Unable to import media into TV app on macOS Monterey

Question

Unable to import media into TV app on macOS Monterey

Hi there. I have some old movies on my Mac that I'm trying to import into my TV app library. However, for whatever reason, the TV app can't import them. Originally I think it was because the files were .mkv, but I rewrapped them to .mp4 and it still won't import. It doesn't give an error or anything. I even tried dragging them into the "Automatically Add to TV" folder under [User]/Movies/TV/Media. It just added a new folder called "Not imported" with the video files. Any suggestions on how to fix this?

MacBook Pro (2020 and later)

Posted on Mar 3, 2022 9:34 AM

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Answer 1

Mar 3, 2022 3:52 PM in response to James Brickley

I am aware that .mp4 and .mkv are containers. I chose to rewrap because I wanted to avoid long encoding times and potential generational quality loss. But I guess like you said something inside is flagging the video as un-importable.

I just cross-checked the file that won't import with one that did a while ago using MediaInfo. Both use AVC encoding for the video stream (h.264). The one that won't import has a variable bit rate, but I wouldn't think that would be an issue. The one that won't import uses DTS-HD audio, perhaps that could be an issue? Seems like the unfortunate truth is unless Apple provides a specifications sheet for importing videos it's all trial and error.

I'm attaching screenshots of MediaInfo's comparison view in case you or anyone else have insight with this data.

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Answer 2

Mar 3, 2022 5:20 PM in response to theschlaepfer

Pretty sure it's the DTS audio. Here's the spec's for the Apple TV hardware and I would bet money the Mac Apple TV app is the same.

That doesn't cover the Apple TV 4K with HDR. But similar audio applies.

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Answer 3

Mar 3, 2022 2:13 PM in response to theschlaepfer

An MKV or MP4 file are merely containers. The content tracks stored could be encoded with a variety of different codecs and differing standards. Apple doesn't support everything. Mostly mpeg4 h.264 / h.265, etc.

Try converting the videos with Handbrake that should handle the conversions that need to occur internally within the MKV / MP4 containers.

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Answer 4

Mar 4, 2022 9:44 AM in response to James Brickley

Very interesting, thanks for posting that. I converted the audio to AAC-LC and dropped the extraneous tracks (dubs mostly). Still no dice. The file is 20 GB, maybe there's a file size limit?

Edit: after dropping the audio tracks to 3 it's only 15 GB.

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Unable to import media into TV app on macOS Monterey

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