Using Handbreak

[aaronthomas]

Sorry for the relist... may have posted in the wrong spot....Hi all new to the forum... been reading a bit and had a question.... Im using Handbreak to rip dvd.... Is it possible to get the same quality using the hi-rez ipod setting as the apple tv setting if you bump up the bit rate, turn on anamorphic and bump up the output settings? I dont have apple tv yet and want to get the highest quality possible on my ipod and store the movie so ill have it when i get apple tv.... the ipod atom doesnt seem to work on the atv setting. Thanks, aaron

 

[dynaflash]

The iPod atom just inserts an atom for 5 and 5.5 G iPods. When you say it doesnt work on the appleTV settings I assume you are trying to make an AppleTV preset encode iPod compatible by using that Atom.

That is not the issue. The iPod cannot handle the bframes that the AppleTV preset uses ... Among other things.

 

[SamoanDude]

Also, just in case your new to this, first use Mac the Ripper to rip the DVD to a folder then use Handbrake to complete the process. Or else once in awhile you will get quality and sound issues (speaks from experience)

 

[aaronthomas]

Ok... but will the quality be better if I use hi-res ipod at 2500bitrate and up the out put? Sorry... yes really new at this.... I dont have a flat screen yet and cant tell the difference between 1500 and 2500

 

[David G.]

Also, just in case your new to this, first use Mac the Ripper to rip the DVD to a folder then use Handbrake to complete the process. Or else once in awhile you will get quality and sound issues (speaks from experience)

Not trying to hijack the thead, but is there a way to have Handbrake put in chapter markers from a MTR extracted file? I can never get more than one.

 

[gwsat]

Also, just in case your new to this, first use Mac the Ripper to rip the DVD to a folder then use Handbrake to complete the process. Or else once in awhile you will get quality and sound issues (speaks from experience)

Actually, I have ripped nearly 50 DVDs directly from the disks and converted them to MP4 with no trouble. Maybe I've just been lucky but I thought it might add to the discussion to report my own experience.

 

[MikieMikie]

It's not that you can't rip and encode directly with Handbrake, it's that:
1. You cannot create a queue without more than one DVD drive unless you use a ripping program first, like MTR, and
2. The length of time your DVD drive is spinning is the length that Handbrake takes (~ 1-2 hours?) rather than the length of time MTR takes (~20-30 mins).

 

[gwsat]

I don’t really know anything about batch conversions in Handbrake. All of my disk ripping and conversion has been done one DVD at a time.

I agree that if you are seriously concerned about how long the disk player in your computer spins, then using MtR to decrypt and rip does, indeed, reduce the time during which you have to use the disk player. But the beauty of Handbrake is that it does everything that MtR does and then creates an MP4 file, too boot, all in one operation. Further, it does so reliably. Where one comes down on this issue, of course, is a matter of personal choice but, since I paid for my disk burner and it's covered by AppleCare for 3 years, I figure I might as well use it.

 

[gnasher729]

I don’t really know anything about batch conversions in Handbrake. All of my disk ripping and conversion has been done one DVD at a time.

I agree that if you are seriously concerned about how long the disk player in your computer spins, then using MtR to decrypt and rip does, indeed, reduce the time during which you have to use the disk player. But the beauty of Handbrake is that it does everything that MtR does and then creates an MP4 file, too boot, all in one operation. Further, it does so reliably. Where one comes down on this issue, of course, is a matter of personal choice but, since I paid for my disk burner and it's covered by AppleCare for 3 years, I figure I might as well use it.

Handbrake doesn't do everything that Mac The Ripper does. MtR will handle many copy-prevention schemes that Handbrake cannot handle. The real difference is when you use h.264 and two-pass encoding for best possible compression; with Mac The Ripper you can compress a few DVDs overnight.

 

[aaronthomas]

Ok... but will the quality be better if I use hi-res ipod at 2500bitrate and up the out put? Sorry... yes really new at this.... I dont have a flat screen yet and cant tell the difference between 1500 and 2500

Ok but back to my question lol! Anybody? Also are most movies about 2.5gb with the higher bitrate

 

[dynaflash]

Answer: Yes, higher bitrate should give you a better quality on your appleTV (along with a larger files size since file size is bitrate * movie_length)

However, you should also up the vbv-maxsize and vbv-bufsize in the advanced options as well. The maxsize shouldnt be lower than your average bitrate or it will be ignored.

Also depends which iPod you have.

 

[aaronthomas]

Answer: Yes, higher bitrate should give you a better quality on your appleTV (along with a larger files size since file size is bitrate * movie_length)

However, you should also up the vbv-maxsize and vbv-bufsize in the advanced options as well. The maxsize shouldnt be lower than your average bitrate or it will be ignored.

Thanks so much for your answer... My bit rate is 2500 so i put both maxsize and bufsize to 2500.... do you think that should do it... Also ... is there a huge difference in the 1500 to 2500 bit rate.... i cant see it... probably will show up on a better screen?

 

[dynaflash]

those vbv settings should work fine. As to whether or not you'll see the difference ... maybe

On fast/complex scenes on a larger screen you will notice the difference more than on slow scenes on a smaller screen. Probably overkill for animation. Only you can be the judge. Sorry, no hard and fast answer to that one.

 

[eXan]

The "iPod Hi rez" setting is the maximum quality iPod can handle.

The 2500 bitrate among other AppleTV things is too resource-intensive so movies ripped at such high quality just won't be supported by iPod.

 

[gwsat]

Handbrake doesn't do everything that Mac The Ripper does. MtR will handle many copy-prevention schemes that Handbrake cannot handle. The real difference is when you use h.264 and two-pass encoding for best possible compression; with Mac The Ripper you can compress a few DVDs overnight.

Handbrake and MtR both decrypt DVD files. Although there apparently are encryption schemes that Handbrake can't handle, the fact is, I haven't come across one of them yet. So for me it promises to be a non-issue.

 

[dynaflash]

The "iPod Hi rez" setting is the maximum quality iPod can handle.

The 2500 bitrate among other AppleTV things is too resource-intensive so movies ripped at such high quality just won't be supported by iPod.

Actually, thats not true. Though its not published by Apple (and depending on which iPod you have) 2500 abr using proper vbv settings works just fine ... yes even on the 5 and 5.5 G ipods. The iPhone and Touch can really handle amazing bitrates. Many hardcore HandBrake users have upped the bitrate setting for dual use on iPods and AppleTV's.

Note however I said "with proper vbv settings". The issue is that at an abr of 2500 you get short term bitrate spikes on fast/complex scenes with will spike past what the iPod can handle (especially the 5g) so the vbv is critical here as it "caps" those spikes within the iPods video buffer.

Having said that, I personally would not advise it for 5 and 5.5 G iPods as they have less headroom. Classics and iPhone/Touches .. no problem whatsoever, though of course storage becomes an issue for the iPhone/Touch flavors.

As far as the AppleTV preset goes its primarily the bframes and Strict Anamorphic that make it iPod incompatible.

 

[eXan]

Actually, thats not true. Though its not published by Apple (and depending on which iPod you have) 2500 abr using proper vbv settings works just fine ... yes even on the 5 and 5.5 G ipods. The iPhone and Touch can really handle amazing bitrates. Many hardcore HandBrake users have upped the bitrate setting for dual use on iPods and AppleTV's.

Note however I said "with proper vbv settings". The issue is that at an abr of 2500 you get short term bitrate spikes on fast/complex scenes with will spike past what the iPod can handle (especially the 5g) so the vbv is critical here as it "caps" those spikes within the iPods video buffer.

Having said that, I personally would not advise it for 5 and 5.5 G iPods as they have less headroom. Classics and iPhone/Touches .. no problem whatsoever, though of course storage becomes an issue for the iPhone/Touch flavors.

As far as the AppleTV preset goes its primarily the bframes and Strict Anamorphic that make it iPod incompatible.

O_O never heard about it... so what would be the highest quality setting for my Touch?

Oh and what is vbv?

 

[aaronthomas]

those vbv settings should work fine. As to whether or not you'll see the difference ... maybe

On fast/complex scenes on a larger screen you will notice the difference more than on slow scenes on a smaller screen. Probably overkill for animation. Only you can be the judge. Sorry, no hard and fast answer to that one.

Ok... well been ripping the dvds on hi rez ipod at 2500kbps... 2pass encoding w/turbo... vbv maxrate=2500 vbv bufsize=2000.... anamorphic strict.... aac+ac3 audio m4v..... I can see a bit of a difference! Would like to see on a better flat screen.... using a 40'' tube still... (so old school). Kinda bummed about the 2.5 file size though.... using a 1tb my book western d external... anybody know if you can piggy back those? Itunes uses it for direct storage.

 

[gwsat]

Ok... well been ripping the dvds on hi rez ipod at 2500kbps... 2pass encoding w/turbo... vbv maxrate=2500 vbv bufsize=2000.... anamorphic strict.... aac+ac3 audio m4v..... I can see a bit of a difference! Would like to see on a better flat screen.... using a 40'' tube still... (so old school). Kinda bummed about the 2.5 file size though.... using a 1tb my book western d external... anybody know if you can piggy back those? Itunes uses it for direct storage.

The only setting I have used that is different from the foregoing is a single pass instead of two. That has worked well for me. As noted above, the (about) 2.5 gig file size isn’t ideal but with a 1 TB Time Capsule and the cost of disk storage continuing to fall, it’s not the end of the world, either. My PQ is indistinguishable from the original DVDs, so far as my old eyes can determine. I watch my MP4 movies using an Apple TV and a 50 inch DLP monitor.

 

[Cuthbert]

As far as the AppleTV preset goes its primarily the bframes and Strict Anamorphic that make it iPod incompatible.

Ok, this may be a dumb question but here goes: I have previously encoded all of my movies with handbrake using the apple tv preset (something along the lines of 200 movies). I now want to get an iphone. Will these movies play on the iphone?

I have searched and have found many different responses to this question. Please God let them play on my iphone when I get it! It took forever to rip them all!

 

[dynaflash]

Ok, this may be a dumb question but here goes: I have previously encoded all of my movies with handbrake using the apple tv preset (something along the lines of 200 movies). I now want to get an iphone. Will these movies play on the iphone?

I have searched and have found many different responses to this question. Please God let them play on my iphone when I get it! It took forever to rip them all!

Sorry, the iPhone will not play a movie with bframes, and the AppleTV preset uses bframes.

 

[Cuthbert]

Sorry, the iPhone will not play a movie with bframes, and the AppleTV preset uses bframes.

NUTS!!

 

[dynaflash]

NUTS!!

True enough, and before you ask. there is really no "quick" way to transcode your current encodes to be iPhone compliant. Anything you do will take as long (or longer) and have lower quality than just going ahead and reconverting your sources to a compliant format with HB.

Thats your best bet.

 

[Cuthbert]

True enough, and before you ask. there is really no "quick" way to transcode your current encodes to be iPhone compliant. Anything you do will take as long (or longer) and have lower quality than just going ahead and reconverting your sources to a compliant format with HB.

Thats your best bet.

DOUBLE NUTS!!


hmm, is that 2 nuts or 4? Seriously, thanks for the information. It is just as I feared.

I suppose the next question is this: can I have two libraries - one for the iphone and one for the apple TV? I stream almost all my content, so I would hate to open my movies in the apple tv and see two of everything. I'll do a search.

Edit: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/351057/ here it is for anyone else following my woes.

 

[superman193]

Sorry for the relist... may have posted in the wrong spot....Hi all new to the forum... been reading a bit and had a question.... Im using Handbreak to rip dvd.... Is it possible to get the same quality using the hi-rez ipod setting as the apple tv setting if you bump up the bit rate, turn on anamorphic and bump up the output settings? I dont have apple tv yet and want to get the highest quality possible on my ipod and store the movie so ill have it when i get apple tv.... the ipod atom doesnt seem to work on the atv setting. Thanks, aaron

As far as I know yes, but dont hold me to it as I am not very smart when it comes to this.