1080p Handbrake settings for new Apple TV?

[ATJ777]

Originally Posted by NightStorm

If "Peak Framerate (VFR)" is checked, it is telling Handbrake to go no higher than 29.97 frames per second, the maximum allowed on the AppleTV. If the source is all 25fps, it will remain 25fps.

Thanks.

[shortcut3d]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9B179 Safari/7534.48.3)

I simply used the Apple TV 2 preset and only upped the video width to 1920. I am happy to report back that this worked cross platform with the Xbox 360, iPhone 4S, the New iPad and Apple TV 3.

[shortcut3d]

Originally Posted by andymodem

Curious what computer everyone has and what kind of encoding times you are getting with 1080P. I have several going right now on my Mac Mini so I'll update when I get a time.

2011 Mac mini server
2.0GHz Quad-Core Intel i7
8GB 1866MHz Kingston Hyper X
Source and Destination on LaCie Thunderbolt Little Big Disk modified with dual 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 running RAID 0

Handbrake 0.96
Starting Preset Apple TV 2
Video Width to 1920
Web Optimized Check
Advanced String vbv-bufsize=31250:vbv-maxrate=25000

11fps average

[Mike Valmike]

Originally Posted by ATJ777

A question about the presets if I may. I would have thought "Same as source" would make more sense for Framerate (FPS) than forcing them all to "29.97 (NTSC Video)". Why is converting something that might be 25fps to 29.97fps a good thing?

It's not. You should never change the framerate -- always do same as source but with detelecine turned on. Handbrake will actually go ahead and detelecine interlaced sources to get you the correct framerate on the output file, but will leave alone progressive sources.

[NightStorm]

FYI, this was posted to the Handbrake forums this morning.

https://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=23648

[SteveFromNY]

Originally Posted by NightStorm

FYI, this was posted to the Handbrake forums this morning.

https://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=23648

You have a couple of options:

For the AppleTV3
Normal - Up to 1080p. This preset is much faster than High Profile, but can produce larger file sizes. This may cause problems for weak wireless connected devices. Quality may be slightly less than High Profile
High Profile - Up to 1080p. Encodes will take a long time, but the quality is excellent and filesizes will be more reasonable than the Normal preset.

So does this mean just choose High Profile and, that's it?!?

[BeatCrazy]

Glad I found this thread. My new AppleTV will be here on Tuesday, and I have the new iPad already. I've been trying all weekend to get a decent sized (~10-15GB) file from Blu-ray rip that will work. I've got a base 2011 mini, and a Windows7 machine that I run Vidcoder on. I made my own custom preset with target size of 15GB. The first few I tried just bumping down the bit rate, but would end up with 40GB conversions. If I don't do Strict anamorphic conversion, I get oddball HxW settings. I'd like to keep 1920x1080.

I wonder if Handbrake gets a new preset, will it flow to Vidcoder pretty quickly?

On my mini, I also have Aunsoft video converter. I tweaked an existing preset in there, and am going to try to convert a STREAM folder in a bit.

[andymodem]

Originally Posted by shortcut3d

2011 Mac mini server
2.0GHz Quad-Core Intel i7
8GB 1866MHz Kingston Hyper X
Source and Destination on LaCie Thunderbolt Little Big Disk modified with dual 240GB OCZ Vertex 3 running RAID 0

Handbrake 0.96
Starting Preset Apple TV 2
Video Width to 1920
Web Optimized Check
Advanced String vbv-bufsize=31250:vbv-maxrate=25000

11fps average

Interesting, thanks for posting that. I've been using iFlicks and their iTunes 1080p preset and it takes about 4 hours to encode with my Mac Mini server.

[ncc1701d]

When I used handbrake with ATV 1 settings, they wouldn't play on my ATV 2. Now that I've recoded everything for ATV 2, will they work on an ATV3?

[SteveFromNY]

Originally Posted by ncc1701d

When I used handbrake with ATV 1 settings, they wouldn't play on my ATV 2. Now that I've recoded everything for ATV 2, will they work on an ATV3?

Yes, and they still look great.

[CrAkD]

Originally Posted by SteveFromNY

So does this mean just choose High Profile and, that's it?!?

if you have the time the high preset is awesome. I did Dark Knight with it yesterday. it took awhile like 6+ hours but the quality is perfect and the file size is under 7gb. i did a few other shorter movies with filesizes ranging up to 12gb and the quality is not even close.

[BeatCrazy]

Originally Posted by CrAkD

if you have the time the high preset is awesome. I did Dark Knight with it yesterday. it took awhile like 6+ hours but the quality is perfect and the file size is under 7gb. i did a few other shorter movies with filesizes ranging up to 12gb and the quality is not even close.

Do you mean the High profile under x264 settings? And if so, are you picking the 7GB file size?

[CrAkD]

Originally Posted by BeatCrazy

Do you mean the High profile under x264 settings? And if so, are you picking the 7GB file size?

no the high preset. its already set to 1080p.

[shortcut3d]

Originally Posted by andymodem

Interesting, thanks for posting that. I've been using iFlicks and their iTunes 1080p preset and it takes about 4 hours to encode with my Mac Mini server.

That was for Avatar with forced subs burned in.

Inception is going much faster up to 20fps and will complete in 4 hours.

I'm also comparing the file size using high preset by redoing Suckerpunch.

If the quality is the same but file size is smaller, I'd take the extra time.

[141077]

Originally Posted by CrAkD

if you have the time the high preset is awesome. I did Dark Knight with it yesterday. it took awhile like 6+ hours but the quality is perfect and the file size is under 7gb. i did a few other shorter movies with filesizes ranging up to 12gb and the quality is not even close.

Can you tell me which RF you use? I'd also like to have small files with good quality. 7 gb would be excellent.

[BeatCrazy]

Originally Posted by CrAkD

no the high preset. its already set to 1080p.

Ah, OK. I'm encoding now, and it looks like the end result will be about 7GB. Is there anyway to get about twice that size, for improved quality? Right now, I'm averaging 12.7FPS.

[kagharaht]

I suppose you can turn off decomb and detelicine since it's already a progressive source from bluray correct?

[khollister]

After screwing with iFLicks and iVI (still working with the iVI dev since it does PGS subs easily, but the PQ isn't as good as Handbrake), I am back to using Handbrake with the High Profile preset with the following changes:

• Web Optimized on
• RF = 18

For forced subs I am using MKVtoolnix to extract the forced sub (with the included shell program mkvextract), BDsup2sub to convert it to VOB, MKVmerge GUI (part of mkvtoolnix) to remix the VOB sub with the MKV and then Handbrake to burn in the VOB forced sub.

I am using Subler beta 0.15 for metadata and to correctly set the iTunes attribute for "HD(1080p)"

Messy, but the PQ from HB is pretty noticeably better than iFlicks or the latest iVI beta that does High profile, but I'm still sending logs to the dev there to see if I can get a single shot PGS sub solution.

With a 2010 MacPro 3.33 6 core, I get about 14-15 fps with Handbrake (about 3-3.5 hours for most movies). FIle sizes range from 7-10 GB, about a 3:1 size reduction or so.

----------

What's kinda surprising is that there is color & contrast differences between the various files produced by HB, iFlicks & iVI, not just sharpness and motion artifacts.

With the ATV3 this gives you PQ not equal to blu-ray (a straight BD rip to MKV played on the ATV doesn't look quite as good as my BD players either), but far better than anything you are likely to get on cable or satellite. Also looks better than 720 iTunes purchased content - haven't tried any of the 1080 stuff yet.

[NightStorm]

Originally Posted by kagharaht

I suppose you can turn off decomb and detelicine since it's already a progressive source from bluray correct?

Yes, but leaving them on shouldn't reduce the quality of your encode either.

[khollister]

Originally Posted by BeatCrazy

Ah, OK. I'm encoding now, and it looks like the end result will be about 7GB. Is there anyway to get about twice that size, for improved quality? Right now, I'm averaging 12.7FPS.

reduce the RF. The preset defaults to 20, if I recall. I run it at 18, but you could try 16 and see what you think. Given that you are never going to exactly duplicate the PQ of the blu-ray with an ATV and a transcoded source, I feel 18 or so is the point of diminishing returns.

I'm just trying to get something for "casual" viewing that is better than cable HD quality. I play the BD in my Oppo if I am critically viewing or having "movie night". I use the ATV as a substitute for channel surfing the cable if I'm reading, surfing the web on the couch, or whatever.

[andymodem]

I wonder what kind of system/s Apple uses to encode for the iTunes store or if the movie studios submit already encoded files.

[kagharaht]

Originally Posted by NightStorm

Yes, but leaving them on shouldn't reduce the quality of your encode either.

Oh. I was thinking it would speed it up just a smidgen?

[BeatCrazy]

Originally Posted by khollister

reduce the RF. The preset defaults to 20, if I recall. I run it at 18, but you could try 16 and see what you think. Given that you are never going to exactly duplicate the PQ of the blu-ray with an ATV and a transcoded source, I feel 18 or so is the point of diminishing returns.

I'm just trying to get something for "casual" viewing that is better than cable HD quality. I play the BD in my Oppo if I am critically viewing or having "movie night". I use the ATV as a substitute for channel surfing the cable if I'm reading, surfing the web on the couch, or whatever.

Thanks. Yes, we're after the same thing. I also have an OPPO, and I'll definitely use the disc for serious viewing. This transcode is for casual viewing on the smaller TVs in the house. I ordered a new AppleTV for one of those rooms, and will probably get a second for the bedroom.

[NightStorm]

Originally Posted by andymodem

I wonder what kind of system/s Apple uses to encode for the iTunes store or if the movie studios submit already encoded files.

I can assure you Apple doesn't get advanced copies of the Bluray that they re-compress with Handbrake for the iTunes store.

Like music sold in the store, I imagine the studio is responsible for compressing and tagging the video following Apple's strict quality guidelines.

[chiefpavvy]

Just to reiterate, since folks keep being obsessed over creating files that are "iTunes Store" Quality. Ain't gonna happen. iTunes (or the studios) are compressing from the original studio masters, which are much higher quality than even Blu-Ray disc (very high quality, but still a lossy format) which allows them to produce a file at a given size and bitrate you will never match.

In other words, use what works for you. Every one has a different set of eyes. But quit trying to reach some elusive plateau because you'll never get there.