Nook Color: Can't Play sideloaded m4v videos

[ozzman]

I dont see a my files is it suposed to be in extras with the music

[SCION]

No, it's in your Library. My Files (top of screen) / Videos

[ozzman]

found it sory i am too new to this stuf

[SCION]

Originally Posted by ozzman

found it sory i am too new to this stuf

No reason to apologize. I don't mind explaining something further.

[ozzman]

Just to let everybody know I used dvd fab to convert the video and it works great. it will go from dvd or file to mobile. It is a pretty good program

[Mitzasuro]

I use dvd fab also. it is a really good program

[KryptoNyte]

How long can you use that application before you have to start giving them some serious cash?

[iandix]

For those linux uses out there. I use this small ruby script called mp4ize. If you use the option "mp4ize --iphone blah.avi" it will convert it to a mp4 file that plays very well on the nookcolor.

those new to linux to do a batch just do "mp4ize --iphone *.avi"

I think it would be easy to write a short script that will automatically upload the mp4 file to your nookcolor when complete.

#Copyright (C) 2007-2010 Thomer M. Gil [http://thomer.com/]
#
# Thanks to Brian Moore, Justin Payne, Matt Spitz, Martyn Parker,
# Jean-Francois Macaud, Thomas Hannigan, Anisse Astier, Juanma Hernández,
# Trung Huynh, and Mark Ryan for bugfixes and suggestions.
#
# Oct. 14, 2008: show percentage progress. add -t and -w flags.
# Jan. 11, 2009: switch to bit/s bitrates for newer ffmpeg versions.
#                add --iphone option.
#                add -y option to ffmpeg (overwrite).
# Jan. 20, 2009: don't exit early when processing multiple files.
# Feb. 17, 2009: deal with "Invalid pixel aspect ratio" error.
# Apr.  1, 2009: new --outdir parameter.
# May  22, 2009: handle filenames with quotes and whitespace.
# Oct   6, 2009: fix bug where we forget to read stderr
# Nov.  5, 2009: fix -v, -t, and -w command line options
#                removed bogus 'here' debug statement
# Oct. 27, 2010: assume ffmpeg 0.6: use libxvid and libfaac by default,
#                add "k" to -bufsize, -ab, and -b parameters.
#
# This program is free software. You may distribute it under the terms of
# the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
# Foundation, version 2.
#
# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
# WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General
# Public License for more details.
#
# This program converts video files to mp4, suitable to be played on an iPod
# or an iPhone. It is careful about maintaining the proper aspect ratio.
#

require 'getoptlong'
require 'open3'

DEFAULT_ARGS = "-f mp4 -y -vcodec libxvid -maxrate 1000 -mbd 2 -qmin 3 -qmax 5 -g 300 -acodec libfaac"
DEFAULT_BUFSIZE = "4096k"
DEFAULT_AUDIO_BITRATE = "128k"
DEFAULT_VIDEO_BITRATE = "400k"
IPOD_WIDTH = 320.0
IPOD_HEIGHT = 240.0
IPHONE_WIDTH = 480.0
IPHONE_HEIGHT = 320.0

$options = {}
opts = GetoptLong.new(*[
  [ "--audio", "-a", GetoptLong::REQUIRED_ARGUMENT ],  # audio bitrate
  [ "--help", "-h", GetoptLong::NO_ARGUMENT ],         # help
  [ "--video", "-b", GetoptLong::REQUIRED_ARGUMENT ],  # video bitrate
  [ "--verbose", "-v", GetoptLong::NO_ARGUMENT ],      # verbose
  [ "--width", "-w", GetoptLong::REQUIRED_ARGUMENT ],  # override width
  [ "--height", "-t", GetoptLong::REQUIRED_ARGUMENT ], # override height
  [ "--iphone", "-i", GetoptLong::NO_ARGUMENT ],       # set width/height
  [ "--outdir", "-o", GetoptLong::REQUIRED_ARGUMENT ], # dir where to write files
])
opts.each { |opt, arg| $options[opt] = arg }

if $options['--help']
  puts <<EOF
mp4ize - encode videos to mp4 for an iPod or an iPhone

Usage: mp4ize file1.avi [file2.mpg [file3.asf [...]]]


Options:

  -h/--help          : this help
  -v/--verbose       : verbose

  -a/--audio RATE    : override default audio bitrate (#{DEFAULT_AUDIO_BITRATE})
  -b/--video RATE    : override default video bitrate (#{DEFAULT_VIDEO_BITRATE})

  -w/--width WIDTH   : over default width (#{IPOD_WIDTH.to_i})
  -t/--height HEIGHT : over default height (#{IPOD_HEIGHT.to_i})
  -i/--iphone        : same as --width #{IPHONE_WIDTH.to_i} --height #{IPHONE_HEIGHT.to_i}

  -o/--outdir O      : write files to given directory
EOF
  exit
end

# --iphone sets --width and --height
if $options['--iphone']
  if $options['--width'] || $options['--height']
    warn "You can't use --iphone with --width or --height."
    exit 1
  else
    $options['--width'] = $options['-w'] = IPHONE_WIDTH
    $options['--height'] = $options['-t'] = IPHONE_HEIGHT
  end
end

audio_bitrate = $options['--audio'] || DEFAULT_AUDIO_BITRATE
video_bitrate = $options['--video'] || DEFAULT_VIDEO_BITRATE

ARGV.each do |infile|
  outfile = infile.dup
  ext = File.extname(outfile)
  outfile.sub!(/#{ext}$/, '.mp4')
  if $options['--outdir']
    if !File.directory?($options['--outdir'])
      warn "#{$options['--outdir']} does not exist or is not a directory. exiting."
      exit 1
    end
    outfile = File.join($options['--outdir'], File.basename(outfile))
  end

  # open the file to figure out the aspect ratio
  duration, w, h = 0.0, nil, nil
  Open3.popen3("/usr/bin/ffmpeg", "-i", infile) do |stdin, stdout, stderr|
    [stdout, stderr].each do |io|
      io.each_line do |line|
        if line.match(/Video:.+ (\d+)x(\d+)/)
          w, h = $1.to_f, $2.to_f
        elsif line.match(/Duration:\s+(\d+):(\d+):(\d+)\.(\d+)/)
          duration += $1.to_f * 3600
          duration += $2.to_f * 60
          duration += $3.to_f
          duration += $4.to_f / 10
        end
      end
    end
  end

  begin
    aspect = w/h
  rescue
    puts "Couldn't figure out aspect ratio."
    exit
  end

  user_width = $options['--width'] ? $options['--width'].to_i : IPOD_WIDTH
  user_height = $options['--height'] ? $options['--height'].to_i : IPOD_HEIGHT

  width = user_width.to_i
  height = (width / aspect.to_f).to_i
  height -= (height % 2)
  pad = ((user_height - height.to_f) / 2.0).to_i
  pad -= (pad % 2)
  padarg1, padarg2 = "padtop", "padbottom"

  # recalculate using the height as the baseline rather than the width
  if pad < 0
    height = user_height.to_i
    width = (height * aspect.to_f).to_i
    width -= (width % 2)
    pad = ((user_width - width.to_f)/2.0).to_i
    pad -= (pad % 2)
    padarg1, padarg2 = "padleft", "padright"
  end

  File.unlink(outfile) if File.exists?(outfile)

  # use %infile% and %outfile% and replace those after the split() so that we
  # don't split() a filename that has spaces in it.
  cmd = "/usr/bin/ffmpeg -i %infile% #{DEFAULT_ARGS} -bufsize #{DEFAULT_BUFSIZE} -s #{width}x#{height} -#{padarg1} #{pad} -#{padarg2} #{pad} -ab #{audio_bitrate} -b #{video_bitrate} %outfile%"
  puts cmd if $options['--verbose']

  # We could just call "system cmd" here, but we want the exit code of mp4ize
  # to tell us whether the duration of the generated mp4 equals the duration
  # of the original movie.  Exits with a non-zero code if the two are not
  # within 1% of each other.

  time = 0
  STDOUT.sync = true

  # modify -ab and -b arguments to kbit if necessary
  catch(:done) do
    3.times do
      catch(:retry) do
        # split arguments, set %infile% and %outfile%
        cmd_array = cmd.split(/\s+/)
        cmd_array.collect! {|s| s.sub(/^%infile%$/, infile)}
        cmd_array.collect! {|s| s.sub(/^%outfile%$/, outfile)}

        puts "\n\n------------------------------------" if $options['--verbose']
        puts "cmdline: #{cmd_array.join(' ')}" if $options['--verbose']

        Open3.popen3(*cmd_array) do |stdin, stdout, stderr|
          io = select([stdout, stderr], nil, nil, 10)
          2.times do |std| # both stdout and stderr
            next if io[0][std].nil?
            io[0][std].each_line("\r") do |line|
              puts "the line is #{line}"
              printf("\r%.2f%% | ", time / duration * 100.0)
              print line
              if line.match(/Invalid pixel aspect ratio/)
                cmd.sub!("-s #{width}x#{height}", "-s #{width}x#{height} -aspect #{aspect}")
                throw :retry
              elsif line.match(/time=([^\s]+)/)
                time = $1.to_f
              end
            end
          end
        end
        throw :done
      end
    end
  end

  # return completeness of mp4 file
  puts "expected duration: #{duration}" if $options['--verbose']
  puts "encoded duration: #{time}" if $options['--verbose']
  if ARGV.size == 1
    exit((time <= duration * 1.01) && (time >= duration * 0.99))
  end
end

[mojonba]

KryptoNyte,

Can you create a Handbrake preset ala iPod/Ipad for the Nook Color with your recommended settings?

[KryptoNyte]

I would love to Mojonba, but unfortunately the version of Handbrake that I'm using (along with most other versions) doesn't actually save all the settings, so you end up dialing a good number of the settings in manually anyways.

I thought I had another solution, where you basically drag and drop video files/DVD directories onto a batch file, but unfortunately, the developer quit working on it.. The application that I'm speaking about works darn near perfect for this task, and the Nook Color community would benefit from it greatly as it makes video conversion a no-brainer. It actually uses the Handbrake CLI (command line interface), but right at the moment, it won't allow the user to get a return status on how the encoding is going, which means you would have no idea how much time it's going to take to finish a video.

It's really unfortunate, because there was a substancial amount of genius in the way this gent had configured it. Oh well.

[KryptoNyte]

Above Post Edited - I was able to contact the developer, and he may have an opportunity to get this software up and running.

[mojonba]

Kryptonite,

Someone over at XDA Developers posted a preset with settings very similar to yours. You might want to check it out. I tried the preset using nightly svn 3705 (couldnot find svn3707 you are using) and the nook couldnt play it. Using 0.9.4 worked perfectly.

[KryptoNyte]

Well, that's great that 0.9.4 worked! Even with 0.9.4 I've had trouble when I select the various profiles - it seems like sometimes it will pull all the profile settings, and sometimes it won't, one of the most important things being the selection of the Audio track and the misc. audio settings.

Although I haven't tried this, it's my understanding that some video players allow for Subtitles, which may also work on the NC, and might be nice if you were in a very quiet or very loud area, and didn't have your headphones.

My hopes are that the gent I mentioned above will be able to include some kind of audio gain, which is badly needed when encoding videos for the NC. He has automated nearly every other thing, just really great stuff.

[swallman]

Krypto,

I did some looking myself for a way to increase the gain and came across this. You need to download the FFMPEG libraries and also Wavegain, but then you can run a script something like this.

Basically the first step pulls out the video stream from the MP4 file. The second step pulls out the audio file into WAV format. Then run it through Wavegain (there are more options available). Finally put all the files back together.

I've only tried it once so far and it only added about 5db with the default Wavegain settings so I need to play with it some more.

ffmpeg -i myfile.mp4 -an -vcodec copy -y video1.mp4
ffmpeg -i myfile.mp4 -vn -y audio1.wav
wavegain -r -n -y audio1.wav
ffmpeg -i video1.mp4 -i audio1.wav -vcodec copy -acodec aac -ab 128 -y ouput.mp4

[KryptoNyte]

The bigest problem I'm finding right now is actually finding a piece of software that is just simply increasing the audio gain across the board. Just about everything I find is actually doing normalization determination, similar to the setting already available in Handbrake.