Best way to get from DVD to H.264 ipod 640x480? (programs?)

[zimtheinvader]

Hello,
I just got a new 5.5 gen ipod 30gb (!!!!) and I'm trying to back up my Dvds to it for viewing on my TV later (plus occasionally on the ipod screen.) H.264 sounds like the way to go, but I can't get the new (unofficial-beta?) Handbrake version to produce videos this size that work on my ipod. What is the best program to do this (easily!)? I don't mind having to pay, since the method I'm using now is terribly inefficient!!! (DVD>Mactheripper>FFMPEG...)

Thanks, happy holidays!!!

 

[mkrishnan]

Take a look at this excellent guide:

http://www.ilounge.com/index.php/ar...-guide-to-converting-dvds-to-ipod-format-mac/

You can definitely use the complete (not Instant) version of Handbrake. In this guide, I think it says that you are limited to certain total pixel counts for H.264 and MPEG-4 -- I'm pretty sure that this was resolved by a change in iTunes and it is no longer an issue. So I think you can just use H.264 and 640x480 when you get to that part of the menus.

 

[zimtheinvader]

an excellent guide, thank you

 

[Chundles]

The current version of Handbrake doesn't support the certain baseline Apple uses for it's 640x480 H.264 requirements but it will eventually.

I've found the best way to get it to work is to use Handbrake to do a 100% quality MPEG-4 encoded rip of the DVD and then use iSquint (also free) to turn that into a iPod version.

Use the "Optimise for TV" and "Go Nuts" settings on iSquint to get the best quality - they look really good.

Because my iBook is so slow I've just been using MPEG-4 encoding at 1500kbps and 2-pass encoding in Handbrake - the quality is more than passable at 640xwhatever and looks great on my big CRT TV.

Try a few things out and go with what you think is best.

 

[zimtheinvader]

Thanks, got iSquint! I just switched from doing this on my poor G4 800 quicksilver (horrible load times!!!) to a G5 dual and the conversion process is much more managable. I still do not understand bit rates and "passes" (hopefully some day) but I have managed to get H.264 movies up and running on my ipod!!

So far, I have found the best way to be dvd>Mactheripper (single VOB)>iSquint(H.264 TV optimised)>iTunes, then just delete the old VOBs. The avi conversion I performed this way plays great on my ipod so far!

Thanks to everyone for the help, hopefully my new home theater system will be my ipod!!

 

[Chundles]

Thanks, got iSquint! I just switched from doing this on my poor G4 800 quicksilver (horrible load times!!!) to a G5 dual and the conversion process is much more managable. I still do not understand bit rates and "passes" (hopefully some day) but I have managed to get H.264 movies up and running on my ipod!!

So far, I have found the best way to be dvd>Mactheripper (single VOB)>iSquint(H.264 TV optimised)>iTunes, then just delete the old VOBs. The avi conversion I performed this way plays great on my ipod so far!

Thanks to everyone for the help, hopefully my new home theater system will be my ipod!!

Yep, that method works just fine too.

Bit rate = higher bit rate means higher quality/larger file size.
Passes = 2-pass encoding means the program does a pass looking at the relative complexity of the film and then adjusts the encoding to put more information in the complex scenes and less into stuff like the credits.

Good to hear it's working.

 

[jaw04005]

If you check the Handbrake development forums in one of the forum threads you will find Release 72 (Universal) build. It's a developmental version, however it supports low complexity, baseline 3.0 (640x480) h.264 encoding on both PowerPC and Intel. There are several known bugs in the build. Good luck.

 

[Anonymous Freak]

In anticipation of the iTV, I have been slowly converting my DVDs to 1628 kbps (128 audio, 1500 video,) H.264 videos at 640x???, with 2-pass encoding. (The vertical resolution depends on the aspect ratio of the movie.) I've been using Handbrake, but I'm now going to take a look at iSquint, too.

 

[diametric]

In my opinion, handbrake, full quality.

And then, just use QT Pro to convert to your required settings, in your case, Movie to iPod.

 

[d wade]

iSquint is def the best!!