HandBrake

Hi,

I've been using Handbrake for years, though not so much recently, and this is my first post. I've read the posting guidelines, but can't provide any logs...

A while ago, around the time the AppleTV was first released, I encoded many of my DVDs for use on that device. I no longer have most of the original DVDs. I played with various handbrake settings to make the videos look as nice as I could, so different movies have different settings...

I find now, however, that these files will not copy to my iPad or iPhone 4...

Can I use Handbrake to convert these files (all m4v) into something that will be playable on my mac, AppleTV, iPhone 4 and iPad? If so, what settings would you recommend to A) lose as little quality as possible during the conversion and B) produce the highest quality single file that will play on all my devices.

It may be worth noting that most of this stuff is old TV shows (Dad's Army, Monty Python, etc) so the picture and sound quality wasn't all that brilliant to begin with. I'm not looking for reference quality encodes, just something watchable...

Thanks in advance.

Steve.

I'm pretty sure that out of those devices the Apple TV is the most limiting. I suggest reading this thread -> http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13506 and changing surround sound output to dolby pro logic or something similar while making sure the audio bitrate stays at or below 160KB/s.

Try remuxing them with Subler.

This issue (plays on ATV but won't sync to iPhone4/iPad) has only been noticed for encodes done with HB 0.9.2 and earlier, so maybe remuxing them with a recent app will work (if it plays on the ATV, there's nothing in the file that could be incompatible with the iPhone4 and ipad).

If I go for the simple option and just select my current m4v files as as source in Handbrake, what preset will give the best result that will work on Mac, AppleTV, iPad and iPhone 4?

Should I go for Apple > Universal or Apple > Apple TV? Or something else?

Cheers,

Steve.

AppleTV.

But the Subler option is just as easy and much faster:

Launch Subler, create a new file, import the track from your existing file (using the + button), save to a new .m4v file. Since there's no transcoding it's very quick.

If that doesn't work, then you'll have to re-encode.

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I've just tried the Subler option, following the steps suggested above, and it didn't work - the file still won't copy to the iPad or iPhone. But then, as far as I can tell, Subler wasn't actually doing anything. I just opened a file, then saved it again - is there some sort of conversion that should be taking place?

Anyway, if I go back to the option of using Handbrake, I should use the AppleTV preset and that will work on my mac, AppleTV, iPad and iPhone 4?

Is there any way to automate this process? It seems I have to individually select an episode of a TV show, select the AppleTV preset, then select an output destination... then repeat for each episode of each TV show. Rather time consuming!

Thanks again for your help.

Steve.

Wouldn't the issue be with the level signalled in the video stream, not the container? Pretty sure the OP needs to hex edit the x264 header to signal 3.1 instead of 5.1, the old default.

jbrjake wrote:Wouldn't the issue be with the level signalled in the video stream, not the container? Pretty sure the OP needs to hex edit the x264 header to signal 3.1 instead of 5.1, the old default.

That was my first guess, but why would it sync to the AppleTV then? It doesn't look at the level?

Although this discussion has progressed beyond my level of understanding, this last suggestion seems like it could save me a lot of time, if it works...

Could someone please elaborate?

Steve.

FWIW, Subler 0.10 has a new feature which lets you "change" the level without reencoding - that should allow you to make your old encodes work.

rodeo - not really seeing how to obviously do this in subler 0.10 - can you point me in the right direction on how to do this? Have a few home movies this would really help with.

omni wrote:rodeo - not really seeing how to obviously do this in subler 0.10 - can you point me in the right direction on how to do this? Have a few home movies this would really help with.

Not really as flexible as I thought. Anyway, screenshot:

that worked! Thanks a lot and thanks ritsuka for subler