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Author Topic: mp4 question for Mac geeks Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 03-21-2007 01:37 AM                        I have some video content ripped from a DVD with Nero Recode (included in Nero 7 Ultra). The file format is Nero Digital which is an .mp4 variation which also stores subtitles and chapter marks. The file ending is .mp4, too. It plays without any problems on my PC with WMP, Winamp, and (of course) Nero Showtime. The subtitles and chapters are only available when I play it with Nero Showtime, but the other media players play the audio and video without any problems. When I play the file in Quicktime, however, the image is broken up and in funky colors. A friend of mine tried to play the video on his Mac and got the same result, plus WMP didn't work properly either. It looks like Quicktime only supports AAC-type .mp4, no matter on what platform, but I would have thought if WMP can play the video on the PC, it should also play it on a Mac. Apart from checking if there are any updates for WMP for Mac (although I hear WMP for Mac is not supported by Microsoft anymore, and therefore, there may be no updates for recent file formats), are there any other options to solve the problem? Are there media players for Macs which can play all sorts of .mp4 files properly, or are there converters which convert it to .mov? There are a lot of applications which convert .mp4 to .mov, but the keyword here is of course "free". How about VLC player or Real Player for Mac?  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 03-21-2007 02:21 AM                        How about not using a proprietary Nero MP4 codec? There are many variations of MP4, and the best, by far, is H.264.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 03-21-2007 08:25 PM                        Nero Digital mp4 makes the file smaller while still retaining good image and sound quality. It's not a Nero problem anyway, since you can play the files easily with several media players on a PC. So it's obvioulsy more a Mac problem, the fact that Apple apparently decided QuickTime users are only allowed to see some file formats, ad that there are so few media players and programs for the Mac in general. For instance, there is no Nero for Macs - catastrophy, that's the best burning and editing suite I have played with. I played the file on VLC and it worked great, so, since VLC is also available for Mac, maybe that works. But I wonder if it is possible to burn the file on DVD on a Mac - probably not.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 03-21-2007 10:32 PM                        Yeah, Macs can't burn DVDs. That requires technology from the future. Anyway you can't talk unless you try H.264 first. I can make files with higher frame rates, bigger resolution and smaller file sizes than most "regular" MP4 formats.  |  IP: Logged Jacob Szewczyk Film Handler Posts: 18 From: Olney, Maryland, USA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 03-22-2007 02:19 PM                     What you can always do is import the .mp4 file to iTunes and watch it through that.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 03-22-2007 09:02 PM                        That didn't work at all on my PC. When I open the file in itunes and play it, it plays the sound, but the image is totally scrambled. Yes, I have the latest version of itunes. If it doesn't work on the PC, I doubt it works on a Mac - have you tried it?  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-22-2007 09:05 PM                     iTunes relies heavilly on QuickTime for both platforms. If QuickTime can't open it, niether can iTunes.  |  IP: Logged Jacob Szewczyk Film Handler Posts: 18 From: Olney, Maryland, USA Registered: Jun 2004 posted 03-23-2007 01:43 AM                     I have tried it, I have a bunch on my iTunes right now.  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 03-23-2007 02:20 AM                        iTunes/QT certainly can play *some* .mp4 format variations, but not all of them. Not this one, obviously.  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-23-2007 02:23 AM                     MP4 is a container format. The audio and video streams can be compressed using any number of codecs (though the standard h264 and aac combination is commonly recognized as the standard for this format). Nero is using a codec quicktime doesn't understand. Again, if QuickTime can't open it, iTunes can't either. Or iDVD. or iMovie... Fortunately, QuickTime has downloadable "components" that allow it to learn other codecs. To play WMV on the mac, you can get the free flip4mac components at Microsoft's website. Apple offers links to a variety of other components here . I have Divx, 3ivx, XViD, and flip4mac components installed myself. Between them there isn't much I can't play. The Dolby AC3 component is also useful for ensuring that your DVD backups are saved in full 5.1  |  IP: Logged Paul Trimboli Master Film Handler Posts: 274 From: Perth Western Australia Registered: Dec 2002 posted 03-23-2007 03:48 AM                     No need to install individual codecs, just user Perian the swiss army knife for Quicktime. Perian  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 03-23-2007 08:12 AM                        Flip4Mac ain't free. It has a free demo version, but I found that it only plays like 1/4th of the WMV file or some shit. My boss bought the whole version, but I haven't installed that on my home computer yet. WMV sucks ass. Mike, I tried to tell Michael what you did. Doesn't work. He loves the Nero proprietary codec. Nero is less easy to use than Toast (though Toast makes some shitty VCDs). Paul, sweet link! Quicktime kicks ass.  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 03-23-2007 03:03 PM                     Flip4Mac player is free if you download it from Microsoft's website. Click the link. I dare you. Perian supports flv?!? Kick ass!  |  IP: Logged Michael Schaffer "Where is the Boardwalk Hotel?" Posts: 4143 From: Boston, MA Registered: Apr 2002 posted 03-23-2007 04:09 PM                        Here is a small sample from that file. Can you play it with any of the above solutions? Has anyone tried VLC player for Mac? VLC can play the file on my PC, and I wouldn't be surprised if it also works on the Mac. VLC is a very flexible player. Here is the sample: http://www.yousendit.com/download/M3BsSlJ3UzhRYTgwTVE9PQ  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 03-23-2007 06:18 PM                        Yeah I've had VLC for a long time. Your sample file played perfectly fine. It also played in Quicktime, but was a bit stuttery, but all of the colors looked good. Mike, the free flip4mac player... err I mean QT plug-in (because that's all it really is) does not seem to play the ENTIRE wmv file (like I was saying). EDIT: Nevermind, I had an older version.  |  IP: Logged

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