What are Apples movie specs?

[ozzyman500]

What dimensions and bitrate do Apple use for their movies? I'm currently using for my DVD's are 640x480 at 192kbps. It looks alright on the iPhone but if I ever need to use it on a TV I'm sure it will look terrible. Any advice? Thanks.

Oh, I'm not talking about what they used before...I mean in the now, but not for the HD movies.

 

[spice weasel]

What are you using to encode your movies? And why are you forcing them into 4:3? Also, I assume the 192 kbps is for audio, correct?

Use HandBrake and select the Universal preset. This will give you great quality on a television screen, but will also work with iPods and iPhones.

 

[zedsdead]

Apple encodes at 640x480, however they use anamorphic encoding so the resulting file is 853x480 (for 16x9).

Handbrake uses a similar method, and as stated above, just use the Universal Preset. It will be DVD quality and compatible with everything.

 

[ozzyman500]

I could never get Handbrake to work. I'm on Vista and every time I go to encode I have no idea what's going on...any step by step instructions you can give me?

 

[zedsdead]

I could never get Handbrake to work. I'm on Vista and every time I go to encode I have no idea what's going on...any step by step instructions you can give me?

I don't use Windows, but you have to make sure the DVD is ripped first because Handbrake on Windows cannot decode the copy protection.

Try the Handbrake Forum.

 

[fpnc]

The bitrates on Apple's standard definition movies and videos run about 1.5Mbps. They are using an H.264 codec but even with that I don't think those bitrates can fully capture the quality in a DVD. Thus, Apple's standard definition quality is somewhat below what you will see on a DVD. Some people say that H.264 is four times "better" than MPEG2 (i.e. equivalent quality at one fourth the bitrate) but I think it is closer to about 2X (or one half the bitrate). If you use that rule then a typical 5Mbps DVD should be encoded in H.264 at 2.5Mbps (IMO).

The HD content (720p) from the Apple Store is similarly over compressed (although it is at a higher bitrate than the standard definition video).