Converting Movie Formats to Other Movie Formats

[sarus101]

Hey guys! I have a .mp4 file and I want to convert it to a .H246 file in order to run it HD on my Blu-ray. I'm getting confused. Is .mp4 same as .H246? I'm using Xilisoft Video Converter and it's successfully working until it hits 92% and just freezes there and the log says it's an error. The .MP4 file is already a H264 Codec, so I'm guessing it wouldn't make sense converting a .MP4 file to a "H246 HD Video"? Am I right or is it still possible converting a H246 Codec to H246 HD Video. It's complicated explaining it. Here is what I mean: http/i.imgur.com/a71wgaA.png

I want to set it to this. http/i.imgur.com/Ygf8JTr.jpg <--- This is the output in the above image.

I'm not understanding this. Since the Original Codec is H246, does that mean that you can't switch the file format since the Output is going to be H246?

 

[Solandri]

There are codecs, and there are wrappers. MPEG4 and H.264 are video codecs. They don't contain any audio, chapters, subtitles, etc. They only contain video.

avi, mp4, mkv (and I think wmv) are wrappers. They combine video, audio, subtitles, chapters, etc. files into one file. So just because a file is .mp4 doesn't mean it's an MPEG4 video file. It could contain an H.264 video file.

Grab a copy of Mediainfo and drag and drop your movie file onto it. It will tell you exactly how the movie is encoded. (Note - the program now contains adware)
http/www.videohelp.com/tools/MediaInfo

videohelp.com is a great site for more guides and info on video/audio encoding.

 

[sarus101]

There are codecs, and there are wrappers. MPEG4 and H.264 are video codecs. They don't contain any audio, chapters, subtitles, etc. They only contain video.

avi, mp4, mkv (and I think wmv) are wrappers. They combine video, audio, subtitles, chapters, etc. files into one file. So just because a file is .mp4 doesn't mean it's an MPEG4 video file. It could contain an H.264 video file.

Grab a copy of Mediainfo and drag and drop your movie file onto it. It will tell you exactly how the movie is encoded. (Note - the program now contains adware)
http/www.videohelp.com/tools/MediaInfo


videohelp.com is a great site for more guides and info on video/audio encoding.

So I can't convert the .MP4 file to a H246 file if the .MP4 is already a H246?

 

[Solandri]

So I can't convert the .MP4 file to a H246 file if the .MP4 is already a H246?

You can, but usually there's not much point. I do it to decrease the file size from 4-8 GB for a typical movie to about 1-1.5 GB, so I can fit more of them on my tablet or phone. The lower video quality isn't as noticeable on the smaller screen, and it's worth it to be able to fit dozens of movies on a 32GB microSD card. If you check the "quick decode" option, it makes the file slightly bigger, but it can be decoded entirely using the phone or tablet's hardware video decode. Thus increasing battery life.

But strictly speaking, yes you can convert an mp4 file with H.264 video to a new .mp4 file with H.264 video. I'm not familiar with the program you're using so I don't know why it's saying you can't.

BTW, the encode you're trying to do is pointless. You're taking a 1859 kbps video @ 1920x816 resolution, and re-encoding it as a 3500 kbps video @ 1920x816 resolution. All you're doing is needlessly increasing the file size. Encoding a low-quality video to higher-quality won't make it higher quality. The quality can only be as good as your source.

Same goes for the audio - you're taking 48000 Hz audio at 94 kbps, and re-encoding it to 41000 Hz at 320 kbps. So not only are you needlessly increasing the size of the audio, you're decreasing its quality.

 

[sarus101]

So I can't convert the .MP4 file to a H246 file if the .MP4 is already a H246?

You can, but usually there's not much point. I do it to decrease the file size from 4-8 GB for a typical movie to about 1-1.5 GB, so I can fit more of them on my tablet or phone. The lower video quality isn't as noticeable on the smaller screen, and it's worth it to be able to fit dozens of movies on a 32GB microSD card. If you check the "quick decode" option, it makes the file slightly bigger, but it can be decoded entirely using the phone or tablet's hardware video decode. Thus increasing battery life.

But strictly speaking, yes you can convert an mp4 file with H.264 video to a new .mp4 file with H.264 video. I'm not familiar with the program you're using so I don't know why it's saying you can't.

BTW, the encode you're trying to do is pointless. You're taking a 1859 kbps video @ 1920x816 resolution, and re-encoding it as a 3500 kbps video @ 1920x816 resolution. All you're doing is needlessly increasing the file size. Encoding a low-quality video to higher-quality won't make it higher quality. The quality can only be as good as your source.

Same goes for the audio - you're taking 48000 Hz audio at 94 kbps, and re-encoding it to 41000 Hz at 320 kbps. So not only are you needlessly increasing the size of the audio, you're decreasing its quality.

Oh I see. Okay. One more thing. The program that I'm using it Xilisoft Video Converter. I'm trying to convert it from MP4 to H246 and as soon as I reach 92% of encoding, my CPU usage, that was running at around 80-90%, automatically drops back to it's original state which is 1-2%, and the 92% of the encoding just freezes there without moving. I don't know what the problem is. I payed good money for this program and it's giving me this error. I don't know if it's the program or if it's the video?

 

[Solandri]

as soon as I reach 92% of encoding, my CPU usage, that was running at around 80-90%, automatically drops back to it's original state which is 1-2%, and the 92% of the encoding just freezes there without moving.

My guess would be the program is hitting a part of the video it can't decode, and the decoding thread is crashing. If the program logs what it's doing, you may be able to determine what the problem is from the logs. Also, check to see if there's an update available for your program.

 

[GuccizBud]

I get this once in a while with Xilisoft; not often, maybe once every 100 files or so. There's just something about that 1% of files Xilisoft doesn't like, I haven't been able to pinpoint it, and it would be hard to even try, because it does it so rarely that unless your machine is basically doing nothing but transcoding 24/7, it's pretty difficult to build up enough of a data pool. In my case when Xilisoft hits one of "those" files, I just use a different program, which so far has always worked, meaning never has the secondary program hit the same obstruction in the file and just hung there. Don't rely solely on Xilisoft in other words... it's my "go to" program, but you need one or two backup apps. Chalk it down to a Xilisoft glitch, seeing as other programs don't emulate the behavior. Btw, the percentage at which it hangs, in and of itself, is meaningless in the sense that the few times it's happened, it was pretty much always at a different spot... the last one, I still remember, was at 4% in my case, and the other program sailed right on through the 4% point without issue.

 

[wanuncoeo]

Encoding a low-quality video to higher-quality won't make it higher quality. The quality can only be as good as your source.