Apple TV help for the newbies

[nightstrm]

SVN Code?

Meaning there is no reason for anyone to create a patch for it when the source code with it enabled is easily available with instructions on how to compile it in various places around this website.

[nathug]

Ratatouille looked great with the last setting I posted for a DVD Film. All the detail in the shadows were there fine, and the clarity was much much better than a 2 pass encode. And the bitrate was lower, and so was the file size.

Nate

[nightstrm]

Ratatouille looked great with the last setting I posted for a DVD Film. All the detail in the shadows were there fine, and the clarity was much much better than a 2 pass encode. And the bitrate was lower, and so was the file size.

Nate

That's the beauty of CRF!

Of course, it could go the opposite way... it really depends on the quality of the source.

[nathug]

You mean only the bitrate and file size can go the other way, right, but the quality should still be good.

I now feel in the right place to start my encoding of the best of my DVD's. Mainly those kiddy flicks for my 2 year old, I was getting fed up having Jam on Marry Poppins :O)

Nate

[nathug]

Something I noticed on some of my encodes, is that when there is a slow motion part in the film, lets say the clouds in the sky, sometimes these look jerky if the monition of the film is in slow motion or in a transition.

Any ideas?

Could this be the VFR? Would it be better to have the VFR off for film anyway?

Nate

[dynaflash]

Um, okay now we are way beyond "Apple TV help for newbies" if you're going to start compiling code from the svn now you have to read some documentation

[nathug]

Um, wrong end of stick I think. I'm not doing any code compliling. I mean when I convert a film in Handbrake on the Mac version.

[nightstrm]

I use it on everything with no ill effects that I have seen.

[dbendixen]

I use it on everything with no ill effects that I have seen.

You use CRF on everything?

[nightstrm]

I use it on everything with no ill effects that I have seen.

You use CRF on everything?

CRF and VFR.

[nathug]

I gave up on the following for TV stuff, it seemed to be dropping frames or skipping. Now I use the regular AppleTV preset, and deinterlacing on Fast. Having deinterlacing on slow did the same.

70% Constant Quaility, Strick Anamorphic,VFR ON and De-Interlace on SLOW, DRC at 1.2 and add the following to the advanced code in the standard AppleTV Preset

Code: Select all
vbv-maxrate=4900:vbv-bufsize=3500

I've also noticed somthing going on with strobes in films. At the begining of the Blue Man Megastar show DVD, there is a lot of strobe effects. I've tried most of the AppleTV preset here on the forums and the main preset, but the stobeing looks choppy but the motions looks OK. Its very strange. If a person works accross the screen with strobes in the back ground, their montion looks OK, but the strobes don't. Any ideas?

Nate

[dbendixen]

I use it on everything with no ill effects that I have seen.

You use CRF on everything?

CRF and VFR.

I thought you could only use VFR with interlaced 29.97 material.

Maybe it would help with Juno. There are some parts where it shows the runners and it seems to be jittery (not a streaming problem) like it's dropping frames in the encoding.

[nightstrm]

I use it on everything with no ill effects that I have seen.

You use CRF on everything?

CRF and VFR.

I thought you could only use VFR with interlaced 29.97 material.

Maybe it would help with Juno. There are some parts where it shows the runners and it seems to be jittery (not a streaming problem) like it's dropping frames in the encoding.

Nope, you should use it on any mixed content. If the content isn't mixed, it should have any impact on the resulting encode.

[dbendixen]

Beautiful.

Back to the VBV-maxrate. Is there any plan on implementing a slider of sorts for future versions of HB, or ajust a more intuitive way of entering it? Such as...


I wish we could somehow get the exact specs from Apple...

[nathug]

Doesn't the following do the same, when entered into the advanced section in HB?:

Code: Select all

vbv-maxrate=4900:vbv-bufsize=3500

[dbendixen]

Well, yes it does the same, but for the average user it's easily screwed up. Then again, the average user shouldn't be worrying about that.

Are those numbers the consensus of the devs at this point in time? This is why I went away from CRF; I don't want to end up with a bunch of encodes that could have been done with more accurate settings. I loved CRF at first, then realized how many options there are to consider.

[jbrjake]

Well, yes it does the same, but for the average user it's easily screwed up. Then again, the average user shouldn't be worrying about that.

Are you for real? The average user ISN'T worrying about that since the average user does not ever touch the advanced tab and simply uses the presets that have proper vbv values in them for the bitrates they use.

At some point I might fold in the logic of dynaflash's VBV calculator but I don't exactly consider it a priority. The next thing the tab will get is a a smart level and profile setter is.

[nathug]

I must admit the standard preset is very easy to use and gives great results. I do which however it gave a little sharper image, it makes a lot of difference, and is even less strain on the eyes. Any ideas?

I'm thinking of going back to using it as standard, as using the preset I posted earlier in this chain, sometimes I get bad results like 'Hairspray'. We all want it to be so easy, and not as frustrating, and to stop the wife nagging. I guess we have to convince ourselves everything is OK, and just go with the standard tried and tested preset that the guys here created for us novices. And when they have something better, use that.

Nathan

[nathug]

CFR?

I've read the wiki stuff, but am still confused.

Am I correct in saying the a CFR of 70% is better than one of 68%? Which is better and why?

And I read in some places that this can cause trouble? Should I take it out?

Code: Select all

vbv-maxrate=4900:vbv-bufsize=3500

Nate

[dbendixen]

CFR?

I've read the wiki stuff, but am still confused.

Am I correct in saying the a CFR of 70% is better than one of 68%? Which is better and why?

And I read in some places that this can cause trouble? Should I take it out?

Code: Select all

vbv-maxrate=4900:vbv-bufsize=3500

Nate

From what I understand it can cause trouble if the source consistently needs a higher rate than that, though with a DVD probably not a problem. I could be missing something else.

@jbrjake: You are right, the average user doesn't even touch the advanced tab. As for the vbv calculator and smart level, doesn't a lot of this rely on us knowing what the hell we are actually dealing with (speaking of the ATV)? If we don't know the buffer size then we are poking around in the dark. If we did know the buffer size, in theory couldn't you set some quite accurate presets, no?

[dynaflash]

if you can find em or get em. great. otherwise real world testing is the only way and almost all of thats been done already. I gave you a link in that other thread where you ask the same thing.

[dbendixen]

Back on topic, if any newbies are reading this... Stick to the ATV preset. I have over 160 encodes done with the preset (minor modifications only and pre-AC3 passthrough) that look great. Now I'm wanting to re-encode with AC3 audio and while I'm at it trying to squeeze just a little more quality in there. Now if I could just find all those DVDs that now seem to be missing...

[dynaflash]

I will echo that as well. The built in AppleTV preset is awfully nice looking and is very compatible across a huge range of sources. We haven't really changed it much since it was introduced video wise because frankly there isn't a whole lot to do to it to make it much better without introducing some incompatiblity issues. Hell, I still use it from time to time depending on a particular source and still like the look of it.