HandBrake ripping compatibility tests

[bacaramac]

Originally Posted by dynaflash

Um, for those of you starting out with the iPod preset then jacking up the bitrate, be sure you are also changing the vbv settings in the Advanced Panel.They are directly related to the average bitrate you use. Or try removing them altogether if you want. Though you then risk the chance of local bitrate spikes that could cause your iPod to drop frames on playback for complex scenes.

I posted this in a related post to this iPod setting on Handbrake forum, but thought I would post here also for other to see.

Can you please help me to understand how vbv and bitrate are tied and the impact of not increasing vbv if I increase the bitrate? Does it make it pointless to increase the Bitrate if I do not increase the VBV?

I use these settings to work with AppleTV, iPhone and iTunes with 5.1. One high quality encode for all.

[consumerx]

Hello

I will be stuck with using Handbrake 0.9.1 for a while, and although I understand 5.1 support is only available to HB 0.9.2 users, I assume that the HB 0.9.2 iPod presets can be translated to HB 0.9.1. Will somebody provide a guide with the 0.9.1 equivalents of the great compatibility table that comw generated?

Unless I am missing something, the terms "strict" and "loose" do not exist in the HB 0.9.1 gui, and from what I understand there is no longer a differentiation between iPod and Main encoders in HB 0.9.2.

Ignoring that I miss out on 5.1 and the better H.264 encoder, what do I need to do in my HB 0.9.1 settings to get a fantastic Hi-rez iPod + anamorphic results?

I thank you for your time.
cheers!

[Chris Welch]

Can someone please just give me settings for a good rip that will look good on my 24" iMac and will ALSO function on my iPhone? That's all I want.

[NightStorm]

Originally Posted by consumerx

Hello

I will be stuck with using Handbrake 0.9.1 for a while, and although I understand 5.1 support is only available to HB 0.9.2 users, I assume that the HB 0.9.2 iPod presets can be translated to HB 0.9.1. Will somebody provide a guide with the 0.9.1 equivalents of the great compatibility table that comw generated?

Unless I am missing something, the terms "strict" and "loose" do not exist in the HB 0.9.1 gui, and from what I understand there is no longer a differentiation between iPod and Main encoders in HB 0.9.2.

Ignoring that I miss out on 5.1 and the better H.264 encoder, what do I need to do in my HB 0.9.1 settings to get a fantastic Hi-rez iPod + anamorphic results?

I thank you for your time.
cheers!

You can't, without taking stuff out of the .9.2 source and putting it into .9.1. The iPod/iPhone require a special atom (pasp) to be written into the file to indicate correct anamorphic settings. This is not in .9.1, so you will never get a properly-displayed anamorphic encode out of .9.1 for the iPod family.

The iPod presets are identical between .9.1 and .9.2 as far as I know. The .9.2 iPod presets do not use anamorphic or AC3 at this time.

[FreeState]

Originally Posted by Chris Welch

Can someone please just give me settings for a good rip that will look good on my 24" iMac and will ALSO function on my iPhone? That's all I want.

Use the preset for iPhone/iPod Touch - should produce a good picture for the iMac and the phone.

[Chris Welch]

Right, but it seems that people here say that the iPod High-Rez setting (and changing the kbps to 2500) is a better route than the iPhone setting.

[zedsdead]

Originally Posted by Chris Welch

Right, but it seems that people here say that the iPod High-Rez setting (and changing the kbps to 2500) is a better route than the iPhone setting.

I agree. Start with the iPod High -Rez setting but make sure you have Anamorphic turned on now that the iPhone supports it. Loose or Strict, really will not make a noticeable difference. kbps at either 2000 or 2500. I really don't think there is much of a difference between the two. If you want more space, do with the first as there is not that much difference if any at all.

[Chris Welch]

See, that's what I don't get. Right now, I'm trying to put Michael Clayton on my computer.

Now, when I select iPod High-Rez with Anamorphic on Loose, I get:

Source: 720 x 480
Output: 640 x 320
Anamorphic: 758 x 320 Loose
Keep aspect ratio: Off

Now, is it bad that the aspect ratio isn't being kept? I don't quite understand.

[Fromasta Flex]

Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong? I believe I'm following the directions of the original poster exactly, but none of the resulting files from the 2 movies I've tried ever sync to my iPod. I start with iPod High-Rez on maximum resolution, change to strict anamorphic, set the bitrate at 2500, change to AAC +AC3 audio, choose 2-pass, and go, but none of the files will sync to the iPod. Handbrake reads: Source: 720x480, Output: 720x460, Anamorphic: 853x460 Strict. Any help is greatly appreciated!

[bacaramac]

Originally Posted by Fromasta Flex

Can someone please tell me what I'm doing wrong? I believe I'm following the directions of the original poster exactly, but none of the resulting files from the 2 movies I've tried ever sync to my iPod. I start with iPod High-Rez on maximum resolution, change to strict anamorphic, set the bitrate at 2500, change to AAC +AC3 audio, choose 2-pass, and go, but none of the files will sync to the iPod. Handbrake reads: Source: 720x480, Output: 720x460, Anamorphic: 853x460 Strict. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I am not sure what iPod you have, but it works on the iPhone and Touch. I think the iPod Atom allows this to work on 5G iPods, but I do not have an older iPod. Hope this helps.

[Fromasta Flex]

Originally Posted by bacaramac

I am not sure what iPod you have, but it works on the iPhone and Touch. I think the iPod Atom allows this to work on 5G iPods, but I do not have an older iPod. Hope this helps.

Well this is a real head scratcher. The resulting file (that had the iPod Atom thingy checked) WILL play on my iPhone, but not on my 5G iPod video. Anyone have any ideas??

[ipoddin]

Encoded Scarface using this hybrid setting and then with the standard apple tv preset. Honestly couldn't see a difference. So I'm sticking with the hybrid so I get the best of both worlds.

[zedsdead]

Originally Posted by Fromasta Flex

Well this is a real head scratcher. The resulting file (that had the iPod Atom thingy checked) WILL play on my iPhone, but not on my 5G iPod video. Anyone have any ideas??

The 5th Gen iPods have a video limit of 640x480. The iPod Atom might allow anamorphic to work (not sure about this), but there is a hard limit on the initial size of the file. Make sure it does not pass 640x480.

[dynaflash]

the 5 g and 5.5 g ipods cannot use strict anamorphic

[Fromasta Flex]

Originally Posted by dynaflash

the 5 g and 5.5 g ipods cannot use strict anamorphic

So from what you said, I tried using loose anamorphic and changed the width to 640, and now it works, and it appears the file has slightly higher resolution. To me, it does look like better quality, but I just want to confirm: it's worth it if I want the best quality on a computer, appleTV, or 5G iPod to use loose anamorphic rather than just the iPod Hi-rez setting, right? What advantage do I lose having to use loose rather than strict? (I don't fully understand the wiki.)

[dynaflash]

Yep, in the case of ipod atv cross compatibility you need to use loose anamorphic ( it was mostly added for that exact situation) Strict does a better job of truly reflecting the anamorphic quality of the actual source. however this case "Loose" is the only working solution.

[nojokejones]

Originally Posted by dynaflash

Um, for those of you starting out with the iPod preset then jacking up the bitrate, be sure you are also changing the vbv settings in the Advanced Panel.They are directly related to the average bitrate you use. Or try removing them altogether if you want. Though you then risk the chance of local bitrate spikes that could cause your iPod to drop frames on playback for complex scenes.

So you are saying to increase the "vbv-maxrate" to 2500 (if that is what you want the bitrate to be) from the hi-res ipod setting of 1500. What about the vbv-bufsize. It is 2000 in the hi-res preset. Would you increase it to 2500 (500 more than it's original setting in the hi-res preset?)

Before:
vbv-maxrate=1500:vbv-bufsize=2000

After?:
vbv-maxrate=2500:vbv-bufsize=3000

What do they do?

Thanks

[Fromasta Flex]

I have the same question as the poster above me....what exactly do we need to change in the advanced panel?? Because I think my iPod may be experiencing some lagging due to this...

[dynaflash]

well, if the vbv-maxrate is less than the abr. vbv will be ignored pretty much, which means you open yourself up to bitrate spikes that can cause frame dropping.

rhester is the vbv guy for iPods over at the handbrake forums, but it seems to me going with 2500/3000 is better than leaving it. vbv is in many ways as much art as science in practice. The best place for a discussion of vbv is really in the HB forums as its a rathole not best gone down here. Realize that many movies will play just fine if you simply remove the vbv part of the opt string, you will really notice it mosly on very complex scenes like the beggining of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. That first five minutes can cause frame dropping in a big way if not properly controlled.

[cowm007]

Update: I finally found a someone with a 4g and a 5g ipod to play with so that I can conduct some more conclusive tests.

I've ripped over 72 individual files using many combinations of settings and will hopefully have a nice complete chart by next Monday. I've also ripped complete movies with to see actual sizes and real-world effects. One major thing I've noticed is that ripping at 5000kbps with various audio tracks crashes Handbrake so I'll be detailing that later.

Btw, so far every file plays fine on TV, iPhone/iPod Touch, and iPod nano so just missing the older iPods (and the 6g iPod) tests.

[dynaflash]

Originally Posted by nojokejones

So you are saying to increase the "vbv-maxrate" to 2500 (if that is what you want the bitrate to be) from the hi-res ipod setting of 1500. What about the vbv-bufsize. It is 2000 in the hi-res preset. Would you increase it to 2500 (500 more than it's original setting in the hi-res preset?)

Before:
vbv-maxrate=1500:vbv-bufsize=2000

After?:
vbv-maxrate=2500:vbv-bufsize=3000

What do they do?

Thanks

Okay, so with an abr of 2500 on the iPod preset, it is sane to change the vbv-maxrate to 2500, but leave the vbv-bufsize at 2000. 3000 allows for too long of a buffer which the ipod does not have. So you would use this:

vbv-maxrate=2500:vbv-bufsize=2000

[Fromasta Flex]

Originally Posted by dynaflash

Okay, so with an abr of 2500 on the iPod preset, it is sane to change the vbv-maxrate to 2500, but leave the vbv-bufsize at 2000. 3000 allows for too long of a buffer which the ipod does not have. So you would use this:

vbv-maxrate=2500:vbv-bufsize=2000

Still don't know what any of that means, but as long as I know what to do, it doesn't matter. Thanks! lol

[dynaflash]

Fair enough

[nojokejones]

Originally Posted by Fromasta Flex

Still don't know what any of that means, but as long as I know what to do, it doesn't matter. Thanks! lol

I'm with you. I just want a hybrid preset. Seems like that would be a good one for HB to add.

I made some screenshots. From what I can follow, these are the settings to create a high enough quality, itouch & iphone compatible .m4v (.m4v is the same as a .mp4) with stereo and AC3 (that's 5.1) audio that shouldn't be that large (file size).

Please let me know if I missed something.

dynaflash, do you know someone at HB to get a hybrid preset?

Thanks for all the help.

[dynaflash]

Originally Posted by nojokejones

dynaflash, do you know someone at HB to get a hybrid preset?

Um, yeah I might know someone at HB. But why not just make your own ?