Is the difference in PTE's H.264 and MP4 output?

[goddi]

Greetings,

I want to get a Blu-ray player that will play the PTE's created 'HD Video for PC and Mac',MP4 (H.264) video files. I see that the specs for the one I am looking at, the Samsung BDP-1600, says it will play the 'H.264' format. In the case of this output from PTE, should it play on a Blu-ray player that says it will play the H.264 format? Are this apples-to-apples format? Samsung says it will not play 'MP4s' and that MP4 and H.264 are not the same format. So I am confused.

Thanks... Gary

P.S. And is PTE's 'H.264' the same as 'H.264/AVC'?

[Lin Evans]

Hi Gary,

Why don't you consider the Sony Play Station 3? Several members use it to play HD MP4/h.264 - Ask Dominic (theDom), I think he has one.

Here's info on MP4 2.264

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/technologies/h264/

Lin

[AnKo]

Hi Gary,

I use the Western Digital HD TV which I bought last summer. It plays almost anything, is very small, portable, easy to connect with a external HDD or USB-stick and very cheap (< € 100,-). The WD HDTV is connected through HDMI to my LCD TV and analog to my stereo receiver

I use a 320 Mb WD My Passport HDD (usb) to put content on. Now I can look at HD content in many formats or normal DVD, Avi, Mpg, etc, and my photo's (jpg), listen to any music (mp3, wave, flac, etc), and watch my slideshows!!

This is one of the best investments I did this year. Take a look at their website: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=30.

Regards,

André

[goddi]

Greetings,

Well, today I went out and purchased a Blu-Ray player. It is a JVC XV-BP10 (Sams Club). I then created an 'HD Video for PC and Mac' MP4 file of one of my PTE shows. This Blu-Ray player states it plays MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 format discs. I burned my MP4 file onto a DVD disc. However, the Blu-Ray player does not play this MP4 file. So perhaps I have been misunderstanding something here. I was hoping the Blu-Ray player could play this format.

Even though the file is MP4, does the actual DVD disc have to be 'formatted' as H.264, not just merely having the MP4 file burned onto it? Is this right? I am disappointed that my Blu-Ray will not play PTE's H.264 MP4 show.

Is there a technical barrier to creating HD PTE MP4 shows that can play on a Blu-Ray player? The regular DVD's created in PTE play fine on the Blu-Ray but I was hoping to take advantage of the 'HD' output of PTE. Can this be a capability of PTE in the future or is this not possible?

Seens the WD HDTV device is the lesser expensive way to go for now.

Thanks... Gary

================================

Hi Gary,

I use the Western Digital HD TV which I bought last summer. It plays almost anything, is very small, portable, easy to connect with a external HDD or USB-stick and very cheap (< € 100,-). The WD HDTV is connected through HDMI to my LCD TV and analog to my stereo receiver

I use a 320 Mb WD My Passport HDD (usb) to put content on. Now I can look at HD content in many formats or normal DVD, Avi, Mpg, etc, and my photo's (jpg), listen to any music (mp3, wave, flac, etc), and watch my slideshows!!

This is one of the best investments I did this year. Take a look at their website: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=30.

Regards,

André

[Lin Evans]

Hi Gary,

What you have learned is that you can't just burn an MP4 to a DVD because DVD format is not HD. There is another step required.

To do what you want to do you must have some specialized software. There are several software packages which will burn an HD (MP4 h.264) to "standard" DVD format. I can't tell you all of them, but I do know that the Pinnacle Studio 12 software does this. You will need to ask Pinnacle "which" of their packages (ultimate, standard, etc.) will do this or whether all will. I believe some version of Nero also does this. Also, Roxio (Toast) seems to have some software to do this. Here's a link:

My link

What they do is format your "Standard" 4.7 gigabyte DVD media to BluRay format and use your PTE MP4 h.264 file to create a BluRay output on this standard media. Then to play this you need to use the BluRay player you have purchased.

Here's a link to Pinnacle:

http://www.pinnacles.../Studio+Family/

Best regards,

Lin

[potwnc]

Just to add to this, what Lin is describing is the procedure to create an AVCHD DVD. Check the specs for the Blu-ray player you bought to see if it supports the AVCHD format.

If you don't want to purchase additional software like Pinnacle Studio monitor www.giveawayoftheday.com. They often have this type of software for free (for non-commercial use).

[goddi]

Thanks Lin and Potwnc... I appreciate the information. I will be looking into it and see what happens. Yes, my Blu-Ray player does support the AVCHD format.

Super thanks... Gary

==============================================

Just to add to this, what Lin is describing is the procedure to create an AVCHD DVD. Check the specs for the Blu-ray player you bought to see if it supports the AVCHD format.

If you don't want to purchase additional software like Pinnacle Studio monitor www.giveawayoftheday.com. They often have this type of software for free (for non-commercial use).

[Picsel]

I use the Western Digital HD TV which I bought last summer. It plays almost anything, is very small, portable, easy to connect with a external HDD or USB-stick and very cheap (< € 100,-). The WD HDTV is connected through HDMI to my LCD TV and analog to my stereo receiver

André

I full agree with you André, up to now that is the most interesting, simplest and cheapest solution to read all video formats including H264 and H264AVC, no need of blu-ray burner, no need of blu-ray DVD, no need of blu-ray player, just connect one standard external HDD (USB2) and your TV set (HDMI) That's all. It reads all existing video HD format including DivX HD.

Daniel.

[Hawk]

André / Daniel

Very interesting about the WD TV, I had not heard of it until your post.

Can you advise us if it will play a PTE - Mp4 file

( Created as - HD Video for PC & Mac - Mp4 (H.264)

I think we can all agree that the quality of the PTE / Mp4 is outstanding.

If possible, TV playback in this format should be exceptional on a 16:9 HD LCD / Plasma.

[goddi]

Ralph...

I didn't get one yet but, just to let you know, there are 2 models. One is called "WDTV HD Media Player." The other one is a newer model called "WDTV Live Multimedia Player." An ad for the latter model states that it "includes LAN and New Software Features." I am also interested in the answer to your question.

Gary

====================

André / Daniel

Very interesting about the WD TV, I had not heard of it until your post.

Can you advise us if it will play a PTE - Mp4 file

( Created as - HD Video for PC & Mac - Mp4 (H.264)

I think we can all agree that the quality of the PTE / Mp4 is outstanding.

If possible, TV playback in this format should be exceptional on a 16:9 HD LCD / Plasma.

[AnKo]

Hi Ralph and Gary,

I can asure you that the quality of MP4's created with PtE is outstanding on the WD HDTV! I guess Daniel can confirm this.

As far as I know there are 3 kinds of WD HDTV's for sale today:

1. WD HDTC without DTS, without LAN: plays content through USB HDD or/and USB-sticks (is replaced by the nr 2, but still available)

2. WD HDTV with DTS without LAN: plays content through USB HDD or/and USB-sticks

3 .WD HDTV Live with DTS and LAN: plays content through USB HDD or/and USB-stick AND through LAN

The player does what it says: it plays all formats as dicribed on their website without a problem. It plays any copy of any DVD straight form the VIDEO-TS map but I prefer to create ISO's with DVD-Shrink which can be played also with the WD HDTV. Next to that it plays all HD formats and many others!

When I bought nr 1 the others were not for sale. I miss the DTS on my WD HDTV (nr 1) because not all video content is with AC3 audio. I do not miss the LAN, while I do have a server. As said before, I bought a 320 GB WD My Passport to playback my slideshows and movies. This combination is small and very easy to setup elswhere.

For playing my .flac music I use a Squeezebox connected to my Synology server. Great quality!! Playback music from a WD HDTV is not handy, because you have to switch on the TV on to select music.

There are many other mediaplayers on the market today. You might take a look at the others too.

Kind regards,

André

[Hawk]

André

I can asure you that the quality of MP4's created with PtE is outstanding on the WD HDTV! I guess Daniel can confirm this.

Good to hear !, and reasonably priced.

As I do not have a lap top this product seems to meet my needs.

We have a wide screen TV on our "Santa" list and I have widened the chimney for him.

Been "good" for the last few weeks also, so will keep our fingers crossed.

Appreciate you getting back to us.

[cgbraggjr]

I'm inclined to favor the Western Digital box, but for those who want to burn Blu-Ray discs, there are free software solutions out there.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-cd-dvd-burning-software.htm