Custom Handbrake settings for Ipad?

aarong50 · Mar 31, 2010

Do you just use the universal setting, or apple tv?

I realize they are going to update the software eventually. But if you wanted to convert a ripped dvd to the Ipad's native resolution without quality loss - what settings would you use?

T4R06 · Mar 31, 2010

aarong50 said:
Do you just use the universal setting, or apple tv?

I realize they are going to update the software eventually. But if you wanted to convert a ripped dvd to the Ipad's native resolution without quality loss - what settings would you use?

speaking of handbrake. i did rip my dream theater score dvd which is 7+GB and i use the universal setting and it came out like 5GB!!!!

i am noob on handbrake too so i hope somebody here make a good explanation on how in the world they can squeeze the file like 700mb?

jkimbro0316 · Mar 31, 2010

The AppleTV preset works with my iPhone even. So I wouldn't be surprised if the movies I've encoded for the AppleTV/iPhone would also work for the iPad as well.

gillybean · Apr 2, 2010

I'm looking at using Handbrake to convert some of my video to iPad settings now.

Most of my videos are 1280x720 or 1920x1200 in source, and the iPad screen is 1024x768. I think the iPad lets you choose between horizontal black bars and cropping off the edges though, so it seems like the resolution I'd want to convert to is 1280x720.

However, the Handbrake presets only go up to a max width of 960 pixels, and they're greyed out so I can't modify them. How did you guys get it to convert to a file with 1024 or 1280 width?

GadgetX · Apr 2, 2010

Check about half way down this thread
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/874478/

Edit: I'll make it easier for you

saving107 said:
to the OP, I've actually been doing the same thing and copying all of my personal DVDs to my computer so that I can then re-play them on my Apple TV, iPhone and soon to be iPad. Everyone has their own opinion on how to encode videos using Handbrake, this is mine. I've figured out that by selecting the iPhone preset and then upscaling the video, that will give me the same quality of video as iTunes does. pre-selecting the Apple Tv quality won't make it compatible with my iPhone or iPod nano, only Apple TV.

I did a lot of testing and I finally settled on one that makes me happy.

1. On the right Preset panel, Select iPhone & iPod touch.

2. I then manually changed the Quality to 1800 kbps. Also, make sure the Video Codec is set to H.264 (it should already be selected)

3.Then go into your Picture Setting on the top panel, and change the Anamorphic quality to Strict (this should give you the original quality of the video)

4. I personally use these filter settings to give me a nice clean image.

5. this is just a video preview of what the video will look like. Handbrake lets you preview 10-15-20-30 seconds of the video before you spend 2 hours encoding the video.

Final Result

mrgreen4242 · Apr 2, 2010

GadgetX said:
Check about half way down this thread
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/874478/

Edit: I'll make it easier for you

This is terrible advice. The constant quality settings in the x264 encoder are very, very good at making good looking video in the minimum required amount of data. Using an average bitrate setting will give you good results for some movies, some that are bigger than they need to be, and some that look bad due to lack of data.

Just use the Universal setting for DVDs. If the resulting videos look good on my AppleTV connected to my projector throwing a 100" picture (hint: they look as good as source DVDs) they will look just fine on your iPad.

GadgetX · Apr 2, 2010

mrgreen4242 said:
This is terrible advice. The constant quality settings in the x264 encoder are very, very good at making good looking video in the minimum required amount of data. Using an average bitrate setting will give you good results for some movies, some that are bigger than they need to be, and some that look bad due to lack of data.

Just use the Universal setting for DVDs. If the resulting videos look good on my AppleTV connected to my projector throwing a 100" picture (hint: they look as good as source DVDs) they will look just fine on your iPad.

I've had very good results with what saving107 suggested but I must admit that I've only used handbrake a few times. I'll try your suggestions the next time I convert some videos. Thanks!

Sparced · Apr 2, 2010

Throw your DVD's away. Google "film title 720p". Download. Convert to Apple TV preset. Import. Add video artwork. Done.

gillybean · Apr 2, 2010

Sparced said:
Throw your DVD's away. Google "film title 720p". Download. Convert to Apple TV preset. Import. Add video artwork. Done.

"film title 720p" didn't give me any meaningful results on google.

I'm now trying the Apple -> Universal setting on Handbrake, and editing the picture resolution to be 1280 x 720, I hope this works.

GadgetX · Apr 2, 2010

mrgreen4242 said:
This is terrible advice. The constant quality settings in the x264 encoder are very, very good at making good looking video in the minimum required amount of data. Using an average bitrate setting will give you good results for some movies, some that are bigger than they need to be, and some that look bad due to lack of data.

Just use the Universal setting for DVDs. If the resulting videos look good on my AppleTV connected to my projector throwing a 100" picture (hint: they look as good as source DVDs) they will look just fine on your iPad.

I'm trying out the universal settings and it more than tripled the conversion time... aw the price for good quality

gillybean · Apr 2, 2010

I tried feeding Handbrake 4 wmv files and it only converted 2 of them. For the other 2 it stopped trying right away, maybe there was some incompatibility.

So I tried a Xilisoft converter but that only does the first 3 minutes of each video (until you pay for it). If I can get an iPad tomorrow maybe I'll compare the quality of the handbrake vs Xilisoft videos as viewed on the iPad screen to see whether it's worth buying the full version.

clayj · Apr 3, 2010

This May Seem a Silly Question, But...

... it seems to me like ripping any DVD for playback on an iPad is not going to return optimal results, due to the fact that a DVD's resolution tops out at 480p.

The iPad's screen is not fully-capable of displaying 720p content, due to the fact that 720p content is 1280 x 720 and the iPad's screen is 1024 x 768 (which means 1280 x 720 content will need to be downconverted down to 1024 x 576 to maintain the aspect ratio -- we'll still have letterboxing), but even this is still better than upconverting 480p video to a higher resolution.

Are iTunes videos purchased from the iTunes Store actually 720p resolution?

And does anyone know if there's any tech available yet to let us rip Blu-ray movies from 1080p down into an iPad-compatible format? My whole thing is that I do not want crappy video ripped from 480p DVDs -- I want true HD content, either in 720p or downconverted from 1080p.

GermanSuplex · Apr 3, 2010

clayj said:
... it seems to me like ripping any DVD for playback on an iPad is not going to return optimal results, due to the fact that a DVD's resolution tops out at 480p.

The iPad's screen is not fully-capable of displaying 720p content, due to the fact that 720p content is 1280 x 720 and the iPad's screen is 1024 x 768 (which means 1280 x 720 content will need to be downconverted down to 1024 x 576 to maintain the aspect ratio -- we'll still have letterboxing), but even this is still better than upconverting 480p video to a higher resolution.

Are iTunes videos purchased from the iTunes Store actually 720p resolution?

And does anyone know if there's any tech available yet to let us rip Blu-ray movies from 1080p down into an iPad-compatible format? My whole thing is that I do not want crappy video ripped from 480p DVDs -- I want true HD content, either in 720p or downconverted from 1080p.

Look in the Apple TV forums. I've been ripping my Blu-Ray's with MakeMKV, which rips your movie and selected audio tracks from Blu-Ray disc into an mkv file which can be added to Handbrake for encoding to 720p video (including the chapters marks). It plays on my Apple TV and iPad, and it looks great on both. And they're fairly small too.... 2 hour movies range from 2.25 to 3.75 gigs depending on aspect ratio and type of movie. I use MetaX to add Cast, Director, Producer, etc. info.

For 480p content (i.e. dvd's), just use the Universal setting.

clayj · Apr 3, 2010

GermanSuplex said:
Look in the Apple TV forums. I've been ripping my Blu-Ray's with MakeMKV, which rips your movie and selected audio tracks from Blu-Ray disc into an mkv file which can be added to Handbrake for encoding to 720p video (including the chapters marks). It plays on my Apple TV and iPad, and it looks great on both. And they're fairly small too.... 2 hour movies range from 2.25 to 3.75 gigs depending on aspect ratio and type of movie. I use MetaX to add Cast, Director, Producer, etc. info.

For 480p content (i.e. dvd's), just use the Universal setting.

Good info, thanks! I've been thinking about getting a Blu-ray drive for my Mac Pro and this is just one more reason to do it (the first being using it for data backups).

aiongiant · Apr 3, 2010

GermanSuplex said:
Look in the Apple TV forums. I've been ripping my Blu-Ray's with MakeMKV, which rips your movie and selected audio tracks from Blu-Ray disc into an mkv file which can be added to Handbrake for encoding to 720p video (including the chapters marks). It plays on my Apple TV and iPad, and it looks great on both. And they're fairly small too.... 2 hour movies range from 2.25 to 3.75 gigs depending on aspect ratio and type of movie. I use MetaX to add Cast, Director, Producer, etc. info.

For 480p content (i.e. dvd's), just use the Universal setting.

what bitrate do you use for the mp4/m4v files in handbrake? i normally use average bitrate of 4500kbps curious if this will work on the iPad?

DaveGee · Apr 3, 2010

gillybean said:
"film title 720p" didn't give me any meaningful results on google.

I'm now trying the Apple -> Universal setting on Handbrake, and editing the picture resolution to be 1280 x 720, I hope this works.

That person is suggesting you steal the video using one of the many torrent sites - just try to avoid any that are currently being monitored by the RIAA and/or MPAA. Perhaps he/she will also provide you with a legal defense fund when you get caught. Something tells me you shouldn't hold your breath though. We can argue the 'legality' of downloading a video from the net that you ALREADY OWN until the cows come home... the fact remains, no mater how many different ways you might own a copyrighted work... It's (almost) never legal to download it from a random torrent site.

** Yes I know some artists allow their works (especially concert 'tapes') to be freely downloaded even though they are STILL protected under a copyright. However, downloading any (modern) 'major motion picture' or even TV show, will all but assuredly be breaking the law.

GermanSuplex · Apr 3, 2010

aiongiant said:
what bitrate do you use for the mp4/m4v files in handbrake? i normally use average bitrate of 4500kbps curious if this will work on the iPad?

I use the constant quality setting and let Handbrake pick the best bitrate. I use whatever video settings are under the Universal preset and then just tweak a few things to my liking (like audio).

monksealpup · Apr 3, 2010

GermanSuplex said:
I use whatever video settings are under the Universal preset and then just tweak a few things to my liking (like audio).

Best advice on these forums (this has been discussed in tons of other threads, so why the hell do people keep making new ones?). Start with Universal for anything you'll be watching on your computer, AppleTV, iPhone, or iPad (that's why it's called UNIVERSAL!!). From there, if you need to change audio language or add subtitles, do that, otherwise just hit go. There's really nothing else to touch (okay, rename the file).

aiongiant · Apr 3, 2010

GermanSuplex said:
I use the constant quality setting and let Handbrake pick the best bitrate. I use whatever video settings are under the Universal preset and then just tweak a few things to my liking (like audio).

would be able to do a quick movie info on the converted file? quicktime->movie inspector if you have a chance curious if my video files that i have converted already will work

obey908 · Apr 3, 2010

My movies/tv shows are looking amazing on the iPad. I use the AppleTV preset with 62.25% constant quality.

wingnut8 · Apr 3, 2010

For some reason every video I've converted with Handbrake to MP4 shows up as just a white screen when I play it back after converting for iPad in iTunes.

zub3qin · Apr 4, 2010

wingnut8 said:
For some reason every video I've converted with Handbrake to MP4 shows up as just a white screen when I play it back after converting for iPad in iTunes.

same here-- also when using quicktime to convert.

I have a movie that is encoded as mp4, 720x400, h264, aac
It plays in quicktime and itunes, but when I try and sync it to iPad, it says iPad cannot play this movie.....
why?

So I trie converting it to iPhone format, Apple TV format, etc.... with Quicktime... but then it turns into a white screen with the audio preserved but no video

GoCubsGo · Apr 23, 2010

I just used Handbrake to encode Avatar (standard DVD) using some settings I found in the handbrake forums.

Video
H.264
Average bitrate 4000
MP4 file
(2 pass unchecked)

Picture Settings
Detelecine - Default
Deinterlace - slow
Denoise - Medium
Deblock - off
Grayscale - unchecked
Anamorphic - Strict

Audio
AAC Dolby Pro Logic 48khz 160 kbps

It took under an hour (well under an hour) and the file is 5.32 GB. I undertand this may not transfer via iTunes, I intend to use Goodreader if it doesn't. However, it does play over AirVideo just fine and looks pretty fantastic. I think I want to force the frame rate next time.

I agree that trying to use 720p settings on a 480p DVD is silly but Handbrake does a good job of up converting files.

Imsuperjp · Apr 23, 2010

jessica. said:
I just used Handbrake to encode Avatar (standard DVD) using some settings I found in the handbrake forums.

Video
H.264
Average bitrate 4000
MP4 file
(2 pass unchecked)

Picture Settings
Detelecine - Default
Deinterlace - slow
Denoise - Medium
Deblock - off
Grayscale - unchecked
Anamorphic - Strict

Audio
AAC Dolby Pro Logic 48khz 160 kbps

It took under an hour (well under an hour) and the file is 5.32 GB. I undertand this may not transfer via iTunes, I intend to use Goodreader if it doesn't. However, it does play over AirVideo just fine and looks pretty fantastic. I think I want to force the frame rate next time.

I agree that trying to use 720p settings on a 480p DVD is silly but Handbrake does a good job of up converting files.

I used the appletv settings when I ripped Avatar and it was 3.17 gb. Transferred fine to the iPad and it looks crystal clear. Volume is a little soft though

melman101 · Apr 23, 2010

I've been using the "Universal" setting under the Apple section and that has been working out great for me.

Custom Handbrake settings for Ipad?

macrumors regular

macrumors 65816

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502a

macrumors regular

macrumors 601

macrumors regular

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502a

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 604

macrumors 68000

macrumors 604

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 68000

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 65816

macrumors 65816

macrumors Nehalem

macrumors 6502

macrumors 68030

Our Staff