Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

lattermunch

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 13, 2008
1
0
Just wondering what the quality was like when you use handbrake to reformat a movie on it's highest settings and what the quality is like through Apple Tv.
 

uva25

macrumors regular
Feb 2, 2008
160
0
Pretty damn good in my opinion but I don't have Blu Ray and could care less about action packed movies with special effects.
 

iowamensan

macrumors 6502
Feb 19, 2006
312
2
I have ripped and encoded about 200 movies I own on DVD using the Handbrake AppleTV setting, only turning on 2 pass encoding with turbo first pass. I would say that the quality is as close to DVD as you can get without putting in the DVD. My files are in the 2-3 GB or so range.
 

megfilmworks

macrumors 68020
Jul 1, 2007
2,046
16
Sherman Oaks
I use Visual hub and it's pretty good...even on my 132" projection. It is only subtly degraded. Doubt you will notice it on sizes of 42" or less. These are SD files though not HD.
 

SHAWNYMAC

macrumors member
Jan 7, 2008
88
2
JERSEY SHORE
Hey Guys...well I Was Very Excited When I Picked My Atv Up But After Hooking It Up To My 65" Sony Lcd I Was Not Impressed At All....nothing Compares To My Ps3 But ,i Do Like The Interface And Seeing My Files On My Big Screen....
 

Scarpad

macrumors 68020
Jan 13, 2005
2,135
632
Ma
I do all my Movie Encodes using the Apple TV Preset with 2 pass encoding and I would say they are very close to the DVD, and then when upconverted to my 46" Sony Bravia at 1080p I would say I cannot see the difference between my DVD and the ATV encode. Now Blu Ray is better thru the PS3 , but that's like comparing Apples to oranges. For most movies my ATV Encodes suffice, for those special films I buy blu.
 

gwsat

macrumors 68000
Apr 12, 2008
1,920
0
Tulsa
I, too, have been pleased with the PQ on my Apple TV of movies ripped using Handbrake. Unlike many others, I now have Handbrake make only a single pass instead of two. Movies ripped and converted to MP4 with that process look just as good to me as those on which I had used two passes.
 

Scarpad

macrumors 68020
Jan 13, 2005
2,135
632
Ma
I, too, have been pleased with the PQ on my Apple TV of movies ripped using Handbrake. Unlike many others, I now have Handbrake make only a single pass instead of two. Movies ripped and converted to MP4 with that process look just as good to me as those on which I had used two passes.

I've gone to using one pass on my TV shows transferred and those , especially older B&W Series, look fine with 1 pass at an 1800 bitrate. I still Use 2 pass on movies, I think with two pass the Black level is more solid and the colors a bit better, at least to my eye. It only adds maybe another hour to the encode , so no big deal.
 

pilotError

macrumors 68020
Apr 12, 2006
2,237
4
Long Island
The issue is going to be what resolution is native on your TV and how good of an upscaling chip your TV has. The ATV upscaling isn't the greatest, so for those that are getting poor quality may be better off setting the resolution to 720p and letting the TV do the upscaling.

Sometimes you need to play with the various settings and see which one works for you.
 

Scarpad

macrumors 68020
Jan 13, 2005
2,135
632
Ma
The issue is going to be what resolution is native on your TV and how good of an upscaling chip your TV has. The ATV upscaling isn't the greatest, so for those that are getting poor quality may be better off setting the resolution to 720p and letting the TV do the upscaling.

Sometimes you need to play with the various settings and see which one works for you.

I have mine checked at 1080p, I'll have to try the 720p setting see which is better.
 

NightStorm

macrumors 68000
Jan 26, 2006
1,860
66
Whitehouse, OH
what does that get you vs a Single pass at an avarage bitrate? (other than possibly larger file sizes ?)

Potentially smaller file sizes (and with same/better quality). :D

Briefly, it allows the encoder to decide what bitrate to use to achieve a specific quality throughout the encode. I also lose the ability to accurately estimate the size of the resulting file.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.