Just wondering what you guys thought about this great little app. I have read the forums alot, but basically just need some assurance from you guys that this is probably my best bet for the AppleTV. I have tons of .mkv high def movies and tv shows that I want to convert for the AppleTV but keeping that pristine HD quality. Hopefully some of you guys have used it to encode high def material for the apple tv in itunes, and how is it looking? How is it for fast motion stuff, does it block up at all? I really don't mind the wait time for encoding or files sizes that much, as long as it still looks amazing and can get it on the apple tv. Also, I was just wondering what exact settings you guys use for the Apple TV and HD in Visual Hub. I know it has an ATV setting but what are the other settings you guys use in order to get the best looking results? Thanks alot
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VisualHub for AppleTV and HD
- Thread starter Blazer5913
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I love VH. Hands down the best converter out there for .mkv files IMHO. I haven't even found another program that can even re-encode .mkv files.
I have encoded over 500GB of HD material with Visualhub and it looks pretty good. Some lost episodes were a little jittery in fast motion scenes but fixed the problem within 2-5 seconds into the scene...It is sometimes a little blocky with the background and whatnot but it really looks kick ass.
Setting I Use:
ATV selected
H.264 Selected
Tab to "Go Nuts"
In Advanced settings:
audio: 160, Stereo
Two pass selected
5000 typed into the bitrate field
deinterlaced selected
under extra flags I select best possible h.264
And then hit convert. I have files ranging from <3GB to >5GB All of them high def. and all of them looking amazing IMO.
If anyone has used VH and thinks there is a better program out there I would really like to hear from you because nothing seems to be better than VH.
Hope this helps
I have encoded over 500GB of HD material with Visualhub and it looks pretty good. Some lost episodes were a little jittery in fast motion scenes but fixed the problem within 2-5 seconds into the scene...It is sometimes a little blocky with the background and whatnot but it really looks kick ass.
Setting I Use:
ATV selected
H.264 Selected
Tab to "Go Nuts"
In Advanced settings:
audio: 160, Stereo
Two pass selected
5000 typed into the bitrate field
deinterlaced selected
under extra flags I select best possible h.264
And then hit convert. I have files ranging from <3GB to >5GB All of them high def. and all of them looking amazing IMO.
If anyone has used VH and thinks there is a better program out there I would really like to hear from you because nothing seems to be better than VH.
Hope this helps
Thank you so much for the reply and this was exactly what I was looking for. Anybody else have any other settings that they use, or do most people agree with this? That's the exact file sizes I was looking for, so hopefully this is a standard I can start using.
Also works great for encoding files for streaming to xBox 360. Fast and the built in settings work good without a lotta muss n fuss. Highly reccomended.
Just got a copy for church for changing movies into DV or MPEG-4 which is what the PC at church that is hooked up to the projector likes to play on its secondary monitor.
Really easy to use and encodes fast on a lowly 1.5 CS Mini...
Really easy to use and encodes fast on a lowly 1.5 CS Mini...
I too like VH. I bought it to encode for my 
TV and it works well. I also use it to do video conversions to FLV too. I haven't got to far to speak about artifacts, but the baby einstein DVDs I did look like the original.
My only beef is my PPC mini is a little slow and I am running out of network storage, so i think its time to upgrade soon!
gk, what kind of conversion times are you seeing on your CS?
Sort of on topic, whats the best way to "stretch" 4:3 to fill my widescreen using VH?
TV and it works well. I also use it to do video conversions to FLV too. I haven't got to far to speak about artifacts, but the baby einstein DVDs I did look like the original.My only beef is my PPC mini is a little slow and I am running out of network storage, so i think its time to upgrade soon!
gk, what kind of conversion times are you seeing on your CS?
Sort of on topic, whats the best way to "stretch" 4:3 to fill my widescreen using VH?
I too like VH. I bought it to encode for my
My only beef is my PPC mini is a little slow and I am running out of network storage, so i think its time to upgrade soon!
gk, what kind of conversion times are you seeing on your CS?
Sort of on topic, whats the best way to "stretch" 4:3 to fill my widescreen using VH?
Well, we took a video from YouTube, 5min from FLV -> DV for a 7min video...
I tested converting a 720p .mkv file using the 'go nuts' and 'apple tv' presets for visual hub and the resulting file was 960xsomething at 30fps. I reencoded it using the advanced settings and the original file's resolution and framerate (1280x720 at 23.98 fps) and it looked much better. I don't have an apple tv yet, so I haven't tested if it works, but it meets the specifications noted on apple.com
I tried similar settings to this in VH last night (15 hour encode on MacBook) with success. I however cannot add the file to my iTunes library therefore cannot add it to the AppleTV. The file is slightly greater than 4GB which from another thread is above some sort of limit that iTunes can handle. Has anyone else had any luck with these larger HD movies in iTunes and the AppleTV?
I should add that I can play it in Quicktime and it looks great.
i've heard so many varying opinions on the bitrate.
Some say anything above after you go above 1500 there is really no difference. The new aTV default setting on Handbrake is 2500 and looks fantastic, what does doubling that get you? Are you noticing a difference?
Some say anything above after you go above 1500 there is really no difference. The new aTV default setting on Handbrake is 2500 and looks fantastic, what does doubling that get you? Are you noticing a difference?
I agree that 2500 looks good for DVD rips, but I have noticed the my encoded HD content does not look as good at the standard "Go Nuts" encode in VH. I was hoping that by bumping it to 5k, it would look much better. Unfortunately I cannot test it on the ATV because of the of the file size (>4 GB)...I am guessing this is the problem.
Love to see some side by side comparisons between the two. For the most part i've been ripping at either 1500 or 2500 depending on the movie. anything over that, as far as i can tell the ratio of time to quality makes it seem not worth the wait. Course im not very tech savy on all of the encoding specifics.
for everyone on this thread that knows...
visual hub is able to convert vob files to h.264? I recently purchased becuase I thought this was the case, but have had no luck. my goal is to convert all my dvds to h.264. handbrake has too many issues for me.
back on topic. i see a vast differerence in 2500 vs 1500. not so much on my small macbook screen, but on my 32" LCD it is very noticable, in both fragmentation and color depth.
A
visual hub is able to convert vob files to h.264? I recently purchased becuase I thought this was the case, but have had no luck. my goal is to convert all my dvds to h.264. handbrake has too many issues for me.
back on topic. i see a vast differerence in 2500 vs 1500. not so much on my small macbook screen, but on my 32" LCD it is very noticable, in both fragmentation and color depth.
A
Visual Hub is for video files, not .vob which is on DVDs and those you need to rip into video files...
I've been able to rip vob files as long as they are still in the video TS file that Mac The Ripper creates.
what is it you are doing? can you give me a step by step? i cannont seem to figure it out. i have for example jurrassic park ripped from mac the ripper, then what in VH? i drag the file onto VH, go nuts, and go... no avail
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Ok just ripped a movie. Mac The Ripper used "Main Feature Extraction". When completed i've got a file on my desk top that contains Audio TS and Video TS files.
Pop opened VisualHub. Drag the entire Video TS folder into VisualHub, but just the Video TS folder, dont need the Audio TS. Have VisualHub set to iTunes with appleTV/H.264/Add to iTunes checked on. I leave the Quality set at standard. In Advanced i set the bitrate at my desired # (either 1500 or 2500). Make any changes necassary here. Close it. Hit start. Should say "detecting main DVD title", will give you a pop up if you have ripped it w/ multiple languages etc. and then you're off and running.
hey blackbones!
thanks for taking this time. I really really apprecaite it. unfortunatly, i have done all these steps, but the finished file does not play. will you let me know how it comes out for you?
thanks again so much!
A
thanks for taking this time. I really really apprecaite it. unfortunatly, i have done all these steps, but the finished file does not play. will you let me know how it comes out for you?
thanks again so much!
A
interesting that its not working, this is how i do the majority of my movies.
if it matters im using visual hub v.1.23, registered version of course. and the new Mac the Ripper 3.0r14d
if it matters im using visual hub v.1.23, registered version of course. and the new Mac the Ripper 3.0r14d
hmmm?
I am using the same registered copy of VH, but the prior generation of mactheripper. I am not familiar with how to compile, so i did not download it.
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I am using the same registered copy of VH, but the prior generation of mactheripper. I am not familiar with how to compile, so i did not download it.
A
This is also what I do, minus the bitrate change. So far I have done three movies without error.
blueflame, have you tried a different movie?
I have only had one movie with subtitles that was an mkv and it seem to just encode them right in with no problem.