Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
no video out and square pixels mean that you have to encode video at a much higher bitrate then needed. This is QUITE annoying.
 
hey snowmoon & clayj...thanks for all the leg work your doing trying to sort through the encoding process! do you guys have the correct settings worked out yet? ie..what bit rate we are all going to need to encode these DVDs in handbrake. any input would help us all out. thanks again for all the work your doing


Pete
 
Recommend a good mencoder command to convert mpeg2 -> mpeg4 iPod?

I wanna get my MythTV mpeg2 (*.nuv) files over to mpeg4 using mencoder. I'm not a video codec geek, so I humbly ask for recommendations..

Can anyone recommend a nice mencoder cmdline for our new iPod?

I'd like it to look decent on the TV, but that's secondary to disk space

thanks!

- blake
 
One thing I just found out is that the H.264 option in Handbrake seems to NOT be compatible with the 5G iPod... so I am sticking with MPEG-4 encoding right now. Will hopefully have something to post in a bit...
 
I hope MP4 works because I've spent numerous hours over the past week encoding DVDs to MP4 in anticipation of my iPod video. I'm such an overachiever. :)
 
joshuawaire said:
I hope MP4 works because I've spent numerous hours over the past week encoding DVDs to MP4 in anticipation of my iPod video. I'm such an overachiever. :)
See, I didn't do that, and I'm glad I didn't... because strange things are afoot with video on the iPod. ;)
 
joshuawaire said:
I hope MP4 works because I've spent numerous hours over the past week encoding DVDs to MP4 in anticipation of my iPod video. I'm such an overachiever. :)

Seems as long as you 320x240 you will probably be ok, but no guarntee.
 
G5Unit said:
So if the iPod can handle 640 by 360 than the video out to TV will be pretty good quality right?

I don't know... I have yet to find someone with TV out ability
 
OK, here's what I've found so far that works, WRT ripping DVDs to an iPod... I will keep this updated with any new information, and will post a new thread once I've got totally finalized steps:

Follow the steps shown at http://diveintomark.org/howto/ipod-dvd-ripping-guide until you get to Figure 8.

Then, set the following settings:

File format (fig. 8): MP4 file
Codecs (fig. 9): MPEG-4 Video / AAC Audio (do NOT select AVC/H.264!)
Framerate: Same as source
Video Encoder: FFmpeg
Average bit rate (fig. 11): I've had success so far up to 1024... higher values might work
2-pass encoding (fig. 12): you can enable this or not... it works either way, and does not significantly affect the final file size... but it DOES DOUBLE the amount of time required to encode the movie
Sample rate (fig. 14): 48000 works fine, lesser values should be OK
Bitrate (fig. 15): 160 works fine, lesser values should be OK
Size (fig. 16): set Width to 320, Keep Aspect Ratio CHECKED

Doing this, I've been able to rip 3 chapters from Sin City to an MP4 file that plays perfectly on my 5G iPod. I'm testing higher video bitrates and longer rips (the entire movie) now... will report what I find.

But DON'T use AVC/H.264 with Handbrake... I have not been able to get this to work AT ALL! (If you do, please let me know.)
 
clayj said:
OK, here's what I've found so far that works, WRT ripping DVDs to an iPod:

Follow the steps shown at http://diveintomark.org/howto/ipod-dvd-ripping-guide until you get to Figure 8.

Then, set the following settings:

File format (fig. 8): MP4 file
Codecs (fig. 9): MPEG-4 Video / AAC Audio (do NOT select AVC/H.264!)
Framerate: Same as source
Video Encoder: FFmpeg
Average bit rate (fig. 11): I've had success so far up to 1024... higher values might work
Sample rate (fig. 14): 48000 works fine, lesser values should be OK
Bitrate (fig. 15): 160 works fine, lesser values should be OK
Size (fig. 16): set Width to 320, Keep Aspect Ratio CHECKED

Doing this, I've been able to rip 3 chapters from Sin City to an MP4 file that plays perfectly on my 5G iPod. I'm testing higher video bitrates and longer rips (the entire movie) now... will report what I find.

But DON'T use AVC/H.264 with Handbrake... I have not been able to get this to work AT ALL! (If you do, please let me know.)

clayj,

Off topic but do you have a set of Apple A/V cables that were shipped with the iPod photo or could be purchased separately? If so, can you hook your 5G into a television and give us an idea of what the interface is like on TV (assuming there is an interface)?

I'm a little confused on how the remote will work with the universal dock. I see no value to the remote if you have to be within sight of the iPod's screen. :confused:
 
joshuawaire said:
clayj,

Off topic but do you have a set of Apple A/V cables that were shipped with the iPod photo or could be purchased separately? If so, can you hook your 5G into a television and give us an idea of what the interface is like on TV (assuming there is an interface)?

I'm a little confused on how the remote will work with the universal dock. I see no value to the remote if you have to be within sight of the iPod's screen. :confused:
Sorry, I don't have any of the cables... but I gotta tell you, there's virtually no interface on the iPod itself. You can pause and resume the video, and you can change the volume, but I've found no way to FFW or REW within a video.
 
clayj said:
Sorry, I don't have any of the cables... but I gotta tell you, there's virtually no interface on the iPod itself. You can pause and resume the video, and you can change the volume, but I've found no way to FFW or REW within a video.

Really? Weird. I swore Steve fast forwarded during the keynote presentation. It doesn't function the same a song (pressing the middle select button)?
 
clayj said:
OK, here's what I've found so far that works, WRT ripping DVDs to an iPod:

Follow the steps shown at http://diveintomark.org/howto/ipod-dvd-ripping-guide until you get to Figure 8.

Then, set the following settings:

File format (fig. 8): MP4 file
Codecs (fig. 9): MPEG-4 Video / AAC Audio (do NOT select AVC/H.264!)
Framerate: Same as source
Video Encoder: FFmpeg
Average bit rate (fig. 11): I've had success so far up to 1024... higher values might work
2-pass encoding (fig. 12): you can enable this or not... it works either way, and does not significantly affect the final file size
Sample rate (fig. 14): 48000 works fine, lesser values should be OK
Bitrate (fig. 15): 160 works fine, lesser values should be OK
Size (fig. 16): set Width to 320, Keep Aspect Ratio CHECKED

Doing this, I've been able to rip 3 chapters from Sin City to an MP4 file that plays perfectly on my 5G iPod. I'm testing higher video bitrates and longer rips (the entire movie) now... will report what I find.

But DON'T use AVC/H.264 with Handbrake... I have not been able to get this to work AT ALL! (If you do, please let me know.)

i can't get handbrake's beta 0.7 to work; can i do this with the 0.6 version? could somebody try that quick with a chapter or something?
 
joshuawaire said:
Really? Weird. I swore Steve fast forwarded during the keynote presentation. It doesn't function the same a song (pressing the middle select button)?
Ah... that was what I didn't try. Yes, pressing the Select button allows you to then use the scroll wheel to FFW or REW... but there are no chapters like on a DVD, it's all time-based.
 
asherman13 said:
i can't get handbrake's beta 0.7 to work; can i do this with the 0.6 version? could somebody try that quick with a chapter or something?
The 0.6 version has a totally different UI, IIRC. I am using 0.7 to do this, and it's working great now that I know about the H.264 bugbear.
 
SNOWMOON:
I'm exporting the short movie you sent me using the 'Movie to iPod' feature in QT, and its taking a LONG time, its been nearly an hour now. I've managed to do the same thing to the two iPod ads (Eminem and U2) and they went pretty fast although they were only 30 secs each... I'll keep you updated on what happens to the short movie after the exprt is completed.
 
clayj said:
The 0.6 version has a totally different UI, IIRC. I am using 0.7 to do this, and it's working great now that I know about the H.264 bugbear.

thats great and all, but for some reason handbrake won't even open...it bounces on the dock, then the little pinapple logo goes away....i tried redownloading stuffit; still no change....any suggestions
 
clayj said:
OK, here's what I've found so far that works, WRT ripping DVDs to an iPod... I will keep this updated with any new information, and will post a new thread once I've got totally finalized steps:

Follow the steps shown at http://diveintomark.org/howto/ipod-dvd-ripping-guide until you get to Figure 8.

Then, set the following settings:

File format (fig. 8): MP4 file
Codecs (fig. 9): MPEG-4 Video / AAC Audio (do NOT select AVC/H.264!)
Framerate: Same as source
Video Encoder: FFmpeg
Average bit rate (fig. 11): I've had success so far up to 1024... higher values might work
2-pass encoding (fig. 12): you can enable this or not... it works either way, and does not significantly affect the final file size
Sample rate (fig. 14): 48000 works fine, lesser values should be OK
Bitrate (fig. 15): 160 works fine, lesser values should be OK
Size (fig. 16): set Width to 320, Keep Aspect Ratio CHECKED

Doing this, I've been able to rip 3 chapters from Sin City to an MP4 file that plays perfectly on my 5G iPod. I'm testing higher video bitrates and longer rips (the entire movie) now... will report what I find.

But DON'T use AVC/H.264 with Handbrake... I have not been able to get this to work AT ALL! (If you do, please let me know.)

How about Videora's H264? One good thing about higher bit rates playing back is that they will look alot better playing back on Hotel TV's etc...
 
Scarpad said:
How about Videora's H264? One good thing about higher bit rates playing back is that they will look alot better playing back on Hotel TV's etc...
All's I know is what I've tested using Mac the Ripper and Handbrake.

What I wouldn't give for an iPod-centric version of PSP Movie Creator... it rips DVDs into PSP-compatible movies in ONE STEP (DVD -> MP4).
 
clayj said:
All's I know is what I've tested using Mac the Ripper and Handbrake.

What I wouldn't give for an iPod-centric version of PSP Movie Creator... it rips DVDs into PSP-compatible movies in ONE STEP (DVD -> MP4).

uh buddy...handbrake does that (if only i could get hte beta to work!), instead of choosing the DVD folder, use the detected volume when your DVD's in, and then do the settings thing, and it rips from DVD -> mp4.

can anybody help me with running handbrake?
 
asherman13 said:
uh buddy...handbrake does that (if only i could get hte beta to work!), instead of choosing the DVD folder, use the detected volume when your DVD's in, and then do the settings thing, and it rips from DVD -> mp4.
Yeah, I know, but that page mentioned occasional problems with using JUST Handbrake, so I've been using Mac the Ripper.

And it's still more complicated than PSP Movie Creator. ;)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.