AppleTV preset, iPod compatibility

[badwithnames]

hey guys, can't find the answer to this question anywhere, if you could send to another thread or link that'd be awesome too.

Anyway I've backed up my dvd collection using the appletv preset. Now I'd like to play them on my iPod. What does itunes do to the file when I tell it to create an ipod/iphone" version? I'm testing it right now but It's time consuming. Does it create a second file or add another layer of data to my existing file? WIll it affect my video quality? I'm really happy with the appletv preset, it looks great and works well with my stereo, if I check the "include ipod 5g support box" when I rip future dvd's will that affect my quality?

Thanks

[rhester]

Anyway I've backed up my dvd collection using the appletv preset. Now I'd like to play them on my iPod.

It's actually better to rip using the Apple Universal preset for this purpose (assuming you have something newer than a 5G), but that's new to 0.9.3.

What does itunes do to the file when I tell it to create an ipod/iphone" version? I'm testing it right now but It's time consuming.

It is re-encoding it from scratch.

Does it create a second file or add another layer of data to my existing file?

It creates a second file.

WIll it affect my video quality?

Yes, but as to whether it will be noticable or not, that depends a lot on the quality of your rip.

I'm really happy with the appletv preset, it looks great and works well with my stereo, if I check the "include ipod 5g support box" when I rip future dvd's will that affect my quality?

It won't do anything at all, because all that box does is add a small flag to the rip that allows iTunes to sync it with a 5G *if the rip is otherwise completely compatible*, and the Apple TV preset most definitely is not.

If you have a 5G/5.5G, rip with the iPod Legacy preset. If you have something newer, use the Apple Universal preset. For the rips you've already done, you only have two choices - re-rip with HandBrake or allow iTunes to convert it for you. The former is likely faster and definitely of higher quality.

Rodney

[loudgazelle]

I have the same dilemma- Like a bonehead, I encoded all my DVD's using the AppleTv preset because I didn't figure I'd be getting a new iPod that played video any time soon. Well, my old iPod got stolen, so I got a new one about a month after I finished encoding all my DVD's.

I'm wondering what kind of quality loss to expect if i re-encode the files that were generated using the AppleTv preset, but encode them using the Universal preset this time. Are the formats different enough that I'll be doing a transcode, or will it just remove the b frames?

I guess I could just try one on my own- I hate to think I'm going to have to re-encode everything, but if it's a big enough drop-off in quality that's what I'll do... just hoping that someone else has some experience here I can draw from.

[TedJ]

The results will definitely be worse than going back to your source DVD, such is the nature of lossy compression... and yes, it will transcode your aTV files, there's no way to simply strip b-frames.

[peterjcat]

If you can't be bothered re-ripping to Universal from your original DVD, then I would recommend creating an iPhone version from your AppleTV version using the Handbrake preset. The iPhone version will be pretty small and encode very quickly, and you won't be able to see the quality loss on the iPhone screen.

With the help of Subler (or other ways, but I think Subler is the most user-friendly) you can combine the two versions in iTunes so they appeal as a single SD-HD file (like you can buy from the iTunes Store), the HD version will play on the AppleTV and the SD version will sync to the iPhone automatically.

The two-version solution will take up a bit more space than the Universal solution, but not that much (since the AppleTV encode should be a bit smaller than the Universal encode) with the added benefit of a tiny version that won't take up much space on your iPhone.

[loudgazelle]

Thanks! That's a great suggestion, especially since it'll mean I can avoid having to re-rip all those movies again just to get them on the iPod!

[bjriffel]

Thank you for this advice. I have an iPhone 3G and an Apple TV. I already started ripping most of my DVD's with the aTV preset and converted a bunch of my divx downloads using Quicktime Pro to AppleTV. Needless to say, none of them will play on my iPhone. So I downloaded the newest handbrake to take advantage of the Universal preset. So what this post has discovered is that maybe it is a better idea to rip them as aTV still, but then rerip them as iPhone as well? Then go back and re-encode your previous aTV rips as iPhone? OR, should I continue to use the Universal preset? Is there any downside to just letting iTunes create the iPhone versions of the files I've already ripped and imported into my library?

[TedJ]

If you're looking for one encode that will work on both devices, then the Universal preset is definitely the way to go. If you already have encodes made for the aTV then use Handbrake's iPhone preset to convert them, it'll be faster than iTunes.

[J0hnathan]

If you're looking for one encode that will work on both devices, then the Universal preset is definitely the way to go. If you already have encodes made for the aTV then use Handbrake's iPhone preset to convert them, it'll be faster than iTunes.

Totally agree. the universal preset is compatible with iPod and Apple TV.