Post Your "Best Settings" here and Why.

[tutva]

Does anyone have any setting recommendations for conversions for viewing on a TiVo and also PSP?

I'm pretty new at this and am not very familiar with all the different setting options.

Thanks!

[rhester]

Unless there has been a recent update to the Series 3, the TiVo is not capable of playing back any content generated by HandBrake - not that you could get it onto the TiVo in the first place, thanks to excessive DRM paranoia.

There are a great number of posts already on the forum about PSP-compatible settings, please do a search.

Rodney

[tutva]

I've got a Series 2 TiVo and according to tivo2go you're supposed to be able to transfer video to the tivo from your "my tivo recordings" folder. It's supposed to play mp4, mpg, wmv and mov files that are dropped into that folder. The tivo picks up that folder and any compatible file is transferrable to the tivo. I encoded a couple chapters of a video to mp4 and i couldn't even play it on my pc. Was just wondering what i could be doing wrong.

Ok thanks, i'll search for PSP stuff, thought it might be in this post since it was talking about settings for various purposes.

[rhester]

That's news to me. When I used GoToTiVo on my Series 2, it only supported transfer of MPEG-2 video, but newer versions of the TiVo server software may have improved upon this.

Rodney

[jblaize]

I have 400 lame-encoded albums (alt-preset-standard MP3s). [Well, some I care less about are AACs at 192kbps if I'm too lazy, don't care about sharing the music with others, or don't care about the album enough to wait for the sluggish iTunes Blacktree compiled Applescript plugin (http://blacktree.com/apps/iTunes-LAME).]

But one of my absolute MUSTS is to have video that plays well on television without sacrificing too much space. I'm willing to deal with a few MPEG artifacts here and there (like some blockiness in total blackness), but I rarely notice at the settings I'm about to share (unlike the H.264 videos I get from iTunes or other iPod-ready apps). I average around 578MB per picture -- the larger ones being the longer ones, animation, or things I've converted from MacTheRipper. BTW, with those 400 music albums, I've also got 53 movies on this 60GB ipod. I always carry a ipod to television converter, and I also use the doc w/ the MacBook Pro's remote control to be able to pause, rewind, etc (it's not like I'm going to use the remote for Front Row on the laptop for chrissakes .

Anyway, my optimal settings are:

I pick out the main title (Handbrake usually figures this out for me, but when there are a lot of extra features, I make sure by running DVD player and look at the on screen stats to be sure). Get all the Chapters.

File Format: MP4 file (uncheck "Create chapter markers")
Codecs: MPEG-4 Video / AAC Audio

Video:
Framerate (fps): Same as source
Encoder: FFmpeg
2-pass encoding: ON

(note: I never use Grayscale encoding on modern movies (e.g. The Man Who Wasn't There by Cohen Brothers, shot in black & white. It just looks bad. But old grainy Hitchcock movies from the 30s or something, it's fine.)

Quality:
Average bitrate (kbps): 575-675
I usually use an average bitrate of 600kbps, but for my favorite movies I use 650-675, and for movies that don't have a lot of action, I might go as low as 550-575 (like, oh, say, "Dogville" ) From calculating the average of the iTunes reported "Total Bit Rate" for each of the 53 movies, the average came to be 576.23 kbps for all of them. Almost all of them were 576 and 577 kbps, but there were a handful that I had to rip using MacTheRipper, which oddly enough had the highest bitrates somehow (in the 800-860 range). Not sure why.

Limitations of H.264 and MPEG-4: As I'm sure it's been discussed, the reason I don't use H.264 (and maybe my info's outdated now) are the restrictions on making it work on the iPod. I want to watch my movies on the iPod and on the television (admittedly, I use the TV most of the time). I can live with the iTunes episodes in H.264, but they're not up to my standards.

Here's some facts you probably already know about the iPod video:

[list=]Both MPEG-4 and H.264 cannot exceed 30fps.
If you use H.264 you must use the x264 baseline profile for iPod.
If you use MPEG-4, select FFmpeg.
H.264 must not exceed an Average Bitrate of 768kbps.
MPEG-4 cannot exceed 2500kbps.
H.264 cannot contain more than 76,800 pixels (size of height x size of width which is measurement of total screen pixels.
MPEG-4 cannot exceed 230,400 pixels.
H.264 cannot have more than 300 macroblocks (This is important; I'll explain this in a second).
MPEG-4 cannot exceed 900 macroblocks.[/list]

Picture Settings:
As I'm sure everyone here knows the video iPod (at least when I got my 60GB one) has limitations in total pixels. Since I use MPEG-4, that's what I'll discuss:

First off, always use 2-pass encoding. I know it takes forever (not so much on these new Intel Macs, but the extra pass makes a world of difference.

Now click on the "Picture Settings" button. The newer version of Handbrake does a good job of calculating what will fit, but not always. Most everything on DVD will be 720x480 = 345,600 pixels, which won't fit within the 230,400 pixel limit. So, in the picture box that pops up:

[list=]Click Keep aspect ratio if it's not already on.
UNCLICK Anamorphic (PAR) option.
Set Crop to Automatic.
Click Deinterlace Picture. Many DVDs don't need to be deinterlaced, but I always keep it on because I've run into too many old (and even NEW DVDs that weren't encoded right).
[/list]

NOW: calculate the Width and Height measurements by multiplying the two numbers. If it's more than 230,400 pixels, then nudge the Width down until multiplying the numbers fall under the 230,400 number above.

Once you're under the 230,400 pixel maximum, there's one last thing you have to do: Make sure you don't exceed the max number of macroblocks. Take the Width, divide it by 16 and remember that number. Then take the Height, divide it by 16, and remember that number. Then multiply those numbers together and see how it compares the the maximum MPEG-4 limit of 900 macroblocks. If it's over 900, you'll have to nudge down your width (since Aspect Ratio was checked, the height will lower when appropriate) in order to keep this calculated number below 900 macroblocks.

Once you've got the picture size under control, the worst is over. You've not maximized the size of your video for television use without having to compromise using Handbrake Lite or one of the crappy knock offs that are one-press crappy encoders.

Now go back to your main screen (Close button at the bottom of the Picture Settings screen).

Personally, I always turn on the "Enable queue" button and then click the "Add to queue" button. Out of paranoia and double checking, I then click the "Show queue" button to show the list of the two passes. Close that, then click "Start".

Now wait. If you need to leave or something, click the "Pause" button, put your laptop to sleep, and then resume later.

p.s. If you absolutely MUST use h.264, I've never run across a better codec than the VideoLAN x264 codec that comes with HandBrake. The only other codec that comes close is On2's latest codec that Macromedia/Adobe snatched up (which really isn't mentioning since it's non-standard/proprietary).

Good luck,
--
Jefe

[jbrjake]

As I'm sure it's been discussed, the reason I don't use H.264 (and maybe my info's outdated now) are the restrictions on making it work on the iPod.

Yes your information is horribly, horribly outdated.

I want to watch my movies on the iPod and on the television

And the iPod does television resolution with x264.

H.264 must not exceed an Average Bitrate of 768kbps.

You already said you didn't have the latest info. So don't spread misinformation like this. What you're saying simply is not true and hasn't been since last October.

H.264 cannot contain more than 76,800 pixels (size of height x size of width which is measurement of total screen pixels.

Again, this simply is not true.

Many DVDs don't need to be deinterlaced, but I always keep it on

I hope you enjoy losing half your vertical resolution. I thought you said you wanted to play these on TV? Don't you see the disgusting jaggies from the deinterlacing? People should follow the advice in the documentation: deinterlace only when you have to.

[hawkman]

Yeah, sorry jblaize, a lot of that information is really, really old. Movies look pretty crap on tv @320x240, the new standard - 640x480 - is much better. It's all in the documentation.

[jokkel]

Goal: Share movies with my friends, keep copies of rent or borrowed DVDs
Priorities: Good quality and high compatibility, fit on 700 MB CD-Rs, keep system requirements for playback low (i.e. it has to play on a 800 MHz G3, this rules out h.264)

Settings:
Chapters: usually all, but I often deselect the last one or two to eliminate the credits
Frame-rate (fps): Same as Source
Encoder: ffmpeg, because it is faster on PowerPC Macs
Target size (MB): For movies up to 90 minutes long 700 MB, for longer ones (up to 3 hours) 1400 MB
2-pass encoding: ON, this is really necessary
File format: AVI
Codecs: MPEG-4 Video to keep requirements for playback low and MP3 Audio, sometimes I use AC3 Audio, but only on 1400 MB files
Audio Language 1: German
Audio Language 2: English (or other original track)
bitrate (kbps): 128 to 192 depending on movie length and content
Picture Settings...
Keep aspect ratio: ON
Crop: Automatic (usually works fine)
Deinterlace: OFF (ON when needed)
Anamorphic: OFF, though I will try this out soon

I usually split the 1400 MB file using mpgtxwrap or D-Vision into two 700 MB files. I got a nice tip to avoid this:

Uh, why don't you just select two different chapter ranges in HB and use a target size for each? There shouldn't be any need to use a separate tool just to split your output.

I use D-Vision and D-Subtitler to get subtitles in separate srt files.

[danoon]

WHY: maintain DVD quality for watching on xbox 1 using XBMC
PRIORITIES: quality, space
SETTINGS:
Title: main
Framerate (fps): Same as Source
Encoder: x264
Constant quality: .607
File format: MP4
Sample rate (Hz): 48000
bitrate (kbps): 160
Picture Settings...
Width: Auto Selected
Height: Auto Selected
Keep aspect ratio: ON
Crop: Automatic

I tried a lot of different settings including using the command line to generate a crf encode and use that size as a target for a 2pass encode. But even then I was unhappy with the amount of blocking. I used the first chapter of Harry Potter 1 where there is a night time scene which causes a lot of blocking even at .7 crf as my test. Eventually I solved the blocking problem by patching the x264 encoder with the aq-strength patch (handbrake.m0k.org/trac/browser/trunk/contrib/patch-x264-aq.patch) and building my own handbrake. My command line is

HandBrakeCLI.exe -i "%~1" -t %video% -a %audio% -s %sub% -o "t:\h264\%~n1.mp4" -f mp4 -e x264 -q .608 --crf -E faac -B 160 -x ref=5:bframes=3:subme=6:me=umh:weightb:b-rdo:bime:direct=auto:analyse=p8x8,b8x8,i4x4:trellis=0:level=41:vbv-bufsize=2000:vbv-maxrate=10000:aq-strength=0.75

the aq-strength flag really did wonders, but it does increase the bitrate quite a bit. The settings above generated a 1.4GB file for 2h:32m movie. At crf of .646 (crf 18) the file was 2.3GB. I could tell the difference, but barely, so I decided to stick with .607 (crf 20)

EDIT: After playing around more I saw that movies that encode fully to 720x400 or 640x480 really don't play well with cabac turned on for the XMBC. Also after some trial and error I found that setting the max bitrate to 5000 helped with some of the more action packed scenes. I imagine this will change again in the future as I watch more movies and see stutters. But as of now here is my favorite setting for XBMC

-f mp4 -e x264 -q .646 --crf -E faac -B 160 --mixdown dpl2 -U -F -N eng -x cabac=0:ref=5:bframes=3:subme=7:me=umh:weightb:bime:direct=auto:analyse=p8x8,b8x8,i4x4:trellis=0:aq-strength=0.5:no-fast-pskip:vbv-bufsize=768:vbv-maxrate=5000:me-range=64

[jbrjake]

Eventually I solved the blocking problem by patching the x264 encoder with the aq-strength patch

You don't need to. That patch is already applied. Note that it doesn't work well with b-rdo (not that you're using that x264 option).

[danoon]

Thanks for the tip, I just edited my post because I actually did use b-rdo.

I didn't know aq-strength was in the latest build.

And thanks for all the good work

[jbrjake]

Thanks for the tip, I just edited my post because I actually did use b-rdo.

Hmm...unfortunately, there are problems using b-rdo with the version of the AQ patch applied to HandBrake's copy of libx264. The pair can cause serious blocking -- it's detailed in a thread on doom9.

The last time I checked, though, I couldn't find a revised copy of the patch on x264.nl.

[pylon]

I don't see much on people's preferences with the advanced settings so I will post mine and my reasoning, although I am no expert and could learn more from responses.

goal:4-5 movies/dvd, better quality using more cpu without choking an intel mac, play back on TV

Settings:

format:mp4
codec:AVC/H.264
encoder:H.264 main
average bitrate:1000kbps
2 pass (turbo when not encoding overnight)
anamorphic PAR
denoise:weak(deinterlace only interlaced video, no detelecine yet)
create chapter markersyes

Advanced Settings:
ref frames:3
mixed ref:yes
b frames:3
direct prediction:Automatic
weighted b frames:Yes
b frame rate distortion:No
bidirectional refinement:Yes
pyramidal bframes:No
motion estimation method:Uneven Multi-hexagon
motion estimation range:24
Trellis:1
no fast p skip:Yes
CABAC:Yes

Alright, so those are my settings and I don't understadn every last detail but...

AVC is more advanced, but different than earlier MP4
1000kbps produces the file sizes I'm looking for
2 pass is a must as it allows refinement
Anamorphic is a must since it preserves all the orginal pixels rather than throwing some away and it reduces encode time as well
I use weak denoise to reduce aritfcats without excessive blurring (never med or strong)
I like chapter markers (they work in QT if you change filename to end in .m4v)

On the advanced settings:

Mostly I picked middle of the road sane values and the effect of these options are nicely explained in the app.
A few points to address:Bframe rate distortion and pyrimidal bframes are off due to excessive cpu usage and being fairly incompatible. I would like to use these sometime.

The results:

PNSR~43.6
encode time:~7hours for a 2hour movie
Aesthetically it seems to look better

on playback it uses ~80%cpu on a 2GHz Intel core duo w/512MB compared to ~30% without using advanced settings.

I am happy with these results since I can do an overnight encode with no effect on the time it takes ME. Disadvantage is that they are not as portable in that they eat your battery more quickly.

As I said these are my settings and results and they are only reasonably well informed and could likely use some improvement.

[wrboyce]

WHY: Archiving DVD Collection to File Server

PRIORITIES:Quality!

SETTINGS:
Title: main feature
Chapters: all
Framerate (fps): Same as Source
Encoder: x264 (Main profile)
Target size (MB): OFF
Average bitrate (kbps): ON - 2000
Constant quality: OFF
Grayscale encoding: OFF
2-pass encoding: ON
File format: MKV
codecs: AVS/H.264 Video / AC3 Audio
Subtitles Language: OFF
Audio Language 1: First
Audio Language 2: OFF

Picture Settings...
Width: Auto Selected
Height: Auto Selected
Keep aspect ratio: OFF
Anamorphic PAR: ON
Crop: Automatic
Deinterlace: OFF

x264 Settings...
ref=6:mixed-refs=1:bframes=3:b-pyramid=1:brdo=1:bime=1:weightb=1:subq=7:trellis=2:analyse=all:8x8dct=1:no-fast-pskip=1:no-dct-decimate=1:me=umh:merange=64:deblock=-2,-1:direct=auto:cqm=/Users/wrboyce/eqm_avc_hr.cfg

The CQM I use is Sharktooth's AVC Matrix

I grabbed the x264 settings as being 'extreme' from the Wiki. I'm not really bothered about hard drive usage as long as it isn't silly. These rips take an ice age or two on my ripping current machine, but I am in the process of building a encoding server powered by a Q6600 which should make things more bearable

[royone]

WHY: For Quicktime playback on computer or iPhone
PRIORITIES: Best quality I can fit on CDs

I have found that I can get a 90-minute feature onto a CD without noticeable artifacts (I spot-check, rather than aggressively scanning all possible trouble spots) without taking any extraordinary measures. Nevertheless, I'm trying some tweaks to see if I can make a noticeable improvement.

One thing I have found that does introduce visual artifacts is using anamorphic: I get noticeable, annoying vertical lines. The image looks better if I encode without it and resize the display window to match the window size of the anamorphic-encoded one.

Another experience of mine that doesn't agree with much of what is posted: deinterlace "Origional (fast)" (yes, the extra "o" is in the app) doesn't give me jaggy images. I can't tell it from non-deinterlaced, frankly, if the original wasn't interlaced. Lines are all very smooth.

For iPhone, I start with the iPhone preset; otherwise, with default settings or Quicktime. I change the framerate, turn off chapters, set autocrop and deinterlace, 2-pass, turbo first pass. Set the target size, and run.

SETTINGS:
Title: main feature
Chapters: all
Framerate (fps): 24
Target size (MB): 690 for computer; 345 for iPhone movies
Sample rate (Hz): 44100
bitrate (kbps): 128
Picture Settings...
Crop: Automatic
Deinterlace: ON when needed

[royone]

@wrboyce:

PRIORITIES:Quality!

SETTINGS:
...
Average bitrate (kbps): ON - 2000

If your priority is Quality, then you should probably be using the Constant Quality setting, rather than setting a bitrate.

[JoelE]

Hi Everyone,

1st time here, and I am a pretty unsophisticated user who just bought one of the new little Nanos, hopefully you all will be somewhat kind to a struggling neophyte.

I have a DVD a friend made me that Handbrake converts well, but my Nano (or perhaps iTunes) seems to be having accepting. I've copied 3 different ways now.

1) w/ the default "Normal" Settings Handbrake uses,
2) the Optimal Settings baggss & cbud recommended for quality video for the iPod earlier on this thread and
3) the default "low-rez iPod" settings handbrake uses.

So far the Nano (or iTunes) is only willing to accept the low-rez copy, is that because the output is limited to 320x240 on the Nano. Is there something else, I need to be aware of? I'd like to improve the quality a little more if possible. The thing I notice the most is that images moving forward and backward on the screen get a little funky sometimes.

I do apologize for having less time on the learning curve, then a bunch of you. And if anyone needs more info, I'm certainly willing to try and go back and recreate the settings more specifically.

Otherwise, I would appreciate it if would anyone be willing to venture some possible thoughts about possibly getting higher quality video playing on my Nano.

Thanks,

JoelE

[hawkman]

You don't mention trying the hi-res iPod preset - have you?

[JoelE]

Hi Hawkman, Thanks for replying. Hi-rez was next on my agenda. I also just tried out someone else's suggestion of using H264 iPod which of course worked. I was looking at all the other settings, when often it is the simplest things you have to check.

I feel a little foolish that the answer was that simple, but that is part of the learning curve. And hopefully, my question and answer will be useful for someone else down the road.

Thanks to all.

JoelE

[hawkman]

I did rather wonder if you were trying to use Main profile h.264. Exactly why the low-res preset didn't work I don't know, maybe you changed something important.

[JoelE]

Hi again Hawkman,

Sorry if I wasn't clear before. Low-rez did work, I wanted better. And you hit the nail on the head. I could not get better the 1st time because I was using Main h.264 instead of iPod h.264. The simple switch solved the problem.

Like I said, hopefully my simple error will be a good reminder for the next person to check the basics.

As a fairly tech unsophisticate it is overwhelming at times trying to figure some of this out. Having you and all the rest of the folks as such helpful resources is totally awesome.

And I am learning, if I experiment for a while and show I'm trying to figure it out, you all will usually be kind and less likely to yell at me to read the manual.

Much thanks for all your help and Happy Handbraking to all,

JoelE

[Wildfire]

WHY: Small filesize for traveling with PSP while maintaining a given level of quality.

PRIORITIES: PSP compatible (firmware 3.3 or higher), then quality, then filesize

SETTINGS:
Title: All episodes or Main Title as applicable
Chapters: All
Framerate (fps): Same as Source
Encoder: x264 (h.264 Main))
Target size (MB): OFF
Average bitrate: OFF
Constant quality: 66% CRF
Grayscale encoding: OFF
2-pass encoding: OFF
File format: MP4
Codecs: AVC/H.264 Video / AAC Audio
Subtitles Language: OFF unless required.
Audio Language 1: English
Audio Language 2: OFF
Sample rate 44100Hz
Bitrate 128Kbps

Picture Settings...
Width: 480
Height: up to 272
Keep aspect ratio: ON
Crop: manually
Deinterlace: OFF

Advanced:
ref=2, mixed-refs=1, bframes=5, b-rdo=1, bime=1, weightb=1, subme=7
trellis=1, analyse=all, level=3, merange=64, no-fast-pskip=1, me=umh, sar=1/1, cabac=1

[edit] Went from trellis=2 to trellis=1 since i had some probs with CRF. Increased B-Frames to 5.[/edit]

[oconnellc]

Sorry for the newbie question...

I'm trying to rip my movies from DVD to hard disk. My main priority is quality. I don't care about anything else, as long as the end result takes less space than the original VOB's.

I was just ripping the movie to disk using DVDShrink with no compression, and using DVDAssist to play movies through Front Row (i.e. MacMini is my home theater PC [forgive me for referring to it as a PC]).

I understand that the newest version of Quicktime now supports playing full screen, so I would like to explore using Handbrake to rip. My 'monitor' is a 50" plasma (720p).

I have read the docs and I am currently ripping a movie to do some testing with, but I just thought I would see if anyone here has a similar setup. Should I even bother going away from the VOB's and DVD assist? I know this is subjective, but will I be happy with the results and watching the movie through QuickTime (i.e. FrontRow)?

Second, I'm getting confused by what seems like conflicting advice regarding 5.1 audio. Should I rip using AAC or AC3? I have the optical cable, so I can transmit the 5.1 sound to my preamp. I only thought that AC3 was capable of ripping the 5.1 sound, but I have read here that people are using AAC because of quality. Which is it?

Sorry if I seem like I'm asking obvious questions, but I really did go through the docs, and this just has me confused.

Thanks for your help,
Chris

[peterjcat]

There are reports that the new version of Front Row that will come with Leopard will play DVD images (basically VIDEO_TS folders) directly from storage, which would eliminate the need for the ingenious but fiddly DVD Assist workaround.

If quality matters more to you than storage space, then you might just leave it at that -- you will always get a reduction in quality by recoding to another format. That said, the excellent Handbrake can give you very substantial storage savings at only a slight cost to quality. Particularly where the original DVD isn't that crash hot to start with (eg old unremastered movies), there's no reason not to use Handbrake and save yourself a lot of space. But you should experiment with a few chapters and see what is an acceptable tradeoff between size and quality, and what looks good on your 50" screen.

If you're using Quicktime to play the videos, you can't transmit 5.1 sound to your preamp, even via the optical cable, without a bit of work. You'll need to follow the steps here. I'm pretty sure this trick only works with AC3, so if you care about surround sound I'd use that.

AAC is more efficient, and so "better" than AC3 at a given bitrate, but your receiver won't understand 5.1-channel AAC (unless it's from the future) and your Mini won't be able to output it unless you get a fancy external firewire audio system, not all of which will do the trick.

[oconnellc]

peterjcat,

Thanks for your pointer to Perian. I'm not doing a few tests, ripping with different data rates, trying to figure out what works best for me. I appreciate the advice on keeping certain movies as .VOB's. I won't be using Handbrake to compress The Return of the King, but I can't see how it would have a huge impact on my copy of Strangers on a Train.