DVD to Apple TV I Need A Definite Answer

[thiagofll]

I have been searching online on how to rip from DVD to Apple TV but everyone always seem to change the subject to talk about their personal lives. I am sure a lot of people are frustrated as well.

Using Handbrake

If I select H.264 what encoder should I use? x264 (Main Profile) or x264 (Baseline Profile)?

As in average bitrate (kbps) would I notice a lot of difference in terms of picture quality if I choose 1500 instead of 2000? Would 2000 take a lot more hard drive space than 1500?

On Apple's website it states that Apple TV only supports up to 160 kbps for audio? Has anyone else tried 192 or 256? Does it work on Apple TV?

Also Sample Rate, will Apple TV accept 48Hz?

Any help would be truly appreciated.

 

[mark-itguy]

Having put tons of DVD's on my iPod 5G, I have a lot of experience with this. I do not have an Apple TV, [yet?], so sorry I can't help with it specifically, but since no one replied yet I figured, why not?

At the moment my only powerful PC is a Windows box, so I usually use NERO Recode, but I used the old Mac version of Handbrake, and recently started using the newer beta version of Handbrake for Windows.

Video:
AVC\H.264, 640x480, 1536 kbit, auto-crop, .mp4 file type

Audio:
AAC 160 bit, 44100 sample rate

And this is the top of the upper most limits of my iPod 5 Gen. If I go much above anything here it won't sync.

So the take away is, start with something like this, then raise the video bitrate to whatever the Apple TV limit is. I would expect failure if you raise the audio bitrate above whatever the Apple TV limit is. Oh, I guess you could also try 720x480, since [I think] the Apple TX supports that.

I know this isn't a prefect answer, based on an Apple TV, but hopefully it's better than nothing.

 

[roland.g]

I haven't tried anything higher than 160, as that's what I use. I set my Sample Rate to 48 and that works with my Apple TV. For Avg. Bitrate I did a test ripping LOTR Fellowship disc 1 three times at 1500, 2000 and 2500 and I can't tell any difference between them on my 42" Samsung DLP HDTV via Apple TV. I run my audio optical to my Onkyo rec'r and my video through a XtremeMac $20 gold tipped Component Cable. I already use my DVI in for my upconverting DVD Player. I set my Apple TV res. to 720P because I read that rips will look better than at 1080i and my Samsung says Progressive Monitor on it, for what it's worth. And yes, I used H.264 Main profile because I have no intention of getting a current video iPod and I expect that the iPhone and true video iPod will use the Apple TV specs and not be limited by 640x and the other 5.5G video iPod limitations, not to mention Apple TV is my main focus as is quality. Like I said though, after thinking 2000 was the right bit rate, I can't see any difference at 1500, though I won't go any lower. I can however tell the difference using Front Row on my Mac Mini with my 19" LaCie CRT, res set to 1280x1024 or something like that. Darks have the blocking effect at all three bitrates, though it gets less noticable the higher the bitrate. But I have no real desire to watch movies on my computer.

 

[sblasl]

Here We Go Again

I find myself in the same situation that the OP has been frustrated with.

I found this on the Apple Boards, hope this helps. It has for me.

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4319377#4319377