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Is this HandBrake Preset good for the AppleTV2?

A

aelalfy

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 2, 2010
563
0
Berlin, Germany
Hi everyone,

My question is really is a custom preset that I made is good for the new AppleTV. I'll add a screenshot of my handbrake page with the preset.

Note1: My conversion is only for the AppleTV & High quality is of highest priority because I have a 52" LCD and would like the best quality

Note2: I downloaded a couple of .avi's to test these conversions out. So most of my stuff will be conversions from .avi to itunes compatible files. I want to quality to be 100% or better (magically) but to keep a decent file size.

Mainly I noticed that, when using the AppleTV preset on handbrake, my encode times are 4x as long as my custom preset.

Two things I changed:
1) H.264 (x264) video encode to MPEG-4 (FFmpeg)
2) Constant quality from 60.78% RF 20 to 100% QP 1 ---- DOES THIS MEAN KEEPING QUALITY at 100%?

Note: This brought my encode time from ie 40 mins to 10 mins. I noticed that the files sizes are also reasonable, only 1.5 times bigger than they were when they are .avi.

I also noticed that with the AppleTV preset, my files are HUGE. for example a 350mb .avi comes to 1.19 gb .m4v or something. Thats not acceptable for me. with my preset that same 350mb came to 475mb roughly .mp4. I also didn't notice any benefits to using the AppleTV preset compared to my custom one.

If anyone would be notice to comment on these points that would be great. I'm not sure if I'm doing things right or as to why the AppleTV preset has such huge files.

Note: One last thing, I created a thread that asks why my TV shows when fully watched dont get marked as watched, but get marked as half watched?
On my AppleTV, they show as NOT watched at all, on my itunes they show up as partially watched. I think his has to do with my conversions, because I notice the show comes to an abrupt ending, its like it cuts the last second of, does this have to do with me not making any chapters in my conversion or something?

Screen%20shot%202010-10-22%20at%202.06.43%20PM.png


Thank you,
AE
 
Whoa, 100% will make a huge unusable file. For ATV2, use the regular, high profile preset, turn off filters. Try it at RF 20 first, or if you want to go crazy, try RF 18.

Every time you re-encode you lose quality. It is a trade off. You should be happy with RF 20 or 18.
 
And you will also get much better quality if you encode from the ISO rips directly from your DVDs.

avi and then handbrake means the files will have been compressed twice...three times if you included the original encode to DVD, but will assume that the DVD is the 'source'. If you want quality, go directly from DVD rips.

...assuming you have them, that is.
 
Rf?

Sorry for hijacking this thread, but please allow me a newbie Handbrake question. What is the "RF" setting I keep reading about? I can't seem to find it anywhere in Handbrake.
 
If you need ATV1 compatibility use the Apple TV preset if you don't then use the High Profile prest. For DVD try putting the RF at 20 if your not happy try 18 definitely don't go lower than that the file will ballon out and you will see no quality difference for bluray rips start at 24 and work your way down again down go lower than 18.
 
BlackMangoTree said:
If you need ATV1 compatibility use the Apple TV preset if you don't then use the High Profile prest. For DVD try putting the RF at 20 if your not happy try 18 definitely don't go lower than that the file will ballon out and you will see no quality difference for bluray rips start at 24 and work your way down again down go lower than 18.
Click to expand...

I can agree with this. I use the Handbrake nightly build High Profile preset for my Apple TV 2 ( I don't have the first Gen) and increase the quality to 18 and it looks excellent on my Samsung 58" Plasma. :D
 
BlackMangoTree said:
If you need ATV1 compatibility use the Apple TV preset if you don't then use the High Profile prest. For DVD try putting the RF at 20 if your not happy try 18 definitely don't go lower than that the file will ballon out and you will see no quality difference for bluray rips start at 24 and work your way down again down go lower than 18.
Click to expand...

You still recommend turning off filters?
 
So is this the only way to Play MKV on New Apple TV Gen. 2

Was wondering if there's another way or if converting the files is the only way, at the moment it takes my computer about 4 hours to convert 1 hour files. Does sounds right? Or is that way too long?

I'm on a MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo w/ 4GB 1067 MHz DDR3
 
at the moment it takes my computer about 4 hours to convert 1 hour files. Does sounds right? Or is that way too long?
Click to expand...

That seems a little long...I have the exact same computer as you and can encode a 1080p 2 hr. long .mkv into a 720p .mp4 in ~3 1/2 hrs. or so.

Are you using Handbrake?
 
I'm having such a hard time with Handbrake (all versions for the last few years). Whether I rip a DVD or reencode an MKV, the brightness of the picture keeps slowly creeping up for about a minute until it reaches extremely light brightness, then drops again to "normal" and creeps up again over a minute or so. It keeps doing that again and again over the course of the whole tv show or movie!

Yet I use the preset for High Profile, as reencoding a 720p MKV in AppleTV mode puts it in a lower res (960 across instead of 1280) which is unacceptable.

Why is it doing that?!? Very very annoying!
 
Lol sorry to bring this thread back to my post :p but my points didn't not really get answered. My custom preset seems to produce reasonable file size compared to the original .avi.

How does that differ from the high profile preset. The appletv preset produces files that are gigantic and don't seem to be any different from my custom preset files.

Also why does my appletv never mark my tv shows as watched. It can show them partially watched or unwatched but when I watch an episode fully, it never marks it as watched, EVER!!!

Thanks
AE
 
I use handbrake for my AppleTV 2 and I pick the default "AppleTV" setting but change a couple things.

#1. Uncheck the large file size box
#2. Go inside of the picture size settings and adjust the height/width if neccessary.
#3. Go inside audio and remove un needed channels.

Most movies vary in size for me depending on length. 800MB - 2.0GB. They all look good streaming to my Apple TV on a 42" TV.
 
jbosi said:
I use handbrake for my AppleTV 2 and I pick the default "AppleTV" setting but change a couple things.

#1. Uncheck the large file size box
#2. Go inside of the picture size settings and adjust the height/width if neccessary.
#3. Go inside audio and remove un needed channels.

Most movies vary in size for me depending on length. 800MB - 2.0GB. They all look good streaming to my Apple TV on a 42" TV.
Click to expand...

In general what are you setting your height/width at? ,most of my sources are going to be SD, not HD.
 
Shanewilliams said:
In general what are you setting your height/width at? ,most of my sources are going to be SD, not HD.
Click to expand...

I forget the actual width, but the height is generally 400. Because some movies are in anamorphic wide, the resolution comes out to 900 something x 400. Some movies I've ripped I've gotten them at 720 x 480. I never rip anything less than 400 for the height.

All the stuff I have is in SD content, and it works good because playback on my Mac, AppleTV, and iPhone looks great.
 
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