Ripping for multiple devices

[stovetop6872]

Well I am trying to figure out what setting to use to rip my videos. I read this thread https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/437954/ and I am really confused. I would like to rip movies for my 5.5 (80 GB) iPod video, my 24" iMac, and my soon-to-be Apple TV. I would want quality to be about the same as the original DVD if that is possible. Also, for Apple TV's sake, 5.1 surround sound also. This only needs to be in English, so the thread mentioned earlier made me more confused.

I would just like to know what settings to alter in Handbrake 0.9.2 so I have good quality and great sound for Apple TV, and they are viewable on my iMac and iPod video.

Thank you!

EDIT: I also might get an iPhone too, so will the suggestions work/look good with this also? Thanks!

 

[mrgreen4242]

Here's the deal, if you rip at the best quality for your iPod it's going to look less than stellar on a big TV with an aTV, and it's going to be teeny tiny on your iPod because you'll be using a ton of your very small screen space on letterboxing.

Personally, I would rip at the max iPhone quality settings (http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html) for your aTV/iMac/future iPhone and make a separate file for your iPod with much lower settings and some cropping/stretching to fill all/most of its 4:3 screen. Handbrake makes this pretty easy since you can queue up multiple encodes and let it run.

 

[stovetop6872]

Thank you! Does anyone else have any suggestions?

 

[spacepower7]

DO This

I did this for some and they worked fine

It's from the first post on that other thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/437954/

cowm007 is credited for figuring this out and sharing with us.

Open Handbreak

Open Source > VIDEO_TS folder you want to convert on Hard Drive (if pre-ripped) or on actual DVD.

Once Handbreak scans the VIDEO_TS and finds the Main Title it will give you the length and # of chapters.

Then select the iPhone preset in the right hand toggle area. This will reduce the bitrate to 960 and shrink the dimensions of the output file. Default Format will be mp4 and default codec will be AVC/H.264/AAC Audio. FPS will be same as source also.

Here is what you want to do:

Change Average Bitrate to 2000-2500 (kbps) I haven't tried more than 2500 but it might be fine?

In the Codecs drop down menu, choose AVC/H.264/ACC+AC3 Audio

Then click on picture settings:
If this DVD films (not TV, you can tell by the FPS, Film=23.98xxxxxx) then the only thing you want to change is where it says Anamorphic and there is a drop down menu. Change this to Loose or Strict and you will see the preview image enlarge and the output dimensions increase. If you are doing Films then this is the only thing you change on this screen. Then hit Close.

When you changed the codecs, Handbreak already finds the AC3 file and will also convert a copy to stereo AAC.

With most movies you are ready to roll now.

Sometimes I double check the Audio/Subtitles tab to make sure it pics the right AC3 track, especially if I am ripping straight from DVD. Most region 1 DVDs, USA + Canada DVDs set the default audio to English and Handbreak knows this. Also you can boost the bitrate of the AAC Stereo track to 160 kbps from 128 kbps if you want.

Assuming that you are an English speaker, if your film is in English but has English subtitles for when foreigners are speaking (like Behind Enemy Lines) then you should check Forced Subtitles Only. This will only put the subtitles ON just when the the actors are speaking another language.

I have done this for many movies, and they play fine on my iPhone, AppleTV, Quicktime, Frontrow, and VLC. Some of these have been pretty big like Lord of the Rings Triology (close to 4 GB) but most are 2-3 GB. I am not sure if this will work for the 5.5G iPod but you should try one and post back on this thread or the other one.

I hope that these are decent step-by-step directions.

Good Luck

 

[soLoredd]

The problem is the 5.5 iPod. I have a Classic and movies are watchable but there is a noticeable hitch to them.

So, for my Apple TV/iPhone I use HandBrake and encode using the iPod High Quality preset, then I change it to AAC + AC3 (which makes it a .m4v), change the bitrate to 2500 and I always use Anamorphic Strict for the video settings. Doing this, I get 5.1 on the Apple TV and 2.0 on my iPhone, the picture is pretty accurate to the original DVD even on my 42" plasma, and it's excellent on the iPhone. Like I said, watching on my Classic is almost pointless - and it might have something to do with my settings, not sure. I just use the iPhone when out and about now and use the Classic as a backup for my movies.

As mrgreen pointed out, if you really want to use the 5.5G to watch movies, you are better off doing 2 encodes of the movie. For me, personally, it wasn't worth the time nor the extra space and organization.

 

[bacaramac]

Try settings in the compatibility thread post #21 with a couple of changes.

Don't use Constant quality and try 2500 as the Average Bit Rate.

I think on the 5.5G iPod you have to select iPod Atom for it to work. Since you shouldn't ever see a movie over 4Gb at these settings you would not use 64Bit as I don't think the iPod 5.5G even supports it.

Depending on the movie, you may rarely see some frame drops on the 5.5G as it is just not as powerful as iPhone, etc.

 

[dynaflash]

I think on the 5.5G iPod you have to select iPod Atom for it to work. Since you shouldn't ever see a movie over 4Gb at these settings you would not use 64Bit as I don't think the iPod 5.5G even supports it.

Correct, the iPod Atom is just to make it iPod 5 / 5.5 G compatible. It has no adverse affects on any other device, so there is no issue using it.