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Best Handbrake Options
- Thread starter supafly99
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Well, I can only share with you my experience...so far.
If you load up a source, and then flip through different presets, you can see that some of the settings change. In particular, you'll note that there are some "hints" that are added to the file for the Apple TV preset. Plus, depending on the final device, there are limitations, such as with resolution. Definitely peruse the wiki at the Handbrake site.
It's weird, but I notice that files encoded using the Apple TV preset are playable on a Mac in iTunes, but not quicktime. Loading one up in Quicktime causes quicktime to crash, for me.
So, if you limit yourself to Apple TV and iTunes on the Mac, just use the Apple TV preset.
Note, though, that the apple TV can't do 720p/25+. At 720p, it has to be less than 25 frames per second. So, the preset automatically scales down higher resolution, in case the frames per second are too high. If you know the video is less than 25 frames per second, click on the video options and raise the resolution. In the case of a DVD, the source resolution is only 480p, so it's not an issue, though.
If you load up a source, and then flip through different presets, you can see that some of the settings change. In particular, you'll note that there are some "hints" that are added to the file for the Apple TV preset. Plus, depending on the final device, there are limitations, such as with resolution. Definitely peruse the wiki at the Handbrake site.
It's weird, but I notice that files encoded using the Apple TV preset are playable on a Mac in iTunes, but not quicktime. Loading one up in Quicktime causes quicktime to crash, for me.
So, if you limit yourself to Apple TV and iTunes on the Mac, just use the Apple TV preset.
Note, though, that the apple TV can't do 720p/25+. At 720p, it has to be less than 25 frames per second. So, the preset automatically scales down higher resolution, in case the frames per second are too high. If you know the video is less than 25 frames per second, click on the video options and raise the resolution. In the case of a DVD, the source resolution is only 480p, so it's not an issue, though.
I would go with the Apple TV preset, bump up the quality slider to 61-62%, and turn on the decomb filter to catch any stray interlacing. That's what I do and I think the results are great.
Just rip as many movies as you have space for and then queue them all up in HandBrake for encoding while you are asleep, at work, etc.
I'm not sure why the other poster is having problems playing HB encoded files in QuickTime. Mine play just fine.
Just rip as many movies as you have space for and then queue them all up in HandBrake for encoding while you are asleep, at work, etc.
I'm not sure why the other poster is having problems playing HB encoded files in QuickTime. Mine play just fine.
Definitely should not be the case. Only bug with the atv preset is if you are say trying to rip a mkv and the soundtrack is "Unknown" the two channel aac + ac3 will crash QT 7.6 ( no previous version though). For most dvd's this is not an issue.
the appleTV preset should give you very nice encodes. but as usual test for yourself and see what you think.
Well, I converted an MKV with two channel aac + ac3....but tried playing with quicktime 8.1.1.
er, afaik the latest Quicktime is only 7.6.
As well, what are the two tracks labeled for language? If its from an mkv its probably "Unknown" as I state above.
You can use subler to rename the tracks to "English" or whatever and QT won't crash, or revert back to the previous qt. Its a known bug in QT 7.6 (previous version of QT did not have this problem).
D'oh, iwas thinking of iTunes.
It could be the one file. I had a lot of trouble getting hb to not crash with it.
Same here, never had a problem.
Like many have said, just try a few tweaks and see what you like best. I used to do a two-pass customized setting but for the last few months I've just gone with the stock AppleTV setting and have been happy with it.
Some advice though and I ALWAYS do this step now. It's a pain but it's worth it and you'll understand if you do any Disney films from the last year.
BEFORE opening the movie in Handbrake, open it first in DVD Player.app, go into the actual movie (any chapter, doesn't matter) and right click to determine the Title it's using. Close it out and select this Title in Handbrake.
Here's a few reasons why.
1) If the movie contains both Rated and Unrated versions, this way you'll get the one you want.
2) Disney now includes 99 Titles (literally). Only one of them is correct and the others are all jumbled messes of the movie.
3) I've had some movies with a few titles that all seem to be the correct length and HB doesn't know which one is right. If it selects the wrong one you get a movie thats about 4 minutes longer because the opening 4 minutes gets played twice. I have no idea why. But it's annoying when you start watching a movie you ripped and a few minutes into it just starts over. Pineapple Express is an example if I remember correctly.
Save yourself a little headache and use DVD Player.app to determine the "real" Title.
Good luck!
Edit: Thanks spice weasel. iDVD.....that would just be stupid
DVD Player.app, not iDVD. I'm sure you meant to say that, but I just wanted to clarify.