Keep same video quality while changing file type

[owenrg]

It's been a while since i've done any type of video conversion but i'm wondering how i can take an mkv or avi or just about any file type and convert it to mp4 while keeping the same quality and everything.

what i'm trying to do is just get some of my movies/TV shows converted over for a New iPad. any suggestions would be great, thanks.

[rollin_eng]

Handbrake cannot do this, what you need is a remuxer.

Handbrake is a transcoder so there will always be some quality loss.

Google Subler or MKVTOMP4.

[mic j]

Handbrake cannot do this, what you need is a remuxer.

Handbrake is a transcoder so there will always be some quality loss.

Google Subler or MKVTOMP4.

Those are both good options, but only will be helpful if the files are already use the h.264 codec. If the mkv or avi are anything else, they need to be transcoded to h.264. I also believe there are other "players" that can installed on an iPad that will play other file types, so you may want to explore that option.

[rollin_eng]

If the mkv or avi are anything else, they need to be transcoded to h.264

Not necessarily as the ipad also supports standard mpeg4 video.

Basically if the video meets these specs you can just remux:

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.

Otherwise run through handbrake or get a 3rd party player.

[TedJ]

Generally speaking, AVI often means mpeg4 ASP (DivX) video and MP3 audio so you'll need to transcode the audio at the very least.

[mic j]

If the mkv or avi are anything else, they need to be transcoded to h.264

Not necessarily as the ipad also supports standard mpeg4 video.

Basically if the video meets these specs you can just remux:

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.

Otherwise run through handbrake or get a 3rd party player.

The requirement you specify is "H.264 video up to 720p..." Are you saying the same thing? Mpeg 4 is just the container for the h.264 codec, isn't it?

[Flo]

H.264 is only one MPEG-4 implementation (MPEG-4 Part 10 to be exact). Standard MPEG-4 usually means MPEG-4 Part 2, as implemented by DIVX/XVID, etc.

The "MP4" container is actually MPEG-4 Part 14. Confused yet? :p

[mic j]

H.264 is only one MPEG-4 implementation (MPEG-4 Part 10 to be exact). Standard MPEG-4 usually means MPEG-4 Part 2, as implemented by DIVX/XVID, etc.

The "MP4" container is actually MPEG-4 Part 14. Confused yet? :p

Yes, that is definitely confusing. But I thought the iPad would only natively play h.264?

[Flo]

It also has limited support for MPEG-4 Part 2. As quoted above, "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 per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats".

[mic j]

It also has limited support for MPEG-4 Part 2. As quoted above, "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 per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats".

So, what is Owenrg's and my most practical solution? Just open either Subler or MKVTOMP4 and see if it will do the conversion? I really can't see going in to all of these files and try to figure out if they match all of the Part 2, 10, 14 standards.

Generally, I have found my dvd's to be mpeg 2 and my blu rays to be h.264 (with a few VC-1's). As I would also like to do as little transcoding as possible, I would like to know what do I look for (or try) to assess whether my media needs transcoding or just conversion. From most of what I have read around, you look for the h.264 codec being used (I have been using Media Inspector for that). I should also note that I am needing to do this for playability on an aTV and not an iPad. So the requirements may be different.