Are these Blu-Ray settings ok?

[watcher27]

Hi,
I want to start encoding my Blu-Rays so i can play the on my Apple TV 3.

Is it worth me waiting for the ATV3 preset to appear, or will these settings be good enough?

Im just using Preset: High Profile,
then sliding the Constant Quality tab to: 17
And then selecting the following 2 audio tracks:
English (DTS) (5.1), AAC (faac), Dolby Pro Logic II
&
English (DTS) (5.1), DTS Passthrough.

Im unconcerned with file size or encoding time! I've done a couple of test ones and they look great, it mainly the audio side of things i wasn't clear on.
I only have a basic stereo setup at the moment, but would like my encodes to be future proof for when i get a full surround setup.

Any thoughts?

[mic j]

1st audio track should be AAC, 2nd either the DTS or Dolby surround. Just wanted to make sure you realized that as it wasn't clear to me from your post.

Personally, I "web optimize" everything as I stream my files over wifi. It's improves streaming ability. Even if you use ethernet, it won't hurt anything to use it. Finally, think hard about using CQ17. You might actually want to encode a few short scenes at CQ20, 19, 17 and see if you can really tell a difference. I always use 20 and it looks great and I have read other posts that indicate that quality difference using settings less than 20 are minimal. But everyone has different "sensitivities" so it really comes down to your subjective personal preference.

[Flo]

The Apple TV will not play anything with a DTS track, even as a secondary or tertiary. For optimum compatibility you'll want a 2-channel AAC track as the primary and an AC-3 5.1 track as the secondary.

[mic j]

The Apple TV will not play anything with a DTS track, even as a secondary or tertiary. For optimum compatibility you'll want a 2-channel AAC track as the primary and an AC-3 5.1 track as the secondary.

Yes, I was assuming the conversion of the DTS to AC3 would be selected.

[Deleted User 11865]

RF 17 will result in very high bitrates - since the AppleTV 2 & 3 are streaming-only, you'd better use a wired connection

Change DTS Passthru to AC3 (ffmpeg) - the AppleTV has zero support for DTS audio.

[watcher27]

Cheers guys,as you can tell, i'm a complete novice at this so i really appreciate your help

I encoded Avatar but with the CQ left at the default of 20, and it looked stunning, so will leave it at that and not 17

Just the audio that still leaves me baffled, as i have no idea what AC3, DTS, ffmpeg, faac etc etc all mean

I read the Handbrake manual, and it says this:
You can also combine Pro Logic II and AC3 pass-through. This will give you a file that will play anywhere from QuickTime to VLC to the iPhone (using the AAC Pro Logic II track) and play in true surround sound on an AppleTV or in Perian. It is the best of both worlds, and it is only possible in the .mp4 and .mkv containers. Again, MP4 file names must, confusingly, end in .m4v for QuickTime to read them. To use this hybrid format, in the Audio tab, set the first audio track to be the track you want, in AAC sound. Then set the second track to also use the same source track, and select AC3 pass-through.

But when i select AC3 pass-through, it just flicks and changes to DTS Pass-through with Mixdown as "None"??

So this won't play on ATV?

[mic j]

On the Audio tab, select:
Track:DTS-HD MA (5.1 ch) (assuming its the HD audio you are looking for)
Codec: AC3 (ffmpeg)
Mixdown: 6-channel discrete