Hello,

Before you proceed, make sure you you've downloaded the latest Nightly Build of HandBrake from https://build.handbrake.fr/ as the Nightly Builds have things like an AppleTV 3 (designed for speedy 1080p encoding) that the snapshot release (HandBrake 0.9.6) doesn't have.

There are two presets attached, 1080p Best (a custom preset for 1080p encoding) and 720p Best (basically HandBrake's AppleTV 1 preset on steroids).

To import presets in HandBrake, go to Presets > Import... in the Menubar.

VIDEO

All presets use Constant Quality encoding at 20 because it's faster and does some intelligent things -- more bits for the action scenes, less bit for the talky scenes -- that Average Bit Rate (or 2-Pass encoding) can't do.

In most cases you can move the slider to the left -- make the RF number HIGHER -- and to produce a smaller quality file with little perceptible loss in quality. I find that it's pretty hard to distinguish between a CQ 21 vs. 20 encode (the major areas of difference are backgrounds) but I'm very particular about my viewing setup (room lighting, TV brightness). If your flat or firehouse isn't like that, you might even want to lower the CQ to 19, even 18. (But try not to go lower than 18, that's the point of diminishing returns, in my experience)

If you wanna do Average Bit Rate encoding, here are some updated 1080p figures for you:

 * 2.40:1 films (HandBrake lists output picture size ~ 1920 x 800 ) == ~ 4400 Kbps
 * 2.35:1 films (HandBrake lists output picture size ~ 1920 x 816 ) == ~ 4500 Kbps
 * 1.85:1 films (HandBrake lists output picture size ~ 1920 x 1040) == ~ 5200 Kbps
 * 1.78:1 films (HandBrake lists output picture size ~ 1920 x 1080) == ~ 5300 Kbps

Again, these guidelines are for pristine sources (typically, films shot digitally, such as Steven Soderbergh's Haywire). If the source is dirty, is shot on film stock that's very grainy (you can tell by playing your source), or is *very* high motion -- and I'm encoding for best picture quality, with file size being no constraint -- I personally increase the bit rate by 2% to 10% (i.e., a 4400 Kbps encode jumps to 4500, even 4800 Kbps) depending on how demanding the footage is.

Also, try to adjust your picture size (under Picture Settings) so that your image is 1920 wide (1280 for 720p material) just in case that's not how the preset reads it.

If you want to remove grain, try HandBrake's Denoise filter, available under Picture Settings. A setting of Weak is usually good enough. Be mindful that the filter removes some detail along with the grain, so stronger settings are usually discouraged. If you keep the preset on Constant Quality and set Denoise to Weak, you can shave 10-15% off the file size without much detail loss. 

AUDIO:

The first audio track for iTunes .m4v files should be a stereo AAC file. The preset sets them at 160 Kbps but you can raise them if you like, to 320 Kbps. But I don't think it's worth it for most material. What *is* sometimes worth it is adjusting the Gain and the DRC values. Gain makes the whole track louder -- since you're (typically) compressing a 5.1 track into 2.0, it helps to set gain to 1 (I wouldn't go too crazy -- more than 4 -- with this since it raises what audio/video pros call the "noise floor" and could make your track hiss). Also, if you're compressing your audio lower than 160 Kbps (say 128 or even 96 Kbps), definitely set gain to 2, maybe 3 since reducing the bit rate always reduces the overall 'oomph' of an audio track. Another setting, DRC [Dynamic Range Compression], helps reduce the difference between the loud peaks and the quiet sounds, but HandBrake is unable to adjust the DRC with DTS source tracks (the most common source tracks you'll find on the .mkv files you'd download). Still, it's helpful for when your source has a Dolby Digital track.

The Dolby Digital audio on both presets is set to 384 Kbps, because that's what iTunes Store files use. The AppleTV can play 640 Kbps Dolby audio, so feel free to change those. If you're encoding for only, say, an iPad (which doesn't make use of Dolby audio), you can eliminate the Dolby audio all together. On a 90 minute film, you'd be saving about 240 MB.

SUBTITLES:

In most cases, I wouldn't do anything in this pane of HandBrake - typically better left to do this in Subler/YAMB unless you have a forced track -- think Star Wars -- that has dialogue for a language that you'd like to burn in. HandBrake's Nightly Builds can burn in SSA and PGS subtitles. If your source has either one -- it would probably tell you in the torrent description (labeled as "English Forced") you'd select that track, then check the box for Burned In.

If the .mkv has SRT subs instead of SSA, HandBrake will not burn those in -- you'll need to investigate how to convert those into SSA format (try Jubler: http://www.jubler.org/) and how to build a new .mkv using MKVToolnix (http://www.bunkus.org/videotools/mkvtoolnix/)

CHAPTERS:

You can enter the information -- by that I mean, title them or number them as '01', '02', etc -- in HandBrake or (for Mac users) in Subler.

Happy 1080p Encoding.

techrod108@gmail.com

(yeah, that's my email. No guarantees of a reply if you email me tho. >:) )