Best quality convert MKV rip to M4V apple TV HD

[gojinjedi]

I have several blu-rays (I own them by the way) that I have ripped into MKV format with (MakeMKV). I successfully converted them with handbrake with the Apple TV preset but I'm still not entirely sure this is the best quality I can get from this Blu-ray rip (most converts are around 1.4 GB each). Is there a preset someone has put together with advance settings (on the advance tab) to get better quality closer to what Apple produces from the HD movies they sell on itunes (most of them 3GB). I understand it's not just a question of size but it does look different a bit (I use to manage a movie theatre so quality standards and such I'm familiar with). I increased resolution size to 1280x720 and still I'm not seeing it.

Also, after reading hundreds of forums I couldn't find an easy solution to get the 5.1 surround sound from the blu-ray to the m4v format through handbrake and always end up with a stereo file, if anyone figured this out I would be extremely happy to hear the solution. I do all this on a mac.

[mduell]

There's a whole thread about that, but you're not going to hit the same quality as the iTunes store... they have better sources.

[gojinjedi]

Can you point me to one, I searched and couldn't find them.....

[dynaflash]

Moved to the appropriate Devices forum.

Sticky at the top of said forum ... http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13506

And what mduell said about replicating quality as per iTunes HD.

[Cavendish]

I successfully converted them with handbrake with the Apple TV preset but I'm still not entirely sure this is the best quality I can get from this Blu-ray rip (most converts are around 1.4 GB each).

Sticky at the top of said forum ... http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=13506

And what mduell said about replicating quality as per iTunes HD.

Dynaflash no offence but you've not answered his question here. The preset you've put forward lowers the file size even further and to my eyes doesn't improve on quality.

I have seen superb looking non-iTunes sample rips done by a friend that play fine on my Apple TV, 3.72GB, 1280x528, 3670 kbps, two an half hour, 23.98 fps according to Quicktime inspector.

I don't know what software this person used but I'm never fulfilled with the finished product when I go and compare the two.

[mduell]

Where's the encoding logs for all these gripes? Let us see what you're doing.

[Cavendish]

Why would you need to see logs?

I've extensively used the Apple TV and DynaFlashes (SD & HD) presets in the past and I like the topic starter are both saying we're dissatisfied when the source is a 720p MKV. Capacity nor time is an issue, we want the best quality rips possible that will play without framerate problems.

I find it hard to believe that those two prests are our best options.

[TedJ]

Cavendish, since you have access to a friends encode that is superb looking, why not open it with something like MediaInfo? It's available for most platforms and assuming your encode was done with something using libx264 (most do), this will show you all of the settings used.

[nightstrm]

Why would you need to see logs?

I've extensively used the Apple TV and DynaFlashes (SD & HD) presets in the past and I like the topic starter are both saying we're dissatisfied when the source is a 720p MKV. Capacity nor time is an issue, we want the best quality rips possible that will play without framerate problems.

I find it hard to believe that those two prests are our best options.

Realize that if the "720p MKV" is from a Bluray source, the video has already been rescaled and re-encoded once from 1080 to 720p. Add another round of re-encoding to make it AppleTV-compatible and I'd be pretty disatisifed with the results as well. Your best bet is to start with the raw 1080p m2ts from the Bluray, although that is assuming that you own the source content.

[jbrjake]

Why would you need to see logs?

Maybe because you're making claims about quality and the logs would let us see the actual metrics your encode produces, what the source actually was like, and what settings you actually used? Provide the info you were asked for if you actually want a worthwhile response from anyone. Without the logs, it's all supposition.

It would also help if you'd go about this just slightly scientifically. You need to have controls: you need to compare against the original source, not compare one transcode to another. How are you controlling for the fact that post-processing can make a transcode look subjectively better than the source *at the expense of transparency* by denoising or smoothing?

[Cavendish]

Here's logs using MediaInfo, I didn't know you can do that.

Two examples of high quality video I mentioned, they play perfectly.

Code: Select all

* * * MediaInfo Mac 0.7.33.4 file analysis report.
* * * MediaInfo Mac is ©2010 by Diego Massanti - http://mediainfo.massanti.com
* * * MediaInfoLib by Jerome Martinez - http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net
Created on: 17 Jul 2010 02:20:06 GMT+01:00
Report for file: Chicken Royale.mp4

General / Container Stream #1
	Total Video Streams for this File.................1
	Total Audio Streams for this File.................1
	Video Codecs Used.................................AVC
	Audio Codecs Used.................................AAC LC
	File Format.......................................MPEG-4
	Play Time.........................................2h 24mn
	Total File Size...................................3.72 GiB
	Total Stream BitRate..............................3 697 Kbps
	Title (Tag).......................................Chicken Royale
Video Stream #1
	Codec (Human Name)................................AVC
	Codec (FourCC)....................................avc1
	Codec Profile.....................................Main@L3.1
	Frame Width.......................................1 280 pixels
	Frame Height......................................528 pixels
	Frame Rate........................................23.976 fps
	Total Frames......................................207294
	Display Aspect Ratio..............................2.40:1
	Scan Type.........................................Progressive
	Color Space.......................................YUV
	Codec Settings (Summary)..........................6 Ref Frames
	QF (like Gordian Knot)............................0.220
	Codec Settings (CABAC)............................No
	Codec Settings (Reference Frames).................6
	Video Stream Length...............................2h 24mn 4s 454ms
	Video Stream BitRate..............................3 565 Kbps
	Video Stream BitRate Mode.........................VBR
	Bit Depth.........................................8 bits
	Video Stream Size.................................3.59 GiB (96%)
Audio Stream #1
	Codec.............................................AAC
	Codec (FourCC)....................................40
	Audio Stream Length...............................2h 24mn 12s 565ms
	Audio Stream BitRate..............................128 Kbps
	Audio Stream BitRate Mode.........................VBR
	Number of Audio Channels..........................2
	Audio Channel's Positions.........................Front: L R
	Sampling Rate.....................................48.0 KHz
	Audio Stream Size.................................132 MiB (3%)

Code: Select all

* * * MediaInfo Mac 0.7.33.4 file analysis report.
* * * MediaInfo Mac is ©2010 by Diego Massanti - http://mediainfo.massanti.com
* * * MediaInfoLib by Jerome Martinez - http://mediainfo.sourceforge.net
Created on: 17 Jul 2010 02:19:31 GMT+01:00
Report for file: Moonlocks II.m4v

General / Container Stream #1
	Total Video Streams for this File.................1
	Total Audio Streams for this File.................2
	Video Codecs Used.................................AVC
	Audio Codecs Used.................................AAC LC / AC3
	File Format.......................................MPEG-4
	Play Time.........................................1h 57mn
	Total File Size...................................2.97 GiB
	Total Stream BitRate..............................3 613 Kbps
	Title (Tag).......................................Moonlocks II
Video Stream #1
	Codec (Human Name)................................AVC
	Codec (FourCC)....................................avc1
	Codec Profile.....................................High@L3.1
	Frame Width.......................................1 280 pixels
	Frame Height......................................544 pixels
	Frame Rate........................................23.976 fps
	Total Frames......................................169053
	Display Aspect Ratio..............................2.35:1
	Scan Type.........................................Progressive
	Color Space.......................................YUV
	Codec Settings (Summary)..........................5 Ref Frames
	QF (like Gordian Knot)............................0.184
	Codec Settings (CABAC)............................No
	Codec Settings (Reference Frames).................5
	Video Stream Length...............................1h 57mn 30s 918ms
	Video Stream BitRate..............................3 072 Kbps
	Video Stream BitRate Mode.........................VBR
	Bit Depth.........................................8 bits
	Video Stream Size.................................2.51 GiB (85%)
	Video Encoder.....................................x264 - core 83 r1391 3d0f110
	Video Encoder (Settings)..........................cabac=0 / ref=5 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x133 / me=umh / subme=9 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=24 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=0 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=0 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=2 / wpredb=1 / wpredp=0 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=1 / bitrate=3072 / ratetol=1.3 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / vbv_maxrate=10000 / vbv_bufsize=5000 / ip_ratio=1.41 / aq=1:1.00
	Video Stream Language.............................English
Audio Stream #1
	Codec.............................................AAC
	Codec (FourCC)....................................40
	Audio Stream Length...............................1h 57mn 30s 987ms
	Audio Stream BitRate..............................160 Kbps
	Audio Stream BitRate Mode.........................VBR
	Number of Audio Channels..........................2
	Audio Channel's Positions.........................Front: L R
	Sampling Rate.....................................48.0 KHz
	Audio Stream Size.................................134 MiB (4%)
	Audio Stream Language.............................English
Audio Stream #2
	Codec.............................................AC-3
	Codec (FourCC)....................................ac-3
	Audio Stream Length...............................1h 57mn 31s 40ms
	Audio Stream BitRate..............................384 Kbps
	Audio Stream BitRate Mode.........................CBR
	Number of Audio Channels..........................6
	Audio Channel's Positions.........................Front: L C R, Side: L R, LFE
	Sampling Rate.....................................48.0 KHz
	Bit Depth.........................................16 bits
	Audio Stream Size.................................323 MiB (11%)
	Audio Stream Language.............................English
	Date of Original Encoding.........................UTC 2010-02-28 05:18:34

[jbrjake]

I asked you for logs, not MediaInfo output. One of those two is useless anyway since it lacks the x264 settings. I'm not sure what you're confused about here. What we need to see, to judge your claim, is the exact settings used in a video you outputted with HandBrake and the resulting quality metrics (thus the log you seem so unwilling to provide) and the exact settings used in whatever other tools produced the video you say looks so much better. And where is the comparison against the source?

This is just basic testing here. If you want to say running source A through encoder B looks better than source A run through encoder C, you need to provide a sample of A, and the settings of encoders B and C plus samples of their output. Otherwise, how can anyone judge the validity of your claims?