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Handbrake files randomly don't work :(

J

JAWWC

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 1, 2008
144
0
I've had a search for this but couldn't find anything so please direct me if there is something on this problem.

I am using the apple tv preset with 2-pass on in handbrake, and every now and then the file it makes just doesn't work. It appears in the output folder as normal 3gb in size or so, but it just does nothing. iTunes opens when I double click it but the it doesn't go into my library and when I drag and drop it in nothing happens at all.
Does anyone have a solution to this?

Thanks
 
i also have a similar problem when converting to a custom format mp4.

the files just wont finish, ive tested it on multiple computers so im guessing its a source problem.

have you tried it on a different computer?
 
I've done some converting on another computer and they all worked fine I think. But when these files don't work I just re-encode them on the same computer (my VAIO laptop) and they work. It just seems completely random if they work or not.
 
JAWWC said:
I've done some converting on another computer and they all worked fine I think. But when these files don't work I just re-encode them on the same computer (my VAIO laptop) and they work. It just seems completely random if they work or not.
Click to expand...

ohh ok then, handbrake on windows isnt as... stable as on osx. ive had first hand experience with that.

the GUI is sooo bad.
 
DoFoT9 said:
ohh ok then, handbrake on windows isnt as... stable as on osx. ive had first hand experience with that.

the GUI is sooo bad.
Click to expand...

That would explain it then lol. Thanks for the help, I'll make do with encoding things over and over again lol.
 
You need to fallow some simple rules
1. use *.m4v not *.mp4 (for some reason these files work more often then .mp4, Dont really know why:confused:
2. No file size should excead 1.9GB (2.0GB really but 1.9 is a safe bet with out any loss in quality
3. No file bitrate should exceed 2400kbs if its to high of a bit rate it wont work on either the iPhone/iPod or the :apple:TV

I've handbraked (is that really a word?) over 2000 tv episodes and 450 Movies with a 100% success rate.
 
dieseltwitch said:
You need to fallow some simple rules
1. use *.m4v not *.mp4 (for some reason these files work more often then .mp4, Dont really know why:confused:
2. No file size should excead 1.9GB (2.0GB really but 1.9 is a safe bet with out any loss in quality
3. No file bitrate should exceed 2400kbs if its to high of a bit rate it wont work on either the iPhone/iPod or the :apple:TV

I've handbraked (is that really a word?) over 2000 tv episodes and 450 Movies with a 100% success rate.
Click to expand...

How do you keep films under 2GB? all mine turn out about 3-3.5GB.
 
dieseltwitch said:
You need to fallow some simple rules
1. use *.m4v not *.mp4 (for some reason these files work more often then .mp4, Dont really know why:confused:
2. No file size should excead 1.9GB (2.0GB really but 1.9 is a safe bet with out any loss in quality
3. No file bitrate should exceed 2400kbs if its to high of a bit rate it wont work on either the iPhone/iPod or the :apple:TV

I've handbraked (is that really a word?) over 2000 tv episodes and 450 Movies with a 100% success rate.
Click to expand...

The first suggestion here is a good one perhaps, but I think you might be incorrect by suggesting that files over 1.9GB or over 2400kbs might be causing the problem. VERY few of my file sizes are that small. I've encoded over 140 movies and 200ish tv episodes on the AppleTV preset (with dual-pass) and never had this problem. Just an FYI.
 
fivepoint said:
The first suggestion here is a good one perhaps, but I think you might be incorrect by suggesting that files over 1.9GB or over 2400kbs might be causing the problem. VERY few of my file sizes are that small. I've encoded over 140 movies and 200ish tv episodes on the AppleTV preset (with dual-pass) and never had this problem. Just an FYI.
Click to expand...

Yea I remembered after I replied that it does it to some of my 400mb tv shows as well. I'll have to invest in a mac eventually.
 
I've never had an issue with large file sizes either.

Make sure that the target file is of type *.m4v however.
 
You need to try and eliminate the possiblities and narrow the problem down. I would starting by taking the file to a different computer and seeing if it works there.
 
Correct on .m4v especially if you have chapters or ac3 soundtrack.

incorrect on size. you should have no issue playing > 4GB movies on your atv as long as you are using 64 bit mp4.
 
ok well all i know is that when i dont regulate the sizes i get random files that dont work. and i also put the movies to ipods, and iPhones. and i know for sure that any thing over 2GBs doesn't work.
 
I've run into a similar situation with a music video DVD today. Even though I used a modified AppleTV preset with a quality setting of 59%, 2/3 of the tracks didn't show up in AppleTV (they play fine in iTunes) and upon closer examination I noticed that the bit rate is set to 4500 on those tracks/videos. This happened when I tried encoding it in both Windows and OS X. So I guess you cannot count on Handbrake's 59% quality AppleTV preset to do what it thinks it's going to do. I believe this is the first disc to cause that problem, though.

I've also read that decomb/detelecine is the best setting to use for most discs and Handbrake should only use detelecine when needed, but I did find out with Britney Spears' "My Prerogative" DVD that it's not always the case. The Detelecine setting was causing serious interlaced artifacts in videos like "Oops! I Did It Again" where you'd see horizontal black lines around the edges of her body when she moved fast in that PVC suit. Removing the detelecine setting solved the problem, while decomb still provided visually superior results to the slower deinterlace setting I was originally using.

My point is to always double check the output results after encoding and before deleting any ripped original folders as you might have to encode it all over again in some situations. ALWAYS have a backup of the file before letting MetaX tag it as well or you'll end up with dead files sooner or later. About 1/10 files gets screwed up by MetaX for reasons unknown here. I'll then reapply the same tags to a fresh copy of the backup file and it'll usually work fine (although the current MetaX could NOT tag Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom properly period (it was corrupted every time); an older version I had for Tiger worked fine in that case, though).
 
dieseltwitch said:
You need to fallow some simple rules
1. use *.m4v not *.mp4 (for some reason these files work more often then .mp4, Dont really know why:confused:
2. No file size should excead 1.9GB (2.0GB really but 1.9 is a safe bet with out any loss in quality
3. No file bitrate should exceed 2400kbs if its to high of a bit rate it wont work on either the iPhone/iPod or the :apple:TV

I've handbraked (is that really a word?) over 2000 tv episodes and 450 Movies with a 100% success rate.
Click to expand...

Hmm... I am averaging 3-5kbs and my file sizes are on average 4-6gigs. So I don't think that is correct. Maybe the file size has something to do with the computer you are using to encode the files with isn't powerful enough to handle the job?

But sorry that information is not very reliable considering I have yet to have a single file I had to go back and redo.
 
MagnusVonMagnum said:
I've run into a similar situation with a music video DVD today. Even though I used a modified AppleTV preset with a quality setting of 59%, 2/3 of the tracks didn't show up in AppleTV (they play fine in iTunes) and upon closer examination I noticed that the bit rate is set to 4500 on those tracks/videos. This happened when I tried encoding it in both Windows and OS X. So I guess you cannot count on Handbrake's 59% quality AppleTV preset to do what it thinks it's going to do. I believe this is the first disc to cause that problem, though.

I've also read that decomb/detelecine is the best setting to use for most discs and Handbrake should only use detelecine when needed, but I did find out with Britney Spears' "My Prerogative" DVD that it's not always the case. The Detelecine setting was causing serious interlaced artifacts in videos like "Oops! I Did It Again" where you'd see horizontal black lines around the edges of her body when she moved fast in that PVC suit. Removing the detelecine setting solved the problem, while decomb still provided visually superior results to the slower deinterlace setting I was originally using.

My point is to always double check the output results after encoding and before deleting any ripped original folders as you might have to encode it all over again in some situations. ALWAYS have a backup of the file before letting MetaX tag it as well or you'll end up with dead files sooner or later. About 1/10 files gets screwed up by MetaX for reasons unknown here. I'll then reapply the same tags to a fresh copy of the backup file and it'll usually work fine (although the current MetaX could NOT tag Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom properly period (it was corrupted every time); an older version I had for Tiger worked fine in that case, though).
Click to expand...

:eek:
 
DoFoT9 said:
hahahahahhahahahah :rolleyes: i love brit :cool:
Click to expand...

It's not like I think she's Grammy material. The girl is HOT. Actually, most of my music videos are by women are have women in them.... I only want/need visuals that are fun to look at (music only, photo slide shows or visualizers are fine for most other material). :D
 
Whenever HB is done encoding something, the audio is always choppy and gets worse and worse. I tried changing the quality and nothing. Any suggestions?
 
I just encountered my first Handbrake .m4v that didn't work correctly. After encoding "GWAR: Rendezvous with Ragnarok" it would show up in my iTunes library, but no amount of synch-ing would add it to my aTV movie list. Upon examining the file info, I noticed that the total bitrate was 8500-ish. (I hover around 65% quality, whatever arbitrary thing that means, in my Windows Handbrake video settings)
I recently encoded "Dresden Dolls - This is the Punk Cabaret" with similar settings, and with a combined bit rate of ~7500, it played fine. Thus, I figured the aTV must top out around 8000. I re-encoded GWAR at 62% (small adjustments of this slider seem to drastically affect bitrates) and the resulting file with a bitrate of ~6500 played just fine.
Not quite the same issue as the OP, who as I understand it, couldn't even add the file to their iTunes library; but the bitrate ceiling is something to keep in mind nevertheless.
 
I was under the impression the maximum VIDEO bit rate was 2500 for AppleTV. Of course, if you're carrying 4 soundtracks, for example, the total could be a good deal higher. I had problems encoding Celine Dion's "All The Way" music video DVD and it turned out to be the ORDER of the audio tracks (well it seemed to work after I put 5.1 FIRST; yet 6 tracks worked fine with Stereo first and I don't recall seeing this problem elsewhere before). I'm getting the feeling there are things happening with ATV that are a bit quirky at times.

I've also found that MetaX on Windows can often successfully re-tag data from files already written once whereas the Mac version ALWAYS corrupts the file (usually no video and/or audio on playback) if I try to write it more than one time. Windows MetaX can rewrite Mac tagged files too. I have NO idea what the issue is with the Mac version (running on my September '08 era MBP and the latest Leopard). MetaX seems a bit buggy, but I see no decent alternatives out there if you want artwork embedded so I always backup the file first before tagging (more like I move a copy to the media drive and then write over it with the tagged version once tested). Thank goodness for Gigabit Ethernet or I'd never be able to organize all this encoding, tagging and storing between 3 computers and still keep my sanity.
 
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