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.

You might be unhappy with the the video quality of the DVD rips you’re getting from Handbrake. Don’t fret.  Almost all the devices you are ripping files for can handle higher bitrates.

How to:

Lets take for example, the Apple TV.  When you currently rip a DVD using the built in preset for Apple TV, you’ll notice that the standard average bitrate (kbps) is set to 2,000.  What does this mean?  It means the compression rating is set to allow only 2,000 kbps of data throughput per second.  If you up that rate, there is more data, less compression, hence more quality in the image.  The Apple TV can actually handle around 5,000 kpbs, but begins to lock up with any more.  In most of my DVD rips for the Apple TV, I usually change the setting to around 4,500 kbps.  This is more than twice the quality of the default setting, and provides an image that looks almost indistinguishable from the original DVD.

DVD’s are typically encoded at around 8,000 kbps bitrate.  Despite the fact that my Apple TV setting is not quite half that, the quality appears to be just as good.  This is due to the type of compression used in the Apple TV.  Compression algorithms have become extremely efficient compared to the days of DVD. DVD’s are encoded with MPEG2 compression, and the Apple TV files are encoded with .h264, which is an extremely efficient high quality compression algorithm.  As a result you can compress more data into a smaller bitrate.

The second setting we can look at changing would be the 2-pass encoding section.  You will want to check mark this setting. Since a VBR (variable bit rate) encoder will vary the bitrate depending on the complexity of the images, it tends to make mistakes from time to time. Handbrake can do two passes to correct for the compression mistakes. The encoder will make a first pass at encoding the video, then start from the top and do it again. When finished, the encoder analyzes the results before finalizing. By using 2 passes and analysis, the encoder is less likely to make a mistake in choosing the appropriate bit rates.

Due to the fact that you are now essentially encoding the disk twice, it will obviously take twice as long, and due to the higher bit rate, more space is required on your hard drive. But you can be assured that high motion scenes in your DVD’s don’t lose any quality due to abrupt motion artifacts.

Take one afternoon, and experiment with the bitrate and your end device.  You might find that your PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, or other device can also handle a lot more data than the default settings lead you to believe.

One of the most versitle, free tools available on OSX for encoding DVDs into video files is Handbrake, an open-source and free software package.  It is an extraordinarily handy piece of software and is easy to use, to boot.

After downloading and installing via the traditional means, you are presented with a dialog box asking you to point Handbrake towards its input.  This can be either a DVD in your drive, an image file of a DVD, or a Video_TS directory of a pre-ripped DVD sitting on your hard drive.  Once selected, the program will analyze the data to figure out movie length and sound options, then pop up with the main encoding window.  While seemingly complex at first, this window is the key to your future encoding successes and has a handy set of Presets that are available under a button at the top right of the screen.  These Presets can take away a lot of the pain of figuring out what the various controls do by balancing quality and size, via preselected options designed to fit your targeted viewing device.

We here at My Media Delivered have had pretty good success in mating Xbox 360s with Macs (via 360 Connect), so if that is your device set as well, please by all means shoot for the Xbox 360 Preset.  This gives you decent video quality at about 650 megabytes per hour of content.  Other Presets will give varying degrees of quality at big and smaller filesizes (for instance, the iPod Preset will give you drastically smaller filesizes but at reduced quality level… however, don’t worry, on an iPod screen, videos encoded with this preset look great due to their small size, hence, diminishing the flaws).

Handbrake can encode MPEG4 videos (using FFMPEG or Xvid encoding) and H.264 video.  It can also passthrough Dolby Digital (AC3) soundtracks or downconvert to stereo.  Don’t worry if you don’t know what these terms mean… the presets will take good care of you. Anyone willing to tinker with the settings will find they can enhance the quality of their DVD rips by enabling 2 pass encoding, or by increasing the bit rate (the rate of compression).

Currently Handbrake is the best way to get your DVD media turned into those 1′s and 0′s that your hard drive reads. Give it a shot.

Handbrake supports the following devices with presets:

• Apple TV
• iPhone/iPod Touch
• iPod
• PlayStation 3
• PSP
• Xbox 360