Handbrake

[robrose20]

I am in the process of converting my DVD's for viewing on Apple TV. I am using Handbrake for most of my movies. I have a question, when I use the Apple TV setting on handbrake it defaults to anamorphic picture mode. I notice that the aspect ratio is not right. Everyone seems a little fatter that when I watch it on the original DVD and when I choose retain aspect ratio it looks normal. What can I do to get the benefits of anamorphic picture but retain proper aspect ratio?

 

[cohibadad]

that's the setting I use and it looks perfect. What setting is your TV display on? When you click the Picture Settings preview button, does the picture look right?

 

[robrose20]

I haven't watched it on my TV I watched it on my MBP. I did 2 seperate conversions, one with anamorphic on the other with anamorphic off, the the one with anamorphic on the aspect ratio is off a bit. The people look fatter and not normal on my computer screen. Any ideas? I will try to post a screen snapshot when I get home.

 

[MikeL]

Use the picture option for keeping the original aspect ratio.

 

[ejbenjamin]

You might want to read this thread in the Handbrake forum. Apparently the QT 7.3 update changed the way QT handles anamorphic encoding. Videos encoded with the AppleTV present will look too wide on your Mac, but, because the AppleTV hasn't been updated the same way, the videos will still look fine on the AppleTV.

I think the Handbrake team is waiting to make any changes until they can figure out what Apple plans to do. If QT's changes are reversed, things will stay the same. If the QT change is made to the AppleTV, as well, the preset will be adjusted.

 

[spice weasel]

I didn't read through all the posts on the Handbrake forums, but over on the Apple forums this issue has been raised and installing Perian was offered as a workaround for now.

http://perian.org/

 

[robrose20]

I downloaded and installed perian and it worked like a champ. I also have the elgato turbo 264 and the encodes with overscan on were also producing the same problem and they look normal also. I didn't realize it was a quicktime problem. Thank you!

 

[beacall]

To fix it when watching it ( i don't know if you need QTPRO) Press Cmd + J then Select "Video Track" Goto "Visual Settings" then press the "reset" Button to the lower right. It does it for me. you can choose to save it but i don't bother.

 

[JimmyDreams]

I've got a Handbrake question....

I'm looking to rip all my DVD movies and store them digitally for use on A) my iPhone and b) with TV (don't have it yet, waiting on next upgrade).

Is Handbrake my best option for that? I haven't ripped one DVD yet, so I don't know if there are copywrite issues or anything like that. Is there a FAQ for going digital on a Mac? I'd like to get all my DVD's stored in one place so i can access them without digging through the 300+ that I have on shelves!!!

Any advice/help is appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[mindcrash]

I've got a Handbrake question....

I'm looking to rip all my DVD movies and store them digitally for use on A) my iPhone and b) with TV (don't have it yet, waiting on next upgrade).

Is Handbrake my best option for that? I haven't ripped one DVD yet, so I don't know if there are copywrite issues or anything like that. Is there a FAQ for going digital on a Mac? I'd like to get all my DVD's stored in one place so i can access them without digging through the 300+ that I have on shelves!!!

Any advice/help is appreciated!

Thanks!

I would be very interested myself. I'm in the same boat and have been busy ripping / encoding without yet having my TV. I've just been using the TV preset in Handbrake and adding 2 pass encoding. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything looks good on the big screen, though it all looks great on the MacBook.

 

[NightStorm]

Just make sure you rip for the lowest denominator device... i.e. use the iPhone preset if you need compatibility with both the iPhone and the AppleTV. If you use the AppleTV preset, the file won't sync to the iPhone.

 

[nick.hobbie]

I would be very interested myself. I'm in the same boat and have been busy ripping / encoding without yet having my TV. I've just been using the TV preset in Handbrake and adding 2 pass encoding. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything looks good on the big screen, though it all looks great on the MacBook.

I can assure you that using handbrake and second pass makes a dvd realistic video. I have encoded 80+ movies and 7 TV seasons using this option and never had a complaint with the ATV showing it, it is just time consuming. I bought the Turbo.264 to speed up the process and I am not happy with the quality it produces. I use this only on older tv shows that are not set in wide screen or movies that I 'kinda' care about. What you are doing works the best, it is fantastic quality on my 36" Sony Trinitron.

 

[JimmyDreams]

Just make sure you rip for the lowest denominator device... i.e. use the iPhone preset if you need compatibility with both the iPhone and the AppleTV. If you use the AppleTV preset, the file won't sync to the iPhone.

I just ripped my first DVD with Handbrake last night. 'Knocked Up' ripped for iPhone took a little over an hour on my 2.8Ghz iMac. Testing the movie on break at work....works, looks, sounds just FINE on my iPhone.

As I understand things, (assuming I had TV), the iPhone version would look like crap on my HD TV. If I want to do it right, I need a ripped version (low res) for my iPhone, and a seperate 2 pass hi res rip for my HD TV.

Correct?

I also need to get and play with MetEx (or whatever that program is called) that allows editing of the description data and cover art, etc. A fairly steep learning curve, but what the heck....if I can get just store all my DVD's and put everything on my iMac, well.....life would be SWEET!

 

[NightStorm]

I just ripped my first DVD with Handbrake last night. 'Knocked Up' ripped for iPhone took a little over an hour on my 2.8Ghz iMac. Testing the movie on break at work....works, looks, sounds just FINE on my iPhone.

As I understand things, (assuming I had TV), the iPhone version would look like crap on my HD TV. If I want to do it right, I need a ripped version (low res) for my iPhone, and a seperate 2 pass hi res rip for my HD TV.

Correct?

I also need to get and play with MetEx (or whatever that program is called) that allows editing of the description data and cover art, etc. A fairly steep learning curve, but what the heck....if I can get just store all my DVD's and put everything on my iMac, well.....life would be SWEET!

Well, you could go about it two different ways. Personally, for my DVD sources, I use a custom preset for both iPhone and AppleTV playback; it looks decent, but could look better. You'll have to judge for yourself on that one. I'd post my iPhone preset, but I'm using some settings only in the development builds of HandBrake, and I'm still working on it for maximum compatibility. I will say that I'm pretty impressed with the results; smaller files that look great on the iPhone and pretty good on the AppleTV (not likely compatible with older iPods though).

For my HD encodes, I create 2 seperate files: one for AppleTV, and the other for iPhone. I only load the iPhone file into my library when I know I am going to want to take it with me; otherwise, only the AppleTV ones are present in my library.

Also, the tagging program you are thinking of is MetaX, which is developed by a good friend of the Handbrake team (and why you see some integration between the two products).

 

[MikieMikie]

As I understand things, (assuming I had TV), the iPhone version would look like crap on my HD TV. If I want to do it right, I need a ripped version (low res) for my iPhone, and a seperate 2 pass hi res rip for my HD TV.

Correct?

I also need to get and play with MetEx (or whatever that program is called) that allows editing of the description data and cover art, etc. A fairly steep learning curve, but what the heck....if I can get just store all my DVD's and put everything on my iMac, well.....life would be SWEET!

1. You're right -- it'll look like crap, or close to it. For me, there's little point in ripping and encoding a DVD only to watch it in a worse resolution.

I rip once (using MacTheRipper), keep the ripped folders, then encode 2X -- once for AppleTV, once for iPhone. I find I watch few movies on the iPhone, so this works out fine.

2. MetaX is easily found by googling it. There is an instructional video on his website that will reveal all. The program is actually simple to use, extremely powerful, and the best thing out there for tagging.

3. Buy an external hard drive. 500 GB HDDs go on sale all the time and can be found for around $129 US. Look for Seagate FreeAgent, as an example. Others are worse/better/the same.

I have 3 500 GB drives: 1: iTunes and iPhoto. 2: Movies and TV 3: Leopard Time Machine.

Enjoy.

-- Mikie

 

[JimmyDreams]

I have 3 500 GB drives: 1: iTunes and iPhoto. 2: Movies and TV 3: Leopard Time Machine.

Enjoy.

-- Mikie

Mike...

Are those firewire, USB, or a mixture? IDEALLY, I'd like to use an external HD on my AEBS as a networked drive and for Time Machine, movies, pics, etc., but TM doesn't support that.

If I'm going to eventually have more than 1 external HD, which is better for daisychaining....firewire or USB?

Thanks!

 

[MikieMikie]

Mike...

Are those firewire, USB, or a mixture?

They are all the same model: FreeAgent USB 2.0 (Seagate Mfr.) bought for an average of $120 ea. Feel free to mix & match, as long as you are at least at USB 2.0.

IDEALLY, I'd like to use an external HD on my AEBS as a networked drive and for Time Machine, movies, pics, etc., but TM doesn't support that.

If I'm going to eventually have more than 1 external HD, which is better for daisychaining....firewire or USB?

Thanks!

All I did was buy a cheap, USB 2.0 hub with four inputs, one output, powered. Cost: $29.00

Firewire will get you significant speed increases if copying from one drive to another, BUT:
1. For streaming, USB 2.0 is good enough
2. For encoding (using Handbrake or VisualHib, for example) USB 2.0 is good enough.
3. For Time Machine, USB 2.0 is the absolute minimum, unless you have nothing planned for your machine for the next few weeks.

-- Mikie

 

[JimmyDreams]

They are all the same model: FreeAgent USB 2.0 (Seagate Mfr.) bought for an average of $120 ea. Feel free to mix & match, as long as you are at least at USB 2.0.



All I did was buy a cheap, USB 2.0 hub with four inputs, one output, powered. Cost: $29.00

Firewire will get you significant speed increases if copying from one drive to another, BUT:
1. For streaming, USB 2.0 is good enough
2. For encoding (using Handbrake or VisualHib, for example) USB 2.0 is good enough.
3. For Time Machine, USB 2.0 is the absolute minimum, unless you have nothing planned for your machine for the next few weeks.

-- Mikie

I know about USB hubs (they're great), but can you daisy-chain firewire devices? My iMac has 2 firewire ports on the back (if I remember correctly). I'd like to daisy chain one of them like USB ports if possible. I'm kind of a speed junkie in all areas....whether transferring from drive to drive or encoding or whatever....faster is always better (IMHO), so firewire 800 would be preferrable.

I'm still figuring all this stuff out. Looks like creative ways to spend even MORE money on even MORE blinking LED's!!!


edit: after researching, you can apparantly daisy-chain up to 63 Firewire devices on a Mac. SWEET!!

 

[EgleMtn]

When ripping movies using the AppleTV preset on handbrake, about how long does it take? I have tried several movies and it seems to take about 5 hours. I am using a 2.0 intel iMac.
Thanks
-Egle Mtn

 

[mindcrash]

When ripping movies using the AppleTV preset on handbrake, about how long does it take? I have tried several movies and it seems to take about 5 hours. I am using a 2.0 intel iMac.
Thanks
-Egle Mtn

I think it all depends on the movie and your hardware. I have a 2.2 intel macbook and I would say on average it takes about 2.5 to 3 hours per movie. But I also add 2 pass encoding to the mix, which lengthens the process a bit.