iPod Handbreak encoded H.264 doesn't work on video?

I don't think you have to use H.264 to encode videos to play on iPod. I've used Handbreak to rip a few DVDs to my iPod and I don't even know what type of encoding i used, but it seems to work quite well.

Don't know if this helps, but QT Pro has an export to iPod Video size feature...maybe that'll be what you need.

acousticvibes said:

I've hear a rumor that if you use handbreak to encode H.264 movies to correct size, it wont play on the iPod video. My iPod is still shipping, so can someone can denounce it or say it's correct?

Thanks a Lot!

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This is what I found out. Maybe it helps.
If you rip a movie in H.264 with Handbrake it does not play in quicktime either. If you rip it in mpeg4 format it does play in quicktime.

OK, here is the story.

Handbrake will rip DVD's into a number of different formats, one of which, .mp4, is playable on the iPod. The caveat here is that using Handbrake's H.264 encoder to rip your DVD's will result in a file that plays in Quicktime, imports flawlessly and plays in iTunes but WILL NOT play on your new 5G iPod. The reasons for this are speculated to have something to do with the exact settings Handbrake uses for it's H.264 encoder being slightly different to what Apple prescribes for playback on the iPod.

The good news is that you can rip a DVD to .mp4 format using the MPEG-4 encoder in Handbrake and it will result in a file that, whilst not appearing as good a quality as H.264, will playback properly on your iPod.

Hope this is the information you were looking for.

What Chundles said.

I know from firsthand experience (many attempts) that using the H.264 option in the current version of Handbrake will result in a file that will NOT play on your iPod.

So stick with MPEG-4 for now.

If you ask me the mp4 is better than h.264 because you can do any ratio that doesnt exceed 230,400 pixels. you can even do widescreen 720x310 (looks almost flawless). with h.264 its only 320x240 (or 76,000 pixel ratios). sure the compression is great but it still looks crappy on a 620x480 tv screen. if you are going to only watch the videos on the ipods screen then i guess go for the h.264.

freeny said:

If you ask me the mp4 is better than h.264 because you can do any ratio that doesnt exceed 230,400 pixels. you can even do widescreen 720x310 (looks almost flawless). with h.264 its only 320x240 (or 76,000 pixel ratios). sure the compression is great but it still looks crappy on a 620x480 tv screen. if you are going to only watch the videos on the ipods screen then i guess go for the h.264.

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so does this mean i can encode my dvds with handbrake with a resolution higher than 320x240, of course using the mp4 encoding, and for it to properly play on my ipod video? also, does a higher size mean better resolution? thanks so much

boiee said:

so does this mean i can encode my dvds with handbrake with a resolution higher than 320x240, of course using the mp4 encoding, and for it to properly play on my ipod video? also, does a higher size mean better resolution? thanks so much

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i think handbrake's maximum size for mp4 is 640x480 (or whatever horizontal resolution). yes, you can convert to the max resolution, but you will only be able to see it at 320x240 on the ipod. if you're only using it for the ipod, convert to 320x240 and get higher bitrates and framerates instead.

Have you actually tried to rip a whole 2 hour movie in HB using H.264? It takes like two frickin' days. So to me it doesn't matter if it won't play on the 5G iPod, because it just takes too long to make the movies.

kugino said:

i think handbrake's maximum size for mp4 is 640x480 (or whatever horizontal resolution). yes, you can convert to the max resolution, but you will only be able to see it at 320x240 on the ipod. if you're only using it for the ipod, convert to 320x240 and get higher bitrates and framerates instead.

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what would you suggest for encoding widescreen dvds? if i encode it on handbrake, with the ratio kept into proportion it'll turn out to be 320 by something less than 192...i presume this will be almost NOT viewable on the ipod...any suggestion about widescreen formatted movies?

mcarnes said:

Have you actually tried to rip a whole 2 hour movie in HB using H.264? It takes like two frickin' days. So to me it doesn't matter if it won't play on the 5G iPod, because it just takes too long to make the movies.

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I've found that it takes about 5 hours to rip a 2 hour movie in MPEG-4 and about 8 hours in H.264. It goes faster without the modem connected - I'm on dial-up cause Telstra suck - but I just set it to encode and go to bed. Most of the time I'm encoding 1/2 hour TV eps into .mp4 via the MPEG-4 encoder and each 1/2 hour ep takes about 1/2 hour to encode.

I don't have a video iPod, and I don't intend to buy one in the forseeable future, but I'm keen on ripping some music videos from DVDs to import into iTunes and watch on my iBook.

I have used Handbreak to rip one in mp4 format and, if my memory serves me correctly, I specified a bitrate of 700bps and left the resolutionn at the default setting. The resultant file size is 32Mb for four minutes of playback time and, when playing in full screen mode, I am not exactly thrilled with the quality.

Can anyone recommend which settings I could change in Handbreak to get a better result? What would be a realistic expectation of the file size for a video of this length for it to be viewable on full screen mode on an iBook? What is the bitrate and filesize of music videos downloaded from the iTunes Music Store?