Ending ATV Media Server

[thunderclap]

While I love the user interface of the ATV and having access to all my movies and television shows with a few simple clicks, I finally stopped digitizing my DVD's after a week of experimenting with different compression techniques. I've tried Handbrake and VisualHub but neither give me the quality that satisfies me. I know some people can't tell a difference between a DVD and their converted ATV version but my eye definitely picks up on the softer colors and image quality the recompressed ATV version plays. It's disappointing since I wanted to clear off the 200+ DVD's on my bookshelf but I can't in good conscience go digital completely if I'm going to be criticizing a movie or tv show and not be able to enjoy it.

I'm not 100% sure I'm going to keep the ATV but I'm pretty sure I will since I'd rather buy digital downloads in the future instead of DVDs. And with Blu-Ray disc prices still high I don't need every movie I buy in HD so assuming it comes out or is available on iTunes I'd rather just get it that way.

Maybe in the future they're will be a better method of converting DVD's to preserve the quality or maybe the ATV will have an upconvert feature that helps. Until then converting my DVD's is not an option.

[SilentPanda]

Sounds like you should have bought something like this (http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=11038348) instead.

[mallbritton]

Just out of curiosity what versions of Mac OS X and Handbrake are you using and what HB pre-sets were you using?

What each person will find acceptable is subjective, but for me I've found that the default AppleTV pre-set in HB produces an acceptable video experience. I have a modest size ,32", Samsung Hi Def TV with a home surround sound system and I encode my video exclusively for the :apple:TV. Are you encoding your video exclusively for the :apple:TV or are you wanting to make one file that "looks good" on multiple Apple devices?

I'm not trying to convince you to keep digitizing your entertainment media and using :apple:TV but perhaps I can offer some suggestions that you might find useful. You sound like you want to keep doing this.

Regards,
Michael

[thunderclap]

Just out of curiosity what versions of Mac OS X and Handbrake are you using and what HB pre-sets were you using?

I have OS X 10.5.2 with Handbrake 0.9.2.

I would rip the DVD using MactheRipper 3.0 R14 then selected the ripped VIDEO_TS directory in Handbrake. From there I created a preset using MP4 h.264 as the encoder (AC3 Passthru for 5.1, AAC for 2.0), framerate same as source and an average bitrate of 2500. I would use the 2-pass encoding (first fast), anamorphic strict and vfr encoding occasionally using deinterlacing if interlacing was present. My file sizes would average between 1.8GB and 2.7GB.

Are you encoding your video exclusively for the :apple:TV or are you wanting to make one file that "looks good" on multiple Apple devices?

Just the ATV which is connected to a 42" HD LCD television via HDMI.

I'm not trying to convince you to keep digitizing your entertainment media and using :apple:TV but perhaps I can offer some suggestions that you might find useful. You sound like you want to keep doing this.

Please do because I'm out of ideas. I think being the videophile I am it's going to be hard to please my senses now that I've experienced Blu-Ray and upconverted DVD's which look damn good. I would love to go to ATV exclusively and put my DVD's into storage.

[mallbritton]

It sounds like you're not doing things too much differently than I am. I do have a couple suggestions for you to try that you might not have tried yet.

1. I started with the "AppleTV" pre-set in HB and made modifications from there to come up with a a custom pre-set. So I suggest you first update the built-in pre-sets by clicking the gear icon in the lower right of the pre-sets drawer, load a source video_ts folder, choose the AppleTV pre-set and make mods from there.

2. You might also try changing from an average bit rate to a constant quality bit rate, say about 65%, which I think is the default. Alternatively you could choose the Constant Quality Rate pre-set and make mods to it to come up with your own custom pre-set.

This is about the same procedure I went through when trying to find a good balance between file size and picture quality. I settled on using the default AppleTV pre-set.

Regards,
Michael

[Maynerd]

I'm with mbuhmann in that I want to go digital with my dvds but so far I've been not that impressed with the quality of the dvd rips that I've made. I'm all for suggestions on how to make things look better.

BTW I'm using component vs HDMI is there a BIG difference between the two on the ATV?

[NightStorm]

You'll always have this problem when converting MPEG2 -> MPEG4. Converting from one lossy format to another will always result in a degradation in quality. For me, it is more about convenience than anything; if I really want the quality, I'll put the DVD in my player and watch it.

Only thing I could suggest is using CRF instead of ABR. CRF=70% is considered by most to virtually indistinguishable, just don't do something crazy like set it to 100% thinking it means identical to the DVD.

CRF is enabled by default now in Handbrake (can verify in the preferences pane)... you do not want to switch it to CQR (?).

[Maynerd]

You'll always have this problem when converting MPEG2 -> MPEG4. Converting from one lossy format to another will always result in a degradation in quality.

Only thing I could suggest is using CRF instead of ABR. CRF=70% is considered by most to virtually indistinguishable, just don't do something crazy like set it to 100% thinking it means identical to the DVD.

CRF is better than ABR eh? That's good to know. when you say 70% is indistinguishable you are saying it looks just like a dvd?

[mallbritton]

BTW I'm using component vs HDMI is there a BIG difference between the two on the ATV?

I have not noticed a big difference in quality between the two. For the type of question you're asking I always suggest use what looks best to you. Use both types of video connections for a little while and make your decision then.

Regards,
Michael

[jeremy.king]

just don't do something crazy like set it to 100% thinking it means identical to the DVD.


But isn't that what (s)he wants?

[mallbritton]

Just in case anyone is ripping any animated films I always set deinterlace to "slow" which gives me good results.

Regards,
Michael

[Maynerd]

Just in case anyone is ripping any animated films I always set deinterlace to "slow" which gives me good results.

Regards,
Michael

What does this mean? Not setting it to slow. But what is it doing?

[mallbritton]

But isn't that what (s)he wants?

Check out this entry in the Handbrake FAQ:
http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/SupportFAQ#winsomelosesome

Okay listen. 100% quality? You're going to end up with a video that's way larger than the source. It's sorta misleading, but we haven't figured out a better way of presenting it. Here's the deal: 100% quality isn't "the same thing as the DVD" or anything like that. For x264, it means lossless mode. Sounds good, huh? Not exactly. DVDs already use lossy compression. x264 can't eat compressed video. It needs raw, decoded video, which takes up a lot of space. In comparison to that, 100% quality, lossless x264 takes up little space. But in comparison to the lossy compressed source on the DVD, it will still be quite chunky -- and it won't look any better than the source, either. Only use it if you know what you're doing.

[mallbritton]

What does this mean? Not setting it to slow. But what is it doing?

The Handbrake Wiki can explain it much better than I can:
http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/DeinterlacingGuide

The results that I see is that I no longer see those white bands in the video when scene changes happen quickly.

Regards,
Michael

[thunderclap]

I've spent hours going through the Handbrake FAQ to come up with my custom presets. I will try the constant rate to see if that helps at all but I realize one lossy format to another is going to lessen the quality. I just wish it wasn't as drastic as I'm seeing. (Again, I'm probably much more picky than most.)

And I'm a "he" kingjr3. :)

[Maynerd]

The Handbrake Wiki can explain it much better than I can:
http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/DeinterlacingGuide

The results that I see is that I no longer see those white bands in the video when scene changes happen quickly.

Regards,
Michael

I see that makes sense now. Why not use the slower option? Does this add to file size or something?

[Maynerd]

I've spent hours going through the Handbrake FAQ to come up with my custom presets. I will try the constant rate to see if that helps at all but I realize one lossy format to another is going to lessen the quality. I just wish it wasn't as drastic as I'm seeing. (Again, I'm probably much more picky than most.)

And I'm a "he" kingjr3. :)

Be sure to post your results. I'm still trying to find the right balance between quality and size.

[thunderclap]

Be sure to post your results. I'm still trying to find the right balance between quality and size.

Will do. I probably won't have time until tonight or tomorrow to experiment though. But if I find something that I find suitable I'll be sure to let everyone know.

[mallbritton]

I see that makes sense now. Why not use the slower option? Does this add to file size or something?

It doesn't add file size that I've noticed. I use Slow just because it seems to be a good middle ground and doesn't add too much time to the encode. Also I've just not found a reason to use "slower."

Regards,
Michael

[cohibadad]

I mostly have my DVDs digitized on the :apple:TV for convenience of my kids. They barely notice if the audio is out of sync. Personally, the quality is fine for me although I am not the most demanding viewer. Thanks for the deinterlace guide. I usually set it to fast and seemed to work fine.

[thunderclap]

So I ran my experiments this morning using "Jurassic Park" "Serenity". I did this to test an older DVD as well as a newer. For each I ran six different encodings. The things that remained the same in each was:

Frame Rate = Same as source
AC3 Passthru
Anamorphic = Loose
VTR = Checked
Deinterlace = Slow

Trial 1
2-pass + turbo first pass
Average Bitrate = 2500

Trial 2
2-pass
Average Bitrate = 2500

Trial 3
2-pass + turbo first pass
Average Bitrate = 3000

Trial 4
2-pass
Average Bitrate = 3000

Trial 5
Constant Quality = 65%

Trial 6
Constant Quality = 70%

The first five trials, and for both films, the quality was virtually the same. I only encoded one chapter each and the file size differed at most approx. 30MB.

I then did a comparison of the DVD upconverted on my PS3. While the picture quality was a little sharper the big difference was saturation. The ATV version had colors that were more dull, more muddy, while the upconverted version remained vibrant and rich.

Trial 6 seemed to have more vibrant colors but playback wasn't very good as it streamed from my Mac Pro. The video stuttered and quite regularly.

All I can think of is if Apple or Handbrake adds an option to "Sharpen Image" will it get close to an upconverted DVD. So there are my results. Hope it helps others.

[Maynerd]

mbuhmann - Thanks for the info. When you say 30mb difference can you give an idea of % instead of a raw number? reason being is if one of the files is 30 megs and one is 60 megs it's only a 30 meg difference but % wise it is 100% larger.

Also, take a look at this thread at handbrake.fr

http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5129

It's hard for me to personally follow as they are getting technical. I'm trying a couple of variations of their suggestions.

[mallbritton]

Which Handbrake pre-set did you start with? I'm guessing "AppleTV" but you didn't mention it so I thought I would ask.

[alFR]

IIRC the Handbrake devs recommend anamorphic strict for ATV encodes. Not sure that it will make a big difference (it shouldn't affect colour AFAIK), but it might be worth you trying.

One other thing - were your PS3 and your ATV connected via the same input to your TV? I ask because my TV has separate colour saturation settings for every input, so if they're on separate inputs that might explain some of the colour difference.

[thunderclap]

When you say 30mb difference can you give an idea of % instead of a raw number? reason being is if one of the files is 30 megs and one is 60 megs it's only a 30 meg difference but % wise it is 100% larger.

It's hard to say without doing a full encode of the film. If there is someone more mathematically inclined I'm sure they could figure it out. In any event, I only did about 10 minutes.

Which Handbrake pre-set did you start with? I'm guessing "AppleTV" but you didn't mention it so I thought I would ask.

You're corrected. I started with "AppleTV" and went from there.

IIRC the Handbrake devs recommend anamorphic strict for ATV encodes. Not sure that it will make a big difference (it shouldn't affect colour AFAIK), but it might be worth you trying.

Before I did this experiment I was using Strict 99% of the time. From memory it doesn't look like using "loose" lessened the quality.

One other thing - were your PS3 and your ATV connected via the same input to your TV? I ask because my TV has separate colour saturation settings for every input, so if they're on separate inputs that might explain some of the colour difference.

I have two HDMI inputs on the television and three HDMI devices: Tivo, PS3 and ATV. I'll look into your recommendation and if it works maybe I'll just go back to using Component inputs for the ATV. I'll keep you posted.

[Maynerd]

It's hard to say without doing a full encode of the film. If there is someone more mathematically inclined I'm sure they could figure it out. In any event, I only did about 10 minutes.


If you can provide the file size for each encoding (I assume that you did the same length for each test) that would be enough for me.

[NightStorm]

I think loose anamorphic is necessary for ps3 compatibility.

All it does is adjust the resolution to mod-16 dimensions.

[saltyzoo]

It took me 2 weeks of trying things to come up with the options for Handbrake that produced the quality I could accept, but I'm very happy with my results now.

Of course, most of my files are 4 gig and it takes between 3 and 5 hours to encode each one, but I have the space, and it only took a week for my server farm of 6 machines to encode several hundred movies for me.

Not saying it's for everyone, just saying that it can be done.

[Maynerd]

It took me 2 weeks of trying things to come up with the options for Handbrake that produced the quality I could accept, but I'm very happy with my results now.

Of course, most of my files are 4 gig and it takes between 3 and 5 hours to encode each one, but I have the space, and it only took a week for my server farm of 6 machines to encode several hundred movies for me.

Not saying it's for everyone, just saying that it can be done.

4gb? Holy moly that's almost the size of a dvd. How many movies you got and how much space are you using?

[saltyzoo]

4gb? Holy moly that's almost the size of a dvd. How many movies you got and how much space are you using?

200+. Just over a terabyte.

[thunderclap]

If you can provide the file size for each encoding (I assume that you did the same length for each test) that would be enough for me.

The 2500 kps were 260MB while the 3000 kps were 292MB.

[thunderclap]

It took me 2 weeks of trying things to come up with the options for Handbrake that produced the quality I could accept, but I'm very happy with my results now.

What settings did you use?

[saltyzoo]

What settings did you use?

I used the CLI (linux server farm), here are the standard CLI options I used for all movies, you can set most if not all these in the GUI as well.

--longest --format mp4 --encoder x264 -P 16 --aencoder aac+ac3 -B 160 -R 48 -2 --markers -x264opts bframes=5:ref=1:subme=5:me=umh:no-fast-pskip=1:trellis=1:cabac=0 -T

Then, depending on the movie and how important quality was for that movie, I used one of the following in addition to the above standard options:

-b 2500 (Really low quality movie to begin with. Like an old 60's movie in 4:3, etc)
-b 3000 (Comedies, etc that don't have much panoramic or action)
-b 3500 (more action oriented movie, but still not something I'd be picky about quality)
--size 4000 (Anything I wanted maxed out quality on, this is by far the one I used most often)
--size xxxx (I found this an easier way to control quality than bitrate. I'd try a small size, like 2000 or so and if not good enough, increase it until I was happy with the results)


As I already said, these options (using --size 4000 especially) aren't for the faint of heart. It's going to take a minimum of 3 hours to encode an hour and 20 minute flick. (Your results may vary depending on hardware)

Frankly, the guys at handbrake can probably tear apart my options and make even better recommendations, but barring spending months playing around with possibilities, I'm very happy with the results on both my 50" from my mac mini and my 42" from my ATV in the bedroom.

[dynaflash]

No offense meant, but by using --size 4000 you realize that HB will make the bitrate x length of movie to equal 4000, right ? So a 1:15 movie and a 3:00 hour movie will be the same size, with the shorter movie over twice the bitrate of the longer movie. Wow. For some of your short movies you must have some high bitrates. In fact, in any movie except three hours plus, you must be running bitrates in excess of 2500 to 3000 with that setting.

Otoh, if its working for you. Thats all that matters.

[saltyzoo]

No offense meant, but by using --size 4000 you realize that HB will make the bitrate x length of movie to equal 4000, right ? So a 1:15 movie and a 3:00 hour movie will be the same size, with the shorter movie over twice the bitrate of the longer movie. Wow. For some of your short movies you must have some high bitrates. In fact, in any movie except three hours plus, you must be running bitrates in excess of 2500 to 3000 with that setting.

Otoh, if its working for you. Thats all that matters.

Yes, I realize this, and have adjusted accordingly for those movies. And yes, for some shorter movies that I wanted maximum quality the bitrate is well beyond useful. But my priority was quality over time and size.

[Maynerd]

No offense meant, but by using --size 4000 you realize that HB will make the bitrate x length of movie to equal 4000, right ? So a 1:15 movie and a 3:00 hour movie will be the same size, with the shorter movie over twice the bitrate of the longer movie. Wow. For some of your short movies you must have some high bitrates. In fact, in any movie except three hours plus, you must be running bitrates in excess of 2500 to 3000 with that setting.

Otoh, if its working for you. Thats all that matters.

Looks like you know your stuff. :)

Do you have some recommended settings for HB? :D

[dynaflash]

http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5129&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

[Maynerd]

http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5129&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Hehe...I pointed to that thread earlier in this very thread. :) I thought your name was familiar.

To be honest, I looked over that thread and it's confusing to a non-tech person (me). Can you dumb it down for me?

One thing I was confused on is the CBR thing that is referenced in the thread is that the same as the CQ setting? Also, do I just paste the text into the advanced tab and let it rip?

Example

CRF 68% - bframes=6:ref=6:mixed-refs=1:subq=6:me=umh:no-fast-pskip=1:trellis=1:brdo=1:direct=auto:bime=1:merange=24:vbv-maxrate=4900:vbv-bufsize=3000

Do I need to click the Apple TV preset prior to pasting this text? Is there anything else I need to do?

[dynaflash]

Well, to get you audio and stuff setup, yeah just

1. Click the AppleTV Preset
2. Video Tab switch from ABR To Constant Quality and set the slider to 68%
3. Advanced Tab Paste that string:
bframes=6:ref=6:mixed-refs=1:subq=6:me=umh:no-fast-pskip=1:trellis=1:weightb=1:bime=1:brdo=1:direct=auto:vbv-maxrate=4900:vbv-bufsize=3500
into the text field instead of the old AppleTV string (tabbing out of that text field will cause the correcsponding widgets to reflect the string state).

You are now good to go. Go have a drink, get a sandwich or read a book (like war and peace) cause if you think the stock AppleTV preset was slow, this is slower yet to encode. :) Seriously though, I just set 'em up before going to bed and let it go over night. Thing is, constant quality will vary bitrate according to the source and what x264 needs to maintain that visual quality. So some movies might end up at 2500 abr when they are done, some might only be 1800 and some could be 4000, you dont really know for sure. Though typically I see somewhere in the mid 2000's. Again, try it and see if you like it. I am not saying it is for everyone, but its where most of us at HB who use atv's have been at.

As well, remember if you like that setting for yourself, just save it as a preset so you don't have to go through the steps every time. You can of course always set it to be your default preset (just like any of the rest of them) so HB automatically loads it up at launch. Good Luck :)

[CWallace]

Is the problem with the perceived quality of the conversions not that they do not look good vis-a-vis a DVD projected at 480p, but vis-a-vis a DVD "upconverted" to 720p or 1080i?

I understand that these upconversions are not true 720p/1080i content, but I do know that they look better to my eyes then the "straight" 480p playback.

So even if you encoded at the same bit-rate as DVD to try and get every last original bit of quality, is that conversion still going to look as good as the actual DVD being played back on an upconverting player?

That is kind of the worry I have. I have a Sony upconverting DVD player and I love it. And I too am intrigued with the idea of ripping all my DVDs to digital files and serving them via an :apple:tv or a Mac Mini HTPC. But I worry that no matter the quality settings I use, the video won't look as nice as what the Sony is outputting via upconversion...

[Maynerd]

Well, to get you audio and stuff setup, yeah just

1. Click the AppleTV Preset
2. Video Tab switch from ABR To Constant Quality and set the slider to 68%
3. Advanced Tab Paste that string:
bframes=6:ref=6:mixed-refs=1:subq=6:me=umh:no-fast-pskip=1:trellis=1:weightb=1:bime=1:brdo=1:direct=auto:vbv-maxrate=4900:vbv-bufsize=3500
into the text field instead of the old AppleTV string (tabbing out of that text field will cause the correcsponding widgets to reflect the string state).

You are now good to go. Go have a drink, get a sandwich or read a book (like war and peace) cause if you think the stock AppleTV preset was slow, this is slower yet to encode. :) Seriously though, I just set 'em up before going to bed and let it go over night. Thing is, constant quality will vary bitrate according to the source and what x264 needs to maintain that visual quality. So some movies might end up at 2500 abr when they are done, some might only be 1800 and some could be 4000, you dont really know for sure. Though typically I see somewhere in the mid 2000's. Again, try it and see if you like it. I am not saying it is for everyone, but its where most of us at HB who use atv's have been at.

As well, remember if you like that setting for yourself, just save it as a preset so you don't have to go through the steps every time. You can of course always set it to be your default preset (just like any of the rest of them) so HB automatically loads it up at launch. Good Luck :)

Thanks for explaining that. Couple more questions. I believe there is also an option that allows AAC or AAC + AC3 which should I use. I also noticed that there are different bitrate options for audio. 160 is the highest. What do you suggest?

Also I seem to recall..could be in this thread someone suggesting setting the deinterlacing to slow...what are your thoughts on that?

[dynaflash]

well, if you have to deinterlace (*only* deinterlace interlaced sources no matter what) Slow is orders of magnitude better than Fast and as well its .... well 'slower'.

Just use the audio as its setup by the Built In HandBrake preset (AAC + AC3).
Realize that the audio bitrate setting *only* affects the aac track, the ac3 passthru surround track just uses the source bitrate since it doesnt modify it in any way (hence the term "passthru") use 160 for the aac tracks DPL2 bitrate.

[Maynerd]

well, if you have to deinterlace (*only* deinterlace interlaced sources no matter what) Slow is orders of magnitude better than Fast and as well its .... well 'slower'.

Just use the audio as its setup by the Built In HandBrake preset (AAC + AC3).
Realize that the audio bitrate setting *only* affects the aac track, the ac3 passthru surround track just uses the source bitrate since it doesnt modify it in any way (hence the term "passthru") use 160 for the aac tracks DPL2 bitrate.

How do I know if a source is interlaced or not? Sorry for all the questions...you are awesome to help out!

[dynaflash]

Best explained here. This thread probably has already been hijacked enough (sorry to the OP).
http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/DeinterlacingGuide

[Maynerd]

Best explained here. This thread probably has already been hijacked enough (sorry to the OP).
http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/DeinterlacingGuide

I don't think the thread has been hijacked as the OP wants to get good settings for videos.

Thanks a bunch.

[dynaflash]

Basically most major hollywood releases on dvd are not deinterlaced. TV series on dvd typically will be, but not always. The macgui picture preview window is the best way to check for deinterlacing.

[mallbritton]

Also I seem to recall..could be in this thread someone suggesting setting the deinterlacing to slow...what are your thoughts on that?

That was me. I had made the suggestion specifically for animation since I typically see more horizontal banding there than in any other source. Although I need to re-encode my Farscape eps using deinterlace because I do get some horizontal banding on those.

Regards,
Michael

[NightStorm]

How do I know if a source is interlaced or not? Sorry for all the questions...you are awesome to help out!

Wait for combing detection... :D

I thought with the VFR improvements in .9.2 I'd finally be done reencoding Futurama... this feature is probably going to make me do it one more time, just to fix the few little glitches remaining. VFR + combing detection = amazing!

[alFR]

I am not saying it is for everyone, but its where most of us at HB who use atv's have been at.

Just out of interest, if the HB devs are using these settings for ATV encodes, why isn't this the default ATV preset? Is it too slow, too big files etc.?

[thunderclap]

Just a note on the Handbrake link a couple people have posted: that's where I originally started when looking to build the media server. :)

[dynaflash]

Just out of interest, if the HB devs are using these settings for ATV encodes, why isn't this the default ATV preset? Is it too slow, too big files etc.?

Simple, because its slow, and depending on your source, can cause issues sometimes streaming (denoise when used with crf can drop bitrates alot on a noisy source, like an old grainy movie which can cause crf to bloat bitrates and file sizes quite a bit) . Its the same reason we chose single pass with the appleTV preset vs. 2 pass abr, tradeoff quality for time. Its a good tradeoff for 95% of the people using it. They will never see the difference or if they do, its not worth the extra encoding time.

The Built In HandBrake Preset is a click and encode solution. Exceptional quality at a decent encoding speed and reasonable file sizes. It streams well in almost all circumstances and more importantly is predictable with all types of sources. Plus it uses CAVLC which fits the AppleTV's published specifications. The settings I outline above use CABAC which is not officially endorsed by Apple for the AppleTV. So we do not ship a built in preset with CABAC. However believe me when I tell you that when properly setup, CABAC encodes work just fine on the AppleTV. I have done and watched hundreds of them since the ATV was introduced.

Always remember that the Built In Handbrake presets targeted at devices are a compromise. Often times taking storage space of the targeted device into account (hence the low bitrate on the iPhone preset which has dismal storage capacity) , encoding speed, and quality tradeoffs. Ultimately there is no "correct" setting. Each person has to determine whats most important to them. The presets are just a general starting point. Most people never go past the presets. But if you do, the options are almost limitless. The flip side to that is you can also totally screw up device compatibility pretty easily. :)

[watanabe]

I'm not sure I saw if you did this already, have you done a comparison of a purchased/rented movie from Apple and compared it to a DVD of yours?

Doesn't solve your encoding problem, but might help verify the saturation colors truly is in your encoding process and not something else. Assuming that the Apple encoded stuff even looks closer to what you expected.

[thunderclap]

I've decided on a simple solution. There are many DVD's on my shelf I haven't watched in years so I'm going to digitize most of my DVD's leaving the ones I watch more regularly on the shelf. So it's a compromise but one I can live with.

I'm not sure I saw if you did this already, have you done a comparison of a purchased/rented movie from Apple and compared it to a DVD of yours?

I haven't yet but doing a comparison from the original DVD to the digitized version is good enough for me. The version on iTunes is probably digitized from a master source and not a DVD like I'm doing so the quality will probably be a bit better. But then I don't want to re-buy movies or shows I already own.

[jpcos]

I've decided on a simple solution. There are many DVD's on my shelf I haven't watched in years so I'm going to digitize most of my DVD's leaving the ones I watch more regularly on the shelf. So it's a compromise but one I can live with.



I haven't yet but doing a comparison from the original DVD to the digitized version is good enough for me. The version on iTunes is probably digitized from a master source and not a DVD like I'm doing so the quality will probably be a bit better. But then I don't want to re-buy movies or shows I already own.

The point of comparing to an iTunes download or SD trailer would be to check the calibration of your ATV input to make sure it matches what you're getting out of your DVD player. Do the SD trailers look good to you on ATV? I find I need to increase my color saturation and sharpness with ATV SD content.

[watanabe]

The point of comparing to an iTunes download or SD trailer would be to check the calibration of your ATV input to make sure it matches what you're getting out of your DVD player. Do the SD trailers look good to you on ATV? I find I need to increase my color saturation and sharpness with ATV SD content.

Yeah, that was the point I was trying to make, that maybe your output from the ATV is contributing to the visual quality, thanks.

I figured matching a download to a owned DVD would be best, excluding the point made that the Apple encode is probably from a better source. But your right, even using something like a trailer may suffice, and be cheaper!

[hungerforpizza]

I've always used DVD2POD it's easy and it works fine as far as im concerned. I just hit "convert" and it puts an mp4 on my desktop.

[Sky Blue]

I've always used DVD2POD it's easy and it works fine as far as im concerned. I just hit "convert" and it puts an mp4 on my desktop.

You bumped a nearly year old thread to flog a crappy convertor?

As the thread is here..

dynaflash, have your advanced option string settings changed since you posted in this thread. Tried looking in the Handbrake forum thread, but a little confusing.