What exactly is transcoding?

[Chris-Boston]

Hi,

I'm looking to dive into ReadyNAS and get all of my pictures and music somewhere central so they're shared across all of my devices. As a bonus, and something I don't do today, I'd also like to rip a decent sized DVD collection onto it so that I can watch the movies on our different devices (iOS, Android, SmartHUB/DLNA, etc) easily. It sounds in some threads like I need a device powerful enough to transcode the videos (ReadyNAS Pro 6) but in others it seems like it can be done on any of the devices.

Could someone help clarify in what situations I would need to transcode video?

Thanks,
Chris

[HERBIEO]

Transcoding is the direct digital-to-digital data conversion of one encoding to another such as movie files or audio files. This is usually done in cases where a target device does not support the format or has limited storage capacity that mandates a reduced file size.

[Chris-Boston]

Transcoding is the direct digital-to-digital data conversion of one encoding to another such as movie files or audio files. This is usually done in cases where a target device does not support the format or has limited storage capacity that mandates a reduced file size.

I assume I'm fine with music, since they're just MP3s and everything under the sun supports MP3s... how big of a deal is this with video these days? My target devices are mostly Android (Honeycomb and above), and iPhone 4's+, iPad 2+ type devices. I also have an xbox 360 that would be an added benefit, but probably not a deal killer if it didn't work.

[StephenB]

It's a bigger deal for video. Most portable devices support AVC (H.264)'s constrained baseline profile, and many also support H.263/mpeg 4 ("xvid")

However, there are a lot of non-compliant H.264 MKVs floating around. And a lot of other codecs (DV, Motion JPG, VC1, VP8, Theora in use ). Also, these files might also need audio transcoding (for instance ogg is not supported on many mobile devices).

However, you don't necessarily have to use real-time transcoding. Another option is to convert your media offline into something your devices can play.

[Chris-Boston]

However, there are a lot of non-compliant H.264 MKVs floating around.

I'd be ripping my own DVDs, so I suspect I'm not worried about things that are "floating around" since I'd be able to control the format I suspect (but I'm new to this...)

However, you don't necessarily have to use real-time transcoding. Another option is to convert your media offline into something your devices can play.

Thank you - this line helps clarify a ton for me. It sounds like so long as I rip into a format that the players support, I'd be fine. This wasn't the way my mind was working - I was thinking that some devices just weren't going to stream, but I guess that's not really the case.

[StephenB]

It sounds like so long as I rip into a format that the players support, I'd be fine.

Yes. An MP4 container with AVC video and AAC LC audio should play on your iPAD just fine (and also on your Android devices). The other aspect is to choose a file size / bit rate which fits your NAS and network, as well as giving you reasonable quality. You likely will need to experiment a bit with the first couple of DVDs, but once you find a working recipe it will become routine.

[Chris-Boston]

It sounds like so long as I rip into a format that the players support, I'd be fine.

Yes. An MP4 container with AVC video and AAC LC audio should play on your iPAD just fine (and also on your Android devices). The other aspect is to choose a file size / bit rate which fits your NAS and network, as well as giving you reasonable quality. You likely will need to experiment a bit with the first couple of DVDs, but once you find a working recipe it will become routine.

So I'm all ready to place my order for the Pro 2 and I see Amazon's running a deal that brought down the price $30 on this one, and $50 on the Pro 4. I start to compare features and the Pro 4 starts looking pretty good, and I wouldn't mind being able to easily throw in a 3rd drive in a few years when my mirrored 2 TBs start to get cramped. So I decide on the Pro 4 and swap that out in my cart. Then Amazon throws a free financing offer up for my AMZ card and I start thinking it's just a couple hundred more to move from 4 to 6 and I can pay it off over 12 months. Damn you Amazon!



So I made the purchase. I'd say it was a rash decision, but I actually started with the Pro 6 at the beginning of June and talked myself down to the 2 when thinking about what I needed. I only started to talk myself back "up" to the higher end ones when I thought about transcoding video, but then your posts sent me back to to the Pro 2/4.

So I guess in two days I'll be the (hopefully) proud owner of the Pro 6.

Anything anyone would do differently if they had to start over? Common mistakes made during setup that I should avoid ?

Thanks seriously though --- your advice was a huge push towards the ReadyNAS over the two competitors I was considering, and it was *almost* good enough to make me buy the Pro 2 or 4.

[readysecure1985]

I would suggest putting in a single drive, update it to current firmware, then add the rest of your drives and do a factory default. That will allow you to have as much expansion room as possible. Also make sure you have a backup option for your data to ensure you never loose it.

[HERBIEO]

If you are looking for a very good program for encoding to mp4 try handbrake, its free and all'ready as a lot of built in profiles
ipod, iphone & ipod touch, iphone4, ipad, apple tv, apple tv2 and a few others.
Download here > http://handbrake.fr/

And another good free program with a huge amount of built in profiles is Super.
Download here > http://www.erightsoft.com/home.html

And Mediacoder again free and easy to use it as a wizard to take you through the settings for your converted video
Download here > http://www.mediacoderhq.com/

[PapaBear]

Handbrake does a good job of encoding to .mp4, it's default is .m4v which is on the i devices. The few times I have forgotten to change it, I simply changed the extension and never had a problem. Some one more versed in all the video formats could probably tell what difference there is if any. I use .mp4 because it play nicely in Media Player.

[Chris-Boston]

Thank you both for your suggestions!

[HERBIEO]

Handbrake does a good job of encoding to .mp4, it's default is .m4v which is on the i devices. The few times I have forgotten to change it, I simply changed the extension and never had a problem. Some one more versed in all the video formats could probably tell what difference there is if any. I use .mp4 because it play nicely in Media Player.

Read this wiki Papabear this answers your question about mp4 and m4v
https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/Containers

I like handbrake i use it for all my mkv video's.

[StephenB]

The few times I have forgotten to change it, I simply changed the extension and never had a problem. Some one more versed in all the video formats could probably tell what difference there is if any. I use .mp4 because it play nicely in Media Player.

Apple uses m4a, m4p, mp4, and m4v as its extension for mp4.

Normally m4a is DRM-free, and m4p is not. Both are audio-only. Apple usually likes m4v for video (whether it has DRM or not). All of these (mp4, m4v, m4a, m4p) use the standard container format MP4 which is defined by MPEG/ISO.
BTW, most MP4 video players cannot deal with AC3 ("Dolby digital") in an MP4 container - this is an extension that Apple uses. So with Handbrake you need to be careful if you specify that audio.

MKV is totally different from MP4, and is not a true standard at all. It is based on an open source, but there is no standards body managing the specification. There are a lot of MKV files out there though, it is particularly popular for BluRay rips. AVCHD and MP4 might replace it over time, we will have to see.

[Chris-Boston]

Really appreciate all the great information in this thread - well above and beyond anything I was looking for and I think it's going to be really helpful for a lot of people coming across it.