Perfect settings for owners of Sony SMP-N*** Streamers

[azvampyre]

So I've spent the past 18 hours playing with the settings on Handbrake (0.95 64-bit on Windows 7 64-bit), and found these to be the perfect settings to stream from a USB hard drive to the Sony SMP-N100, SMP-N200 Streaming Media Player.
The quality is great, as well as the sound when using pass-thru. Owners of the SMP know about how easily the audio/video goes out of sync when fast forwarding, pausing, stopping/resuming, but this isn't a problem with these settings.
I watch these on a 60" Mitsubishi 3D HDTV at 1920x1080p (the TV is 1920x1080p, not the encoded video), and I don't see any difference between the DVD and the converted file. I have the target size set to 1GB, which is three times smaller than any of the expensive ripping software produces, and with a 200% increase of video quality.

Picture:
Strict Anamorphic
Automatic Cropping

Video Filters:
All Off
(I didn't notice any difference between using denoise and deblock)

Video:
Video Codec: H.264/x264
Framerate: 29.97
Peak Framerate: Yes
2-pass Encoding: Yes
Turbo First Pass: Yes
Quality: I Use target Size: 1024(1GB)

Audio:
I choose the 5.1 Source without Directors Commentary(I just want to watch the movie without someone talking)
Audio Codec: AC3 Passthru (For the Sony Streamer, this keeps it in sync); AAC also works, but if it aint broke, fix it till it is.

Subtitles:
*This is Important for the Sony Streamers*
You MUST either remove all subtitle tracks from the window or set only ONE track to default and remove the other..or like I do, set the subtitle track to Foreign Audio Search and select Forced Only: Otherwise, your Sony Streamer will lock up when opening the video.

Chapters:
This is up to you. I enable Chapters default because the Sony Streamer isn't like the PS3 or Xbox 360 Media Player; it won't advance ahead (except FFW), unless it has Chapters to go to.

Advanced:
Encoding:
ref=2:bframes=2:subq=7:mixed-refs=0:weightb=0:8x8dct=0:deblock=3,3:trellis=0
Reference Frames: 2
Maximum B-Frames: 2
CABAC Entropy Encoding: Yes
8x8 Transform: No
Weighted P-Frames: Yes
Pyramidal B-Frames: Normal
Psychovisual No DCT-Decimate: Unchecked
Analysis:
Adaptive B-Frames: Fast
Adaptive Direct Mode: Spatial
Motion Estimation method: Hexagon
Subpixel Mode and ME Decision: 7: RD In All Frames
Adaptive Quantization Strength: Center
Psychovisual rate Distortion: Center
*The two above are perfect at the default middle setting, adjusting left or right decreases the overall visual quality on the Sony*
Partition Type: Most
*I didn't notice any better quality using ALL partitions, but it encoded slower*
Trellis: Off
*Turning Trellis to Encode Only or Always On makes a huge difference in the output quality, but only if Subpixel Mode and ME Decision is changed from 7: to 10: QPRD In All Frames, but it also takes much longer to encode, so I have this set to Off. If you're encoding while you sleep, then definately use this; it'll be worth the 3 hour encode time*
Deblocking Strength: 3
Deblocking Threshhold: 3
*Deblocking at 6 made no difference over 3*

A 2 hour DVD using these settings and 2-pass encoding takes approximately an hour and ten minutes on my slow PC; about 30 minutes first pass and 40 minutes second pass.
I have never had a rip fail (using AnyDVD in the tray), nor has Handbrake ever crashed my PC like the others always do.

[TedJ]

This belongs in Devices. Moving.

[stephens]

Quality: I Use target Size: 1024(1GB)

I don't think that would be the best choice because you are going to allow 1GB per encode regardless of whether it is a short movie or The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at over three hours. The quality will vary from movie to movie.

Using a Constant Quality setting would maintain the quality evenly over all your movie encodes, and with no waste.

[azvampyre]

Quality: I Use target Size: 1024(1GB)

I don't think that would be the best choice because you are going to allow 1GB per encode regardless of whether it is a short movie or The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King at over three hours. The quality will vary from movie to movie.

Using a Constant Quality setting would maintain the quality evenly over all your movie encodes, and with no waste.

You are correct on that. I've changed my settings to RF 19 in the CQ unless it's a movie that's already been encoded from the original DVD to a copy, then I just use Avg Bitrate 1600, otherwise sometimes I get a movie that's only 780 bitrate, although surprisingly it looks good... Avatar at 1GB was not what I wanted for quality. Doing TLOTR trilogy at RF19 and they come out great.

[stephens]

Avatar at 1GB was not what I wanted for quality. Doing TLOTR trilogy at RF19 and they come out great.

Glad you are happy with the results.

I use a Sony Bluray player, which I presume will be very similar to the Sony SNP Streamers.

I don't need glasses, but my eyesight is not ultra sharp (as over 50 now) and I find it hard to differentiate between encodes, other than the those using the faster settings, or those that result in obvious blocking. I have, therefore, been using the default Advanced settings that iPhone4, iPad and AppleTV2 presets all use. Without the extra AC3 Passthru track (AppleTV2) as I have not got 5.1 surround sound.

For my DVD sources, a typical 1Hour 45Minute approx. movie comes out at just under 1GB. They look amazing to me considering they are now just a quarter of their original size.

So for those who don't want to venture into the advanced settings, the iPhone4/iPad or AppleTV2 (if you require 5.1 sound) presets provide great results for your Sony Streamer and Apple A4 devices.

For HD sources the iPhone4/iPad presets would limit the encode Width to 960/1024 (for those devices) but the AppleTV2 gives the full 1280 for the AppleTV2 device. Just delete the extra AC3 Passthru audio track, in the Audio tab, if you don't require 5.1 surround sound and want to reduce the file sizes.

[Larzendk]

Hi there

What container are you using in output settings MP4 or MKV?

Best regards
Morten
Denmark

[stephens]

What container are you using in output settings MP4 or MKV?

The default M4V that comes with the AppleTV 2 preset works OK on the Sony Bluray so, presumably, also on the Sony Media players.

Probably not the best for flexibility of use over many devices though.

[Larzendk]

Hmm, i got some subs to work, or sort of, because i can only see one line, if the sub on screen is over 2 lines i can only see the top one, and if if the sub only is one line i can not see it at all.

[DreamWorksSKG]

Wow!!! I have been looking all over for these presets. Thank you for posting! I haven't had a chance to test them out yet but i was curious about 2 things
1) you mention that "stream from a USB hard drive" is that a direct connection thru usb or are you streaming from a computer over wired or wireless connection. if direct connect can anyone verify if this works works over wifi? (as only certain files will work wired or wirelessly vs connected by usb)

2) anyone know if these settings will play on an xbox 360. (i use both of these devices in different rooms to stream movies and shows and such)

Thanks in advance!!!

[Tree Dude]

Wow!!! I have been looking all over for these presets. Thank you for posting! I haven't had a chance to test them out yet but i was curious about 2 things
1) you mention that "stream from a USB hard drive" is that a direct connection thru usb or are you streaming from a computer over wired or wireless connection. if direct connect can anyone verify if this works works over wifi? (as only certain files will work wired or wirelessly vs connected by usb)

2) anyone know if these settings will play on an xbox 360. (i use both of these devices in different rooms to stream movies and shows and such)

Thanks in advance!!!

1) He probably means a directly connected USB drive. Check the box for Web Optimized if you are using MP4 and your files should stream fine as long as there is enough bandwidth.

2) You need to disable either Weighted P-Frames or Pyramidal B-Frames for them to work on the 360. I cannot remember which since I decided to not encode for my 360.

[TedJ]

I do know there's an issue with the Xbox 360 not honouring pixel aspect ratio (PAR) for high profile encodes, so you'll need to disable 8x8 DCT.