Apple TV Good!

[netdog]

Sure they run hot, and yes they are limited (for now) but honestly, these things are bloody great.

Somebody had to say it.

 

[dsnort]

I'm loving mine! I've ripped a few DVD's THAT I OWN, and they look great on the ATV.

My only complaint is that the 40GB Hard drive is a bit limiting.

 

[netdog]

Do you have a good and simple guide for ripping for ATV? There has been so much debate over what is acceptable.

 

[FleurDuMal]

Do you have a good and simple guide for ripping for ATV? There has been so much debate over what is acceptable.

I've never used it (always used Handbrake) but I might try VisualHub at some point. It's not free however.

Just a question, do ripped movies look better on a proper TV than they do on a similar sized computer monitor? Are the artefacts from compression more or less noticable?

 

[ExoticFish]

i use Handbrake for DVD's and iSquint (free version of Visual Hub) for converting videos i already have.

 

[dsnort]

I've been using Mediafork, the latest version of Handbrake.

Encoding to h.264, 1500 average bitrate. Go into picture settings and play with them until the pic looks right, ( usually anamorphic, but not always). I haven't noticed that 2 pass encoding made any difference in picture quality, so I'm just going with single pass.

Movies I've encoded thus look better to me than native iTines content that I've downloaded, ( not that the iTunes stuff is bad, it just doesn't have the same "snap".)

 

[roland.g]

I've never used it (always used Handbrake) but I might try VisualHub at some point. It's not free however.

Just a question, do ripped movies look better on a proper TV than they do on a similar sized computer monitor? Are the artefacts from compression more or less noticable?

I have a 19" CRT running 1280x1024 or so resolution, and I get blockyness when viewing a ripped Mediafork movie in H.264 2-pass 720x304 whether at 1500, 2000, or 2500 viewed full screen on the CRT. However, I get to blockyness and can't tell the difference through Apple TV on my Samsung 42" DLP. Looks just like a DVD. And as far as the audio complaints, I haven't done a test, but since it is simulated, the audio sounds great, so does the sub even though it is downmixed or whatever. Still I am not going to go out and rip my whole library until people have had them longer, there is more consensus on settings, Mediafork has more releases (I think .8.5 is coming soon with better anamorphic), and once Leopard comes out with I'm guessing improvements to Quicktime.

 

[Krevnik]

Handbrake 0.8.5b1 will have some basic chapter support as well, with full, proper chapter support coming in the release after that.

 

[michaelsaxon]

The $23 I dropped on VisualHub have been well worth it. The batch file conversions, easy interface, specific support for AppleTV, etc., have made it much easier for me to drag and drop my files, push a slider to select quality, and then go do something else.

I've been very happy with it and my movies look great downstairs.

 

[petvas]

I find that Visual Hub isnt worth 23$!!!

It doesnt let you rip a dvd, so subtitles are impossible!

I am using the latest version of Handbrake/Mediafork with the following settings for ripping DVDs:

Resolution: equal with the DVD resolution
Anamorphic: On
Video Bitrate: 3000Kbps
Audio: 44Khz - 320Kbps

These settings produce excellent results on my 32" Philips HD Ready TV.
The next public beta of Handbrake will support Chapters! I have compiled it and using it right now. It is really pretty neat.


Apple TV is cool and I love it!

 

[esco]

I <3 my TV. My dorm room doesn't have a lot of room to put all my TV DVD boxes in (9 seasons of South Park, 4 volumes of Family Guy, 4 seasons of Futurama, 10 seasons of Friends, etc.) so ripping them all to my computer and then leaving those boxes at home is really convenient.