Mp4 And M4V Please Explain!

[Ancestxor]

I have been digitising historic VCR tapes using AVer Studio which converts from analogue and then opens Toast to burn DVDs. When the digital copy is produced and saved to the Movies folder (Mac) it is an MP4 file. This will open and play using Quick Time Player on the Mac and should play also on a PC. But when it is burned to DVD by Toast, it becomes a M4V file. It will not play with QTP, but opens iTunes to play. The disks also play OK on a DVD player, but I am concerned they might not play on a PC.

Why the file change and will these M4V disks play on a PC, as promised by Toast?

[tsantee]

A DVD video is encoded to MPEG 2 format and are in the DVD in VOB files. They play on a Mac using DVD Player, not iTunes nor QuickTime. So I'm confused about what you're reporting. Also, QuickTime should have no problem playing a .m4v video. Both .m4v and .mp4 are MPEG 4 but they may or may not have used different codecs (such as h.264). My guess is yours are both the same. You can see their specs by dragging the videos into the Toast Video or Convert windows.

[Ancestxor]

Thanks DG but there's something missing. The AVer Studio can capture video in a number of formats with the choice set in Preferences: H264/MOV/DVD/Apple TV/iPad/iPhone/iPod. H264 is the default format and recommended for quality and ability to be read. The output of the digitising process is saved to the Movies folder (in my case) as an MP4 file, not MPEG2. AVer Studio has a facility to hand the file off directly to Toast (if installed).I can also drag the MP4 file onto the Toast pane. Either way, the result of the processing is saved to the Movies folder as an M4V file. Using "Get info" shows that M4V is described as a Protected MPEG-4 movie with codecs AAC and H264 and total bit rate 3769. As an original MP4 it is described simply as an MPEG-4 movie; the codecs are the same and the total bit rate 3983. I don't know what significance this has, if any. What does "protected" mean? On this computer, the MP4 files open automatically in QTP, but the M4V files open only in iTunes. The M4V disks play on the DVD machine, but what I am not sure about is if they will play on a PC.