All iPads Movies & Music?

[nanogirl21]

Just curious... what is the best format to convert movies to for the iPad Air? By best I mean smallest in size but still with a pretty decent playback quality. I have been playing around with conversions, and am getting pretty annoyed with audio not syncing with actors lips. I am sure this is due to the compression size and/or format that I am using. So, what is best?


Planning on adding movies to my Air (64 GB) and moving the music (keeping a few playlist) it off of it onto my phone

 

[TJ61]

I rip dvds with MakeMKV, and then encode the output using H.264 with Handbrake (on a PC). In Handbrake, I use Constant Quality (RF:20), and set resolution to 512 pixels wide (exactly half of a gen1 mini screen width), while maintaining aspect ratio. That may be a lower resolution than some would care for, but it's fine for me, and it allows me to get file sizes down to ~600MB for a standard length movie.

 

[nanogirl21]

I rip dvds with MakeMKV, and then encode the output using H.264 with Handbrake (on a PC). In Handbrake, I use Constant Quality (RF:20), and set resolution to 512 pixels wide (exactly half of a gen1 mini screen width), while maintaining aspect ratio. That may be a lower resolution than some would care for, but it's fine for me, and it allows me to get file sizes down to ~600MB for a standard length movie.

You do 512 pixels wide for the Air? Why did you pick that number?

 

[RossMc]

I just use the Apple TV 3 preset in Handbreak.

 

[TJ61]

You do 512 pixels wide for the Air?

No. As I said, I set to 512 pixels wide because that's half the screen width of my gen1 mini. That makes it an exact 1:4 pixel mapping (expanding in two directions), though maybe that doesn't really matter so much(?). What matters is that it's a reasonable resolution compromise for me to get small files, especially since it's only for watching stuff to kill time when travelling. I think I'm on the "low resolution" end of the spectrum, though.

You'll have to decide for yourself what's reasonable on an iPad Air, given your own usage. Handbrake allows you to make 30s snippets, so you can try a number of settings and see how they look. Make sure to sample a range of scenes (including ones with lots of motion).

 

[nanogirl21]

I just use the Apple TV 3 preset in Handbreak.

How large are you file sizes with the Apple TV 3 preset?

 

[TWO2SEVEN]

Aren't you selling it?

 

[nanogirl21]

Aren't you selling it?

Yeah, one of the two that I have.