Apple TV 2 Encoding

[Crzyrio]

Hi

Previosly I would simply drop and click convert for Apple TV in Smart Converter Pro and it would be done but I keep finding new info and programs that makes me wonder if this is the best option for quality.

I don't know a lot about this stuff yet so don't go to hard.

The setting for Apple TV 2 in Handbrake is this the best? Or should I consider other options? When converting a 1920x800 HD video I notice it outputs it to 1280x528. Why does it output 1280x528 and not 1280x720?

This brings me to my next dilemma, I have a lot of 1080p and bluray movies on my computer. Now once converting them for the apple tv (720p) and putting it in iTunes, I delete them.

Is it possible to convert the moves to mp4 format, keep the 1080p res and still play it on the Apple tv? Reason for this is....say a new Apple TV is released and it supports 1080p, I would only be stuck with 720p movies/shows because I converted.

Would it be ok to use the settings in Handbrake for Apple TV 2 and simply change the picture settings so its 1920x800?

Thanks
Rioch

Edit : I Have noticed that with Smart Converter Pro, the program keeps the same resolution when converting for Apple TV. I have an video in iTunes with 1980x816. that I converted with SCP.

 

[hafr]

Hi

Previosly I would simply drop and click convert for Apple TV in Smart Converter Pro and it would be done but I keep finding new info and programs that makes me wonder if this is the best option for quality.

I don't know a lot about this stuff yet so don't go to hard.

The setting for Apple TV 2 in Handbrake is this the best? Or should I consider other options? When converting a 1920x800 HD video I notice it outputs it to 1280x528. Why does it output 1280x528 and not 1280x720?

1280x720 is 16:9 (widescreen, TV if you will) whilst 1280x526 equals a bit more than 2.35:1 which is movie theatre dimensions. So when playing these films on your TV, you'll see black bars above and under the actual film.

If Handbrake would convert your film into 1280x720, you'd have these black bars in the actual video file, which is completely unnecessary. A waste of space.

This brings me to my next dilemma, I have a lot of 1080p and bluray movies on my computer. Now once converting them for the apple tv (720p) and putting it in iTunes, I delete them.

Is it possible to convert the moves to mp4 format, keep the 1080p res and still play it on the Apple tv? Reason for this is....say a new Apple TV is released and it supports 1080p, I would only be stuck with 720p movies/shows because I converted.

Would it be ok to use the settings in Handbrake for Apple TV 2 and simply change the picture settings so its 1920x800?

Thanks
Rioch

Edit : I Have noticed that with Smart Converter Pro, the program keeps the same resolution when converting for Apple TV. I have an video in iTunes with 1980x816. that I converted with SCP.

You can play 1080p videos with the ATV2, but it will downscale the output to 720p.

 

[HandySam]

You can even copy the H264 movie and just convert the audio

Use Subler and put it in a .m4v.

I have allot of Blu Rays myself and I do it like this, so I don't lose any quality and since august you can also store the DTS audio track in a m4v. (even DTS-HD Master)

 

[Gjwilly]

If Handbrake would convert your film into 1280x720, you'd have these black bars in the actual video file, which is completely unnecessary. A waste of space.

Pretty sure it would just stretch the picture vertically which is even worse.

 

[hafr]

Pretty sure it would just stretch the picture vertically which is even worse.

No, it wouldn't. You can try it yourself if you don't trust an anonymous dude online

 

[Crzyrio]

1280x720 is 16:9 (widescreen, TV if you will) whilst 1280x526 equals a bit more than 2.35:1 which is movie theatre dimensions. So when playing these films on your TV, you'll see black bars above and under the actual film.

If Handbrake would convert your film into 1280x720, you'd have these black bars in the actual video file, which is completely unnecessary. A waste of space.


You can play 1080p videos with the ATV2, but it will downscale the output to 720p.

ok makes sense. Thanks! so say that I have a movie that is actually 16:9 and I put it in handbrake, for this case the movie will actually come out 1280x720?

Great, I think ill continue to rip them to 1080p then

Thanks

 

[hafr]

ok makes sense. Thanks! so say that I have a movie that is actually 16:9 and I put it in handbrake, for this case the movie will actually come out 1280x720?

Great, I think ill continue to rip them to 1080p then

Thanks

Exactly

 

[KevinC867]

If Handbrake would convert your film into 1280x720, you'd have these black bars in the actual video file, which is completely unnecessary. A waste of space.

Actually, since the bars are just constantly black regions, it takes almost no extra space to encode them.

This is important to me because It gives me a better way to encode movies I might play on my iPad. I'm just not enough of a purist to want to watch a wide-screen movie as a thin 2.35:1 strip covering about half the area of my iPad. I can double-tap and blow it up to use the full height of the screen, but that's too much magnification. I would just like to crop some of the edges and watch the movie in a 16:9 aspect ratio. This all works perfectly if I disable Handbrake's auto-cropping and generate a 1280x720 output file with the bars built-in. Normal play is at 2:35:1; double-tap to get 16:9.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

But you realize that by making it fit the screen (no black bars) you're actually throwing away pieces of the film? And you do know that sometimes- not often but sometimes- stuff happens at the edges of the film that matters to the story (which is why the pan & scan technique exists when framing wide formats for less wide screens)? Just arbitrarily chopping off the left & right to yield 16:9 risks tossing important bits of a movie.

 

[KevinC867]

But you realize that by making it fit the screen (no black bars) you're actually throwing away pieces of the film? And you do know that sometimes- not often but sometimes- stuff happens at the edges of the film that matters to the story (which is why the pan & scan technique exists when framing wide formats for less wide screens)? Just arbitrarily chopping off the left & right to yield 16:9 risks tossing important bits of a movie.

Hence, my comment about not being a "purist". The 2.35:1 to 16:9 conversion doesn't discard a lot from the edges and when it does, you can almost always see that something is getting chopped and just double-tap the iPad to go back to the full (tiny) view. Much more convenient than adjusting a TV set.

The whole point of using this encoding scheme is to have a much less extreme effect when double-tapping to zoom the image.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Sorry, I read the thread to imply that OP was going to crop them in Handbrake to get rid of the black bars. I thought you were endorsing that option on first glance. If the Handbrake render is still OAR and you/he is zooming in iPad to virtually crop, no loss. My comment was more aimed at the idea that cropping in Handbrake would throw away picture that would definitely be lost.