Best possible Handbrake settings to rip DVDs? 720p?

[jason2811]

I have an Apple TV2. I've been ripping DVDs with the "Apple TV 2" setting. What is the best possible setting on Handbrake to get the best possible quality (obviously don't want the files sizes to be HUGE) ?

Also, can someone explain to me what 720p is? Is it possible to rip DVDs on to my computer in 720p format from a DVD?

My concern is making sure that my movies are still watchable in good years in terms of quality and in case I no longer use iTunes in the future.

 

[Consultant]

720P: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/720p

You cannot turn a DVD into HD (720P). Without significant amount of processing anyway.

 

[harpster]

Most ATV & HTPC forums I've seen with that subject are saying to use the ATV2 Preset in Handbrake - how does that look?

 

[wolfpackfan]

I wish someone could explain the differences between the ATV2, iPad and Apple Universal presets. I had been using Universal but got to thinking my videos will be show on my iPad as well as my ATV2. I am a real newbie at this stuff and am just not sure which to use. From looking at the settings iPad and ATV2 seem very similar but Universal seems different.

 

[P Mentior]

I wish someone could explain the differences between the ATV2, iPad and Apple Universal presets. I had been using Universal but got to thinking my videos will be show on my iPad as well as my ATV2. I am a real newbie at this stuff and am just not sure which to use. From looking at the settings iPad and ATV2 seem very similar but Universal seems different.

The Universal preset will play on any apple device, hence it being 'universal'. If you are using it on the iPad, ATV2, iPhone 4, or the latest iPod touch then I would suggest you use the Apple TV 2 preset as it will give you the best quality and work on any device with the A4 chip.

 

[kuwisdelu]

I wish someone could explain the differences between the ATV2, iPad and Apple Universal presets. I had been using Universal but got to thinking my videos will be show on my iPad as well as my ATV2. I am a real newbie at this stuff and am just not sure which to use. From looking at the settings iPad and ATV2 seem very similar but Universal seems different.

Universal was to be universally compatible with older devices, i.e., pre-A4 iPhones, iPod Touches, and the old Apple TV. It's not the best choice anymore if you want to keep the best quality possible between all current devices.

The Apple TV 2 and iPad presets are tailored to take advantage of those devices, given their native resolutions. Both presets will be compatible with any 4th generation iDevice, but the Apple TV 2 preset will preserve more resolution/quality than the iPad preset.

 

[jason2811]

What is the best possible setting on Handbrake to get the best possible quality (obviously don't want the files sizes to be HUGE) ?

 

[The Mad Hatter]

I prefer the ATV1 preset, as it works great with my ATV1 and my new ATV2. As for my iPhone and iPad, AirVideo takes care of them.

 

[ashy7]

What is the best possible setting on Handbrake to get the best possible quality (obviously don't want the files sizes to be HUGE) ?

For DVD's I use the Highprofile setting, change the RF to 19% and get a very good quality rip.

File size is approx 1.5gb per film.

 

[harpster]

For DVD's I use the Highprofile setting, change the RF to 19% and get a very good quality rip. 5gb per film.

I spend a great deal of time on this recently to encode my DVD collection for use on Plex. I'm using the ATV2 with the Plex App and tried many Handbrake formats and Presets. I also used MakeMKV which takes the DVD VOB files and puts them together in a container so you can watch at full quality with no compression. I spent hours reading posts and doing rips and encoding tests because I have over 300 DVD's and don't wan't to do this twice.

The MakeMKV program produced files that were essentially exact copies of the source DVD's. If you have the Disk Space for storing and backing up then this will be the best quality but a typical DVD is 6-7 gigs so I ruled it our for that reason. All my other encoding tests were done in Handbrake (latest version) with the original ripped VIDEO_TS folders.

After doing all the research I decided to use the MKV file format in HandBrake. I did try a few MP4's but the file size seemed to be a little larger for the same RF (constant quality) number. Anyway I decided MKV H.264 was the way to go for me. Not sure if the ATV2 will play that natively and like I said I'm using the Plex App. (on jail-broken ATV2).

After doing a lot of comparisons of quality and video settings I decided to go with the High Profile Preset because it produces a smaller file size with very good quality (but longer encoding time). That also uses the Loose Amamorphic setting, and then I manually change the Format from MP4 to MKV. Finally I use a RF of 19.25 not sure why as it's hard to tell the difference between 18 and the recommended 20. But it works for me. The encoded file sizes are averaging between 1.3 and 2.5 gigs and when I watch the movie it's hard to tell the difference from the original DVD. I haven't found a reliable way to do a batch convert on the mac, I tried DropFolders but it didn't work for me. So I load up the HandBrake Queue with about 30 movies at night and they are done by noon the next day. On a iMac27 i7 I'm getting encoding frame rates averaging 90fps or so depending on the DVD.

You can spend way too much time with this and get way over critical. Just pick a Handbrake preset and do a few tests on the device(s) you want to view the video on and then go from there. One thing to watch out for is that HandBrake doesn't always select the correct chapter to encode. Some DVD's have Fullscreen & Widescreen versions on the same disc and other times it will just select the wrong chapter all together. Because I'm doing so many movies now to enter my collection, I just do the encoding and then fix it later if I see any problems.

 

[drgrafix]

I spend a great deal of time on this recently to encode my DVD collection for use on Plex. I'm using the ATV2 with the Plex App and tried many Handbrake formats and Presets. I also used MakeMKV which takes the DVD VOB files and puts them together in a container so you can watch at full quality with no compression. I spent hours reading posts and doing rips and encoding tests because I have over 300 DVD's and don't wan't to do this twice.

The MakeMKV program produced files that were essentially exact copies of the source DVD's. If you have the Disk Space for storing and backing up then this will be the best quality but a typical DVD is 6-7 gigs so I ruled it our for that reason. All my other encoding tests were done in Handbrake (latest version) with the original ripped VIDEO_TS folders.

After doing all the research I decided to use the MKV file format in HandBrake. I did try a few MP4's but the file size seemed to be a little larger for the same RF (constant quality) number. Anyway I decided MKV H.264 was the way to go for me. Not sure if the ATV2 will play that natively and like I said I'm using the Plex App. (on jail-broken ATV2).

After doing a lot of comparisons of quality and video settings I decided to go with the High Profile Preset because it produces a smaller file size with very good quality (but longer encoding time). That also uses the Loose Amamorphic setting, and then I manually change the Format from MP4 to MKV. Finally I use a RF of 19.25 not sure why as it's hard to tell the difference between 18 and the recommended 20. But it works for me. The encoded file sizes are averaging between 1.3 and 2.5 gigs and when I watch the movie it's hard to tell the difference from the original DVD. I haven't found a reliable way to do a batch convert on the mac, I tried DropFolders but it didn't work for me. So I load up the HandBrake Queue with about 30 movies at night and they are done by noon the next day. On a iMac27 i7 I'm getting encoding frame rates averaging 90fps or so depending on the DVD.

You can spend way too much time with this and get way over critical. Just pick a Handbrake preset and do a few tests on the device(s) you want to view the video on and then go from there. One thing to watch out for is that HandBrake doesn't always select the correct chapter to encode. Some DVD's have Fullscreen & Widescreen versions on the same disc and other times it will just select the wrong chapter all together. Because I'm doing so many movies now to enter my collection, I just do the encoding and then fix it later if I see any problems.

Great post. I'm in a similar situation although I don't have that many LOL movies to deal with. My setup is a ATV Gen1 jailbroken with Boxee/XMBC and the latest patchstick and internal software. I downloaded the latest Handbrake version and I'm a bit unsure of the best settings since they don't really recommend anything specific and why in the FAQ. As far as final size, I would be OK with anything up to and including 3-4 GB if necessary. BTW, do you think MakeMKV is worth the investment?

I'm streaming from a USB drive but the ATV is hardwired via ethernet rather than wireless. I've done a couple of movies from the OEM DVD and it seems that when scenes are shaded or dark, the darks are less defined than when viewing the OEM disc or a Video_TS file. Don't know if that is a property of the settings I've chosen or the ATV, or what. A batch handler would be cool, but the queue setup isn't bad. I'm viewing the movies on a Mits 65" DLP and the ATV is connected to my Yamaha AVR via HDMI.

One thing I haven't quite figured out is that if I switch to regular or D*TV on another HDMI channel, then maybe go back after a few hours to ATV... I have to reboot the ATV to get to the menu. Don't know if there's a specific button or sequence on the ATV remote to wake it up.

Again.. Harpster... great post and keep the dialogue going.

 

[dynaflash]

Universal was to be universally compatible with older devices, i.e., pre-A4 iPhones, iPod Touches, and the old Apple TV. It's not the best choice anymore if you want to keep the best quality possible between all current devices.

The Apple TV 2 and iPad presets are tailored to take advantage of those devices, given their native resolutions. Both presets will be compatible with any 4th generation iDevice, but the Apple TV 2 preset will preserve more resolution/quality than the iPad preset.

More or less true. But here is the dealio for dvd's (which are by definition 480p ... no more no less) . Constant Quality encoding which the HB preset use generally dictate that the visual quality will be the same at RF 20 no matter what.

So again, given a 480p dvd source the Universal preset will still give the same visual quality compared to the other rf 20 presets. Given the fact that the Universal preset caters to some less proficient ios devices in terms of decoding it will give up some higher profile h.264 options to maintain compatiblitiy with all devices.

What does this mean to you ?

It means that again ... given a dvd source and given an rf value of 20 (which they all use) you will get a bit higher file size/bitrate in exchange for ultimate ios compatibility across devices with basically imperceptible visual quality difference. Again this is assuming a dvd 480p source which is what the op referred to. If in doubt the Apple > Universal preset is still a very safe option if your not sure for compatiblity across all ios devices for dvd sources.

 

[harpster]

BTW, do you think MakeMKV is worth the investment?

MakeMVK was free, not sure if you need to pay for it after 30 days. Anyway a lot of people like it and if you want to encode your source DVD's or BlueRay's at 100% quality then I suppose it's worth it.

One thing I haven't quite figured out is that if I switch to regular or D*TV on another HDMI channel, then maybe go back after a few hours to ATV... I have to reboot the ATV to get to the menu. Don't know if there's a specific button or sequence on the ATV remote to wake it up.

On the ATV2 I just press the big round button on the Apple remote and that wakes up ATV (LED starts flashing on the front and wake's up in about 10 seconds or so). Man if I had to reboot from sleep that would be VERY annoying to go thought that tethered boot process each time. A show stopper I think!

As to the less defined darkness I don't know. But I would use MakeMKV as a test to see if it happens as that should be the same as the source VIDEO_TS files. Hopefully the ATV will play those MKV files, not sure about that.

 

[jason2811]

For DVD's I use the Highprofile setting, change the RF to 19% and get a very good quality rip.

File size is approx 1.5gb per film.

Will it a video ripped on "high profile" work on an ATV2? What about an iPhone?