Zune's transcoding feature - 'splained!
Zuneinsider (Cesar) tells me that there have been some questions about transcoding in Zune. Here's the scoop.
Zune's software on the PC can play lots of formats and codecs. WMV, h.264, aac, wav, etc... And lots of sizes of video - 320x240, 640x480, even HD.
The Zune device, of course, can't play all of these - it's got a 320x240 screen and a less powerful CPU than your PC. So if you've got your beautiful 720x480 copy of Animal House on your PC, something has to change before it gets to the device.
Zune transcoding automatically takes care of this. When you go to sync the movie, The PC client checks your Zune, and Zune reports it can't play the video as-is. The Zune Software then transcodes (converts) the video into a copy in the device's target format, a 320x240 WMV file. This copy is kept in an invisible cache file on the PC's hard drive.
Once the transcode is complete, it transfers the copy over onto the device - voila, you're ready to play. It saves the copy in the cache so the next time you need to sync that movie, you don't need to transcode it again.
The same sort of thing happens with audio files that the Zune won't support (this will be much less common since the Zune supports most audio codecs).
The only limitation is that the Zune software can only transcode files that it knows how to play. So as always, Apple Fairplay songs and other unsupported DRM and codecs can't be transcoded. The rule of thumb will be that if it goes into the Zune software library, it'll be playable and transcodable.
46 Comments:
Thanks David. Your posts are really helpful, and thanks for not "dumbing it down" for us.
Does the transcoding also take care of aspect ratio - i.e. a .MOV in widescreen format would be transcoded to a .WMV in 4:3 aspect ratio, for example?
Not to investigate the every aspect of the Zune or anything, but.... could you fill us in on some of those audio codecs? I've been hearing a lot of buzz lately on whether or not it will support as much as the "pod" or not... Kinda getting the cold shoulder...
Yes. Your widescreen would display on the zune in 320x240 4:3 with black bars on top and bottom filling in the space.
Hey David, RoughlyDrafted.com posted an article that, among other things, says Zune won't play video out of the box. Is this true?
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Home/9F60D74A-0E27-4F5F-B88D-835974628809.html
David,
Does the Zune device not support H.264 natively? Is WMV the only video format that the Zune supports natively?
Thanks.
It's a little unfortunate that it can't play larger res files. The Creative Vision:M that I own can play 640x480 (and larger) xvid/divx files without any conversions. This comes in handy when using it with TV-Out playback.
Roughlydrafted.com is totally wrong. The Zune will happily play videos. I've watched a bunch of movies and TV shows on mine.
Possible source of confusion may be that we're not shipping with a video STORE out of the gate. But the device will play videos just fine.
Jon Johansen (not really?):
I can't list codecs yet but the goal is definitely to go beyond WMV. There's no religion in Zune around the codecs.
David,
I'll interpret that as "No native H.264 support at launch, but in firmware update." :)
Feel free to email me to confirm my identity.
Hi David,
you post is very helpfull.
I will translate to Italian and the post to www.mondozune.com.
Nothing about DVD rip?
Sounds good :)
When syncing from a PC non-DRM files (music, videos, pictures, non-supported file types like documents) does Zune apply on these DRM or any other protection like 3 days 3 plays ?
When you do the same with a Wifi Zune-2-Zune connection with non-DRM files? On what file types does the 3 days 3 plays gets activated ?
What are the mechanics if 3 days 3 plays? Does the file gets altered by adding DRM protection to it?
Thanks Dav, this makes me feel so much better. I took a look at the roughlydrafted.com article, which is more opinion than fact. I was going to post there but I realised there was no point after reading a couple of the other articles and replys. Scary scary people.
Zune-online, as far as I understand it all Wifi transfered music files will have a 3 day 3 play lifespan. I dont think pictures will have the 3d3p on them, not sure about Video. Also I think its already been stated that the files are not changed, its the Zune that makes a note of the files and removes them after 3 days or 3 plays. You cant remove the files from the Zune either as far as I'm aware, or transfer files you have had sent to you.
If I'm wrong I'm sure Dav will correct me ;)
Great post, thanks for the info. This sounds much easier than using Windows media encoder to transcode to PocketPC format that I'm using today ;-).
One clarification on audio, though. If I have non-DRM'd .mp3, the Zune software does NOT transcode, correct? My wife and I share a music library on the computer at home, and for her to listen on her iPod, she must import to iTunes, and it transcodes everything. So, we've currently got 26GB of music... twice. It gets uglier when you take tagging and what-not into account. I just want to make sure that we won't now have it 3 times.
Short version: The Zune can reference my existing .mp3 library without transcoding, right? Thanks!!
Great post, thanks for the info. This sounds much easier than using Windows media encoder to transcode to PocketPC format that I'm using today ;-).
One clarification on audio, though. If I have non-DRM'd .mp3, the Zune software does NOT transcode, correct? My wife and I share a music library on the computer at home, and for her to listen on her iPod, she must import to iTunes, and it transcodes everything. So, we've currently got 26GB of music... twice. It gets uglier when you take tagging and what-not into account. I just want to make sure that we won't now have it 3 times.
Short version: The Zune can reference my existing .mp3 library without transcoding, right? Thanks!!
Jon Lech Johansen said
"David,
Does the Zune device not support H.264 natively? Is WMV the only video format that the Zune supports natively?
"
David Caulton said...
"Jon Johansen (not really?):
I can't list codecs yet but the goal is definitely to go beyond WMV. There's no religion in Zune around the codecs. "
if you go to the MS website under their press release you can see a Zune fact sheet and it clearly list h.264 as one of the formats
look at note #4
4 Zune software can import audio files in unprotected WMA, MP3, AAC; photos in JPEG; and videos in WMV, MPEG-4, H.264.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/zune/docs/ZuneFS.doc
An anonymous user(propogandist) posted:
"for her to listen on her iPod, she must import to iTunes, and it transcodes everything. So, we've currently got 26GB of music... twice."
This is utterly false. There is/was no reason to duplicate your music library so it could be "transcoded" into iTunes.
iTunes and iPods play MP3 files as well as many other formats.
Won't you be glad to reclaim that 26GB of wasted hard drive space?
You're welcome.
Can you explain what the "Zune software on the PC" is? I guess I kind of assumed the Zune, along with the music store and everthing would work through Windows Media Player... is that not the case?
Quick questions that so far hasn’t been addressed:
Could a person receive the same file more the once to reset the limit?
If I own a podcast (/netcast) or band, could I somehow link into the Zune website so that if someone wants to ‘buy’ my content, I could simply allow them to have it for free?
Are there any plans to allow original content creates to sign an file in such way as so it could be transmitted without the 3d3p restriction (think podcasts)?
Bryan,
Zune has it's own client software on the PC and doesn't use Windows Media Player.
David Caulton said...
"I can't list codecs yet but the goal is definitely to go beyond WMV."
When will the 'actual' specs be released?
I realize this is a bit forward-looking, but when you talk about future plans for the Zune, are you talking about plans to enable new capabilities on the Gen 1 devices that people will be buying in November, or about creating a new product that'll do the cool things (but not help the early adopters at all)?
Thanks for the response David.
I see that Microsoft semi-official Zune news sources, like this David's blog, avoid answering topics like the video support in Zune.
It also remains not clear where and when the 3d3p applies.
Does Microsoft have the final answers to these questions? Maybe Microsoft tries to add some missing features just before launch?
I'm working on getting permission to go into codecs in more detail...stay tuned.
to mike kozlowski:
Whether we'll be able to bring stuff to existing devices depends. If it's hardware, it'd be hard. But generally the stuff I'm discussing would be brought to existing devices.
Zune-online:
I think 3d3p should be clear - doesn't apply to photos, does apply to audio content. What is unclear?
For video, I can say for sure we play videos, but I can't yet give exact specs on codecs. Working on that now.
This post has been removed by a blog administrator.
I know you've been asked a ton of repetitive questions, and I understand that full albums can be shared (albeit with 3d3p restrictions), but I don't think anyone has been answered about whether or not video can be shared and if there's a restriction on audo track length to share. For example, can I send a standup to a friend, or is there some sort of time limit?
What's the latest on the Creative Commons fuss about 3d3p and DRM in general?
OK David, now try to answer my questions on the posting somewhere about 15 postings above this :)
David,
Thanks for answering the questions so far. I'm hoping you can answer my fairly specific questions:
1) Will the Zune desktop software transcode anything that the OS had codecs for? As in, if I feed it a DivX file, will it transcode to WMV just like WMP10 does today with the PMC? So I can feed the Zune desktop software DVR-MS files from my MCE 2005 machine, and watch the videos on my Zune?
2) Can you talk about the transcoding engine in the Zune desktop software? Is it the same as WMP10, or is it the new (and much faster) transcoding engine I've been told about?
3) The transcoding - are there any scheduling or folder monitoring features? As in, I could point it at my recorded TV shows folder and when a new show is recorded, it would transcode that show for me?
Thanks so much David!
Jason Dunn
www.zunethoughts.com
Jason Dunn:
no, it won't transcode anything the OS has a codec (dshow filter) for. Thus, it won't read and transcode divx and dvr-ms files out of the gate.
The transcoding engine is improved in a number of ways over wmp10, but you'll have to judge speed yourself.
It does have schedule and folder monitoring. If an item in the library is due for syncing and will need to be transcoded it will be transcoded during idle computer time.
Thanks for the response David. A couple more questions. You said that:
"It does have schedule and folder monitoring. If an item in the library is due for syncing and will need to be transcoded it will be transcoded during idle computer time."
That sounds a lot like the way WMP10 works, only WMP10 needs to remain open for the transcoding to occur. Many people, myself included, have a habit of shutting down programs when we're not using them. Does the Zune desktop software have a memory-resident module that stays around after you exit the program for the purpose of folder monitoring and transcoding?
Also, with the 3d3p DRM, I keep hearing conflicting stories: let's say I create a song myself in ACID, put it on my Zune, and want to give it away to other Zune owners to keep. Will the Zune wrap that song in the 3d3p DRM when it is transmitted? That seems to be what you're saying, but I've heard conflicting stories from other Zune staffers, so I'm a bit confused.
It sounds like 3d3p DRM on video files isn't an issue because videos can't be shared over WiFi, right? Just music and photos?
oh i thought you could share videos too?
I detect David is getting frustrated, so let me see if I can help. The 3D/3P limitation isn't file-based DRM; the file is unchanged. It's device h/w-based, meaning ANY audio file received wirelessly will time out on you. The real question I have is: can you re-enable the same file within the Zune software, assuming the file is unprotected? If not, then the feature is *not* very usable for unprotected content (it *is* quite handy for Zune Marketplace protected content, BTW).
Hey David...got a tip about Tinkerbell...can you talk a little about this and what it looks like when the Zune is actually playing?
-Charlie
www.zunelicious.blogspot.com
I honestly have no idea what "Tinkerbell" is.
Sorry...I was told Tinkerbell is the internal codename for the dot that tracks a song's progress during play.
-Charlie
Okey, from that what i see u cant share video. I think you really dont get it.. it has 30gb, lets say youre meeting up with friends somewhere in the city, and you want to give them photos and videos from last party or something, or just some normal rar file packed with something cool, i know it is mainly audio player but you should be able to use wifi as much as possible and you are blocking it, you should be even able to send files to any wifi devices! laptops palmtops mobilephones!
oh and by the way, you are makeing shitty video out or you forgot about something- tv has 2x bigger resolution! Stupiest thing will be if video out is 640x480 and all your videos are transcoded to 320x240
propably you wont reply on my post:P
anyway i think i will still get zune:P, maybe someone will hack firmware and do zune perfect:D
re: Tinkerbell. Oh, that feature.
Yes, it's very cool looking. it's a glowing dot moving from left to right along a line with a comet-like "tail".
There's a lot to be said for the nice touches the device team put in...lots of nice animations and cool effects that also improve usability by giving the user context, showing how they're navigating throught the UI...
"nice animations and cool effects," huh?
Does that mean we'll be seeing updated versions of the paper clip and the dog on the Zune?
Someone sort've brought up something I didn't think about. Sharing a video file through Zune would be really cool and I believe would make the device more popular even. It of course would have to have limitations so that people don't transfer movies or tv shows to one another, but I hope Microsft does this one day.
-Michael
DAPreview.net
dave how do i get my cool chip startup and its technology in front of you guys? we could help on all of these codecs, especially audio
Yeah I was wondering about The Audio Formats it will support ... specifically Ogg Vorbis ...cause i pretty much converted my whole music library to Ogg...
I noticed when transcoding a h.264/aac .mp4 file (created on a Mac with Handbrake) that the transcoded version created by the Zune software ended up with audio and video slightly out of sync, which is very irritating. Almost enough to make me buy a Zen as it supports the format natively on the device. Any suggestions on when this might be fixed?
ok i just got a zune and i put a movie on it but when i play it the video has horrible resolution, what can i do to change this. PLEASE help me.
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