Nook Color: Can't Play sideloaded m4v videos

[SCION]

I transferred a couple of videos (.m4v and .mp4) directly from my iTunes folder. No problem playing them. Files are on-board device not storage card.

[The Hillarican]

I also get horrible playback from a mp4 video file. Sound and video lag something fierce.

[exodus1999]

from: Baka no Kami

Messed around a little and finally found settings that work for making nookcolor compatible video. I used a converted called Handbrake which is available here: http://handbrake.fr/

If you need help using Handbrake check the user manual they have on the site.

Set the output container to "MP4"

On the video tab set the "video codec" to "MPEG-4 (FFmpeg)". Set the "Target Size" to something appropriate for the type of video. I find that 175MB for every 30minutes of video gives a good picture, so an hour long TV show would be 350MB a 2hr movie 700MB, etc.

On the audio tab highlight whatever is in the bottom box and hit the remove button. The audio turned out to be the problem the first couple of times I tried this, the audio on my original file had a sample rate of 48 and the NC wouldn't play it, when I lowered the sample rate suddenly the video worked. So, set the autotab like this:
Source: Automatic (or use the drop down to choose which audio track you want if the video has multiple)
Audio Codec: AAC (faac)
Mixdown: Stereo
Samplerate: 44.1
Bitrate: 128

Now hit the "Add" button.

The only thing left is to set the destination for the final file. Browse to whatever folder you want, but be sure to use .mp4 or .m4v as the file extension, if you use anything else the NC will not recognize it as a video file even if everything else is right.
Now hit the start button at the top and go read a book while you wait for Handbrake to process the video.

Other settings may also work for video, but so far this is the only thing that worked for me, so it's what I'm sticking with.

this worked for me!

[The Hillarican]

This needs to be a sticky! I tried the Handbrake conversion trick as well and it worked very well. Smooth playback with great audio.

Exodus1999 and Baka no Kami:
Thank you!!!!!

[mikipedia]

For what is worth I have used Freemake Video Converter and used settings SCION posted on page 1 and it worked flawlessly. Video footprint is a little on a big side, but it works very well. About 2 hour movie I have is about 1.2GB. I can give more info if needed.

[madsquabbles]

try rebooting if you get stuttering. all my mp4's play perfectly. the were encoded only at 320 by xxx and at 350kbps (quantity over quality). even a couple video streaming sites work fine.

[Noah98]

Originally Posted by exodus1999

from: Baka no Kami


this worked for me!

I agree that this should be a sticky! This worked great.

If you use dvdshrink (freeware) you can rip a dvd to your hard drive and then use Handbrake to convert.

[MobileTechReview]

I've played several videos I originally encoded for the iPhone and smartphones. I usually used Handbrake MPEG4 H.264 with stereo AAC audio 48Khz to encode my videos. Typically the videos are around 640 pixels wide. I haven't run into one that won't play well. The bitrates are typically 1,000 to 1,5000 kbit/s (pretty decent quality).

[Baka no Kami]

I found an old link for a program someone wrote to automate Handbrake. You pick two folders and put in some options, then any video placed in your source folder will be automatically converted to the settings you picked and placed in the destination folder. It also already includes Handbrake so you won't need to download that separately. I thought this may work a little easier for some.

http://lifehacker.com/5596384/dropfo...with-handbrake

Here's the settings for the "Handbrake Arguments" box that worked great for me on the nookcolor.

-f mp4 -e ffmpeg -b 1000 -a 1 -E faac --arate 44.1 -6 stereo

If you'd like to tweak these settings a little here's Handbrake's command line arguments guide: http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/CLIGuide

The only thing I haven't been able to do with Dropfolders or Handbrake is hardcode a .srt subtitle file onto a movie. I was able to add a .srt file into the mp4 container with Handbrake, and the video plays on the NC, but no subtitles.

[nyrath]

Originally Posted by exodus1999

Even this i get alot of lag,

Yes, SCION "Avatar" video clip is playing quite laggy on my Color nook as well. I tried rebooting (hold power for five seconds, release, hold power for two seconds, release) but there was no change. I'm storing the video clip in internal memory, I do not have a card for the Nook yet.

The sound seems to play just fine, the problem is the video. It stutters precisely, freezing at about quarter second intervals.

NO, sorry, it was not re-booting properly. I got the Nook to totally reboot, and now the video plays just fine. sorry for the false alarm

[raygeeknyc]

I used the "Classic" profile in Handbrake and it worked like a charm! There may be higher quality settings that would work, but I'm pretty tolerant as long as I can see what's happening

[nyrath]

My first video converted with Handbrake failed to play. Turned out it was the audio. 45 sample rate/160 bit rate is too high, has to be 44.1 sample rate/125 bit rate + stereo. That played just fine.

[nyrath]

Of course for a Japanese language Anime, you also have to turn on the English subtitles. Unless you speak Japanese.

[Tess89]

I use airvideo to convert all my video files. If you happen to have an ipod touch, iphone or ipad, you might want to use that app for mp4/m4v conversions. While you need one of those apple devices to request the conversion, the actual converted files will remain on the host computer. I have found this method to be so much more straightforward than handbrake.

[Lastblade]

I can't seem to get the video to work. I tried to convert various mkv videos using both Airvideo and Handbrake, following the directions posted above but the NC still won't open the file. Not sure why it is (I suspect it might be the audio track).