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September 27, 2010 04:53 PM

Categories: Pogoplug Classic

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TrinaLC

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Joined: 09/13/2010

I remain uncertain about what actually needs to be transcoded.  [Note to Pogoplug, clarity/FAQs would be helpful; the confusion is evident from all the questions on the forum.]

I used handbrake to convert DVDs to mp4.

I would like to watch them on my iPhone.  Right now, they show up as 10 sec clips unless transcode them via pogoplug media settings.

But I have read some posts that suggest you do not need to transcode MP4 files, just somehow turn off the transcoding feature.   I'm reluctant to try that lest I lose the files that have already been transcoded.

Can anyone answer whether mp4s need transcoding to be viewed on an iPhone/iPad?  And if they don't need transcoded, how can I view the full video rather than the 10 sec clip?

Discussion:    Add a Comment | Comments 1-9 of 9 | Latest Comment

Generic Member Avatar
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  • member since: 09/28/2010
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September 28, 2010 10:22 AM

I found that the app pogoplug hd did as you say ie 10 secs only but the original app works OK.

Peter Redmer Avatar
Editor
September 28, 2010 12:40 PM

Have you also turned off transcoding in the Pogoplug app?

Settings => Media Settings => Media Processing Options

Set "Allow Pogoplug to optimize videos for playback:" to "Never"

I believe you have to do this in order for your pre-transcoded videos to work properly. You are using the correct format.

Peter Redmer
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Generic Member Avatar
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September 28, 2010 3:06 PM

Peter, thanks so much, that did the trick! I thought I was facing literally months and months of further transcoding.

I really, really wish the pogoplug folks would address all of the video streaming related questions in a FAQ.

(To anyone else who reads this thread, you don't need .mp4 with H264 format selected; I used DVD2iTunes which didn't have that option, just a "plain vanilla" mp4 option.)

Peter Redmer Avatar
Editor
September 28, 2010 3:58 PM

Hi Trina, glad that worked for you. I'm looking at putting together an FAQ for the site that aggregates transcoding info from several threads and user experiences - once it's posted it will be open to comments and suggestions and will "evolve" much like the regular FAQ.

Peter Redmer
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Generic Member Avatar
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  • member since: 09/28/2010
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September 29, 2010 4:10 AM

Despite Setting "Allow Pogoplug to optimize videos for playback:" to "Never" I still had the 10 sec problem with some files. I unplugged the drive, connected to mac, changed file names, reconnected to pogo. I now saw duplicated files. ie with both old and new names. double checked "never" setting. The renamed files now work. This suggest the 10 sec clip is stored and once it gets stuck at 10 secs will not always clear itself.

Alex Avatar
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September 29, 2010 7:09 AM

Ahh! That must be what is wrong with two of my movies!
I was doing trial and error to determine what is better; m4v, mp4, high quality, low quality, etc. And a few of my early attempts failed to work, but doing the same thing later worked.

The difference? I kept replacing the same named filed with a new one -- i.e. copying over a failed version with a new one. Later I gave them new names like -1.mp4, -2.mp4 etc.


So, a question:
I have a PPC Mac and a NTFS drive attached to my PogoPlug -- this means that I cannot do drive maintenance with my computer.
If I were to delete everything on the drive using the PogoPlug, would that "reset" the '.ce*' caches and setting? (A common technique for fixing/reseting is to connect the drive to a computer and delete or cleanup up the hidden '.ce*' directories/files which I cannot do from my Mac).

Generic Member Avatar
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September 29, 2010 7:51 AM

Alex, what did you conclude as the best setting? (And for playback on what device?)

Alex Avatar
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September 29, 2010 8:02 AM

I don't remember exactly. It was early on and I was just learning the PogoPlugs capabilities. I don't really need video hosting.

I have an ElGato Turbo.264 and am pretty sure that I learned that using any iPod output encoding resulting in no PogoPlug side transcoding needed.

I think (this is real a iffy memory) that I also found that transcoding from Toast also resulted in no PogoPlug side transcoding.

I just looked at that folder and I have both mp4 and m4v copies of all of the movies (none transcoded) and they all played -- except for the two that I described in the previous post that I think have bad cache entries.

Generic Member Avatar
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September 29, 2010 9:43 AM

Is there really much difference between mp4 and m4v encoding I wonder. I changed a filename from mp4 to mv4 and it worked as before. Both Quicktime and pogoplug recognised it and played it. I did notice that if pogoplug re-encoded an m4v the quality was reduced. (that is not to say an mp4 would not be similarly affected, I have not checked)

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