Found the Perfect HandBrake settings for AppleTV

supanatral · #1 July 22nd, 2008, 09:18 AM

I've been using Handbrake for a while since the AppleTV first got release and I think I've finally found the perfect settings for Handbrake. When I first started, my main concern was quality and size wasn't an issue because I had a terabyte hard drive so it didn't matter and I made files that were at 2500kbps so it would come out anywhere from the file being 1GB - 3GB which eventually, believe it or not I only had 200GB left on my terabyte harddrive! so I thought to myself, theres got to be a better way.

Well, I've found the trick! Heres the settings I now use and I can't find the difference at all between my new settings and my old settings. First use the AppleTV preset, but then change these three settings:

* Pass Encoding
* Turbo first pass
* 700MB Large (as long as the file is on average larger then 600kbps)

2 pass encoding takes almost double the time to rip but its worth it because it makes for a more intellegant rip. It took me a while to figure out this program believe it or not, so I thought I'd share

icemanjc · #2 July 22nd, 2008, 01:58 PM

Hmmm, I tried doing 700 MB, but it always came out blocky. So I either do 1500 or 2000 kbps. Plus the 2 Pass.

supanatral · #3 July 22nd, 2008, 02:02 PM

Well, it also depends on how long the movie is. if its almost 2 1/2 hours i'll make it 800MB. As long as its around or above 600kbps. You should use the deblock feature in picture settings, icemanjc.

icemanjc · #4 July 22nd, 2008, 02:04 PM

Yah, I noticed the deblock, but I didn't feel like being adventurous, how well does it do? And have you tried the deinterlace option?

supanatral · #5 July 22nd, 2008, 02:08 PM

You know something, this weekend was the first time I tried the deblock option. It works wonders. I haven't found that any of my movies were blocky in the past but these movies I ripped were in rough shape so I had to.

I have tried the deinterlace option, its good. For movies, its pointless but if your ripping TV shows off of DVDs, then you need to use that feature. I suggest the medium one but I'm not an expert in that.

Edit: There is the odd movie that you need to use deinterlace though (PS I love you is one of them). you can tell if you need to or not when you go to the picture settings and browse through the different frames. If one of them has a lot of horizontal lines in a busy scene then you need deinterlace

gbanning · #6 July 30th, 2008, 07:13 PM

Good info -- thanks! The whole video world has rules all its own. I find it interesting that some things look better in FR on my G5 than they do in any other program (QT, VLC, EyeTV, whatever), but I would think it's all the same engine more or less, right?

Not sure how this would fit in, but iceman, I noticed you're PPC (maybe you should be caveman? hehe, j/k, I'm PPC, too)... I got one of the Turbo.264 (I have a G5 1.8DP and G4 1.67 15" PBook) and it was the best $100 I've spent in a LOOONG while. Actually does the processing so you can do something else while, and it has defaults for all the standard formats (AppleTV-pods), and I've tried other formats, the defaults are fast and great quality (having said that, I can't really give you the details -- they simplified the interface). The encoder (with plugs in like a USB drive will work even if you are encoding through QT or EyeTV (my TV program of choice) -- you don't have to use their T-264 sw.

Wow -- looking at the above... I probably ought to add I have no connection or interest beyond the fact that it's a recent expediture I'm tickled pink about --
GB

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lbj (July 22nd, 2008)