Um, yeah I might know someone at HB. But why not just make your own ?
Ha! Because then we wouldn't have to rattle off 3 pages in a forum to get to the answer.
Um, yeah I might know someone at HB. But why not just make your own ?
Ha! Because then we wouldn't have to rattle off 3 pages in a forum to get to the answer.
You should check out the HB forums. I believe there is a thread dedicated to just that. HB settings for best quality pushing the TV to the limits. My simple answer would be just use the TV preset. It really is quite good. You probably want to check autoselect subtitles and forced subtitles only. Getting the right subtitles to display takes a little tinkering. But for audio and video quality, TV preset is a pretty brainless way to get excellent quality.
yes. Though the quality will be marginal in all likelihood. Try one.I'm wondering if movies ripped using the iPhone preset will play on the AppleTV without any addition converting?
HandBrake ripping compatibility tests
By: Cowm007
Table of Contents
- i - Revision history
- 1.0 - Introduction
- 2.0 - Proposal
- 3.0 - Testing
- 4.0 - Results
- 5.0 - Credits
i - Revision history
» 02/19/2008 - Created the guide
» 03/12/2008 - Edited it to cool format
1.0 - Introduction
» This guide was made for you who does not know what settings to put on Handbrake in order to have a good-looking file that is compatible with iPods, iPhone, and the Apple TV.
2.0 - Proposal
I don't know how many of you are in the same situation as me, but I have a few Apple devices I'd like to play my media on. I'd also like to have only 1 file that plays across all the platforms and has the best quality/size ratio possible. I've looked online for such a solution but found mixed results so I've decided to run my own tests using the newly released HandBrake version 0.9.2.
I'm testing the files on various devices. They are as follows:
iTunes 7.6
Apple TV Take 2
iPhone with 1.1.3 Firmware
3g iPod nano with 1.1. Firmware
3.0 - Testing
My hardware is a MacBook with a 2Ghz Core 2 duo and 3GB of RAM. I'm ripping chapter 1 of the "Groundhog Day" widescreen DVD which has 5.1 audio and multiple languages. For quality, I always do 2-pass encoding as it helps immensely with fast scene changes. For benchmark purposes, I get 60fps average on the 1st pass and 19fps average on the 2nd pass at the 1500 kbps bitrate.
Alright here's my results placed into a nice easy to read chart. Basically what I can gather is that the HandBrake team has done a great job in terms of compatibility and that Apple has understated the iPhone/iPod's potential. I'm happy to find that both my iPod and iPhone were able to handle the full sized anamorphic DVD rip with 4 audio tracks (AAC and AC3).
The settings I choose were based off the "iPod High" preset. My rationale for the tested resolutions is based off Apple's published iPhone/iPod specs. http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html According to them, the max resolution the iPhone can handle is 640x480 @ 1500kbps. I found out what this actually means is that the max pixel count the iPhone can handle is 307,200 pixels (640 times 480). So the 720x400 was the highest you can get a widescreen rip (non-anamorphic) and still be under the max pixel count (288,000 px).
Surprisingly though, the iPhone/iPod were able to handle the full resolution 708x466 (329,928 px) without complaints. Since the resolution limit was higher that I expected, I decided to test other bit-rates as well. I tried both 2500 and then 5000kbps. The results are as follows.
Important note: You HAVE to choose the iPod/iPhone preset first and crank up the setting from there if you want to get these high quality cross-device files. If you choose the Apple TV preset and go from there they won't work. I'm guessing it's got something to do with the advanced flags. Also, it didn't matter if I checked the "iPod Atom" flag or not. I'm not sure anymore what it's for, maybe some older iPods require it but I don't have any to test with.
4.0 - Results
Extrapolating the data, the average sizes for a 90 minute movie file should be as follows:
All@1500kbps, 2x AAC: 1,188 MB
All@1500kbps, 1x AAC, 1x AC3: 1,360 MB
All@1500kbps, 2x AAC, 2x AC3: 1,620 MB
Anamorphic @ 2500: 2,340 MB
Anamorphic @ 5000: 4,000 MB
OK so conclusions. Looks like the devices can handle much more than I thought they could. I've done tests before and it used to be I couldn't get the anamorphic or the higher bitrate files to play on my iPhone. So it looks like I can start upping the quality of my rips and not worry about compatibility. On the downside, my previous rips now feel old and outdated lol.
The settings I'll probably use on movies from now on are the Anamorphic Strict setting for the highest resolution possible and 2500kbps video. I did always feel 1500 was lacking clarity on the Apple TV so it's nice to be able to increase that. 5000kbps seems like over kill to me since I can't really notice a difference between that and 2500kbps. It's also pushing the 4GB file limit people seem to run into trouble with. I'll leave the 5000+AC3 for my HD rips, those can really benefit from it.
Still not sure about audio since it only benefits the Apple TV. The size jump is also quite high for the high quality AC3 tracks. I'd rather have 2 different languages than the 5.1 surround sound with the added size penalty. But that's just personal choice.
The results are not conclusive as I have yet to try a full screen DVD and one of those ultra widescreen DVDs, but given the iPhone/iPod outperformed, I think I'll find similar results with those.
5.0 - Credits
cowm007: Writing this guide
Kikobarbada: Design
Normal uses cabac which makes it iPod/iPhone incompatible. iPods require that cabac be off in the advanced panel. iF it worked on the iPod and looked better than the iPod Hi rez preset. well then it would be the iPod hi rez presetHow is the normal preset? Does it look good on all devices...
I've tried ripping The Last Emperor directors cut 218 Minutes long via handbrake using the default apple tv settings with 2500bit rate. Handbrake keeps blowing up on me. The file is over 4gb in size and when it is in the middle of finishing the file it breaks. Is there some sort of 4GB limitation on Mac formatted drives? I was able to lower the bit rate and it worked with a size of about 3.7 GB.
Make sure the 64bit checkbox is checked. There was a 4GB limit (32 bits).
The vbv underflow messages you are seeing means that the x264 video encoder cannot constrain the bitrate within your requested vbv.So I checked out the activity window during an encode with these settings and noticed hundreds upon hundreds of messages saying "[warning]: VBV underflow." Is this a bad thing? It does say warning...
Yes, its your vbv settings causing that momentary pixelation at scene changes.EDIT: I don't know anything about this but could this vbv thing be related to the blips I keep seeing in all of my encodes? Has anyone actually watched one of their encodes with these settings all the way through? Every single one of the movies I do with these settings have various little digital "screw ups" (like how HDTV looks when it loses a signal for a sec) that are less than a second long every once in a while throughout playback...
ANOTHER EDIT: So for a test I tried re-encoding a movie but this time leaving the vbvmaxrate at 1500 and the bufsize at 2000, (how it is originally), and now those blips I was talking about are gone...I don't know anything about this, but judging based on testing I guess I'll just leave the vbv settings as is unless I notice something weird with the encode, unless anyone has any other ideas.
The vbv underflow messages you are seeing means that the x264 video encoder cannot constrain the bitrate within your requested vbv.
Yes, its your vbv settings causing that momentary pixelation at scene changes.
Depending on the abr you specified, if the vbv-maxrate is lower than the abr, x264 just ignores your vbv settings (in which case you will not get those pixelations at scene changes, but you risk dropped frames from momentary bitrate spikes).
If your vbv settings are ignored (or you don't set any) and you try to use 2500 abr, you may get stuttering on a 5G or 5.5G iPod as local bitrates can spike way beyond what that version of iPod can handle depending on your source and the complexity of the scene.
What abr and vbv settings are you trying to use on your 60GB iPod ? Note: I have both the atv and a 5G iPod and still use the stock iPod hi Rez preset. Yes, I can bump it up some to around 2000 abr, but tbh its safer imho to just use the iPod hi rez preset.
To be specific its an issue with the x264 rate control system. Just for kicks try a vbv-maxrate of 3000 (leave the bufsize alone) with your 2500 abr encode and see if that helps. As well, try it at 2500 using just one pass. the 2 pass vbv capabilities HB is using are a touch experimental and do not even exist yet in the x264 svn.
In other words, try those two methods and see if you get better results. Basically you are trying to squeeze every ounce of quality out of a limited playback device. So some trial and error is inevitable.
Well, ideally you want to try to get away with it as high as you can. Having said that the higher you go the closer you are getting to hitting the 5g ipods bitrate spike limit. To make matters even more confusing, it will only rear its ugly head on very complex scenes. Some movies might work fine with no vbv settings applied whatsoever. So use a source where you have seen frame drop before so you have a constant. I have a few benchmark movies I use to test. The worse I have seen it Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix. The frame dropping happens right at the beginning during the first chapter. If the iPod doesnt drop frames there, its not likely to and you have found the sweet spot.Is there any reason why I should attempt at finding a lower vbv-maxrate that works (like between 2500 and 3000)? Is there any disadvantage at having the vbv-maxrate that high?