Apple TV can't play my movies!

[kebosma]

I downloaded a cartoon for my little boy, I think it's an .mpg- file.

I put it into iTunes, where I can play it. After this, I tried to synchronize my Apple TV, but it won't send the file. I gives an error message instead, saying that my Apple TV cannot play the file.....

I thought that everything in iTunes could be played on Apple TV as well?

Does anybody know what's going wrong here?

[fryke]

Nope, not everything iTunes can play can be played on Apple TV. The easiest and fastest way to get this movie to play is to drop it on iSquint - http://www.isquint.com - and let it produce a compatible file. Your .mpg file probably is an MPEG-1 movie file. AFAIK, only MPEG-4 files can be played out of the box (without hacks) on the Apple TV.

[kebosma]

Thanks, I tried it and it works!

What do you think, will Apple in future SW updates for the Apple TV include more codecs and support for more file formats for video? I takes a lot of time to convert each movie...

[fryke]

I don't think Apple will add that support. From their point of view, MPEG-4 and h.264 is the way to go. And if most of your files either come from the iTunes Store and converted DVDs, there isn't a real problem. Simply convert the DVDs using handbrake or VisualHub (the big sister of iSquint).

[kebosma]

Ok, thanks Fryke! Are those two converters also freeware?

[fryke]

handbrake is - http://handbrake.m0k.org -; VisualHub isn't. I find VisualHub to be a great "one stop shop" for converting stuff for the AppleTV. HandBrake is simple, straight-forward, but only for DVDs, so you'd need iSquint in addition. Free: HandBrake + iSquint. One tool only, but at a price: VisualHub.

[themacguy]

MPEG Streamclip will also do conversions to MP4/H264. If your source content is MPEG2 you will need Apple's MPEG2 component.

[love mac]

Maybe you can have a try Flash to iPod Converter