Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

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m021478
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Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:57 pm

Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by m021478 »

I'm on the brink using handbrake to convert hundreds of movies into iPad 3/iPhone 5/AppleTV 3 compatible files, and my goal is to achieve the highest possible output quality for each individual file. I'd like to be able to permanently delete the original movies files once I'm done with the conversion, so I don't want to screw this up.

I'll be converting files that range from 10GB 1080p HD movies, all the way down to 700MB 480p SD movies, and they'll be in a variety of formats such as .avi, .mkv, .mov, etc. I'm less concerned about file size as I am about quality. Is there a preset that can be applied to all of my movies movies that will generate as high a quality file as possible, regardless of the original source file's size or resolution?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Thanks!
ndjamena
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by ndjamena »

The presets have nothing to do with quality. If you want quality all you need to look at is the Quality settings under the video tab. I use RF 16 which most people would consider excessive, my files sizes for non-noisy DVD sources range from about two thirds of the size of the original to slightly larger. I believe 18 is considered a very high quality setting. The lower you set the RF the higher the quality and the larger the file sizes. Most of the other settings do very little and are generally only of any use to compensate for low bitrate encoding. Depending on the RF you choose you might want to look at lowing the Deblock settings in the advanced tab, like the other settings it's mostly useful at low bitrates but unlike the others it can actually change the look of a picture which isn't always desirable.

Enjoy.
m021478
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Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:57 pm

Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by m021478 »

Thanks for the reply, but in all honesty, this is the kind of response I was dreading because it makes virtually no sense to me. I don't need to understand the hows or whys of the process of conversion.

I was basically hoping that someone could put themselves in my situation and answer the following question:
You're about to convert a massive collection of about 700 movies into iPad 3/iPhone 5/AppleTV 3 compatible files , and your goal is to achieve the highest possible output quality while maintaining compatibility with these devices, what settings would you use to do it?
ndjamena
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by ndjamena »

Just select high profile in the presets then adjust the RF in the video tab. Everyone starts off not knowing anything, you'll learn as you go along. I started off less than a year ago and have come a long way. You might want to turn off deinterlacing as I doubt the files you'll be converting will need it.

These are the most useful links I know of although I'm not sure how dated they are

https://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki
http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

Just keep fiddling, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to go back and redo everything I've done up to this point using the knowledge I've learned since, there's nothing actually wrong with the very first few files I did and someone new to encoding scene might think that just to make them I must have had some sort of profound knowledge at work.
ndjamena
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by ndjamena »

Actually, I'm doing Duckman right now and I'm trying to make it look it's best. So far I've put it through a Strong De-noise, a Level 10 De-Block filter (not the same de-block I mentioned before) and encoded it at RF 20. 6 months ago I did Dilbert and looking back, other than some less reference frames, I pretty much used exactly the same settings. So, in the last 6 months all I've really learned is that most of the settings aren't worth the effort.
ndjamena
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by ndjamena »

Hang on, damn. Smithcraft or whatever the hell his name is said anything modern could play high profile. The iPhone 5 and iPad 3 should be able to take it but it looks as though it may be too much for the AppleTV 3. Are you using a nightly or 9.8.0? I've got a nightly in front of me and it has an AppleTV 3 preset you could use. Hopefully you haven't started yet...
Smithcraft
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by Smithcraft »

ndjamena, or what ever the hell your name is, is wrong. I never stated that.

And no, there is no one preset to rule all transcoding scenarios.

SC
ndjamena
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by ndjamena »

Smithcraft wrote:High Profile, is the Profile, and doesn't mean High Quality.
Sorry, I guess I got the wrong message from that. You were in fact saying that... Um, I'm trying to be reasonable, but I can't really think of anything else it could mean.

I guess it was someone else in anther thread that said anything new could play high profile.

I'll be conciliatory and say the Apple TV 3 is degenerate and SHOULD be able to play it.

('Smithcraft' sounded odd when I wrote it so I had to cover my backside in case I'd got it wrong.)
Smithcraft
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by Smithcraft »

The poster in that thread had taken the assumption that High Profile meant High Quality. It does not, it specifies a profile level which does not necessarily relate to a quality level but more to a bandwidth level. That statement has nothing at all to do with whatever anyone might consider current, or modern, hardware, and what can be played on said hardware.

SC
ndjamena
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by ndjamena »

Ok then. I've only been on the forum for a few days and it's been implied from what I've read that High profile is all there is and anything else isn't worth bothering with. I know my iPhone 4s outstrips the limitations of the iphone preset so I just assumed the other presets were just there for legacy purposes. I believe the point is I gave bad advice and needed to correct it.
Smithcraft
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by Smithcraft »

Profiles

For clarification on my previous comment - Profiles are more for steps of what something can do, and Levels are more about bandwidth.

However, High Profile still does not necessarily mean a visually high quality encode.

Back on topic, I would say the ATV3 preset should be the one that covers all three of the listed devices. If the devices can handle it, then the additional tunes for specific types of content would be better. So apply the Grain tune for moderate to very grainy content, the animation tune to animation, and so forth.

SC
m021478
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by m021478 »

ndjamena wrote:Everyone starts off not knowing anything, you'll learn as you go along. I started off less than a year ago and have come a long way.
I appreciate all your feedback, and I especially appreciate your attitude with my inexperience in the 'encoding scene', as you put it. I've posted on these forums in the past and I've previously been met with harsh words from other users telling me to go off and read the 250-page wiki/trac/manual/encyclopedia in it's entirety before wasting anyone's time with a question as dumb as mine.

That sort of feedback is a deterrence and the result is that one less inclined to poll the hive mind of their peers when stuck on something or in need of a definitive answer about something. I use many different online forums for many different subjects, and there are other fields of expertise that I am far more advanced than I am with encoding. It would be nice if more people shared your attitude because as they say, what goes around comes around... you scratch my back and I scratch yours. Karma. We can all help each other if we can all just get along and help our fellow man (and woman).

OK, I'm done ranting. Thanks for your help!
Smithcraft
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by Smithcraft »

The other problem is that there is no definitive answer. Everything is dependent on everything else. Like tuning a engine.

SC
baggss
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by baggss »

m021478 wrote:I'm on the brink using handbrake to convert hundreds of movies into iPad 3/iPhone 5/AppleTV 3 compatible files, and my goal is to achieve the highest possible output quality for each individual file. I'd like to be able to permanently delete the original movies files once I'm done with the conversion, so I don't want to screw this up.

I'll be converting files that range from 10GB 1080p HD movies, all the way down to 700MB 480p SD movies, and they'll be in a variety of formats such as .avi, .mkv, .mov, etc. I'm less concerned about file size as I am about quality. Is there a preset that can be applied to all of my movies movies that will generate as high a quality file as possible, regardless of the original source file's size or resolution?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Thanks!
One other thing to consider here. You need to look at the detailed format capabilities of all 3 devices you mentioned above and then encode to highest level of the least capable device in order to achieve full compatibility. Sadly, this will probably result in a less than perfect rip for another device but that is the price you pay for multiple device compatibility.

IIRC the iPhone 5 and the iPad 3 have similar capabilities but I think the ATV 3 may be the "odd man" out here, but I can't say for sure. I'm still using an ATV 2 and an iPad 2 along with my iPhone 5 so I know what my limitations are.
m021478
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by m021478 »

OK... don't laugh, but I've just learned that most, if not all, of the MKV files I was planning on converting are probably encoded with x264, which should be compatible with iOS devices. Instead of a lengthy re-encode, I may be able to re-mux and just change the container format. For any compatible files, I'd at worst have to re-encode the audio, which would be very much faster. I did some research and came up with a program called Subler for Mac (http://code.google.com/p/subler/) which should quite easily be able to do accomplish the aforementioned task.

My goal here certainly isn't to lose a generation of quality by converting a file unnecessarily. If I can remux the file and maintain the same quality as the original (and shave off a week of conversion time), that would be fantastic!

Thoughts?
Deleted User 11865

Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by Deleted User 11865 »

That could work. If you encounter an issue, you could always re-encode then.

Note that Subler requires Perian for audio decoding and apparently this doesn't work great under Mountain Lion (previous OS X versions should be fine).
m021478
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by m021478 »

I tried the re-mux technique with Subler on 4 test movies and it seems to have worked just fine on 3 of them. 1 of the movies did refuse to sync to my iPad/iPhone, as iTunes threw up an alert saying that the particular movie in question wasn't synced because it can't be played on my device. I'm liking the idea of using the Subler approach for my mkv files, and if it works on 90/100 of them, that would save me a load of time and remove any doubt in my mind that I might have converted my mkv files incorrectly (or not in the most optimum manner possible).

I'll wind up using Handbrake with the AppleTV 3 preset (and perhaps turn up the quality slider to RF 18) to convert my non-HD avi files. Sound ok?

Does anyone have any experience using HandbrakeBatch for Mac (http://www.osomac.com/apps/osx/handbrake-batch/)? I'm sure scripting the CLI version would probably be better somehow, but for lowly novices like myself, HandbrakeBatch seems like a nice way to batch process using the GUI. Thoughts?
nlflint
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by nlflint »

m021478 wrote:OK... don't laugh, but I've just learned that most, if not all, of the MKV files I was planning on converting are probably encoded with x264, which should be compatible with iOS devices. Instead of a lengthy re-encode, I may be able to re-mux and just change the container format. For any compatible files, I'd at worst have to re-encode the audio, which would be very much faster. I did some research and came up with a program called Subler for Mac (http://code.google.com/p/subler/) which should quite easily be able to do accomplish the aforementioned task.

My goal here certainly isn't to lose a generation of quality by converting a file unnecessarily. If I can remux the file and maintain the same quality as the original (and shave off a week of conversion time), that would be fantastic!

Thoughts?
Using Subler might work. The only problem you will run into is audio. The iPad will look for a stereo audiotrack in the video file, and it won't play 5.1 audiotracks. The AppleTV3 preset in handbrake actually creates two audiotracks (you can see this after clicking the AppleTV preset and then click Audio). The stereo track is for the iPad and iPhone, the 5.1 track is for the AppleTV. You will need to find a way to create a stereo audio tack and mux it into the file with a 5.1 track.
TedJ
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Re: Best preset to achieve highest quality conversion

Post by TedJ »

Subler has the option to convert 5.1 AC3 to DPLII AAC audio on import.
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