Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

General questions or discussion about HandBrake, Video and/or audio transcoding, trends etc.
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kotatsu

Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by kotatsu »

As I'm sure everyone knows when you download an HD file in iTunes you get the 720p HD version, and an SD version for playback on portable devices. These files are linked and show up only once in iTunes.

Is there any way to get Handbrake to encode HD video like this? The Apple TV preset doesn't do 720p HD (why? I can't figure it out...!) and I guess the files wouldn't work on an iPhone, and the Universal preset is just SD.

There is a thread on the boards here about it but the solution is a bunch of hand editing with a program called Subler, which is Mac OS only and so to me with Win 7... completely useless.

If it isn't possible in Hanbrake now maybe it could be added in future?
Heymbit
Posts: 33
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 12:42 am

Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by Heymbit »

I use handbrake all the time for HDSD. Just make sure the resolution is width 1280, and for bitrate you're going to want somewhere between 3000-5000 (people seem to be happy with 3-4, but I do all mine in 5000 and am very happy with it). Tada, you now have 720p HD rips (note, you can't get HD from a DVD source, only from an HD source such as a tv recording from an HD channel, BluRay, or HDDVD). You can then rerip it to a smaller resolution size (width 720 or lower), then use either Subler or Tagger (mac apps, not sure what windows users can use) to set the cnID tag. Just put a number there, and make sure both the HD and SD file have the same number, and viola you'll now see an HDSD file in iTunes. Note, cnID is also what apple uses for genius, so if your movie/tv show is in iTunes, make sure to copy the the link from the file in iTunes, look in the link for id=##### (that number is the genius number for movies, if it's tv look for i=####) and use that for cnID, that way not only would you get HDSD, you'll also have iTunes Genius. You can do the genius thing with or without an HD copy, but it's required if you want an HD and SD copy in your library in 1 file listing.

Btw, I recommend subler over tagger, mostly because subler is constantly updated, and tagger appears to be dead (if it's not, yippy! It looked like it had great promise).
jkbc
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Joined: Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:04 pm

Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by jkbc »

Just a note, Heymbit's encode settings are suspect at best. Setting a bitrate is a silly way to encode, especially since 0.9.4 came out. The rest of his advice seems to check out, however.
Da Man
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Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:47 pm

Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by Da Man »

OK then. Here's one additional question. Lets just assume that an individual has, oh, say, 600 or so movies on an external drive and they don't have the cnID tag on them. The tag is added but iTunes doesn't see it because it's added to the existing movie. Besides copying it off of the external drive to the host computer's drive, adding the tag, deleting the original from iTunes, then adding it back, is there a way to simplify the workflow (ie-get iTunes to recognize a change in the movie's metadata). I tried to just add it using subler (easy enough) and then do the 'get info' trick, but that failed to get iTunes to take notice. Any ideas?
jkbc
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Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by jkbc »

Automator actions, perhaps?
Da Man
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Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:47 pm

Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by Da Man »

Just for the record - patience is the key. Altering the file as it exists in iTunes will result in a change. It just didn't appear in the .79 seconds I gave it. It will sometimes take up to 10 seconds, but will appear whether you attempt to speed things along by clicking on 'Get Info' or just waiting. :idea:

Edit: This was performed with 'Subler'.
tomm3
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:52 pm

Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by tomm3 »

This is fine for Mac users, but does anybody have any idea how to do this on Windows?
nightstrm
Veteran User
Posts: 1887
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2007 5:43 am

Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by nightstrm »

tomm3 wrote:This is fine for Mac users, but does anybody have any idea how to do this on Windows?
MetaX for Windows can do this as well.
eon_designs
Posts: 12
Joined: Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:24 am

Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by eon_designs »

Hello

The link to http://www.thecheapgeek.org/2009/03/14/ ... in-itunes/

shows you how to do it on a MAC and MetaX for PC does allow you to set the HD flag and set the cnID, but how do you get itunes to read them as one single HD/SD file? Everytime I bring them into itunes it just shows 2 entries (one with the HD icon next to it).

Thanks. eon
Da Man
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Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:47 pm

Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by Da Man »

Are you setting the cnID tag the same? I did run into a situation with a home movie where I had to take both videos back out, delete them from iTunes, and then drop them back in. Make sure all of your information is completed before dropping them into iTunes. I can't recall the specifics, but when I had this problem, I think I had modified something after the first movie had been placed into itunes,and after modifying it with subler when it was already in itunes, dropping the second one in would not result in a combined file.
Akositzke
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 4:27 am

Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by Akositzke »

First of all, I apologize for responding to an older thread.

I have several blu-rays which came with a digital copy, which I downloaded into iTunes. Since then I have ripped an HD version of the movie from the Blu-Ray and would now like to combine those files as an HD-SD combo in iTunes. I used Subler to mark one of the files as HD, and copied the contentID from the digital copy file and pasted it into the contentID tag in the HD rip. Both files now show up in iTunes, one marked with the HD logo, but I cannot seem to get them to combine into one HD-SD listing. I did notice that some of the other tags don't match up identically - the descriptions I typed in aren't identical to the Apple Store tags from the digital copy. Does this matter? Do I need to match up all the tags?

I also did see in this post a link to http://www.thecheapgeek.org/creating-du ... s-in-itune. I downloaded mp4v2, but when I went to download xcode from the Apple site, it said that I have to be registered as a developer, which is $99 a year. Any way around this?


Thanks for any help!
Deleted User 11865

Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by Deleted User 11865 »

Akositzke wrote:I also did see in this post a link to http://www.thecheapgeek.org/creating-du ... s-in-itune. I downloaded mp4v2, but when I went to download xcode from the Apple site, it said that I have to be registered as a developer, which is $99 a year. Any way around this?
A free registration will work just as well for downloading Xcode. You don't have to sign up for a developer program.
Akositzke
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 4:27 am

Re: Is it possible to make a dual HD/SD file for iTunes?

Post by Akositzke »

I clicked on Free Download on the XCode page, and it took me to a page for either iPhone or Mac OSX developer login. I just clicked one and logged in with my Apple ID, and it's letting me download the XCode + IPhone SDK - which is a fun 2.9GB. I'm assuming it should have what I need, though!!

Does anyone know if this method works when trying to pair a ripped HD copy with a iTunes store SD copy? In Subler I set all the Meta data the same in the two files - still did not combine.
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