I am trying to import some Home Movies into my Mac Apple TV to watch on my device, but am having difficulty importing them. In their original .MOV files, they can be imported and viewed, but these are very large and I tried to convert them to .MP4, but now they will not import. They will view fine on QuickLook, so the system can see them, but they will not go into the app. I tried to change the extension to .M4V, but that did not make a difference. I had converted them with Permute, but I can’t imagine that makes a difference.
2 Likes
I use VLC to watch a lot of different video formats. Never let me down yet.
5 Likes
This is to watch on my AppleTV in the main room so I need to use the app. May try a few variations on encoding but it stymies me why they do not import. Or end up with Plex, but that would be a final fallback.
1 Like
Handbrake.app for MOV to MP4 conversions.
I find that Device: Android 1024 (or similar) works well for the Apple TV. The Apple device settings in Handbrake sometimes end up with audio problems.
2 Likes
Agree with Handbrake to convert. The many preconfigured settings intended for specific playback devices provide a good start. These settings can all be modified if something does not come out at you intended. On Intel Macs choosing a VideoToolbox method can invoke use of Apple’s T chip for video processing. Modified settings can be saved for future use. An online discussion group provides much more information, help, and if you like a way to submit comments to the open-source developers.
2 Likes
I did use HB and it does work. I will put that bit of info into my “not sure why it works, but do this” knowledge base.
My video manipulation toolkit consists of HandBrake, VLC, and Downie.
Yes, Downie does involve a license fee. However the developer, over the several years I’ve owned Downie, has regularly updated the software and is very responsive to support requests. Bottom line, I would buy it again or pay for a major upgrade.
2 Likes
Does VLC for tvOS exists?
I do not think it does. I was trying to answer to this:
So I thought he meant the TV app from Apple on the Mac.
I use the Apple TV app on my Mac to put it into the system so that can be on the server so I can pick it up and watch it on my Apple TV device. If I was watching it on my Mac, I would probably use VLC which takes almost everything.
Yes, it does. The user experience is suboptimal, and my use of it is minimal, but so far it has played every video format I’ve thrown at it.
2 Likes
I use iFlicks to import most any type of video file to my Apple TV library on my Mac, which then enables watching on my Apple TV 4K device. If you subscribe to Setapp, iFlicks is one of the included applications. Otherwise, it’s available in the Mac App Store. One warning is that it hasn’t been updated in 3 years, so I don’t know if it’s still being supported, but it still works fine for me. One nice feature is that if you use HandBrake or an equivalent to import a TV show or movie from a DVD/BR to a video file, it downloads all of the metadata and cover art for the show or movie from the web and includes that in the Apple TV app. You can also set the metadata and cover art yourself if you prefer.
Something to note is that .mov, .mp4, and .m4v are container (wrapper) formats. They tell the player that this is a media file, but the video inside may be in any number of compressed (or even uncompressed) formats. These days that usually means H.264 or H.265, but can be other things.
So the player has to recognize both the wrapper and the compression type in order to play. VLC and other utilities will play many different formats and provide information. Some will let you change the wrapper, and/or all or part of the video or audio files contained (transcoding).
3 Likes
Compressor if you want to do it within messing about with other free software :) but $$$
FYI - There is a command line version of Handbrake which would allow for some scripting to automate the Handbrake conversion. For example you could have an Automator folder that executes an AppleScript that runs a zsh script to convert any videos dragged and dropped or otherwise copied to that folder.