Movie Converting - Handbrake - Optimal Ipad

[iserian]

Looks like not a lot of MOVIE converting/putting on IPAD stuff going on.

I can tell you that using handbrake the settings for Apple TV are not ideal for the Ipad. I converted Chance of Meatballs using the default Apple TV settings and you get a super wide screen (narrow slit) 1+GB file.

The movies I converted (UP etc...) using PSP Movie creator with 640X480 are closer to what I'm looking for but it does not have a 1024X768 setting.

I'd still like to be able to set Handbrake to 1024X768 --- anyone know how to do this?

Is anyone experimenting to see what the ideal settings/conversions are to get the max quality at the lowest bit/rate/file size for the ipad?

 

[brobar]

I haven't played around with it yet... been using Air Video to stream to my iPad. But I did see on the handbrake forums that they are about to update it with an iPad optimized setting. Hopefully they'll do it soon.

 

[iserian]

Nice,

I just saw that as well but am not patient enough to wait

640X480 is pretty good - and perhaps close to as good as the quality will get on the Ipad. So far as expected all of the Pixar movies look quite good.

I haven't played around with it yet... been using Air Video to stream to my iPad. But I did see on the handbrake forums that they are about to update it with an iPad optimized setting. Hopefully they'll do it soon.

 

[wot_fan]

Nice,

I just saw that as well but am not patient enough to wait

640X480 is pretty good - and perhaps close to as good as the quality will get on the Ipad. So far as expected all of the Pixar movies look quite good.

There are basically 2 things that will determine the quality and the size of your re-encoded file. The first is the resolution. The second is the encoding bitrate.

The resolution is just the size of each frame (the number of pixels). What is import here is that your keep the same height to width ratio (called the aspect ratio) as the original media. In your first post you mention that the AppleTV preset gave you a narrow slit of video. That is because the original movie was that way.

When you force a change in the aspect ratio (like you suggest when you encode everything to 640x480). One of two things must happen to a wide screen video to fit in 640x480. Either the picture gets stretched or squashed to fit or parts of the video are cropped. Neither is a good thing. Not to mention that 640x480 is much smaller than the iPad's 1024x768 display can handle.

The encoding bitrate is where you want to make changes to find the optimum balance between size and quality. The Quality section is where you make changes in bitrate.

In short what I suggest you do, is start with the AppleTV preset as a base. Adjust the Target Size (how big you want your re-encode file to be) or the Average bitrate until you find a setting that will give you the quality you want at a reasonable size.

FYI, from my little bit of experimenting with the iPad, the default AppleTV setting is pretty good for high def videos.

 

[JohnnyApple]

As wot_fan pointed out, when you convert you really have 2 decisions to make.

1. Will you crop the video so that you fill the screen on the iPad?

2. Will you stretch or skew the video so that you get it as close as possible but without losing any of the video via cropping.

 

[TheBaron]

I converted Astro Boy using the default Apple TV setting in Handbrake and was very pleased with the results. Plus, it came out at a very reasonable 900MB.

 

[JohnnyApple]

The Apple TV is close, I believe it sets the resolution to 960 width, where as the iPad is 1024 -- so pretty close. But your talking about wasting 64 or so pixel width on black bars on the sides.

 

[MobiusStrip]

But your talking about wasting 64 or so pixel width on black bars on the sides.

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