HandBrake

I'm in the early stages of recording all my home movies from VHS and 8mm tapes via an analog to digital converter. I'm using Vidi to capture footage which saves files to .dv format. From then onwards, I am using Handbrake to convert all my recorded movies to a more publicly accepted format, preferably MP4 over MKV.

I am having the following problems;

1) No matter what the bitrate is, or how complex the compression is in MP4, seeking (fast forwarding) through the final outputted videos is pretty lousy, not so much in Quicktime but definitely in VLC. Here's what happens: in a 2 hour long video, clicking to any point in the movie, lets say for example, going directly to the 30 minute mark of the movie, causes the video to pause for a split second, play the audio for split second (but no video) and then play the same split second of audio AGAIN but with video and the video plays as normal. When clicking and holding onto the marker to seek (scan) through the video, it lags quite badly. In the raw DV format, seeking is instantaneous... but more impressive is how fast seeking executes in the MKV container using the same codec. Why does the MP4 container offer such poor seeking in comparison to MKVs very fast seeking? Is there a workaround or is this just a downfall of MP4?

2) I'd prefer to use MKV as my main container given its awesome seeking, but I cannot find anywhere any information on how to add cover art to the file. What I intend to do is to have all of my MP4 movie files with custom artwork instead of having to look at the file names to get an idea of what it is I'm going to watch (which would be particularly beneficial for my parents as these will be given to them as well). Is there ant artwork support for MKV or am I going to have to go the MP4 route for this? At the moment, movies are played back via VLC, sometimes in Quicktime and on a WDTV and eventually a Boxee Box.

From the research of I've done online thus far, it looks as though MP4 sucks at seeking but has cover art support, where as MKV is the exact opposite which puts me in a weird spot. Which container should I use?

Thanks!

You seemed to have analyzed the situation pretty accurately. Although I do think the quality of the seek depends a lot on the software/hardware used. If you are finally going to end up with a unit that supports mkv (Boxee Box) and storage space is not a problem, I would go that way. For mkv's personal cover art is supported through nfo files that are stored along with the movie files, cover art is download by the unit and stored in a cache or you can use a "jukebox" interface which organizes your movies and displays your personal cover art (again as an nfo file).

Is there no simple way of adding jpg images directly into the movie file rather than having two separate files? I've tried using MKVtoolnix in windows and added 'cover.jpg' @ 600x800px in size in the attachments but the image STILL doesnt show up. I must have been doing something wrong.

kamil wrote:Is there no simple way of adding jpg images directly into the movie file rather than having two separate files? I've tried using MKVtoolnix in windows and added 'cover.jpg' @ 600x800px in size in the attachments but the image STILL doesnt show up. I must have been doing something wrong.

Well, after doing some reading, I stand corrected and mkv's do now support the addition of cover art as an attachment. And also from my nosing around, the general suggestion is to do it the way you are doing it, using mkvmerge as an attachment. So, I'm sorry, but I can't be of help. I'll be following this though so I can learn how it turns out. Good luck.

What are you using to try and view the attached file? From what I have read, various systems, e.g. Media Center, XMBC, etc need plugins to be able to view the attached artwork.

Have you had a look at YAMJ and/or Thumbgen to generate your movie info?

Both work great for me on PC and AC Ryan media player and I undestand that YAMJ works on th ePCH and Medi8er boxes.