Apple TV 2 vs 3 in Handbrake

[BasilFawlty]

I just bought a new Apple TV3 to replace my Apple TV 2 for my main TV in the living room. I'm using the old Apple TV2 in the bedroom TV.

All my DVDs I've ripped so far were ripped using the Handbrake Apple TV 2 preset. Now that I have an Apple TV 3, they all seem to play ok on both, but my question:

Should I rip future DVDs using the Apple TV 3 preset and if so will they still play ok on the Apple TV2? Or should I stick with ripping to the Apple TV 2 preset?

 

[zorinlynx]

It doesn't matter. The Apple TV 3 can play 1080p video, the 2 cannot. However, DVDs are nowhere near 1080p, they are 480p24, which either can play.

You'll probably get smaller files encoding for AppleTV 2, with no discernible quality difference.

 

[BasilFawlty]

It doesn't matter. The Apple TV 3 can play 1080p video, the 2 cannot. However, DVDs are nowhere near 1080p, they are 480p24, which either can play.

You'll probably get smaller files encoding for AppleTV 2, with no discernible quality difference.

Thanks. I'm wondering why they even bothered to put an Apple 3 preset in Handbrake? When I switch between the two, the only differences I can see are the H.264 Level goes from 3.1 to 4.0 The bufsize goes from 17500 to 31250, maxrate from 17500 to 25000 and Picture Filters go from none to "Decomb" (fast). OF course I have no idea what any of that actually means in practical terms.

 

[priitv8]

In a nutshell, aTV 2 preset will produce you a 1280x720 movie with lower bitrate. The profile 3.1 (vs 4.0) is just a hint to video decoder on how much complexity and processing power (bitrate) requirement it can expect from that movie. If this exceeds decoder's capability it just will reject the task.

 

[waw74]

for DVDs i'd stick with the aTV 2 preset, for blu-rays i might go either way.

aTV2 will give you a 720 file, aTV3 will give you 1080.
but if your source is smaller, you get the smaller resolution.
(DVDs won't be upscaled from 480 to 720/1080)

the ATV2 can handle the files converted with the aTV3 preset, it will obviously just play them back at 720.

i record my own TV, so i'll have 1080i MPEG2 files, in my testing the aTV3 profile took a lot longer to convert, and on my 50" plasma from about 10-15 feet away, there really wasn't a noticeable difference.

 

[Jambalaya]

@basil (great forum name by the way) you can sell the atv2 for more than a another new atv3 so if you are not using/interested in the jailbreak that's an option for you.