AVCHD specificaions in Encoder

Question

My Sony Bravia TV has an USB slot, and according to the manual, it can reproduce AVC, AVCHD and MPEG-2 videos.

Being so, I figured that encoding videos in EE4 to a mp4 output would make them watchable in my TV. I encoded one using the Apple TV preset, but my TV, though it recognized it, wouldn't play it. I realized the Apple TV preset used a Baseline profile for H.264, so I switched to H.2634 High Profile, but the video is still unplayable.

Are there any AVC specifications besides using high definition H.264 video (like bitrate or something)?

Answer 1

First, please note that even though they both can contain H.264 video data, AVCHD != MP4. AVCHD is a transport stream container with H.264 video and AC3 audio. MP4 is a program stream contrainer that can contain all sorts of content. Our MP4 files contains the more popular combination of H.264 video and AAC audio, but having AVCHD playback support doesn't mean you'll be able to play back MP4 files.

I think you go ahead, you will have to find what your TV exactly supports. Does it support the MP4 container? If it does, what subset of MP4/H.264 does it support? Note that Baseline is probably the most universal profile for H.264 to be played back on devices, so if Baseline doesn't work, I wouldn't expect High to either.

I'm going out on a limb here: since it's a Sony, maybe it would help to start with the MP4 PSP preset and see if it works. If it does, you could tweak the bitrate and frame size for your particular need.

Answer 2

Eric,

The manual says it can play back MP4 files, that's why I asked!

I did what you said, I used the Sony PSP profile, AND IT WORKED!

Resolution, of course, was terrible. What settings would you reccomend me to tweak so I can watch a 720p file in all it's glory?

PS: I guess 5.1 audio is out of question, beacuse of the ACC codec, but I'll live

Answer 3

Starting with the default PSP preset, I would change the frame size to 1280x720 and the bitrate to 5-6Mpbs, which should be adequate for most content. Tweak the bitrate as needed (more bitrate == larger file). The other encoding options will unfortunately have to be done with trial and error. Sony is the pickiest in terms of MP4 support on devices, as we learned the hard way when trying to support the PSP.

And yes, 5.1 is out, as it's not widely supported on AAC (most players don't support it).

Answer 4

I tweake both, and it worked fine on the TV. As for the rest, I really wouldn't know what to change, so I might as well just leave it like it is.

Maybe for the next update, the EE team could realease a Sony Bravia preset!

Thanks for your help...