DVD to Apple TV. How to keep the same video quality?

[thiagos]

Hello,

I just bought DVDRemaster Pro. My question is, I want to transfer my DVD library to Apple TV (either to H.264 or MPEG4). Even though I know the procedure, I am not sure how to keep the same or near same quality as the DVD.
What bitrate should I keep it under? I have a 2TB Hard Drive, so I could spare up to 3.5 GB for each movie.

If it takes more than just the bitrate, let me know the steps I should follow to have it near or same as DVD quality. If you are knowledgeable with HandBrake, I got HandBrake as well.

Please only answer to this question if you are knowledgeable on the subject.

Thanks in advance.

[FreeState]

Just use the Handbreak setting for AppleTV and do 2nd pass encoding. This will give you great results. The default bitrate for that is 2500.

Remember you are taking a compressed video and re-compressing it - just like with audio there will always be some loss of quality. It works well though - I work as a graphic designer for video company and I am fairly picky on quality - and its more than acceptable for me.

If your curious about the bitrate used on a DVD you can get that info here: http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm

[thiagos]

Just use the Handbreak setting for AppleTV and do 2nd pass encoding. This will give you great results. The default bitrate for that is 2500.

Remember you are taking a compressed video and re-compressing it - just like with audio there will always be some loss of quality. It works well though - I work as a graphic designer for video company and I am fairly picky on quality - and its more than acceptable for me.

If your curious about the bitrate used on a DVD you can get that info here: http://www.videohelp.com/calc.htm

Thanks for the calculator, that was VERY helpful. Well the reason why I want to keep the same video quality is because I am thinking of the near future. I don't want to have pixelated video for the new TVs to come. Specially after transferring my entire DVD sets.
I mainly use blu-rays now and I can't stand to watch movies on DVD anymore. I wouldn't want my movies to look worse than DVD.

[dynaflash]

I mainly use blu-rays now and I can't stand to watch movies on DVD anymore. I wouldn't want my movies to look worse than DVD.
To be clear, the *best* HB will do is almost the same as DVD quality. It cannot make something out of nothing.

[NightStorm]

Going between two lossy formats is never going to be a good idea if you want identical quality (MPEG2 -> MPEG4).

As dynaflash said, the best you can hope for is pretty darn close while taking up less space on your hard drive.

[gwsat]

The only thing I can add to this discussion is my impression about 2 pass encoding. I did that a couple of times right after I started using Handbrake but it was taking so long, I decided to try single pass. Although I used a bitrate of 2500, I wasn’t able to see any discernable difference between 2 pass and 1 pass. Thus, I now do 1 pass exclusively.