iPod What bit rate 640 x 480 MPEG-4 video equals 1.5Mbps LC Baseline H.264 quality?

[amin]

Got an 80GB iPod to replace my dying iPod Photo today. Since Handbrake can't generate Low Complexity Baseline H.264 video and Quicktime's export to iPod is sooo slooow, I am going to stick to creating 640 x 480 MPEG-4 video for now. I like the quality that I get from Quicktime's 1.5 Mbps Low Complexity Baseline H.264 video at that resolution. What bit rate MPEG-4 will I need to equal that quality? More than 2 Mbps?

 

[jiggie2g]

Got an 80GB iPod to replace my dying iPod Photo today. Since Handbrake can't generate Low Complexity Baseline H.264 video and Quicktime's export to iPod is sooo slooow, I am going to stick to creating 640 x 480 MPEG-4 video for now. I like the quality that I get from Quicktime's 1.5 Mbps Low Complexity Baseline H.264 video at that resolution. What bit rate MPEG-4 will I need to equal that quality? More than 2 Mbps?

Use 2mbps for 640x480 ( actually make them 720x480) 640 is only good for 4:3 and will be outdated soon. I actually hate the face that Apple is pushing this crappy sub-DVD standard resolution. Especially when it knows it will replace this with 480P as soon as the real Video iPod is out. This is probably the biggest reason why i refuse to purchase video from iTunes for now.

Anyway , stick to this figure.

2Mb/s for 480P

4Mb/s for 720P

8Mb/s for 1080P

 

[amin]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Chundles]

I reckon more than 2Mbps. Probably closer to 3 or 4. I can see artefacts and pixilation on 2.3mbps videos I've ripped that aren't in the same video encoded in QT Pro's "Export to iPod" setting.

And 640x480 is just the 4:3 version of 720x480. Same number of vertical lines but a different aspect ratio. Converting a 4:3 video at 640x480 to 16:9 at 720x480 is going to look weird. Sure, if the video is already in widescreen ration then sure, rip at 720x480 but a lot of my DVDs (Scrubs, Blackadder, Family Guy etc) are in 4:3 and look fantastic at 640x480.

Can the new iPod even play 720x480 videos? I thought the closest it could get was 720x304 or thereabouts.

 

[amin]

I really don't understand this busines about aspect ratios. I just wish thee were an app that would take a DVD and put the main video in iPod friendly format with no hassle or leaning curve! Maybe I'll stick with Handbrake H.264 Baseline profile, 320 x 240, 640 kbps with 2-pass encoding. Doesn't look very good full screen on the iMac, but on the iPod it'll look great.