iTunes movies: how do they rip 'em?

[jmanley1]

So, for a very long time now I've been curious to know what software Apple uses to rip movies for iTunes. Surely there is some software that they use in the creation of the films and shows that wind up in the store for sell.

Anyone know?

 

[Nermal]

Apple doesn't "rip" them; the studios supply them in ProRes 422 HQ format and Apple compresses them down to 5 Mb/s H.264 (likely with something similar to Compressor).

 

[jmanley1]

Wow, that was a quick response. Honestly I was afraid no one would respond.

So 'ProRes 422 HQ' format. Is that something similar to uncompressed like an SD title..would that essentially be a VOB file or something? Sorry I'm not very technical with this stuff.

Is there a way for me to, using an .iso file create a copy of the .iso in 'ProRes 422 HQ'? Sorry for all the newbie questions on this.

 

[jmanley1]

So after reading into the Compressor program you mentioned..is that something I can buy myself to use for compressing .iso files? Can it be used outside the confines of Final Cut Pro?

 

[Nermal]

ProRes is compressed, but nowhere near as much as the "consumer" compression formats. For example, a 2-hour movie is about 200 GB in ProRes 422 HQ. Aside from some very specific cases, there is no benefit in converting an existing compressed movie into ProRes format.

Compressor can be used standalone and doesn't require Final Cut. It doesn't support as many input formats as, say, HandBrake but it should accept whatever you can play in QuickTime Player. Naturally the files that it produces are guaranteed to work on Apple devices.

 

[jmanley1]

ProRes is compressed, but nowhere near as much as the "consumer" compression formats. For example, a 2-hour movie is about 200 GB in ProRes 422 HQ. Aside from some very specific cases, there is no benefit in converting an existing compressed movie into ProRes format.

Compressor can be used standalone and doesn't require Final Cut. It doesn't support as many input formats as, say, HandBrake but it should accept whatever you can play in QuickTime Player. Naturally the files that it produces are guaranteed to work on Apple devices.

Thank you for the clarification. Would compressor support an .iso file? Or perhaps a non-copyright protected DVD?

 

[Bear]

Thank you for the clarification. Would compressor support an .iso file? Or perhaps a non-copyright protected DVD?

Compressor is overkill for what you're apparently trying to do. If you have videos (or DVDs) you want to convert handbrake is the conversion tool you want to use.

 

[Nermal]

Compressor is overkill for what you're apparently trying to do. If you have videos (or DVDs) you want to convert handbrake is the conversion tool you want to use.

Yup, HandBrake is free and should do what you need. Compressor costs I think US$50 and is aimed at professionals (and doesn't read .iso files directly).

 

[jmanley1]

Thanks all for the responses. I have tried using Handbrake and cannot quite attain the level of quality of my purchased movies.

Not to belabor the point but does Compressor 4 handle .cdr files? When I rip my DVD's via Disk Utility they import as .cdr files. Of course they can be changed to .iso. But I'm curious if Compressor 4 could handle the .cdr?

If it can I would be willing to spend the money to try it, over Handbrake.

 

[Nermal]

Not to belabor the point but does Compressor 4 handle .cdr files? When I rip my DVD's via Disk Utility they import as .cdr files. Of course they can be changed to .iso. But I'm curious if Compressor 4 could handle the .cdr?

No. Compressor requires QuickTime-readable files. HandBrake is unlikely to be the cause of poor quality encodes; you are simply not going to get the same quality out of a DVD that Apple does from its multi-GB source files.

 

[pickaxe]

Very informative Nermal. Thanks a lot for clarifying this.