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I start with the iPad preset from the handbrake nightly and change the video width to 1280. (Both the iPad and atv have basically the same hardware so their capabilities are similar)
I then raise the RF to 21 (for bluray sources) to reduce filesize while maintaining similar quality.
I raise the number of reference frames to 5 and the number of b-frames to 6 to get higher quality, lower filesize encodes.
I change adaptive b-frames to optimal, subpixel me to 10, partition types to all, and trellis to always to both reduce bitrate and increase quality further (at the expense of time).
 
I want to thank everyone who has posted helpful information in this thread. I have searched for Handbrake advice at various times over the past few months, but this has easily been the most helpful advice (with logical explanations) I have found.
 
Yeah, especially Canyonblue, thanks so much this thread rocks.

I'm having trouble though (as I posted in another thread) with Mac the Ripper and Handbrake.
I'm trying to rip my DVD's to the HD first with MTR, then queue them up in Handbrake and let them convert over night. But After Mac the Ripper is done, there's like 5 files to choose from, and each one is around 1GB each, so it's different parts of the movie broken up. How do I either a) rip the entire feature as one file or b) join the multiple files to one so as to convert them into one .m4v file?

Edit: I think I've figured it out. When I selected the source in Handbrake, I just clicked the folder that all the ripped files were in and it looks like it might be joining them. I'll have to wait and see if it's successful.
 
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Yeah, especially Canyonblue, thanks so much this thread rocks.

I'm having trouble though (as I posted in another thread) with Mac the Ripper and Handbrake.
I'm trying to rip my DVD's to the HD first with MTR, then queue them up in Handbrake and let them convert over night. But After Mac the Ripper is done, there's like 5 files to choose from, and each one is around 1GB each, so it's different parts of the movie broken up. How do I either a) rip the entire feature as one file or b) join the multiple files to one so as to convert them into one .m4v file?

Edit: I think I've figured it out. When I selected the source in Handbrake, I just clicked the folder that all the ripped files were in and it looks like it might be joining them. I'll have to wait and see if it's successful.

I'm not familiar with Mac The Ripper, but I use DVD Shrink for windows and it has a setting checked on by default that splits the video into 1gb chunks. Sounds like MTR has a similar setting perhaps.
 
Yeah it works like I mentioned on the edit. In handbrake I just select folder where the movie chunks are and it makes one movie out of them.

I'm having trouble though with a couple of movies, one being Batman Begins. It makes Handbrake crash every time.
 
Could you expound on what 'nightly build' is? I just started delving into this since I just ordered and ATV2, so it's all relatively new to me. Thanks :)
 
Thanks. So does this replace my current stable Handbrake version with an unstable "beta" version?
 
Hi

I'm using the High Profile preset as suggested in this thread with the RF set to 19 and the latest nightly build (downloaded earlier today) - the only difference is I'm in PAL land rather than NTSC so I'm leaving the frame rate set to 'same as source'.

When doing an rip/encode the estimated time for example on a 2hr 10min film on DVD is approx 5hrs 27mins.

Tried other DVDs with equally long encode times - the frames per second counter seems to fluctuate between around 8 to 14 frames. Leaving the Mac alone or using other programs on it at the same time does not seem to make any great difference to the frames per second counter or estimated completion time.

Is this something I've set up incorrectly, a simple fact of life that I just have to get used to or because I'm using an Intel Mac Book Pro circa 2006 (Core Duo not core 2 duo) and the hardware simply isn't upto doing it any faster than this?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards
Mark

I haven't used Handbrake in a long time but I'd swear it used to be quicker than this.
 
I think the reason it's taking so long is because it's having to rip it and encode it at the same time. If you rip a bunch of DVD's with Mac the Ripper or something, then queue several jobs up at night and let it run while you sleep, they'll be done when you wake up.
Encoding a rip with Handbrake (Using AppleTV setting, not sure about the high profile setting) it takes around 1.5 hours or so I think.
 
Hi all.

Since we are talking about presets, I have a comment or rather a question to ask.

So towards the beginning of this thread someone posted a detailed preset setting combination that worked for them. I have tried this preset and noticed something.

I for example am trying to convert .avi TV shows to a format compatible with the new appletv. When I use the preset suggested here, the encoding time is around 35 mins for a 183 mb tv show.

Compare this to my preset which takes exactly 5 mins. My preset isn't anything special nor smart since I waste storage doing it. all I do is select the original AppleTV preset given by handbrake, change the video codec to the other option (MPEG something something) and increase to constant quality to 100%. The rest stays the same

The result is encoding times are very low (5mins vs 35mins for the same file), file size is double the original. I tried to set the quality to 80% and that was very noticable on my 52" tv. Though @ 80% the file size was smaller than the original which is very tempting. but the quality really gets hit

What is the difference between the two video codecs and why is one much faster than the other?

Thanks
AE
 
Hi

I'm using the High Profile preset as suggested in this thread with the RF set to 19 and the latest nightly build (downloaded earlier today) - the only difference is I'm in PAL land rather than NTSC so I'm leaving the frame rate set to 'same as source'.

When doing an rip/encode the estimated time for example on a 2hr 10min film on DVD is approx 5hrs 27mins.

Tried other DVDs with equally long encode times - the frames per second counter seems to fluctuate between around 8 to 14 frames. Leaving the Mac alone or using other programs on it at the same time does not seem to make any great difference to the frames per second counter or estimated completion time.

Is this something I've set up incorrectly, a simple fact of life that I just have to get used to or because I'm using an Intel Mac Book Pro circa 2006 (Core Duo not core 2 duo) and the hardware simply isn't upto doing it any faster than this?

Any help greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards
Mark

I haven't used Handbrake in a long time but I'd swear it used to be quicker than this.

Hi, that encode time seems about right given your hardware. I had a similar set up and had simliar times. I have just recently upgraded my CPU and now the times are much much faster.
 
Hey guys, I have a bit of an off-topic but still on topic kind of question.

Once you rip all of your movies, where do you get your artwork from? I've been grabbing images of the DVDs here and there from the net, but they are usualy in a rectangular shape (From the DVD), whereas the new Apple TV wants them to be in a square (600 x 600 pixels). I crop a little and sometimes stretch or smash the image. Not only is it time consuming, but the results can be less then desirable. Does anyone know if there is a site dedicated to this sort of thing?
 
Hey guys, I have a bit of an off-topic but still on topic kind of question.

Once you rip all of your movies, where do you get your artwork from? I've been grabbing images of the DVDs here and there from the net, but they are usualy in a rectangular shape (From the DVD), whereas the new Apple TV wants them to be in a square (600 x 600 pixels). I crop a little and sometimes stretch or smash the image. Not only is it time consuming, but the results can be less then desirable. Does anyone know if there is a site dedicated to this sort of thing?

I usually just use Amazon
 
Hey guys, I have a bit of an off-topic but still on topic kind of question.

Once you rip all of your movies, where do you get your artwork from? I've been grabbing images of the DVDs here and there from the net, but they are usualy in a rectangular shape (From the DVD), whereas the new Apple TV wants them to be in a square (600 x 600 pixels). I crop a little and sometimes stretch or smash the image. Not only is it time consuming, but the results can be less then desirable. Does anyone know if there is a site dedicated to this sort of thing?

I guess i have not noticed that with my ATV, i have been using the standard DVD cover and so far it has worked well.

Several places to get them, try just a google search for "movie name" movie poster (click the images tab).

Also try http://www.impawards.com/
or http://www.themoviedb.org/

or http://www.movieposterdb.com/
 
Going to start encoding my movie collection in preparation for picking up a new Apple TV 2. What are you all using the for the video codec? MPEG-4 or H.264? I've notived MPEG-4 is pretty fast at encoding. I'm guessing H.264 will allow for higher quality with smaller file sizes?
 
For A4 CPU devices (iPhone/iPad/AppleTV2) the following is OUTSTANDING:

1. High Profile [Best setting in Handbrake, but doesn't work on iPhone 3G or the old Apple TV]
2. RF of 19 for DVD, 20-22 for Bluray. [Smaller numbers are HIGHER quality, but lower than 18 gets no real increase in the quality you can see but will quickly exceed the original size of the DVD or Bluray, don't do it! These values create great transfers with reasonable, in some cases outstandingly small sizes, I use 20 for Bluray as I don't mind using a bit more space, but 21-22 are good too, try it.]
3. Framerate NTSC 29.97 and check the "Peak Framerate Box" [This tells Handbrake to use the NATIVE frame rate of the source unless it exceeds 29.97 in which case it would limit it to 29.97 which makes sure you stay compatible.]
4. Check the "Large File" box. [This helps with compatibility if your file exceeds 4GB, in most cases it won't.]
5. Add second audio track under Audio tab for Passthrough or DTS conversion if you are using the Apple TV connected to a surround system. [Important if you ever intend to use the file with a surround system, otherwise omit this.]
6. Under picture tab select "Anamorphic" and "Strict" for DVD, or "Anamorphic NONE" and set the width to 1280 for Bluray with the keep ratio box checked. [Experts now feels Strict is better than Loose Anamorphic for DVD (that's a change from the past) and there is no Anamorphic for Blurays so turn it off. 1280 for Blurays makes your files 720p for size and compatibility, ATV2 will convert 1080p files but there are hiccups that make it not worth try to push beyond the stated spec.]
7. Add detelcine, decomb filters for DVD, *NO* filters for Bluray. [DVDs can use a bit of help from the filters, which only kick in if they feel they are needed, while Bluray sources are so clean you actually hurt the image and slow encoding if you leave them on.]

Really incredible, small but beautiful files from this much better than the current presets.

Hi CanyonBlue. I can't seem to get these settings going on the current nightly build on the official site. For example, there is no 'Picture' tab. and the b-frames only go up to 16.

Is there a way for you to just send me your preset as a file I can just load on my Handbrake?

Cheers, Marcel.
 
Hi CanyonBlue. I can't seem to get these settings going on the current nightly build on the official site. For example, there is no 'Picture' tab. and the b-frames only go up to 16.

Is there a way for you to just send me your preset as a file I can just load on my Handbrake?

Cheers, Marcel.

Picture Settings is to the right of where you see Source, Top, Pause, Add to Queue, Show Queue its to the right of those buttons. Click on picture settings and you can then set Anamorphic to None. Once you make all the changes hit the plus in presets to make a new preset and make sure picture filters is checked and picture size is set to custom (doesn't matter what the resolution is, I think) and then you have a golden preset. Post back if you have any luck getting this done, thanks.
 
Hey. This thread is very helpful but I just have a question. I will be getting an Apple TV for Christmas. I want to encode some movies and tv shows from dvd. I see some people say to rip them and encode them overnight. I have used handbrake before and I thought it did rip and encode them within the same program. I assume the point is that ripping is faster than encoding so if I do it separately I can then just rip them all at once then let it encode them because that takes longer. Is this correct? If so, could that process be explained because I don't really get how to do that. I saw one of the first detailed posts and it looks to be the way to go. I only want to have to do this once so I want the best quality that will work on my Apple TV, Mac and iPhone.

Thank You
 
I guess i have not noticed that with my ATV, i have been using the standard DVD cover and so far it has worked well.

Several places to get them, try just a google search for "movie name" movie poster (click the images tab).

Also try http://www.impawards.com/
or http://www.themoviedb.org/

or http://www.movieposterdb.com/

Hi,
I have a new apple TV, and have also not noticed an problems with random image sizes, I just use google images to find all mine. I have various rectangular ones and my aTV shows them fine.
What errors/problems are you getting?
Cheers
 
I just used the settings for a music video and it looks really great.

I had a couple clarifying questions.

Under the picture settings, on the bottom, it says "Source: 720x480" and "Output: 640x480." Does this mean the video is shrinking or something. I don't really understand why the number would be smaller.

Also, about adding the audio thing. Could you explain that more because I don't see where to do that. I don't have a surround system at the moment but I only want to do this once. And when I view the details of the video in itunes, it shows the bitrate (i assume audio) in the 100s while videos i've purchased are in the 200s.

Thanks!
 
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