Question about converting AVI to MP4

[Lenortic577]

Hello all,

I currently have my DVD collection stored on my HDD has .AVI. I am looking to convert these files to .MP4 files to be able to play on the Apple TV. The files are approx. 700MB per movie.

I've read that VisualHub is the best software for performing this conversion so I've downloaded and paid for this software.

My question is what are the best settings to use? I've tried a few different settings including:

- Optimize for Apple TV / H.264 Encoding / Standard Quality = 539MB
- Optimize for Apple TV / H.264 Encoding / High Quality = 869MB
- Optimize for Apple TV / H.264 Encoding / Standard Quality w/ 2 pass = 771MB

All these files appear to play back roughly the same. Should I just use the settings which provides the lowest file size (to save space) or is by dropping the size going to effect quality somewhere that I haven't seen it yet?

Also, 2nd question..

All the converted MP4 files play back darker in QuickTime than the original AVI file. I've been told this is because of a bug in QuickTime decoding MP4 files. Should I counter act this with an increase in contrast somehow?

Any suggestions would be helpfull.

Thanks.

 

[peeaanuut]

Question 1: If YOU do not see a quality difference than I say go for the smaller file size. Quality is quite subjective and will change based on our TV and whatever other equipment you are using.

Question 2: no idea. But I will be watching this topic if someone comes up with an answer.

 

[Lenortic577]

For anyone interested: After further testing of the output video quality, I've decided to go with the H.264/Standard/Limit Video Size to (same as original source).

This has produced the closest video quality to the original.

 

[maestrokev]

For anyone interested: After further testing of the output video quality, I've decided to go with the H.264/Standard/Limit Video Size to (same as original source).

This has produced the closest video quality to the original.

Did you find the 2pass made much of a difference? I don't find it does for my videos. Have you emailed the VisualHub developer about the darkening of video problem? That bothers me too.

 

[Lenortic577]

Did you find the 2pass made much of a difference? I don't find it does for my videos. Have you emailed the VisualHub developer about the darkening of video problem? That bothers me too.

2 pass didn't make much difference for me, especially considering the space it uses.

I have spoken with the developer of VisualHub about the darkening issue. He has confirmed that it is a bug within Quicktime at the time of playback. If you play the files back with VLC for example, the colour is the same as the AVI.

Only problem with that is Apple TV uses Quicktime to play the MP4 files so the darkening issue is present.

Only problem with increasing the contrast is that the video would be Ultra Bright in VLC or other players.