#Converting .mkv files with Handbrake to .mp4 for iPod Classic usage?

14 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

violet fiber
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In a rather unfortunate series of events, I decided that I wanted to put the entire first season of Code Geass on my 7th gen iPod - awful decision. I've been using Handbrake to no avail. Every time I convert a file, it ends up in a .m4v format with no subtitles baked into the screen.

My questions are,

  1. Is it even possible to "bake" the subtitles into the .mp4 file? Rather than using a subtitle file, it's just embedded within the .mp4 itself as a part of the video.
  2. Will importing a 320 x 180 video work through iTunes and onto my iPod?
  3. Are there any caveats I should know when using Handbrake for stuff like this? Specific settings, version, etc?

Any help is appreciated, thank you.

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fierce tangle
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  1. Baking subtitles in the image frames is called "Burn In" in handbrake. Take the size of the font into consideration, as the resolution on iPod is rather small.
  2. Yes, if the encoding is well preapred - ipods (especially classic) are very picky.
  3. This is a minefield 🙂 You can look for presets online, guides and so on - but always you will run into some small quirks and issues.
    I tried to encode my firstmusic video clip for 10 times before I managed to get full screen and acceptable quality (the title was "Money for nothing"...
violet fiber
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Thank you!

violet fiber
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I tried using the "Burn In" setting, but it didn't take my subtitles kindly and the output has nothing. Should I check the "Default" box?

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the quality downgrade is obviously fine, but zero subtitles :(

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nevermind, figured it out!

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nevermind, didnt work

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fierce tangle
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Nice you solved the subtitles part!
The "cannot be played" message is what I call the minefield.
Here is description for VLC:
https://wiki.videolan.org/IPod_Video_Conversion_Guide/
Some HB discussion:
https://www.reddit.com/r/handbrake/comments/ossdhe/custom_preset_for_ipod_classic_movie_conversions/
There might be also different max bitrate for classic 5 and 7 - as the newer one can be just faster.

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violet fiber
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I figured it out - turns out I had to use iTunes and use their own convertor to make it work on the iPod. From there, I changed all the stuff from "Home Video" to "TV Show" and gave them all the metadata they want. Thanks for your help!

pearl badge
violet fiber
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Glad I could help, I had a feeling that someone else might find this helpful

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My files aren’t actually mp4, they’re m4vs

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If you wanna go a bit further, once you have everything converted (before you put them on the iPod) you can change the shows from “Home Videos” to “TV shows” and then give each episode its metadata. One thing to keep in mind is that the tv show section will STILL sort alphabetically, so you can add a “Sort By” name that’ll be hidden but will take priority over the actual episode name

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I went through to each episode and did A1, A2, … B1, … C6 which ended up working well