Samsung HD TVs that play PTE's MP4 files...

[fh1805]

Dave,

I, too, have created H264 MPEG4 videos out of PTE. Like you, I have played them on the TV via a USB memory stick. What is the slight loss of quality that you see? How does it manifest itself? And how far away from the TV set are you sitting when you see this problem?

regards,

Peter

[davegee]

It's very hard to define Peter and I have not compared the same show via Laptop/EXE/HDMI and MPEG4/USB for quite a while now. The "lead-less" advantage of the MPEG4 is the deciding factor.

From memory I'd have to say that I noticed a VERY slight difference in the images themselves - a "grittiness" that is not there in the Laptop/EXE/HDMI version.

There is the potential for differences in that one method depends on the quality of the Media Player in the TV and the other method depends on the quality of the Graphics Card being used in the Laptop. My Laptop has an nVidia 8400 GT GPU with 256Mb of RAM.

In this instance I don't think that it's a case of USB versus HDMI - I think that HDMI is faster but the differences that I THINK I see are to do with image quality and not motion smoothness.

Viewing distance is around 8-10 feet for a 32 inch screen - same for both.

I will repeat what I have said before - it is VERY slight but if I wanted to display at what I consider to be the VERY best quality I would go for EXE/Laptop/HDMI to be on the safe side.

What are your settings for making the H.264 MPEG4 Video?

DG

[fh1805]

I simply choose which ever of the Presets is appropriate for the aspect ratio and image size used when the sequence was built (all recent sequences are built to 1920x1080 but older ones were built to 1024x768). Most of the time I take the Medium quality option (rather than either Low or High). I've never been dissatisfied with any of the videos when watching them on my Samsung 37" TV; but then again I know my eyesight isn't as perfect as it was.

regards,

Peter

[davegee]

Peter,

If you have the time try the settings I listed here:

I have varied the fps and have not seen any differences.

DG

[RobertAlbright]

Hi Dave

Just catching up with the Forum. I've seen your later correspondence with Peter which all makes sense to me. Incidentally, I watch at home on a 52" Panasonic and, when projected, on very large screens, so image quality is vital. The goal is that in future productions, there will be no quality drop-off when moving from stills to video and vice versa.

When I shoot at H.264 video, I import this content (Stage 1) into my editing progamme. The edited version is exported into PTE (Stage 2), mixed with music, sound effects and voiceover and finally (Stage 3) exported from PTE as an .exe file. My current editing programme gives me the option at Stage 2 to export as H.264 or as MPEG 4 Native. It is the H.264 exports which seem to cause the trouble.

Going back to your previous note, I'm not sure I understand the comment: 'I am not importing H.264 video into PTE and exporting as H.264 MPEG4. What I have been talking about is exporting normal PTE Projects as H.264 MPEG4'. By ‘normal PTE projects’, do you mean stills + animation projects that don’t incorporate HD video? Do you not intend to incorporate HD video into your future projects? (I know lots of AV producers who said they would never go digital!)

Robert

[davegee]

Not at all Robert - Never say Never!

It's just that my D700 will not shoot movie and I can't see myself getting a movie capable DSLR any time soon.

I have tried video from a variety of sources just to keep abreast of what is going on and a possibility some time in the future would be a compact camera with HD facility.

Right now I'm very happy with the D700.

DG

[fh1805]

Do you not intend to incorporate HD video into your future projects? (I know lots of AV producers who said they would never go digital!)

Robert,

I'm in the same boat as Dave. My Nikon D70 does not shoot video and I don't see myself buying a camera that does in the foreseeable future.

regards,

Peter

[RobertAlbright]

Hi Both

I can't wait for the day when you both take up video. I must admit it's hellishly difficult to pull it off with a DSLR. I have a special viewer attached to the back of the camera to be able to focus accurately; oh, and a special muffler attached to the camera microphone to reduce wind noise. It really needs a separate microphone or, even better, someone else to hold the microphone! I'm also using a tripod again which was virtually redundant with the amazing capabilities of modern DSLR's allowing handheld in almost any light; and the tripod head needs replacing with one to allow smooth tracking. Come to think of it, you may be right Dave to avoid the whole darned thing !

[goddi]

Though MP4 is listed as Samsung TV supported video format on Samsung official website, Samsung TVs are particular about what audio and video codec inside in the MP4 video container. Samsung TV only supports playing MP4 in H.264/MPEG-4 AVC video codec and AAC audio codec. Samsung TV MP4 issues are also affected by MP4 video resolution, frame rate, bitrates and etc.

To successfully play all kinds of MP4 on Samsung TV whatever via USB drive or via DLNA server like Plex, Serviio, Twonky, and etc, a recommended solution is to convert Samsung TV unsupported MP4 to Samsung TV more supported video format.

Resources: http://www.idealshare.net/video-converter/samsung-tv-play-mp4.html

Yes, it is a 'free download' but it is really just a trial version. It costs $29.95. I played around with it a bit but it only will output about 1 minute of video in the trial version. I have been using Freemake Video Converter (free) and I have never had a problem with its outputs not working with my Samsung. It does have a couple interesting effects. I was hoping the 'Split by Chapters' would let me 'slice' a long video into chapters but it seems it will split a video only if chapter markers have already been embedded in the video.

Interesting.... Gary