So, for some time now I have been using my own custom HandBrake settings when encoding for the AppleTV. I have two eSata modded AppleTV’s and by and large these HandBrake settings have been stellar. They have also been used by other HandBrake testers and fervent users on stock AppleTv’s with much success. So I figured I would post them here now.

Having said that though, I suggest these settings be used with one of the snapshots posted on the HandBrake forums. HandBrake 0.9.3 is almost a year old and the current HandBrake snapshots produce much smaller files with better quality than the older 0.9.3 public release.

1. To start, pick the Apple > AppleTV preset in HandBrake which is built in.

2. Instead of the built in presets constant quality of RF 20, slide the slider up so you get RF 19.25 ( RF goes lower as your quality gets higher, much like in golf ). One word of warning: constant quality is determined based on the source file. 19.25 is proven for SD DVD. Now if you are doing HD sources like say a 720P or 1080p mkv or whatever, then try more like RF 23 or so as 19.25 on HD sources will give you a pretty high bitrate depending on the source file.

3. Click on the Advanced panel and paste this string into the ” Advanced Options String ” textbox at the bottom (note the crappy code box.. gotta work on it but functions just fine):

Here’s our original post on optimizing HandBrake settings for the best quality.

According to Data Robotics, the Drobo enables ‘No Headache Dual Disk Redundancy’:

Enable the Dual Disk Redundancy option to protect against the simultaneous failure of up to two hard disks. It’s all done with a single click, without ever losing access to your data. Running out of space? You can even switch back to single disk redundancy with a click. For instance, unlike moving between RAID 5 and RAID 6, there’s no need to reformat or migrate data off of the array, potentially saving you hours or days.

The Tivo update is only coming for the Tivo HD and Tivo Series 3 units, and none of the updates will include any extra fees associated with them. No real word yet on what the quality of these streaming services will be like, however HD content is expected to be similar to the Apple TV (around 4-5 MBps compression)

From Engadget HD:

D-Link’s $230 DSM-330 media streamer has always been among the most flexible set-top boxes out there, and it’s just gotten even better, with the latest DivX Connected server software bringing Flash video support to the device. It’s not quite browse-and-play — every site requires a specific plug-in — but Hulu, College Humor, YouTube, ABC News, and Vimeo are already working, and there are more on the way. That’s pretty tempting for two bills, but we’ll stick to rocking PlayOn with our 360 and PS3.

Unfortunately, as of this writing, I can’t seem to get the new HDTV shows to stream to my Apple TV.  There are ongoing discussions in the support forum on Apple’s website.  I’m sure they will fix this soon.

Other new features of iTunes are the Genius Sidebar, where you can get recommendations to new music based on your tastes, not unlike Pandora without the streaming. Also included is enhanced accessibility, the grid view, and a new visualizer that’s really cool.

From Engadget:

While rumors have been flowing hot and heavy about VUDU’s possible demise, it seems the company has other plans in mind. We’ve received word that select beta team members are now being asked to try out new downloads that are intended to rival Blu-ray quality. Dubbed HDX movies, these ultra-high-def flicks are currently being watched by folks willing to wait a number of hours (two to three) for a film to start, but there’s no guarantee that we’ll ever see this hit the masses. Sure, we totally dig the idea of BD-quality content on-demand, but we could almost scoot down to Blockbuster, rent a bona fide Blu-ray Disc, watch, and return it before a so-called HDX title even begins.

In March we took a look at the original Popcorn Hour A-100 and it quickly became our in-house media playback device of choice. Sure, it wasn’t perfect – but its near flawless display of 1080p content, along with its incredible ability to playback almost every file we threw at it, made us sit up and take notice.

Now, less than five months later, Syabas has announced two new Popcorn Hour models which we have been lucky enough to get our digital hands on.