Best Handbrake Settings for ATV + iPod?

[plaidhippo]

Hey everyone,
I just got the lovely gift of a 160GB TV. I aready have two video ipods - one of the first gen video pods (60gb) and another of the updated pods (80gb).

I used handbrake to convert a lot of movies for the pods at 320x240 or so, but those look terrible blown up on apple tv or even just on the laptop screen. Can anyone tell me of some median settings that allow me to create just one file instead of a hi-res one for the tv and a low res one for ipod? I know the new version of handbrake has presets for each, but i would rather not rip the same movie multiple times and store both versions on my laptop! I figure 640x480 or so should do the trick, i don't think the pod supports any higher, right? Does that look terrible blown up for tvs? Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[mark-itguy]

I think the latter versions of HandBrake have presets, but I settled on the following back when all settings were manual.

640x480
AVC\H.264
1536 video bitrate
160 audio bitrate

The preset checks some boxes which are fine. Do not check the de-interlace box unless you find the source video is interlaced.

This will of course look great on the iPod, as it is at the very edge of the max settings, [I have used these just fine BTW]. On the Apple TV, it will look good. Not as good as it would with a higher bitrate, but [to me anyway] looks as good as videos purchased from the iTunes Store, [the good ones, not the shows people say look bad]. Lastly, if at a hotel or something you plug your iPod into a TV via the cables, it will look good too.