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[StarBand Guy]

Trying to be clever, I converted my VOB files to MPEG-4 via Nero Digital, but I can't get MC to play them either.  Am I missing something or is my installation broken or something?

[StarBand Guy]

OK, so MC 11 won't play MPEG-4 video, right?

My next option was to play them with an external (to MC) software player tied to an on screen button in Theater View, but my menu customization on Theater View doesn't seem to want to let me run a program.  It does web pages OK.  Is this broken?

[jgreen]

Starband--
I tried the same thing, even before MC.  I took a Nero mp4 into quicktime and it said it was a non-standard format.  MC counldn't handle it either.  If I recall, zoom player was the only thing that could.  The problem was Nero.  Shame, because that's a very elegant way to go.

[Alex B]

MC uses QuickTime engine for MP4 files. If QT doesn't work then the same goes with MC. You may want to search Internet for this matter. I think the digital video related forums have a lot of discussion about QT/Nero/MP4. Apple is going to release a new Windows version of QT in the near future. That may change the situation.

I have converted some of my DVDs to more established DivX Video + DD Audio format (in AVI container). MC has no problems with them if the needed DirectDraw filters are installed to the operating system.

I have also tried some videos packed in Matroska (MKV) containers and basic playback seems to work. Matroska can contain chapter information, metadata tagging and subtitles, but I have not tried them. I suppose that using those functions is not possible without a new interface inside MC. The Matroska container format is very promising because the users are not limited to certain codecs and it is an open standard.

These things are certainly something to think about for the next MC version.

[bbrip]

Quicktime 7 (now avail as public preview on www.quicktime.com) does support MP4 and it also plays mp4 files encoded with the Nero codecs but my early trials show that the quality is absolutely lousy. Not comparable to playing these files with zplayer or Nero's own Showtime player.

To give credit to Apple, Quicktime 7 it is still in preview, not a release version but it looks as if they have some more work to do to make it really work with Nero

BB

[bbrip]

Did some more testing. Quicktime 7 DOES NOT support the Nero AVC codec, it only works with the "simple" mp4 compression codec.

One more reason for the JRiver team to consider support for zplayer - which is open source and therefore much better than any Apple or Micorosft solution in any case!!

Thanks

B

[Mr ChriZ]

One more reason for the JRiver team to consider support for zplayer - which is open source and therefore much better than any Apple or Micorosft solution in any case!!

Media Centers Closed source, does this mean it's not as good as some of the Open Alternatives?
Didn't think so....
Closed/Open -  the products still only as good as what the development team that put into it.
Hence the number of crap open projects out there  is about equal to the number of bad closed projects, and sadly in both cases is about 80% of whats out there 
JRiver in my opinion is exceptional regardless.
MS could learn a thing or too... but to be fair they've got a very big picture to paint.
 

[Cindy_B]

I been waiting to see what the outcome is regarding Nero's mpg4 on MC prior to purchasing Nero myself.

I found this bb on the internet.   Hope this helps!!   


http://www.experts-exchange.com/Applications/MultiMedia_Applications/Q_20935087.html


Did these guys find the solution?   

-Cindy.

[Pegase64]

I been waiting to see what the outcome is regarding Nero's mpg4 on MC prior to purchasing Nero myself.

I found this bb on the internet. Hope this helps!!


http://www.experts-exchange.com/Applications/MultiMedia_Applications/Q_20935087.html


Did these guys find the solution?

-Cindy.

It's a solution for playing .mp4 in Windows Media Player.

But the real problem with Media center is affectation of .mp4 to Quicktime Player 

Just a reminder : .mp4 is not quicktime property ! ... and implementation of mpeg4 AVC/H264 in Quicktime 7 is just a joke ! restricted far under Baseline profile.

So, Nero implementation of mpeg4 AVC/H264 which is correct is not playable by Quicktime.

And now the question : can anybody in Media Center team remove .mp4 association to Quicktime (quicktime is only .mov and .qt) ?

Friendly

Pegase64

[darichman]

And now the question : can anybody in Media Center team remove .mp4 association to Quicktime (quicktime is only .mov and .qt) ?

I'll second that wholeheartedly...

[bbrip]

Yes, Apple mp4 is a true joke compared to Nero. I had suggested before that MC supports zplayer rather than Quicktime. zplayer is open source and supports just any format and does so quite perfectly.

I now use MC11 only for music and separatley zplayer to view my NeroDigital mp4 encoded Videos.

Would be great to have everything in MC eventually. At least, this is called MediaCenter, so it should cope with all media and not leave a format out that is (according to Nero) used by almost 180 million people these days and is increasingly also included in a lot of new DVD players coming to the market.

MC guys, this must be one of the first things to get going on the next upgrade.

B