Skip to content

QUICKSTART.md

Latest commit

 

History

History
108 lines (78 loc) · 2.02 KB

QUICKSTART.md

File metadata and controls

108 lines (78 loc) · 2.02 KB

Quick Start Guide

Installation (One-Time Setup)

cd /Volumes/Phobos/projects/home_video_loader
./install.sh

The install script will:

  1. Build the tvcode binary
  2. Offer installation options
  3. Set up PATH access

Recommended: Choose option 1 to install to /usr/local/bin

Usage

# Navigate to any folder with videos
cd ~/Movies/vacation-2024

# Run the transcoder
tvcode

That's it! Your videos will be converted to Apple TV-compatible H.264/AAC/MP4 format.

What Gets Created

For each video that needs conversion:

  • Input: family_dinner.mkv
  • Output: family_dinner_appletv.mp4

Original files are never modified.

Requirements

Examples

Convert home videos:

cd ~/Desktop/home-videos
tvcode

Convert downloaded movies:

cd ~/Downloads
tvcode

Convert and organize:

cd ~/Videos/unsorted
tvcode
# Review the _appletv.mp4 files
# Move them to your organized folder
mv *_appletv.mp4 ~/Videos/apple-tv/

Output Quality

All videos are converted to:

  • Video: H.264 High Profile (8-20 Mbps depending on resolution)
  • Audio: AAC stereo at 192 kbps
  • Container: MP4 with fast-start for streaming

Speed

Hardware acceleration makes this very fast:

  • 4K video: ~2-5 minutes per hour of video
  • 1080p video: ~1-3 minutes per hour of video
  • 720p video: ~0.5-1 minute per hour of video

(Actual speed depends on your hardware)

Troubleshooting

Command not found:

# Check if it's built
ls /Volumes/Phobos/projects/home_video_loader/target/release/tvcode

# If yes, run directly
/Volumes/Phobos/projects/home_video_loader/target/release/tvcode

# Or re-run install script
cd /Volumes/Phobos/projects/home_video_loader
./install.sh

FFmpeg not found:

brew install ffmpeg

Uninstall

# If installed to /usr/local/bin
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/tvcode

# If added to PATH, remove the line from ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc