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

Just Ripped My First Movie to iPhone

R

rayward

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 13, 2007
1,697
89
Houston, TX
I recently bought my first Mac (my wife had one for years and I've had a desire to get one for ages), and last night downloaded Handbrake and ripped a DVD to iTunes and onto my iPhone. Wow!

I wasn't in a hurry for a 3G iPhone, now I can't wait for it to get here. I need the extra capacity and I'm assuming there will be a 32GB model. I hope so because I'm no longer happy with just half my music, some photos and one movie!

June 9, you say...
 
Hey there, I was looking at this Handbrake program just yesterday. What's the playback quality like? Is it smooth, like no stutters. How simple is the process, what file size did the movie create? Sorry for the questions, I don't have an iPhone yet (waiting on 3g, who isn't? :p).
 
sassenach74 said:
Hey there, I was looking at this Handbrake program just yesterday. What's the playback quality like? Is it smooth, like no stutters. How simple is the process, what file size did the movie create? Sorry for the questions, I don't have an iPhone yet (waiting on 3g, who isn't? :p).
Click to expand...

This was my first effort, so I'm new to the process. Do a search on this site and you'll find tons of info/discussions on the topic.

FWIW, I set the transfer rate at 1,000kbps and got a file size of a smidge under 1MB for a 2-hour movie (Serenity). It took a couple of hours to rip as I used the 2-pass method. I dragged it to iTunes and it looks fabulous on the Mac, but that's not where I'm going to watch it, so...

I had iTunes convert the file to iPod/iPhone, and that took another hour or so. The resulting file is bigger (?) at about 1.4MB, but it looks fantastic on the iPhone. I'm going to repeat the process with a lower kbps (700) and see how that looks and how big the resulting file is.
 
rayward said:
This was my first effort, so I'm new to the process. Do a search on this site and you'll find tons of info/discussions on the topic.

FWIW, I set the transfer rate at 1,000kbps and got a file size of a smidge under 1MB for a 2-hour movie (Serenity). It took a couple of hours to rip as I used the 2-pass method. I dragged it to iTunes and it looks fabulous on the Mac, but that's not where I'm going to watch it, so...

I had iTunes convert the file to iPod/iPhone, and that took another hour or so. The resulting file is bigger (?) at about 1.4MB, but it looks fantastic on the iPhone. I'm going to repeat the process with a lower kbps (700) and see how that looks and how big the resulting file is.
Click to expand...

Just FYI, there's an iPhone preset so you don't have to convert the file a second time for iTunes. That's assuming you don't care about having a full-resolution version to watch on your Mac.
 
gloss said:
Just FYI, there's an iPhone preset so you don't have to convert the file a second time for iTunes. That's assuming you don't care about having a full-resolution version to watch on your Mac.
Click to expand...

I just want movies to put on my iPhone for business trips and the like. I had read that there was a preset, but I couldn't find that option. Any help would be appreciated, especially as it will likely save an hour or so!
 
Just click on the "Toggle Presets" button on the top right. You`ll find all the presets there. Just click on iPhone and you`d be good to go. The only change you`d want to make is double pass as that will definitely improve the video quality a lot compared to single pass.

Also you can crop the video if you wish. I always crop my videos and keep the resolution at 512x272 with no black borders et al. The rest of the settings are- 700kbps video, 128 kbps audio with double pass. They look great on my iPhone and are watchable on the MacBook.
 
ImNoSuperMan said:
Just click on the "Toggle Presets" button on the top right. You`ll find all the presets there. Just click on iPhone and you`d be good to go. The only change you`d want to make is double pass as that will definitely improve the video quality a lot compared to single pass.
Click to expand...

Thanks much. I'll try that when I get home.
 
Handbrake for the Mac is awesome. I haven't used the PC version.

Also, since space is a premium, I lower the bitrate to 500kbps and 2 pass encoding. On that tiny screen, you hardly notice a difference and you save tons of space. Some video snobs will tell you otherwise, but for me 500 is a good number. Give it a shot.
 
wildcardd said:
Handbrake for the Mac is awesome. I haven't used the PC version.

Also, since space is a premium, I lower the bitrate to 500kbps and 2 pass encoding. On that tiny screen, you hardly notice a difference and you save tons of space. Some video snobs will tell you otherwise, but for me 500 is a good number. Give it a shot.
Click to expand...

I did a bit of testing and fixed on about 600 as okay quality, 800 better, and 1000 for quite nice. Depends on what you're watching, too.
 
rayward said:
FWIW, I set the transfer rate at 1,000kbps and got a file size of a smidge under 1MB for a 2-hour movie (Serenity).
Click to expand...

I must be doing something badly wrong, I just tried it on the preset for ipod/iphone (futurama dvd, already a ripped version which is 4.23gb on disc) the resulting file size is 40.3mb, how is it so different to your 1.4mb file?
Thanks for any help.....
 
gloss said:
I did a bit of testing and fixed on about 600 as okay quality, 800 better, and 1000 for quite nice. Depends on what you're watching, too.
Click to expand...

I planned on keeping the bitrate high for something visually rich like "Serenity", and lower rates for tv shows and the like.

Also, anyone know how to convert WMVs to a format that iTunes can handle? Thanks
 
rayward said:
I planned on keeping the bitrate high for something visually rich like "Serenity", and lower rates for tv shows and the like.

Also, anyone know how to convert WMVs to a format that iTunes can handle? Thanks
Click to expand...

Honestly, I shelled out the money for VisualHub and it's been worth every penny. I'd highly recommend it if you're going to be converting a lot of video.
 
gloss said:
Honestly, I shelled out the money for VisualHub and it's been worth every penny. I'd highly recommend it if you're going to be converting a lot of video.
Click to expand...

I just have a bunch of little video clips. Comedy and the like. Don't really want to spend much on being able to covert them.

ETA: Just looked it up. I'm in for $25.
 
I've used the PC version of handbrake. Not bad. Pretty slow....but then again I'm using a Dell and I think that is the problem. I've loaded up 4 movies now and I have around 250 songs on my phone and I still have 1.75 gig free on my phone. (I have the 8 gig iPhone)


Austin
(1 week away from my 17" Macbook Pro 2.6 Ghz with 4 gig of ram) Can't wait.....
 
Been using Handbrake for years... was simple to start putting movies on my iPod Video back when it first came out. Great program.
 
a 32GB version you say. That sounds about right for movies and mp3's. It's amazing how quickly the space gets eaten up.
 
sassenach74 said:
I must be doing something badly wrong, I just tried it on the preset for ipod/iphone (futurama dvd, already a ripped version which is 4.23gb on disc) the resulting file size is 40.3mb, how is it so different to your 1.4mb file?
Thanks for any help.....
Click to expand...

I'm guessing that 1.4mb should actually mean 1.4GB. I know my encodes using iPhone preset averages 700MB-1.2GB size files depending on movie length and more if you up the bitrate or include the AC3 track etc.
 
My advice is to use Handbrake and rip the movie at a high bitrate so you can preserve a high quality "master." Always check the run 2-pass button, and check the first pass to turbo. This creates a much higher quality movie. Then use iSquint set at "Normal" to create an iPhone-friendly version of the movie that still looks good on the phone and is dramatically smaller in file size. I've been doing this with all of my movies and I've been able to fit many, many more files onto my 8GB iPhone.
 
Thanks Mikey, but I don't need to keep a high-res version on my Mac. The only reason I'm ripping the movies is to have options to put on my iPhone for when I travel on biz.

Also, I tried it using the iPhone toggle preset, and that works just fine. Also makes the file instantly syncable, as opposed to having to wait an hour or two for iTunes to convert it.

Now it's time to start rip-fest 2008!!
 
Does anyone have any advice on the best "one size fits all" encoding using Handbrake?

I currently rip movies with Handbrake only to watch on my mac with itunes, but since I don't specify the ipod resolution, they sometimes don't sync to my ipod classic. Up until now, it has not been a big deal.

I anticipate getting a new iphone next month, and likely Apple TV as well. Rather than rip multiple resolutions of each DVD for each device, is there one preset format that can be acceptable to view on all three?
 
seenett said:
Does anyone have any advice on the best "one size fits all" encoding using Handbrake?

I currently rip movies with Handbrake only to watch on my mac with itunes, but since I don't specify the ipod resolution, they sometimes don't sync to my ipod classic. Up until now, it has not been a big deal.

I anticipate getting a new iphone next month, and likely Apple TV as well. Rather than rip multiple resolutions of each DVD for each device, is there one preset format that can be acceptable to view on all three?
Click to expand...


My guess would be:-
-Crop the video a little bit and keep the resolution at 624x304
-1000kbps Video, 128-160 Kbps Audio
-Set Motion Range to 32 and Check Bidirectional Refinement
-Select weak denoise
-2 Pass with Turbo first pass.

Now this would look great on the iPhone and will still be watchable on the iMac and Apple TV

BTW I only have HandBrake v0.9.1 as I havent upgraded to Leopard:( So I dont know if the newer HandBrake gives you some more options regarding this or not.
 
rayward said:
Thanks Mikey, but I don't need to keep a high-res version on my Mac. The only reason I'm ripping the movies is to have options to put on my iPhone for when I travel on biz.

Also, I tried it using the iPhone toggle preset, and that works just fine. Also makes the file instantly syncable, as opposed to having to wait an hour or two for iTunes to convert it.

Now it's time to start rip-fest 2008!!
Click to expand...


You might want to, after clicking the iPhone Preset, bump the bitrate down a bit. The default is high, which looks great, but you can bring it down substantially and open up room for more movies on your phone. Having Handbrake do the 2-passes really improves quality without bloating file-size.

Have fun with Rip-Fest! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back