Blu-ray to M4V....preferred Handbrake settings?

[rdb71]

Can you post a screenshot of your picture and audio settings? Maybe I can help you.

I'm going to try converting a chapter in Handbrake again, this time using your preset and see how I go. I've just realized that I can play the full .mkv file using quicktime and Perian which is cool, but i guess if I don't want a 30GB file i'm going to need to use handbrake

 

[bigcat]

How do all this relate to iPad 2? Are Apple TV settings the same I should be using for iPad "HD" video? If anyone has a link to ipad2 specific conversion information please let me know.

 

[biosci]

I usually do the mk5 scaledown on te PC end as that's where my BluRay drive is part of. I only did a scale down in terms of size (recompress) w handbrake and maybe an ATV2 option (but that's just for iPad and 720p at that). What do you guys do for subs on the Mac? I don't know how to get them as an option for the m4v files but I can get them on for the mkv files. Again though, it's only on my PC as I don't have a bluray player for my Mac.

 

[rdb71]

Handbrake Issues

Can you post a screenshot of your picture and audio settings? Maybe I can help you.

Ok Kristine, i'm still getting the same grey picture in Handbrake, it's even worse with Avatar. The .mkv files seem to play ok, albeit a little slow, in VLC and Divx player, but won't play nice with handbrake. I've attached a screenshot of the handbrake preview window, hopefully you can suggest something.
Thanks again, rdb71

 

[Kristine]

Ok Kristine, i'm still getting the same grey picture in Handbrake, it's even worse with Avatar. The .mkv files seem to play ok, albeit a little slow, in VLC and Divx player, but won't play nice with handbrake. I've attached a screenshot of the handbrake preview window, hopefully you can suggest something.
Thanks again, rdb71

What version of VLC and Handbrake do you have installed? If they are not the latest, then I suggest uninstalling them and grabbing the latest versions. It might be worth trying the nightly build on Handbrake.

 

[rdb71]

Blu Ray Handbrake Issue

What version of VLC and Handbrake do you have installed? If they are not the latest, then I suggest uninstalling them and grabbing the latest versions. It might be worth trying the nightly build on Handbrake.

Thanks for your reply Kristine. I have installed the latest VLC and the nightly Handbrake build with no luck. Still having the exact same problem. I've searched the forums here there and everywhere and can't find anything about getting a grey picture preview on blu ray or even dvd. Seems a bit strange as I can't believe i'm the first person this has ever happened to? I think i'm going to have to post my issue in the Handbrake forums. Thanks you for your help anyway

 

[peterjcat]

Thanks for your reply Kristine. I have installed the latest VLC and the nightly Handbrake build with no luck. Still having the exact same problem. I've searched the forums here there and everywhere and can't find anything about getting a grey picture preview on blu ray or even dvd. Seems a bit strange as I can't believe i'm the first person this has ever happened to? I think i'm going to have to post my issue in the Handbrake forums. Thanks you for your help anyway

I get it too, especially with MKVs made with MKVMerge on the Mac. It's something about the preview not being able to grab the right keyframe. The actual encode is fine, and the Live Preview works too, but it gives the autocrop a big headache. I usually just flip through the still previews until there's one where I can see where the black bars are, then crop manually.

 

[tbayrgs]

I get it too, especially with MKVs made with MKVMerge on the Mac. It's something about the preview not being able to grab the right keyframe. The actual encode is fine, and the Live Preview works too, but it gives the autocrop a big headache. I usually just flip through the still previews until there's one where I can see where the black bars are, then crop manually.

I have the exact same problem on many of my .mkv files made using MakeMKV but similar to you, the encodes always come out fine--just have to manually crop. Weird think is, if I move through the picture preview manually, there is always one snapshot that is not pixelated/gray--use that to manually crop.

 

[bigcat]

This is my workflow for converting Blu-Ray movies on my Macbook Pro (I have an external Sony Blu-Ray burner to do this).

1. Rip Blu-Ray movie to an MKV file using MakeMKV (currently free).
2. Add to the encoding queue in Handbrake using my custom preset to convert to m4v (I call it Apple Custom Blu Ray Rips).
3. Lastly, I usually add movies into iFlicks (use 'flatten to Quicktime movie setting') to add the metadata and have movies automatically added into iTunes.

On the AppleTV 2, all movies will show with correct titles, artwork, summary of movie etc.

Can you explain how to get chapter art in? I am new to this. You know how the iPad etc will show a thumbnail next to each chapter. My iPad just shows a black square next to the chapter name. I was able to get the movie cover in with Subler, but can't figure out how to do the same to the chapters.

I ripped the movie with anydvd and produce the mp4 with handbrake. The original was a bluray.

 

[Kristine]

Can you explain how to get chapter art in? I am new to this. You know how the iPad etc will show a thumbnail next to each chapter. My iPad just shows a black square next to the chapter name. I was able to get the movie cover in with Subler, but can't figure out how to do the same to the chapters.

I ripped the movie with anydvd and produce the mp4 with handbrake. The original was a bluray.

Sorry for not replying earlier. I am using iDentify2 for my meta-tags at present, and my chapters are done automatically. Maybe give the lite version a try?

 

[quadgirl]

I can provide you a copy of my handbrake preset file if your interested (I will change the Framerate settings for you first as I have mine set to PAL - I am in Australia).

Image​

I don't want to be a party pooper, but you do realize that your HD setting is totally flawed, right? BD movies are 24fps (worldwide), only DVDs have 25fps PAL/29.97 NTSC frame rates.

Best thing is to use the 'same as source' option for frame rate.

 

[cwazytech]

File Sizes???

Do different movies encode differently? I chose the same settings for LOTR 1,2, & 3. Considering they are close to the same in length, they differ by more than 2 gigs in size. Why is that? For example Two Towers is approx 2min longer in length than Fellowship, yet it encodes 2gigs bigger in size with the same settings. Head scratcher.

 

[Cave Man]

The more complex the scenes are, the larger the file size will be. All things being equal, that is.

 

[biosci]

Forcing the handbrake to encode to 1080p though will cause it to not work on iPads and iPhones though right?

 

[rdb71]

Constant Quality And File Size

After trawling thru these forums I think i've finally stetted on Handbrake settings that i'm happy converting all my Blu-Ray with! My question now is, and I know this has sort of been answered before but I just want to be sure, why when I used the constant quality setting are there huge differences in the size of the final files? I'm talking double the size in some cases! I understand that different movies will produce variances because of the amount of action, whether it's grainy, animation etc, but I just wanted to make sure that i'm still getting the same quality final file, no matter what the difference in file size is. Do I need to change the RF value depending on the film being encoded, or does keeping the value the same give me a constant quality from one film to the next. Hope this makes sense, thanks in advance

 

[papo2]

After trawling thru these forums I think i've finally stetted on Handbrake settings that i'm happy converting all my Blu-Ray with! My question now is, and I know this has sort of been answered before but I just want to be sure, why when I used the constant quality setting are there huge differences in the size of the final files? I'm talking double the size in some cases! I understand that different movies will produce variances because of the amount of action, whether it's grainy, animation etc, but I just wanted to make sure that i'm still getting the same quality final file, no matter what the difference in file size is. Do I need to change the RF value depending on the film being encoded, or does keeping the value the same give me a constant quality from one film to the next. Hope this makes sense, thanks in advance

Can you post your settings?

 

[biosci]

I've been following this thread since the beginning and only now did I notice yours as I have had the same issue. The problem is VC-1 I believe and that's on the BluRay manufacturers end. It's some sort of Windows Media codec or something so programs put that in the mkv container. Not many programs can play them though... VLC won't play it but windows media player will.

My BoxeeBox plays it but nothing else so far on my mac.

I've plowed through some old threads, but I can't find much that's both fairly recent and straightforward enough for a file-format moron like myself to easily understand. I'm using an external Blu-ray drive and MakeMKV, so I have giant 20+ GB MKV files with VC-1 video. The next step is to convert them with Handbrake. I started with the "high profile" preset, but figured out pretty quickly that Quicktime won't play the files.

So -- is there any consensus as to the best Handbrake settings to use for close-to-archival quality Blu-ray rips? I want something that's as close to original quality as possible (I'm not too worried about file size), has all the audio tracks in it that I'm likely to need in the future, and will play in iTunes. It would be nice if I could watch it on my iPad too, but that would be a bonus -- the fact that iTunes will stream a 1080 movie to the Apple TV already is good enough. I'm way more concerned with getting a good-for-forever rip of the movie than I am being able to watch it on this year's version of the iPad and iPhone.

Or should I be using Handbrake at all? Should I be using MP4 Tools (formerly MKV Tools) instead? Is there anything other than MakeMKV that will rip a Blu-ray into H.264 instead of VC-1, so I don't have to convert an already lossy format? Any advice would be welcome. Thanks!

 

[Atrophik]

Anyone here able to tell me if your output files (.m4v) show up as HD in iTunes... What I mean, is the little "HD" icon at the end of the "Name" Column (see attached image).

I've downloaded some .m4v files that were encoded in Handbrake, and they have that symbol. But, mine don't have it when I use the Apple TV 2 settings. What am I doing wrong? It seems to be the same aspect ratio, the quality is certainly high, and the file sizes are similar.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[calgaryflorida]

This is my workflow for converting Blu-Ray movies on my Macbook Pro (I have an external Sony Blu-Ray burner to do this).

1. Rip Blu-Ray movie to an MKV file using MakeMKV (currently free).
2. Add to the encoding queue in Handbrake using my custom preset to convert to m4v (I call it Apple Custom Blu Ray Rips).
3. Lastly, I usually add movies into iFlicks (use 'flatten to Quicktime movie setting') to add the metadata and have movies automatically added into iTunes.

On the AppleTV 2, all movies will show with correct titles, artwork, summary of movie etc.

I am looking at dropping Handbrake and iFlicks and using iVI as it can encode my MKV files to m4v and add meta-data all in one program, and I think it was only about $5 from the App Store. Also, iVI takes advantage of all cores (as far as I remember, iFlicks does not). I can provide you a copy of my handbrake preset file if your interested (I will change the Framerate settings for you first as I have mine set to PAL - I am in Australia).

Image​

I just tried this iVI program which at first seemed good, but now that I am converting my MKV file to a m4v its going to take roughly 10 hours which seems a bit ridiculous to me, is this normal or are other people experiencing this problem?

 

[mic j]

I just tried this iVI program which at first seemed good, but now that I am converting my MKV file to a m4v its going to take roughly 10 hours which seems a bit ridiculous to me, is this normal or are other people experiencing this problem?

That's normal for me with Handbrake. Of course, how much CPU horsepower you have under the hood makes a huge difference. I only have a duo core. More cores=faster.

 

[calgaryflorida]

That's normal for me with Handbrake. Of course, how much CPU horsepower you have under the hood makes a huge difference. I only have a duo core. More cores=faster.

thanks, I am running a bit older MBP but it just seemed so long, but handbrake was taking about 30 hours which i canceled right away I am trying iVI and it seems to be progressing slowly but I do see progress which I was not getting from handbrake.

 

[mic j]

thanks, I am running a bit older MBP but it just seemed so long, but handbrake was taking about 30 hours which i canceled right away I am trying iVI and it seems to be progressing slowly but I do see progress which I was not getting from handbrake.

I assume your mkv was sourced from a BR? It should not take HB 30 hours, that is not normal. What are the specs of the machine you are doing this on?

 

[o0OBillO0o]

Ok, I have had a few requests for the preset files, so I have uploaded them here in a zip file and people can grab them as needed.

Please note these are for the PAL FPS. If you need NTSC, just import the file, make your changes then save the preset file.

Good work and thank you for sharing.

Now, does anyone have updated settings for the AppleTV 4. We now have 7.1 Audio over HDMI.