Best Handbrake 0.9.3 settings for ATV

[steve bate]

So if I read this right, use ATV setting and change from ABR setting to Constant Quality @ 62 will give superb results? I cant check yet, my ATV is in transit! Looking at the file size the CQ encode is about 60% of the size of the ABR encode, sounds like some major improvements in compression technology went into the latest release!!

Can someone confirm that CQ @ 62 is better than ABR @ 2500 on SD material please.

Thanks
Steve

 

[wrkngclasshero]

So if I read this right, use ATV setting and change from ABR setting to Constant Quality @ 62 will give superb results?

The Apple TV setting does not use ABR. You need to update your presets. This can be done in the Presets menu.

Using the newest presets, the CQ slider is set at 59%. Even at 59 I think the quality is better than the old preset (and I got my wife to do a blind test and she agreed with me).

FYI, just completed a test using the universal preset and changing the settings from 59-62. I did not see any real increase in quality across the board. I initially intended on using something higher than 59, but it seems that the good folks at Handbrake already did their research and their settings seem to be quite good.

FYI, the taste test was done on a 50 inch HD Panasonic plasma.
However, thanks to Nightstorm I am going to make a custom preset that is just the universal preset with detelecine and decomb enabled.

 

[dynaflash]

Can someone confirm that CQ @ 62 is better than ABR @ 2500 on SD material please.

No one will ever be able to confirm this for you. The two are mutually exclusive. It would all depend on your source, as has been said ad nauseum, cq will keep a specific visual quaility and vary bitrate (sometimes wildly) to maintain that quality. ABR will just enode at that average abr with no regard to the visual quality whatsoever.

Realize that 62% cq on sd material is damn near transparent to the source, which means it's within a hair visually of the source dvd. Bitrates will come out all over the place depending on the complexity, etc of each scene.

Having said that, it is possible that a 2500 abr encode on a specific source may come out the same as 62% cq ... then again it might not.

I strongly suggest using cq, bumping it down (or maybe up on notch if you want) to play with the quality. The only reason cq was not the original ATV preset back with 0.9.1 was that we wanted to be extremely conservative and not risk the atv dropping frames on a high complexity source. So, we went with 2500 way back when the atv was first introduced because we knew it would be a. safe for the atv, and b. in general give an acceptable level of visual quality in *most* cases for a canned preset.

Two things have changed since then. With the newer atv software versions it appears that the atv can handle more without dropping frames. At the same time x264 (the video encoder used in hb's appletv presets) has advanced significantly to the effect that a 62% cq setting will yield a much better looking picture at a smaller file size/ bitrate .

Basically a win/win situation. Once you start getting comfortable with cq you will likely never return back to abr unless your target platform requires it.

Having said that, right before the release of HB 0.9.3 we tossed the old ATV preset back in under Apple > Legacy because we knew there were those who would feel more comfortable with it. Also, it makes it easy to compare the two presets with the same source.

Have fun.

 

[steve bate]

Dynaflash & wrkngflashhero,

Thanks I'll adopt CQ and bow to your superior knowledge.

Thanks guys, and just in case, this is not meant as irony!!

Really appreciate the feedback.

Steve

 

[CryingWolf]

I did quite a bit of testing before release on sd dvd's with some of my real frame droppers and that 59% preset proved to be very reliable with a very nice quality picture.

For reference, I personally encode all of my own material at 62% which is at the top edge of overkill, but with a 1TB eSata modde atv, whats a few GB amongst friends

Hey dynaflash, do you use the appletv preset then just nudge the slider or are there some other settings you set / use?

 

[dynaflash]

Hey dynaflash, do you use the appletv preset then just nudge the slider or are there some other settings you set / use?

Well, for the most part I am using 62% with this string in the Advanced tab

ref=3:mixed-refs=1:bframes=3:direct=auto:no-fast-pskip=1:me=umh:subq=7:analyse=all:b-adapt=2

Pretty happy with it. Note: this uses CABAC which is not officially endorsed by Apple for the ATV. However I have been using cabac at least since atv 2.0 came out. So its worked. As always, ymmv.

Oh, and loose anamorphic just like the built in atv preset.

 

[Alx9876]

Tv Show Settings for iPhone.

Ok, So here's my dillemma.

While using Hand brake 0.9.2 my iPhone tv show settings for the Simpsons/Family Guy were this:

iPod High Rez
Average bit rate: 1500
Deinterlace set to SLOW

So what would this translate into in Handbrake 0.9.3 ?

I can't figure it out because I'm a noob all over again after the update. Any help would be awesome from anyone. Thank you in advance.

 

[dynaflash]

iPod High Rez
Average bit rate: 1500
Deinterlace set to SLOW

So what would this translate into in Handbrake 0.9.3 ?

No dilemma at all, the iPod High Rez from 0.9.2 is now the Apple > Legacy > iPod Legacy preset in 0.9.3. You do not have to specify 1500 abr (nor did you ever) since its part of that preset. Just add deinterlace if you want.

Were it me, I would use Decomb instead of Deinterlace. But, thats just me.

 

[Alx9876]

Thank you for the prompt response. I will take you're advice on this for my tv shows.