit on a DVD-9 together. Otherwise, hard drive wouldn't force you to use a specific size. He could just store the original .ts files on an HD and not worry about whether they'll be small enough to fit on a DVD-5 without transcoding them.

[bond]

Who the F cares if mp4 can play AC3 on Apple TV and only 1 single or 2 PC apps?

I think you can read what I wrote, can't you?please cool down :thanks: