One setting for all AppleTV-bound files?

[danmessing]

I use iFlicks primarily for converting files to be played on Apple TV.
I don't generally want to worry about what my input source is. If it's
a file that has an H.264, I would like iFlicks to use that, and just
remux the audio as necessary (which I think is a killer feature in the
new version!). However if the video is in some other format I would
like iFlicks to transcode it to H.264.

I expected the Apple TV 2 preset to do exactly that, but it seems that
it always re-encodes the video. The iTunes Compatible settings appears
to always just use the existing video track, even if it's not Apple TV
compatible.

Is there a possible way to do this, or do I need to be aware of the
format of my video file before I bring it into iFlicks?

Dan

[Nathan]

Great question.
I am in the same boat.
I encode everything for the ATV.
If iflicks can be "smart" and remux only the ones that need it.....
THIS WOULD BE GREAT!
Sorry to yel.... but I had to!

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[jamesvdm]

Yes I too would love it if iFlicks would be a bit smarter about re-
encoding for ATV2.

[Robin]

I would like this also. Having to switch between iTunes compatible and
ATV2 settings depending on the file type is a bit tedious, especially
when processing a lot of files.

[Nathan]

might the developer have any thoughts on this?
Is this even possible?

[agill]

You can edit the AppleScript to do what you want. Right click on your
drop folder, and go to Folder Actions Setup. Click cancel. Select the
script in the right pane. Click edit script. Change it to the
following and save it...

on adding folder items to thisFolder after receiving addedItems

repeat with movieFile in addedItems
if name of (info for movieFile) ends with ".mkv" then
tell application "iFlicks"
import movieFile as QuickTime movie without gui
end tell
else if name of (info for movieFile) ends with ".avi" then
tell application "iFlicks"
import movieFile as Apple TV 2 video without gui
end tell
end if
end repeat

end adding folder items to

[Joe Chapman]

The video stream still might not be ATV compatible if it has too high a bitrate. You would actually need to check the bitrate of the file before deciding whether to remux or reencode. When in doubt, it's safer to reencode to ensure you get a compatible file, but it certainly does take longer.

[danmessing]

Right, I've encountered problems with that for sure. Also, can't .avi
files sometimes contain the right type of H.264 video as well?

[Jendrik Bertram]

This has been mentioned a couple of times in this group now. Basically we are working on making this configurable using the rules, as "smart" decisions will be different depending on the users needs.

[Jendrik Bertram]

That is correct, but very rare and not a good idea in general.

[Jendrik Bertram]

That is exactly the reasons, why it is not easy to to do a "smart" decision. Also, besides the bitrate, there are other factors that might cause the file not to play on the ATV and are not easy to determine automatically.