Convert MJPG in AVI to xbox 360 Fall 2007 format

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lkron
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Convert MJPG in AVI to xbox 360 Fall 2007 format

Post by lkron » Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:37 pm

I'm using MediaCoder 0.6.1.4026.
I have a MJPG file with the following specs:
Video: MJPG - in an AVI container
Bitrate: 1158 Kbps
Resolution 320x240
Frame Rate: 15.09 fps

Audio: pcm
Bitrate 64 Kbps
Sample Rate: 8000 Hz
Channel 1

I need to convert this file to a format that my XBox 360 with the Fall 2007 can play. I've been at this for a while and nothing is working. Here are the formats that the XBox can support as of Dec 4, 2007: (I'm not allowed to post a link yet but if you search on december-2007-video-playback-faq it should find the details off of the MSDN website.)
Here is a small section of the information:
What exactly does the Xbox 360 support for AVI?

Xbox 360 supports the following for AVI:

· File Extensions: .avi, .divx

· Containers: AVI

· Video Profiles: MPEG-4 Part 2, Simple & Advanced Simple Profile

· Video Bitrate: 5 Mbps with resolutions of 1280 x 720 at 30fps. See question number 11 for more information.

· Audio Profiles: Dolby® Digital 2 channel and 5.1 channel, MP3

· Audio Max Bitrate: No restrictions. See question number 11 for more information.




What settings do I use to get this to work. I did a MPEG4-V2 with a AVI container. It played fine with WMP11 on my XP Media Center machine. It wouldn't play on the xbox.

lkron
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Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:06 pm
Location: ON, Canada

Post by lkron » Sat Jan 19, 2008 3:33 pm

I found out some things that seem to help

I've set the video mode to Bitrate-based
Format to XviD
Container to AVI
Source to Auto Select
Backend to Auto Select
The thing which allowed it to work which I had never touched before is on the right side under the XviD tab, I changed the Profile to Advanced Simple Profile Level 5. That seems to have been the key. However it is only working off of a USB Thumbdrive. I can't get it to work from the Videos source of my XP machine - the XBox refuses to even show the new AVI file. If anyone knows why that is I'd love to know

Oh, the Audio setting for anyone else that needs the help are:
Source - Auto Select
Encoder Lame MP3 (AVI files must have MP3 audio according to the MSDN Xbox site).
Resample Original
Channel Original
Audio ID 1
Rate Mode is set to VBR, Channel Auto

lkron
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Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:06 pm
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Re: Convert MJPG in AVI to xbox 360 Fall 2007 format

Post by lkron » Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:48 am

My experience converting MKV file to Xvid/AVI for the XBox 360

I updated to MediaCoder 0.7.1.4490 today. I removed my 0.6.1 version during the process. I could then no longer get anything to convert to play for the XBox 360. At first I thought it played on Windows XP Media Center edition with all of the current updates (as of Aug 16, 2009) but then the best I could do was get it to play on XP with the audio but no video. To do that I had to go to the Container Tab and set the multiplexer to MEncoder. I tried about 30 other variations and nothing else would work.

I then went to http://sourceforge.net/projects/mediacoder/files/ and downloaded version 0.6.2.4275 (to my knowledge the latest 0.6.x version). I then transcoded my MKV file just fine. It appears that the 0.7.1.4490 has something wrong with it in relation to working with the XBox. It is possible that I didn't have some setting correct but the 0.6.2 version just worked.

Since my post over a year ago I've figured a few other things out as well. Likely basic stuff, but for newbies converting files to work on the XBox 360 it should help. When you load a file in MediaCoder in the upper right corner of the screen you see the properties of the file. It should give you the Video and Audio Codecs used. If they are compatible with the 360 then you can just click the "copy video" or "copy audio" on the appropriate tabs, vs. transcoding those elements. Doing this will speed up conversion and help ensure you don't loose and bits, or add in any unneeded bits.

Other things that help to conserve quality. In the properties of the file you are transcoding check out the Video Bitrate, then go to the Video Tab and with mode set to "Bitrate-based", enable Video (if you need to transcode the video and can't just copy it) and set the Kbps to the same rate as the file you are working with. If you set it smaller then you will loose quality. If you set it bigger then you add unneeded bits to the file and increase the size. Although CSI, NCIS, and other cop shows would have you believe you can magically add resolution/quality it isn't really true.

Do the same with Audio. See what the original is and then use the same bitrate. If the bitrate of the original is greater than 192 I tend to set it to 192 Kbps which is CD quality. On the Lame MP3 tab in audio (use the Lame MP3 encoder) choose Preset Custom and set Rate Mode to "CBR" The C stands for Constant the V for variable. In my first post I suggested to use Variable. You should use Constant (if you don't I've read that it can mess up the sync of the audio to the video). It is possible that you need more Kbps for 4.1 or 5.1 if each channel uses 192(I'm not sure, so if your audio is messing up use the same as the properties of the original file). It doesn't make sense to set the audio Kbps higher than the original as you can't improve quality and you are just adding to the file size.

On the Picture tab I now set the frames/second to match the frames/second to the original file.

I transcode and in version 0.6.1.x and 0.6.2.x it always seems to play the file in Windows and on the XBox 360.

Following these directions has worked for me for any files that don't play/aren't recognized on the 360
I hope this information helps.

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