Settings for Zune HD

[dancingcrab]

Hello everyone. I just bought a Zune HD and HD Dock. I've been trying to figure out how to get my DVDs (specifically, Cowboy Bebop) onto my Zune HD so I can (a) watch episodes on the go, (b) play them back via the dock for convenience, and (c) use them in the Zune software too.

Having read good things about HandBrake, I tried 'ripping' (I know, HB isn't ripping software, but the term fits) the first episode from the first disc. I used the Apple Universal setting, because it was at the top and because it's called 'Universal'. Unfortunately, when I play it back in the Zune software, the first few seconds work, then everything becomes corrupted and colourfully gnarly. I suppose the 'Apple' part implies it doesn't like my M$ product.

What's going on?

I guess what I'm really asking for are settings appropriate for the Zune HD and Zune software that I can use to rip DVDs, ideally with the best possible quality (don't care too much about the file size, although much over 800MB for a 24 minute episode would be a bit silly).

Can someone help?

[JohnAStebbins]

The problem may not be with your settings. Something else may have failed during the ripping process (like failure to remove DRM). Please supply an activity log of the encode so that we can verify this.

[dancingcrab]

How do I find an activity log...? Thanks for the quick response!

[jamiemlaw]

http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/ActivityLogWin

[dancingcrab]

Um, it's 94000 characters too long. What should I cut out?

[Bling2Ming]

Um, it's 94000 characters too long. What should I cut out?

Cut nothing out, post the entire log on a pastebin site, such as pastebin.com and include the url in your next post in this thread.

[dancingcrab]

pastebin.com: '413 Request Entity Too Large'

How do people do this? I just tried two other sites, similar results. I'm doomed!!

[JohnAStebbins]

It sounds like there are a lot of errors in the log. If you see a lot of repeated errors, you can clip out duplicates and just leave a note that you clipped something.

[dancingcrab]

Would this work?

http://cid-1f81c059f913ed84.office.live ... %20log.txt

[JohnAStebbins]

Would this work?

http://cid-1f81c059f913ed84.office.live ... %20log.txt

Yup. So what are you using to decrypt the video? HandBrake doesn't do decryption by itself and relies on external entities to do this. On windows there are several options. This post goes into detail http://forum.handbrake.fr/viewtopic.php ... 814#p89814. And the windows guide on our wiki also covers it http://trac.handbrake.fr/wiki/WindowsGuiGuide

[dancingcrab]

Now, ain't that pretty! That's the best rip I've seen - nicely done, HandBrake! Thanks, John, I used the 'libdvdcss.dll' method as mentioned in the thread you linked. Works a treat. I also tried using the 'High Profile' setting instead of the 'Apple Universal' one. Not sure if it makes any difference.

Okay, one last thing. Both the two presets I used had very quite audio. When I used other, inferior, software (like Magic DVD Ripper), I set the audio to be like the original. The visuals were far worse, but the audio was much louder. Why is it so quiet with HandBrake? The Cowboy Bebop DVDs come with 5.1, and I think HB is flattening it to 2.0 - could this be causing the problem?

Thanks again!!

[Bling2Ming]

I also tried using the 'High Profile' setting instead of the 'Apple Universal' one. Not sure if it makes any difference.

This is just conjecture as I don't own the device, but looking at the specifications on this page http://www.zune.net/en-us/products/zune ... hspecs.htm (specifically the H264 video support bit), you may find that the zune software transcodes the High Profile preset file, when syncing it to the zune. As the Apple Universal preset is baseline profile that file should sync without transcoding. This is just conjecture as I don't own the device.

Both the two presets I used had very quite audio

You could try playing with the DRC (Dynamic Range Control) slider on the audio tab. As long as the source audio is DolbyDigital (AC3) It has a subtle effect when encoding from 5.1 channels to 2. I usually have it set to around 2.0 but feel free to experiment.

[dancingcrab]

Looking at the specifications on this page http://www.zune.net/en-us/products/zune ... hspecs.htm (specifically the H264 video support bit), you may find that the zune software transcodes the High Profile preset file, when syncing it to the zune. As the Apple Universal preset is baseline profile it should sync without transcoding.

Blargh, I don't understand what that means. Basically you think I'd be better off using Apple Universal?

[Bling2Ming]

Blargh, I don't understand what that means. Basically you think I'd be better off using Apple Universal?

Yes, that's what I meant, as any transcoding will result in a drop in quality.

[dancingcrab]

Okay, thanks!