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ATV 4 Handbrake Settings

photogpab

photogpab

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 21, 2010
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Will the new ATV 4 get its handbrake setting to optimize for even better quality video files or would using the same old ATV 3 handbrake setting still provide the best quality file even for the new ATV 4?

I ripped my entire bluray collection to my computer so that I could easily watch my movies on my ATV and also have the movie available as files I can easily load to my iPads, etc... But going forward for the new ATV 4 I am wondering if a new improved preset will be released to help create better video files - does the new ATV do anything better than the old one as far as files it will play?
 
I recall seeing some different info in the Audio and Video specs of the new ATV. I think there was a higher profile number for the h.264 codec, 1080p video at 60FPS, and support for Dolby Digital 7.1. So, there might be a new ATV4 profile to take advantage of at least the 7.1 audio, but otherwise I'm sure your previous rips will still look great.

I started adding a third audio track to my M4V files which is a DTS-HD pass thru track. With Plex becoming native, I'm hoping all those DTS tracks I added will finally get used in the living room.
 
I'm looking forward to saying goodbye to Handbrake once the PLEX app is here. I've been without an Apple TV for a little over a year and I don't think I've opened Handbrake since then.
 
martinm0 said:
I recall seeing some different info in the Audio and Video specs of the new ATV. I think there was a higher profile number for the h.264 codec, 1080p video at 60FPS, and support for Dolby Digital 7.1. So, there might be a new ATV4 profile to take advantage of at least the 7.1 audio, but otherwise I'm sure your previous rips will still look great.

I started adding a third audio track to my M4V files which is a DTS-HD pass thru track. With Plex becoming native, I'm hoping all those DTS tracks I added will finally get used in the living room.
Click to expand...

that's more of what I was thinking - can the new ATV4 handle digital surround sound, etc... something that makes it different than the ATV3 as far as the video/audio it can play? I believe the current ATV does not have surround sound capability correct?
 
photogpab said:
that's more of what I was thinking - can the new ATV4 handle digital surround sound, etc... something that makes it different than the ATV3 as far as the video/audio it can play? I believe the current ATV does not have surround sound capability correct?
Click to expand...

priitv8 said:
Not correct. AppleTV has supported Dolby Digital 5.1 (aka AC3) since it's early years. At least already the 1st gen silver one did. Always as pass-through (needs external decoder).
https://support.apple.com/kb/SP19
Click to expand...

Agreeing with priitv8 on the surround sound comment. The ATV has always supported DD 5.1 in the past, but the jump to 7.1 is new for the upcoming ATV4.

I'm curious when we'll start seeing iTunes movies with 7.1 audio tracks.
 
It seems very likely the HB programmers will provide a new setting for this "4" as soon as they can get one and do so. I have to believe it's spec improvement will make it possible for better quality encodes (video & audio).

Now that Apple finally came off of everything having to be 30fps (at least 60fps is known), maybe they've adopted flexible bit rates to include 24fps too, which is how most every movie is- and has been- shot. We'll know all soon. But I pretty much expect a new setting for the "4" in HB.
 
Last edited:
what about h.265? I have read that this reduces file size significantly and improves video quality?? Is this supported by the current or upcoming Apple TV? I am in the process of converting all my blurays into files I can easily load up and play on my apple tv and iPad, iPhone, etc... but I always use the "apple tv 3" setting on handbrake which uses h.264
 
h.265 is probably big enough news that it would have been touted by Apple at the launch event. It wasn't, so I'm guessing h.264 is THE way for this model too. But, that's just a guess. h.265 will probably be embraced by Apple when they roll out the :apple:TV5 "now with 4K" probably at least about a year or longer from now (my guess is with or soon after rolling out new iPads that inherit this year's iPhone 4K cameras).

Since it's so close to launch now, you might want to slow down and see if it plays 24fps native (instead of converting everything to 30fps as has been the standard for :apple:TV1, 2 & 3). There's been little said about this so it seems suspect BUT Apple did admit the "4" plays 60fps. If someone is going to go to the trouble of offering the playback flexibility of 30 and 60fps, why not go ahead and cover 24fps too, which is the fps rate of just about every film ever shot? I wouldn't bet big on 24fps but it seems there's at least a chance given the embrace of a fps rate other than 30 with the new model.
 
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martinm0 said:
I'm curious when we'll start seeing iTunes movies with 7.1 audio tracks.
Click to expand...
Probably not anytime soon, since this would make downloaded iTunes files unplayable for the owners of the current Apple TV (although they could in theory add an alternative version for streaming). The 7.1 support is really just a byproduct of the support for Dolby Digital Plus, which was probably added because Netflix and other streaming providers use it.
 
Rigby said:
Probably not anytime soon, since this would make downloaded iTunes files unplayable for the owners of the current Apple TV (although they could in theory add an alternative version for streaming).
Click to expand...
Or they might just include both streams in same container. Although, I agree, the technique to provide SD, 720p and 1080p versions of same movie have already been in place for quite some time.
 
I'm confused, if h.265 provides superior video quality at half the size, why isn't it already the new standard and why won't the apple tv play it?
 
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Only Apple knows.

Licensing?
Cost of (hardware) implementation?
Coordinated conversions of hardware & iTunes store to support it?
They don't feel like it yet (see 4K :apple:TV)
etc.

There's lots of arguably superior options all across the product line out there that Apple hasn't adopted. Why? Apple moves at their own pace.
 
A better question is when will new tools appear to that convert DTS 7.1 HD-Master Audio into Dolby Digital Plus 7.1? Handbrake (at least the non-beta) only detects 5.1 when it contains 7.1. I'm guessing this has to do with the older FFMpeg version it must still be using. I'm not aware that it supports any form of Dolby Digital Plus regardless. It would be nice to able to convert 7.1 lossless formats into Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 in order to save space (lossless DTS-HD MA adds around 2-3 more GB compared to just regular DTS here), but would anything play it back correctly? I've read the ATV4 is NOT playing them correctly (I can't even find a test file personally) and I don't know that Kodi has support for Dolby Digital Plus either (the only thread I could find was from 2012 and it didn't work right then). Seeing I don't have a Dolby Digital Plus file to test, I couldn't say for sure, though.

Subler can show Dolby True-HD, but it can't pass it through for M4V files like it can for DTS so your only real choice is to keep the massive MKV file for something like Kodi/MrMc to handle at some point. I don't know if there are any other OS X tools that can do that.
 
MagnusVonMagnum said:
Subler can show Dolby True-HD, but it can't pass it through for M4V files like it can for DTS so your only real choice is to keep the massive MKV file for something like Kodi/MrMc to handle at some point. I don't know if there are any other OS X tools that can do that.
Click to expand...
I wish Apple would finally start supporting native playback of multi-channel ALAC (FLAC would be even better, but they won't do that). This would be great for both multi-channel music (where AC3 really doesn't cut it) and lossless audio transcoding for movies in MP4 containers.
 
Rigby said:
I wish Apple would finally start supporting native playback of multi-channel ALAC (FLAC would be even better, but they won't do that). This would be great for both multi-channel music (where AC3 really doesn't cut it) and lossless audio transcoding for movies in MP4 containers.
Click to expand...

Apple doesn't seem to want to support ALAC even for high quality music sales (much smaller files than movies).
 
MagnusVonMagnum said:
Apple doesn't seem to want to support ALAC even for high quality music sales (much smaller files than movies).
Click to expand...
But stereo ALAC is at least a supported format on their devices and software. I just wish they'd support multi-channel ALAC too. It would solve one of the biggest gaps in Apple's playback infrastructure. It's really puzzling, since they defined the format including multi-channel support.
 
ActionableMango said:
You can do that in Handbrake? And afterward, does the ATV4 know to pick that track or do you have to select it manually somehow?
Click to expand...

The ATV (and iTunes) won't "see" the DTS track period since Apple doesn't support DTS. But something like Kodi or MrMc will see it and be able to play it. In other words, you can put DTS tracks into a M4V container and they will be ignored by Apple's own players, but still be available for 3rd party players like Kodi that CAN use them. I like the setup because it means I can have AppleTV players in the house that can still play the Dolby Digital tracks and any Kodi players can play DTS or DTS-HD Master Audio. Sadly, I don't think M4V can hold Dolby TrueHD (yet anyway even for Kodi or at least I haven't found anything that will pack it), but MKVs can (but Apple's own player won't see or play those at all, but again Kodi or MrMC can).
 
As far as video decoding goes it's about the same as the AppleTV 3. 4 - 4.1 profile depending on resolution and encode speed. The files my ATV3 choked on my ATV4 chokes at the same places.

Both the ATV3 and 4 do better than the iPad and iPhone so if you are using the files cross platform then there isn't a reason to change anything if you are happy. Audio maybe a different story, not sure.
 
MagnusVonMagnum said:
The ATV (and iTunes) won't "see" the DTS track period since Apple doesn't support DTS. But something like Kodi or MrMc will see it and be able to play it. In other words, you can put DTS tracks into a M4V container and they will be ignored by Apple's own players, but still be available for 3rd party players like Kodi that CAN use them. I like the setup because it means I can have AppleTV players in the house that can still play the Dolby Digital tracks and any Kodi players can play DTS or DTS-HD Master Audio. Sadly, I don't think M4V can hold Dolby TrueHD (yet anyway even for Kodi or at least I haven't found anything that will pack it), but MKVs can (but Apple's own player won't see or play those at all, but again Kodi or MrMC can).
Click to expand...

Okay thanks for the info. I'm really, really new to this stuff. I've been doing handbrake for a long time just to watch my disc content on iPad/iPhone, using an ATV3 profile. But I just installed Plex a couple of days ago on the ATV4 and I'm interested in improving the audio since this is connected to a home theater system. I'll have to see if Plex supports other audio tracks. I have not tried Kodi or MrMC. Never even heard of the latter.

I used to have a DIY HTPC back in the day, but it was focused on Netflix through Windows Media Center (back when Netflix was web browser only), HD-DVD and BD playback, and OTA DVR with automatic commercial removal. Good stuff, but too much maintenance.
 
I too am waiting for a way to transcode lossless HD audio to DD+. I do notice the difference of DD+ on my gen1 fire tv for Netflix, and I'm surprised it's not yet supported on the Netflix app on Atv4.

I've just started the home media server using plex. Pretty cool stuff.
 
I'm using Adobe Media Encoder CC 2015, which is free, to convert lossless HD to DD+ 1024kb (highest bitrate you can use with the program)
 
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