This is a survey to see how well current tablets can play 720p and 1080p H.264 movies. Attached below are 6 sample clips from Avatar, each is of the same scene, encoded in H.264 high/main/baseline profile and 720p/1080p resolution.
Please try all clips, then answer the questions below. If you have multiple tablets (eg iPad), please use a different reply for each tablet.
I've selected Avatar since it is full-frame and requires more bits than a normal wide-screen movie. This particular sequence is very high action, and serves as a worst-case test. (For playback, please minimize system load by closing down other running apps.)
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
http://mediafire.com/?15ec78k8s57db1z 1280 high MP4
http://mediafire.com/?pylvj2fa9kzynh2 1280 main MP4
http://mediafire.com/?9uk4z06ig651x3u 1280 baseline MP4
http://mediafire.com/?ge1nwgd5003s3ak 1920 high MP4
http://mediafire.com/?8aarftw6r499dga 1920 main MP4
http://mediafire.com/?7yqwhma8yhrhusq 1920 baseline MP4
Source: BRD master
Video encoder: x264cli
--crf 23 --tune film --preset veryfast --profile [high|main|baseline]
Audio encoder: neroaacenc
-q 0.4
Muxer: MP4Box
-add [video_track] -add [audio_track] -new [muxed_clip]
Please answer these questions:
1. Your tablet name & model
2. Firmware version (if custom ROM, include ROM name)
3. Media player name & version
4. Playback quality (smoothness, AV sync) for each clip
-->1. Your tablet name & model
2. Android version
3. Media player name & version
4. Playback quality (smoothness, AV sync) for each clip
1. Xoom Wifi (US)
2. Stock non-rooted 3.1
3. Moboplayer 1.2.145 AND Stock player (no difference in quality for provided clips)
4. AV sync for all clips : 10/10. I've never had AV sync issues as long as i've used supported codecs. Smoothness for baseline: 10/10. For the other two (main and high), I have to say 8/10. I played both of them three times, and one play-through for each was perfect. However, the rolling beast starting at 0:42 produced a hitch or two on both other runs. I want to say that a couple things looked better on high profile, like whoever's face that is leading up to :42 seems clearer when they're flying by in high profile than in baseline, but I don't know if I'm just kidding myself.
Thanks for these test clips! Great idea.
1. Asus Transformer
2. Android 3.0
3. VitalPlayer 1.2.6, MoboPlayer 1.2, Asus Stock player
4. Main with all 3 players - Choppy for the most part. Some scenes play smooth but lasts no longer than 3 seconds. A/V in sync through whole clip though.
High with all 3 players - Choppy all the way through. A/V in sync as well.
Baseline - Plays perfectly with all 3 players.
Surprised by the results here. Why is high profile playing perfect for me now? I have never been able to do that before.
Please answer these questions:
1. Your tablet name & model
[Keitht] Motorola Xoom 3G (Verizon) stock
2. Android version
[Keitht] 3.1
3. Media player name & version
[Keitht] Stock Video Player and MoboPlayer 1.2.145_universal
4. Playback quality (smoothness, AV sync) for each clip
[Keitht] Main:
Stock Player: Plays perfect AV in sync
MoboPlayer: Same as stock player.
[Keitht] High:
Stock Player: Plays perfect, AV in sync.
MoboPlayer: Same as stock player
[Keitht] Baseline:
Stock Player: Plays perfect, AV in sync.
MoboPlayer: Same as stock player
EDIT: After seeing that the high profile clip played flawlessly, I tried one of my 720p high profile movies again (haven't tried since 3.1 Honeycomb update) and still have stutter and no sound. Don't understand this. Does mp4 high profile work and mkv does not?
keitht said:
EDIT: After seeing that the high profile clip played flawlessly, I tried one of my 720p high profile movies again (haven't tried since 3.1 Honeycomb update) and still have stutter and no sound. Don't understand this. Does mp4 high profile work and mkv does not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think hardware acceleration in 3.1 supports MKV.
@vidiera
>I want to say that a couple things looked better on high profile, like whoever's face that is leading up to :42 seems clearer when they're flying by in high profile than in baseline
The encodes use constant quality (CRF 21), so should be the same regardless of profile or speed. You can double-check by playing the clips on your PC with a player capable of frame-advance.
@keitht
Try the MKV clip below and see how well it fares. It's the same high profile MP4 clip above, but muxed to MKV (using MKVToolnix 4.5).
http://sendspace.com/file/ntr26i
Wish you put this on a Dropbox, the hosting site is so absurdly slow...
mediafire or hotfile are good options.
I don't use Dropbox. If you know of a host site that doesn't require a login or software install, let me know. Alternatively, if someone is willing to host the file, send me a link and I'll add to the OP.
Mediafire has a 200MB limit. Not sure if it allows concurrent DL's.
Hotfile is about the same speed as FileServe/Filesonic/Sendspace. It varies depending on the time of day.
e.mote said:
I don't use Dropbox. If you know of a host site that doesn't require a login or software install, let me know. Alternatively, if someone is willing to host the file, send me a link and I'll add to the OP.
Mediafire has a 200MB limit. Not sure if it allows concurrent DL's.
Hotfile is about the same speed as FileServe/Filesonic/Sendspace. It varies depending on the time of day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it does.
I'm going to put this on Dropbox and provide a link when it's done downloading, this is so absurdly slow, I wouldn't be surprised if most people just gave up downloading instead of waiting it out.
K, testing this now. Xoom running 3.1, Tiamat 1.6ghz kernel with gpu overclocked to 400. The High Profile playback is flawless. I'm only running the CPU at 1ghz right now with the conservative governor, so I'm guessing it's the 400mhz gpu making this work right. Honestly, there is no performance difference between any of the 3 clips.
Still uploading to Dropbox, when it's done I'll post the link.
edit: looks like, despite the cpu speed being set to 1ghz, SetCPU is still showing some bump up from 1ghz to 1.6 with time in state...
http://db.tt/cUsWfuC
Dropbox link
Thanks for the help, and for another's suggestion to use Mediafire. I've uploaded the 720p and am uploading the 1080p clips (also in baseline/main/high) to there. Concurrent DL's are allowed. Those who've tested the 720p, please also test with the 1080p clips once they're available. These were all made from the same BRD master clip.
2 Questions
1. Are high profile MP4's working properly on honeycomb 3.1 ?.
2. Is converting mkv to mp4 a quicker process than encoding from high profile to base profile ?.
1. Motorola xoom wifi
2. Android 3.1 rooted
3. Stock player
4.
720p playback
Stock player
Baseline - flawless
Main and high - a little hiccup when the beast gets shot in the eye and slides in the mud, but other than that, plays great.
1080p playback
Stock player
High - "File cannot be played."
Main - "File cannot be played."
Baseline - Plays back fine.
Mobo player (soft decode only)
High - massive stuttering
Main - massive stuttering
1. Your tablet name & model - WiFi Xoom (US)
2. Firmware version - HC 3.1, BRD's 1.5Ghz GPU Overclock kernel
3. Media player name & version - Stock & Moboplayer
4. Playback quality (smoothness, AV sync) for each clip
1280 Base - Played perfectly
1280 Main - Had 2 hickups, one just before start and one just before end
1280 High - Played perfectly
1920 High -Stock Player - I get error "Sorry, this video cannot be played"
1920 High - Moboplayer - Plays very choppy with soft decoding, will not play with hardware decode
1920 Main -Stock Player - I get error "Sorry, this video cannot be played"
1920 Main - Moboplayer - Plays very slow/choppy & audio cust out with soft decoding, will not play with hardware decode
1920 Base -Stock Player -Played perfectly
1920 Base - Moboplayer - Played perfectly - did not need software encode
1. WiFi Xoom (US)
2. HC 3.1
3. Stock Media Player
720P
Base - Played perfectly - audio in sync
Main - Barely perceptible slowdown when first beast is shot with arrow and rolls over - audio in sync
High - Played perfectly - audio in sync
e.mote said:
1. Your tablet name & model
2. Firmware version (if custom ROM, include ROM name)
3. Media player name & version
4. Playback quality (smoothness, AV sync) for each clip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Motorola Xoom Verizon 3G
2. 3.1 Stock
3. Stock Media Player
4. Baseline - Very minimal hitching/stuttering during scenes where beasts flopped to ground. *Very*. Main - Same as baseline as far as I can tell. High - Same as basline and maine as far as I can tell. One note, to my untrained naked eye it "seems" as if High profile is grainy. The baseline and main profile images are more appealing to me. This could be complete hogwash and there might be 0 difference but it just seems grainy.
1. Motorola xoom wifi
2. Android 3.1 rooted
3. Stock player
4. 720p playback: High
a little hiccup when the beast gets shot in the eye and slides in the mud, but other than that, plays great.
1920 High - Stock player, this file cannot be played.
Sutters a lot in Mobo (Softdecoding)
Related
Anyone found the best settings for TCPMP or Coreplayer to play movies on the TMO HD2? I saw a thread for the regular LEO, should I use the same?
I can't get high-quality rips to play on TCPMP, just crashes, regardless of Directdraw or GDI. And the HTC media player won't recognize these files (via albums).
I suppose I just need use lower-quality rips, but that's extra work. Any tricks to get the HTC media player to play them?
After much testing/researching, I have finally found the best solution to encode video files to .MP4 for flawless playback on the HD2 using MediaCoder. I have tried many of the other methods and settings provided by others on this forum and many of them were good, but simply took too long or sometimes caused choppy playback on the HD2.
MediaCoder Settings:
Format: H.264
Mode: Average bitrate @ 1200Kbps
x264 Profile: Baseline
Audio encoder: FAAC
Audio Format: LC-AAC
Audio mode: Average bitrate @128Kbps
Container: MP4
Resize: 800x450
Aspect ratio: Set PAR 1:1
With these settings I have tested 12 different files ranging from 500MB-1.8GB in size(720p quality) and the largest took 34 minutes on my dual core CPU (intel i5). First tried playing the files with HTC Album player and CorePlayer and the results weren't very good and they included a lot of choppiness. After reading some others success with WMP, I decided to give it a shot and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it played the .MP4 files beautifully and without a single hiccup.
Some of you may already have solutions for encoding videos for playback on the HD2, but I have found these settings to be perfect for anyone who wants to encode HD .MKV files.
I can honestly say these settings will give you amazing quality and smooth playback, even in the most intense action scenes
+1
Sticky please!
godsafk said:
After much testing/researching, I have finally found the best solution to encode video files to .MP4 for flawless playback on the HD2 using MediaCoder. I have tried many of the other methods and settings provided by others on this forum and many of them were good, but simply took too long or sometimes caused choppy playback on the HD2.
MediaCoder Settings:
Format: H.264
Mode: Average bitrate @ 1200Kbps
x264 Profile: Baseline
Audio encoder: FAAC
Audio Format: LC-AAC
Audio mode: Average bitrate @128Kbps
Container: MP4
Resize: 800x450
Aspect ratio: Set PAR 1:1
With these settings I have tested 12 different files ranging from 500MB-1.8GB in size(720p quality) and the largest took 34 minutes on my dual core CPU (intel i5). First tried playing the files with HTC Album player and CorePlayer and the results weren't very good and they included a lot of choppiness. After reading some others success with WMP, I decided to give it a shot and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it played the .MP4 files beautifully and without a single hiccup.
Some of you may already have solutions for encoding videos for playback on the HD2, but I have found these settings to be perfect for anyone who wants to encode HD .MKV files.
I can honestly say these settings will give you amazing quality and smooth playback, even in the most intense action scenes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree on this one
HD Encoder is also pretty nice for ease of use, but don't know if the default settings are as good. It's basically just a front end for mencoder.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467112
godsafk said:
After much testing/researching, I have finally found the best solution to encode video files to .MP4 for flawless playback on the HD2 using MediaCoder. I have tried many of the other methods and settings provided by others on this forum and many of them were good, but simply took too long or sometimes caused choppy playback on the HD2.
MediaCoder Settings:
Format: H.264
Mode: Average bitrate @ 1200Kbps
x264 Profile: Baseline
Audio encoder: FAAC
Audio Format: LC-AAC
Audio mode: Average bitrate @128Kbps
Container: MP4
Resize: 800x450
Aspect ratio: Set PAR 1:1
With these settings I have tested 12 different files ranging from 500MB-1.8GB in size(720p quality) and the largest took 34 minutes on my dual core CPU (intel i5). First tried playing the files with HTC Album player and CorePlayer and the results weren't very good and they included a lot of choppiness. After reading some others success with WMP, I decided to give it a shot and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it played the .MP4 files beautifully and without a single hiccup.
Some of you may already have solutions for encoding videos for playback on the HD2, but I have found these settings to be perfect for anyone who wants to encode HD .MKV files.
I can honestly say these settings will give you amazing quality and smooth playback, even in the most intense action scenes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks, I guess I just have to reencode the files. what software do you prefer?
The settings I posted are for MediaCoder(Freeware). Great software, and its free
godsafk said:
After much testing/researching, I have finally found the best solution to encode video files to .MP4 for flawless playback on the HD2 using MediaCoder. I have tried many of the other methods and settings provided by others on this forum and many of them were good, but simply took too long or sometimes caused choppy playback on the HD2.
MediaCoder Settings:
Format: H.264
Mode: Average bitrate @ 1200Kbps
x264 Profile: Baseline
Audio encoder: FAAC
Audio Format: LC-AAC
Audio mode: Average bitrate @128Kbps
Container: MP4
Resize: 800x450
Aspect ratio: Set PAR 1:1
With these settings I have tested 12 different files ranging from 500MB-1.8GB in size(720p quality) and the largest took 34 minutes on my dual core CPU (intel i5). First tried playing the files with HTC Album player and CorePlayer and the results weren't very good and they included a lot of choppiness. After reading some others success with WMP, I decided to give it a shot and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it played the .MP4 files beautifully and without a single hiccup.
Some of you may already have solutions for encoding videos for playback on the HD2, but I have found these settings to be perfect for anyone who wants to encode HD .MKV files.
I can honestly say these settings will give you amazing quality and smooth playback, even in the most intense action scenes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 Sticky!
Works great thanks for the settings!
Thanks for the post, gonna try these and see
godsafk said:
After much testing/researching, I have finally found the best solution to encode video files to .MP4 for flawless playback on the HD2 using MediaCoder. I have tried many of the other methods and settings provided by others on this forum and many of them were good, but simply took too long or sometimes caused choppy playback on the HD2.
MediaCoder Settings:
Format: H.264
Mode: Average bitrate @ 1200Kbps
x264 Profile: Baseline
Audio encoder: FAAC
Audio Format: LC-AAC
Audio mode: Average bitrate @128Kbps
Container: MP4
Resize: 800x450
Aspect ratio: Set PAR 1:1
With these settings I have tested 12 different files ranging from 500MB-1.8GB in size(720p quality) and the largest took 34 minutes on my dual core CPU (intel i5). First tried playing the files with HTC Album player and CorePlayer and the results weren't very good and they included a lot of choppiness. After reading some others success with WMP, I decided to give it a shot and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it played the .MP4 files beautifully and without a single hiccup.
Some of you may already have solutions for encoding videos for playback on the HD2, but I have found these settings to be perfect for anyone who wants to encode HD .MKV files.
I can honestly say these settings will give you amazing quality and smooth playback, even in the most intense action scenes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried this last night and let it encode thru the night, the result was a playable movie on my computer but unplayable on my HD2. I'll try again tonight.
I dont know why to reencode ... CorePlayer plays almost everything straight from DVDRip w/o encoding. I agree that encoding into MP4 and having HTC Album play it with hardware acceleration may be better, but that requires encoding ... takes lots of time unless you have fast PC.
Personally I just play everything w/o encoding. Even over home WiFi it works ok. On my older HTC HD some files required reencoding.
good settings video 10/10 but audio is not good just 6/10
please change settiings for audio
to make it better and good
thank you
godsafk said:
After much testing/researching, I have finally found the best solution to encode video files to .MP4 for flawless playback on the HD2 using MediaCoder. I have tried many of the other methods and settings provided by others on this forum and many of them were good, but simply took too long or sometimes caused choppy playback on the HD2.
MediaCoder Settings:
Format: H.264
Mode: Average bitrate @ 1200Kbps
x264 Profile: Baseline
Audio encoder: FAAC
Audio Format: LC-AAC
Audio mode: Average bitrate @128Kbps
Container: MP4
Resize: 800x450
Aspect ratio: Set PAR 1:1
With these settings I have tested 12 different files ranging from 500MB-1.8GB in size(720p quality) and the largest took 34 minutes on my dual core CPU (intel i5). First tried playing the files with HTC Album player and CorePlayer and the results weren't very good and they included a lot of choppiness. After reading some others success with WMP, I decided to give it a shot and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it played the .MP4 files beautifully and without a single hiccup.
Some of you may already have solutions for encoding videos for playback on the HD2, but I have found these settings to be perfect for anyone who wants to encode HD .MKV files.
I can honestly say these settings will give you amazing quality and smooth playback, even in the most intense action scenes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agreed that using WMP is the best. I have tried and researched just about everything out there.
My suggestion is use http://www.imtoo.com/video-converter.html
With this setting
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
If you use that setting of bitrate @ 2000Kbps you will get really really clear picture (HD style) with flawless smooth as butter play back. I was worry at first about the high bitrate setting but the WMP play it without a hiccup.
Although the software is costly, it will be worth it if you want HD playback.
Oh, remember to convert from a 720p .mkv source to get best result. Don't try to convert DVD movies because the source has lower resolution.
good settings video 10/10 but audio is not good just 6/10
please change settiings for audio
to make it better and good
thank you
help me please
good settings video 10/10 but audio is not good just 6/10
please change settiings for audio
to make it better and good
thank you
Edit/Delete Message
godsafk said:
After much testing/researching, I have finally found the best solution to encode video files to .MP4 for flawless playback on the HD2 using MediaCoder. I have tried many of the other methods and settings provided by others on this forum and many of them were good, but simply took too long or sometimes caused choppy playback on the HD2.
MediaCoder Settings:
Format: H.264
Mode: Average bitrate @ 1200Kbps
x264 Profile: Baseline
Audio encoder: FAAC
Audio Format: LC-AAC
Audio mode: Average bitrate @128Kbps
Container: MP4
Resize: 800x450
Aspect ratio: Set PAR 1:1
With these settings I have tested 12 different files ranging from 500MB-1.8GB in size(720p quality) and the largest took 34 minutes on my dual core CPU (intel i5). First tried playing the files with HTC Album player and CorePlayer and the results weren't very good and they included a lot of choppiness. After reading some others success with WMP, I decided to give it a shot and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it played the .MP4 files beautifully and without a single hiccup.
Some of you may already have solutions for encoding videos for playback on the HD2, but I have found these settings to be perfect for anyone who wants to encode HD .MKV files.
I can honestly say these settings will give you amazing quality and smooth playback, even in the most intense action scenes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Team,
Thought I would throw this out here so people don't have to hunt it down.
Standard DVD:
The Samsung Galaxy S has a big, beautiful screen that just begs for some quality video to show off. But what is the best way for you to convert your favorite videos and transfer them to your Galaxy S? In this guide, we show you what software you need to convert videos for viewing on the Galaxy S, and we also show you how to get your newly converted videos onto your handset.
Requirements:
1. Installed copy of Handbrake software from here http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php
2. Video files and or DVD of your choice
3. Samsung Galaxy S with microUSB cable
Step I: Launch the Handbrake application on your computer and select the video source
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
1. Launch Handbrake (figure 1)
2. In the menu on the right-hand side, select the iPod Legacy preset (figure 1)
3. Select your video source by clicking on the Source dropdown menu (we used a DVD for our testing purposes)
4. Select the destination and name for the file once it has been converted (both the .mp4 and .m4v extension work for the Galaxy S)
5. Confirm that the container is set to MP4 File and that Large file size, Web optimized, and iPod 5G support are unchecked
Step II: Adjust Handbrake's Video Settings
Picture Tab:
1. Uncheck Keep Aspect Ratio
2. Set the Galaxy Sd Width and Height (the Galaxy S supports a maximum of 800 x 480 pixels)Video Tab:
(click to enlarge)
1. Set Handbrake's encoding settings by clicking on the Video tab (figure 2)
2. Confirm the Video Codec is set as H.264 (x264)
3. Framerate (FPS) should be set to Same as source
4. Under Quality, select the Avg Bitrate (kbps) and change it to 1500
Step III: Adjust audio settings
(click to enlarge)
1. Set Handbrake's audio settings by clicking on the Audio tab (figure 3)
2. Confirm the Audio Codec is AAC (faac)
3. Mixdown should be set to Stereo.
4. Change the Samplerate to 48
5. Change the Bitrate to 160
Step IV: Save as a preset for future use
1. Click on the Presets menu and select New Preset
2. Enter Galaxy S in the dialog box and click Add
3. "Galaxy S" will now be saved as a preset and listed on the right hand side in Handbrake to be used in the futureStep V: Convert the video and copy to your Galaxy S
1. Click on the Start button in Handbrake
2. A command line/DOS window will open and start to process the video conversion
3. Once the conversion is done, mount your Galaxy S on to your computer via USB (figure 4)
4. Once mounted, create a folder named Video in the root folder on the Galaxy S
5. Copy converted file into the Video folder
That's it! The converted video can now be played on your Galaxy S using the Gallery app. It should look fantastic on the Galaxy S's screen as long as the original source was of good quality.
A few things to keep in mind when converting video:
1. The Galaxy S does not like video file sizes over 2GB (the settings in Step II should help insure that the file size is kept under 2GB)
2. Your converted video will only be as good as the source video
3. If your source is over 800 x 480, you must be sure to set the width and height to a maximum of 800 x 480 as noted in Step II
Blu-Ray:
Coming Soon:
Thanks OP. Great instructions....
I just have to say, you don't need to limit the dimensions to 800x480, the phone will play 1280x720 (720p) videos just fine.
raduque said:
I just have to say, you don't need to limit the dimensions to 800x480, the phone will play 1280x720 (720p) videos just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm changing my stance. This post is not to convert to HD. It will depend on your source your using. You can't just take a DVD and use Handbreak to convert video to 720p your source will have to support that. That will be another topic.
TGA_Gunnman said:
Good point, I will try that out and see how it performs. Let me know if anyone tries it before me and i'll update the resolution setting in the post.
If anyone wants to try 5.1 audio in their settings let us know your results.
I want to get video and audio going as good as it can get.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, in keeping balance between (1) quality and (2) file size, what is the benefit of coding in 720p when the max screen res is lower? For TV out? And if that's the case, can the tv out cable even handle above 480p? I definitely want to have the best quality possible, but I don't want to have needlessly large files taking up space, bc ultimately I'd like to have a decent size library of media.
Input would be appreciated. I'm relatively inexperienced in the ways of the videophile.
EDIT: I guess maybe 720p would work over DLNA? That might be worth it if pushing to xbox 360 works as people have claimed. Can't wait to get mine on Wed and try!
TGA_Gunnman said:
Good point, I will try that out and see how it performs. Let me know if anyone tries it before me and i'll update the resolution setting in the post.
If anyone wants to try 5.1 audio in their settings let us know your results.
I want to get video and audio going as good as it can get.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Under the video tab, I Uncheck keep aspect ratio, but I can't set it higher than the original aspect ratio of the file. So it won't let me set it to 800X480. Any ideas?
edykes1 said:
Under the video tab, I Uncheck keep aspect ratio, but I can't set it higher than the original aspect ratio of the file. So it won't let me set it to 800X480. Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm changing my post to the original. Let stay at native screen res and sound for this howto.
You can experiment on 5.1 and 720p if you want.
If you use 720p source you can choose classic ipod and crank your settings to create great looking HD videos that run good on the Galaxy S
Gunnman from Galaxy S
awesome stuff, thanks!
israel941 said:
So, in keeping balance between (1) quality and (2) file size, what is the benefit of coding in 720p when the max screen res is lower? For TV out? And if that's the case, can the tv out cable even handle above 480p? I definitely want to have the best quality possible, but I don't want to have needlessly large files taking up space, bc ultimately I'd like to have a decent size library of media.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even on a lower resolution screen, a higher-resolution video file is going to look better. Actually, I take that back, it's more about the bit rate than the resolution. A 1280x720 video encoded with a low bit rate isn't going to look as good as a high bit-rate 800x480 video.
Encoding at 720p generally uses higher bit rates anyway, around 3-5Mb/s for 720P and 10-13Mb/s for 1080p using H/X.264 to encode. Some MPEG streams can be as high as 30+Mb/s! It looks like the OP is encoding about half-HD bitrates (1.5Mb/s) - that outta be fine on the Vibrant's screen, though personally, I'd encode to 2-2.5Mb/s.
raduque said:
Even on a lower resolution screen, a higher-resolution video file is going to look better. Actually, I take that back, it's more about the bit rate than the resolution. A 1280x720 video encoded with a low bit rate isn't going to look as good as a high bit-rate 800x480 video.
Encoding at 720p generally uses higher bit rates anyway, around 3-5Mb/s for 720P and 10-13Mb/s for 1080p using H/X.264 to encode. Some MPEG streams can be as high as 30+Mb/s! It looks like the OP is encoding about half-HD bitrates (1.5Mb/s) - that outta be fine on the Vibrant's screen, though personally, I'd encode to 2-2.5Mb/s.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good info. i'm gonna play around with a few bit rates and resolutions then and see what the difference is in file size and how much difference my eye can pick up and go from there. getting my vibrant tomorrow so i'll probably post back with some results in a few days.
Tagging this .
So you can convert a movie you have on DVD to play on the phone?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
vinnydakid said:
So you can convert a movie you have on DVD to play on the phone?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
..................................yup
It seems that most of my DVDs are protected and my files come out all pixelated.
Does anyone know a good way around this?
For some reason when I encode full length movies this method does not work.
I've converted multiple music videos using these settings, and they look AMAZING.
However, when I try to encode a movie from a 720p source the movie only shows a black screen with no sound on my Vibrant. The counter counts, the slider moves, but there is no picture or audio...
I have been encoding my files into an MKV container but used the target size to be under 2 gigs...The file does not play. Is the bit rate limit on the vibrant 1.5 mbps? What is the best bit rate to keep for a dvd conversion that will play on the Vibrant? I wouldn't mind doing this for playback on the PS3 as well. BTW I prefer mkv over mp4 container for obvious reasons.
PS
The method works but Don't like Mp4 container as it doesn't show the movie length on the file and it will not save the spot where I last viewed after exiting...
Any advised welcomed.
I've followed these instructions and yet when I convert a BR video the audio gets distorted (kind of a slow sounding distortion), the video shows up perfectly however. If I just put the file straight from my comp to the phone i still get great video but no sound. Anyone have any advice?
xavice said:
I've followed these instructions and yet when I convert a BR video the audio gets distorted (kind of a slow sounding distortion), the video shows up perfectly however. If I just put the file straight from my comp to the phone i still get great video but no sound. Anyone have any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You need to rip the BR first to a file. Then convert it to use smaller space. I havn't used handbreak to rip BR just AnyDVD. This HOWTO is for standard DVD. I will work on a BR post later.
TGA_Gunnman said:
You need to rip the BR first to a file. Then convert it to use smaller space. I havn't used handbreak to rip BR just AnyDVD. This HOWTO is for standard DVD. I will work on a BR post later.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a BR rip. And that might best explain why I can add any of my DVD rips with no problem without having to convert but any BR rips I have problems.
Team,
Thought I would throw this out here so people don't have to hunt it down.
The Samsung Galaxy S has a big, beautiful screen that just begs for some quality video to show off. But what is the best way for you to convert your favorite videos and transfer them to your Galaxy S? In this guide, we show you what software you need to convert videos for viewing on the Galaxy S, and we also show you how to get your newly converted videos onto your handset.
Requirements:
1. Installed copy of Handbrake software from here http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php
2. Video files and or DVD of your choice
3. Samsung Galaxy S with microUSB cable
Step I: Launch the Handbrake application on your computer and select the video source
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
1. Launch Handbrake (figure 1)
2. In the menu on the right-hand side, select the iPod Legacy preset (figure 1)
3. Select your video source by clicking on the Source dropdown menu (we used a DVD for our testing purposes)
4. Select the destination and name for the file once it has been converted (both the .mp4 and .m4v extension work for the Galaxy S)
5. Confirm that the container is set to MP4 File and that Large file size, Web optimized, and iPod 5G support are unchecked
Step II: Adjust Handbrake's Video Settings
Picture Tab:
1. Uncheck Keep Aspect Ratio
2. Set the Galaxy Sd Width and Height (the Galaxy S supports a maximum of 800 x 480 pixels)Video Tab:
1. Set Handbrake's encoding settings by clicking on the Video tab (figure 2)
2. Confirm the Video Codec is set as H.264 (x264)
3. Framerate (FPS) should be set to Same as source
4. Under Quality, select the Avg Bitrate (kbps) and change it to 1500
Step III: Adjust audio settings
1. Set Handbrake's audio settings by clicking on the Audio tab (figure 3)
2. Confirm the Audio Codec is AAC (faac)
3. Mixdown should be set to Stereo.
4. Change the Samplerate to 48
5. Change the Bitrate to 160
Step IV: Save as a preset for future use
1. Click on the Presets menu and select New Preset
2. Enter Galaxy S in the dialog box and click Add
3. "Galaxy S" will now be saved as a preset and listed on the right hand side in Handbrake to be used in the futureStep V: Convert the video and copy to your Galaxy S
1. Click on the Start button in Handbrake
2. A command line/DOS window will open and start to process the video conversion
3. Once the conversion is done, mount your Galaxy S on to your computer via USB (figure 4)
4. Once mounted, create a folder named Video in the root folder on the Galaxy S
5. Copy converted file into the Video folder
That's it! The converted video can now be played on your Galaxy S using the Gallery app. It should look fantastic on the Galaxy S's screen as long as the original source was of good quality.
A few things to keep in mind when converting video:
1. The Galaxy S does not like video file sizes over 2GB (the settings in Step II should help insure that the file size is kept under 2GB)
2. Your converted video will only be as good as the source video
3. If your source is over 800 x 480, you must be sure to set the width and height to a maximum of 800 x 480 as noted in Step II
This program crashed whenever i try to convert a vob file that is over 1gb in size. Smaller vob files convert just fine.
Great guide TGA_Gunnman thanks!
But since Galaxy S supports Matroska files, why don't some of them work on the phone? Example episodes of the Simpsons and TopGear work just fine if I throw them to my fone in 720p format. But Futurama, Band of Brothers and such do not. Even if I convert the Furutama episodes to the native resolution, BUT keep the mkv-format: still they don’t work. But they work in .mp4-format ofcourse, but this conversion method takes a a lot of processin power and a LOT of time.
jokuvuan said:
Great guide TGA_Gunnman thanks!
But since Galaxy S supports Matroska files, why don't some of them work on the phone? Example episodes of the Simpsons and TopGear work just fine if I throw them to my fone in 720p format. But Futurama, Band of Brothers and such do not. Even if I convert the Furutama episodes to the native resolution, BUT keep the mkv-format: still they don’t work. But they work in .mp4-format ofcourse, but this conversion method takes a a lot of processin power and a LOT of time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct me if I'm wrong but are not MKV files just containers for audio/video/subs?
So you can have in a MKV an AVI+MP3, or MP4+AAC and so on...
TGA_Gunnman said:
Team,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but it did not work. I actually tried to convert a 2.6 GB mp4 file using handbrake following a guide by someone in the forum to convert videos to play in the SGS. It produced a 2.1 GB mp4 but SGS will not play it just skips over to the next video file.
I even tried to convert the video using Kies but the video quality is so crap, can't believe how samsung can provide such a software where it converts all movie frames not above 300 pixels whereas SGS is having 800!!?
Worked for me, ripped my Avatar DVD into a 2.5GB file with Handbrake and it plays perfectly.
Arkymedes said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but are not MKV files just containers for audio/video/subs?
So you can have in a MKV an AVI+MP3, or MP4+AAC and so on...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my understanding as well.
Some mkv files play on my PS3, some do not; just depends on the underlying codecs used. Same thing for the Galaxy S.
?????????? convert???????? why???????
Guys,
One of the main points of having an SGS is that you DONT HAVE TO CONVERT "videos".
EDIT: I see you are referring to DVD's!!
aah, ok
DVD is different from "videos", DVD is just one kind of way to deliver videos.
Of my +1200 divx, xvid, wmv, mkv, mp4 videos, VERY few have been unable to play, I have not even considered the hassle of a conversion software, this isnt an iphone after all ;-) Even some 720p HD videos play with no conversion with my SGS... awesome phone.
Mark
I think it is an issue more with the audio than the video for why some mkvs don't play. There is a program, can't remember the name ATM, that is used I icon vert mkvs into xbox compatible mp4s. Ot takes about ten or twenty minutes, I think it only modifies the audio but does nto transcode the video.
drizek said:
I think it is an issue more with the audio than the video for why some mkvs don't play. There is a program, can't remember the name ATM, that is used I icon vert mkvs into xbox compatible mp4s. Ot takes about ten or twenty minutes, I think it only modifies the audio but does nto transcode the video.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah I used Popcorn mkv converter http://www.videohelp.com/tools/PopCorn_MKV_AudioConverter, it was so simple, I don't have to do extract audio - reencode - repatch manually all was taken care of the software like a breeze, great work by the developer and he is worth to be appreciated with some gift as he saved me now. The fix was so easy it just took some 5 + mins for a movie and around less than a minute for my song video. Now it plays in my SGS. Remember it only supports mkv files. Audio codec that was not supported by SGS was VORBIS in those files.
My only problem is to reencode my mp4 avatar which is great quality but audio missing in SGS, anyone suggest how I can do this easily like the above.
Hey guys
this program works great and all but I noticed some videos show up in the mediaplayer with length of 0:00? They play fine and in the actual video the correct length shows up, but when browsing through the media player library the length shows up as 0:00.
anyone know how to fix this? For some vids I don't have thsi problem, but for a lot I do.
Hi guys,please help me out with this,it's driving me crazy.
I did everything on this howto, I converted some avi files to mp4 but my SGS doesn't play it at all,I keep getting the message "I can't open this file" or "file not supported"
players used: galaxy s video player,Vplayer,Meridian, same thing every time.
suggestions?
Thanks
Just buy an external memory card
You dont have to convert nothing it almost plays everything. Converting is time and energy lost and you sure in theory loose video quality..
The only problem galaxy have is to downmix 5.1 channel movies to stereo, but you can do that with tools that just change the audio file without touching video, like yamb and audio transcoder.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Thanks for the quick reply.
I already have an 8gb kingston card.
I tried to play avi,mp4,mkv with different players.nothing at all.
Am I missing something?
Please help.
Bet you flashed some custom firmwares
Just, factory reset, I advice to flash 2.2.1 oficial, no lagfix, through kies, its probably better than every custom firm
I also have subtitles support with this firmware
luposurfer said:
Thanks for the quick reply.
I already have an 8gb kingston card.
I tried to play avi,mp4,mkv with different players.nothing at all.
Am I missing something?
Please help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Actually I have:
Firmware Froyo 2.2
PDL:I9000RSJP5
Phone:I9000XXJPP
CSC:I9000ITVJP3
Kernel Version:2.6.32.9
[email protected]#1
Froyo.RSJP5
Does it make any sense to you?
Well, does it open any video file at least? If there are only a couple of videos, than they can be corrupted, or not supported,
otherwise I would still recommend factory reset or/and flashing.
Why do you install all these video players, do they offer anything more than the stock?
I tried Meridian and it was laggy .
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
After some testing, it seems to me that the stock player prefers 44.1khz audio sampling frequency. 48 khz also works, but with considerable stutter due to dropped frames.
On a side note, I find the color enhancements done by the stock player to be absolutely horrendous. Some people, mostly asian hardware companies, seem to love extra colors...but it looks awful to the rest. Please samsung: add an option to turn it off...we are not all color blind.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I think HD video look gorgeos on the stock player, thats why I dont convert, and I`m not asian,
anyway I prefer Windows Media Player to all other pc video players,
sonci said:
I think HD video look gorgeos on the stock player, thats why I dont convert, and I`m not asian,
anyway I prefer Windows Media Player to all other pc video players,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, WMP does not do anything weird with the picture or colors. The stock SGS player seem to boost the contrast and colors for a higher "wow"-factor. Come to think of it, this is exactly what Samsung TV's do by default (the "Dynamic"-setting, which thankfully can be turned off). However high the wow-factor is, the colors are not correct, and they make any movie look like a cheezy commercial. If the film producer wanted higher contrast and more colors, he would have added it
I believe the voodoo colorfix corrected this exact problem (look at http :// project-voodoo.org/color for an example), however I don't think it is available for 2.2.
(Sorry about the spaces in the url, but I'm not allowed to post proper urls :-( )
Update 5/28: Honeycomb 3.1 upgraded TF101 can playback 720p High Profile natively!
Verified with native player and Mobo(HW playback). Modified steps 3-3.1 to reflect HP settings, added HP preset and sample. Enjoy!
Since this question gets asked a lot lately and my post on one of the thread was buried, so I figured a separate thread would be helpful.
Background
As I understand it, Tegra 2 should playback up to High Profile 720p and Main Profile 1080p. However, with limitation on Honeycomb and/or lack of driver release by Nvidia, current crop of HC tablets do not playback anything above Baseline Profile smoothly. Future updates by Google/Nvidia should fix this issue, but it looks like we may have to reencode High/Main profile media for the time being.
Note that there are few software codec players(Mobo/Vital) that are able to playback High/Main profile H264 media files. My experience with these players were less than satisfactory and I wanted to stick with hardware decoding to maximize smoothness.
Guide
HandBrake is an open-source, GPL-licensed, multiplatform, multithreaded video transcoder, available for MacOS X, Linux and Windows. It offers variety of H264 encoding options via GUI and easy to use. Best of all, it is FREE.
You can obtain HandBrake from this link.
Once you have HandBrake installed and have a source file opened, there are only few tabs you need to setup.
1. Select the mp4 container and set the picture width to 1280. Anamorphic should be loose and Modulus 16. Large File Size can be check for better compatibility.
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
2. Under Video Tab, Make sure the options are set to "H.264","Same as source", and "Constant Quality". You can keep it a RF:20. Optionally, you can change the RF slider for better quality or smaller size. Higher RF number means smaller size but less quality. Also, you can choose "Average Bitrate" or "Target Size" option if you like.
3. Update: For Honeycomb 3.1, Follow step 3.1 for high profile settings. Last Tab but most important, set your advanced options exactly same as picture below. You can play with settings but CABAC, 8x8, and P-Frames has to be checked off to keep it baseline profile.
3.1 This is High Profile settings for HC 3.1 TF101.
That's it. Start your encode and enjoy your 720p on your Transformer.
Included below is my presets and sample movies I encoded using the profiles.
Baseline Sample on Megaupload
High Profile Sample on Megaupload
Whoa, baseline can't use B-frames? No wonder it's so much worse than main/high. I hope 720p high profile support gets fixed soon.
hows the file sizes after conversion? i have some movies that are 6GB and won't fit on the formats required for android memory.
so i was hoping to do something like this to knock them down to under 4.
With constant quality, average bitrate comes out to about 2600Kbps for above sample. Source file size for the above sample(130mb) was around 480mb. For better size control, you can try the target size option from video tab.
I encoded a 720p 130MB file and it turned out at 146MB with the profile file.
I used this Handbrake preset on a 986MB 720p high profile 2 hour movie and the resulting file size was 2.48GB. Movie played great with the default video player, just can't get many on an 8GB microSD card.
I used to use MeGUI to reencode videos for my PSP,and it's good at this job.
I'll have a try according to your post,thanks.
If you are used to MeGUI, then no need to use Handbrake. Just select the baseline from x264 option and configure the rest to your likings.
Is badaboom any good for this purpose? Both handbrake and badaboom have cuda acceleration, correct?
looking at the demo video of badaboom, there is baseline setting under advanced option so I assume it will work as well. It doesn't seem to have detailed options so tweaking doesn't seem possible though. I wouldn't spend $40 on badaboom while handbrake does the job for free.
I've converted it to your settings. However my file is only 1.3GB. When I connect my unit through usb and try to add it by dragging and dropping, it says that the operation cannot continue. My only options are to stop or skip the file transfer.
Edit- Nevermind. It wasn't finished converting yet! Duh!
the demo clip in the OP is excellent and plays smooth as butter on my E pad and looks brilliant
I have played 1080p AVCHD files via moboplayer and they are flawless. Or am I missing something?
Players like mobo, rock, and vital are all utilizing software decode playback. While software decoding handles some/most of HD profiles, it certainly is not the end-all be-all answer. Software decoding does a decent job of playback HD on some media, but tends to choke once the decoding process gets complicated. Re-encoding allows you to playback your media files with player of your choice including default player using hardware decoding. Until there is a HC/Nvidia "fix" to allow maximum hardware decoding capabilities of Tegra 2, re-encoding is the best at the moment solution for smooth playback. However, if you are happy with software players, I don't see a reason to waste time on re-encoding.
I made a mistake. When I streamed my AVCHD files from my core i5 laptop, they were great. When I streamed the same files from my Core2Duo laptop there were problems.
dont understand high profile /main profile stuff but i can confirm i used these handbrake settings on a 1920 x1080 .ts of i robot it went from 9.89 gog to 3.27 gig and work flawlessly on my transformer , excellent picture and no audio out of sync, as i plan to us the dock as well then a using the SD card slot for loads of films to take on holiday etc for the kids should not be an issue
my only question now is why in the gallery when you see movie folders and all the movies does it not display the titles underneath?
buri73 said:
Players like mobo, rock, and vital are all utilizing software decode playback. While software decoding handles some/most of HD profiles, it certainly is not the end-all be-all answer. Software decoding does a decent job of playback HD on some media, but tends to choke once the decoding process gets complicated. Re-encoding allows you to playback your media files with player of your choice including default player using hardware decoding. Until there is a HC/Nvidia "fix" to allow maximum hardware decoding capabilities of Tegra 2, re-encoding is the best at the moment solution for smooth playback. However, if you are happy with software players, I don't see a reason to waste time on re-encoding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
could you maybe explain this a little more? what's wrong with software decoding if it's smoother than hardware? does it use a lot more battery or something?
combat goofwing said:
my only question now is why in the gallery when you see movie folders and all the movies does it not display the titles underneath?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's gallery by design. It doesn't show title of any media inside the folders.
fastfood8891 said:
could you maybe explain this a little more? what's wrong with software decoding if it's smoother than hardware? does it use a lot more battery or something?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said above, if you are happy with software decoding then you don't have to reencode anything. Some of high profile/bitrate HD media can not be handled by software alone. That's where re-encoding comes in.
I don't know if this is the best analogy, but software decoding to me is like you buying a hybrid car and only be able to use the gas engine only. With the help of 3rd party modification(software player in our instance), you may get more mileage out of the gas engine, but you are not utilizing the car to it's full potential.
Players like mobo, rock, and vital are all utilizing software decode playback. While software decoding handles some/most of HD profiles, it certainly is not the end-all be-all answer. Software decoding does a decent job of playback HD on some media, but tends to choke once the decoding process gets complicated. Re-encoding allows you to playback your media files with player of your choice including default player using hardware decoding. Until there is a HC/Nvidia "fix" to allow maximum hardware decoding capabilities of Tegra 2, re-encoding is the best at the moment solution for smooth playback. However, if you are happy with software players, I don't see a reason to waste time on re-encoding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure there will be a fix? Asus manual says the transformer supports simple profile. Of course, they could lose sales if they do not "fix" it.
buri73 said:
looking at the demo video of badaboom, there is baseline setting under advanced option so I assume it will work as well. It doesn't seem to have detailed options so tweaking doesn't seem possible though. I wouldn't spend $40 on badaboom while handbrake does the job for free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. Handbrake doesn't do CUDA, but it does use multiple cores if you have them available. Last I heard, badaboom's output wasn't all that great anyway.
Many people still seem to have lots of misunderstandings about H.264 support and they often try to feed wrong kinds of files to their tablets resulting in choppy playback, so I create this thread to help atleast some of them:
*****************************************************
* The Iconia Tab A500 does support H.264 video in 720p baseline-profile on 3.0.1 stock ROM, it doesn't support hardware playback of 1080p video at all and that will be choppy. The tablet simply doesn't have enough processing power to do 1080p video in software fast enough, so you'll have to update or install a custom ROM for that.
* The tablet on 3.1 (or newer) does support H.264 video in 720p resolution in baseline-, main- and high-profiles, but 1080p resolution video only in baseline-profile. This means that if you're getting choppy video playback on 1080p video then it's not baseline-profile and doesn't use hardware playback.
* The difference between baseline-profile and high-profile is that high-profile produces better quality output and smaller files. On a mobile device with limited storage it's obviously then better to use high-profile as often as possible.
* The tablet only has 720p screen so it's pointless to play 1080p on it. You should only use 1080p video if you plan to display it on big screen via HDMI.
*****************************************************
Handbrake: what and where?
Handbrake is an application that is meant for easy transcoding -- ie. converting from one format to another -- of video. It does the transcoding job in software so it can take a lot of time, especially if your computer isn't too beefy, but then again it produces a lot, LOT better quality output than any of the applications that utilize hardware encoding.
Handbrake can be downloaded from http://handbrake.fr/downloads.php
Handbrake can't use encrypted DVDs as input, ie. almost any regular DVD-movie. You need to strip those first to your HDD and then use Handbrake for transcoding. On their website they suggest using Fairmount paired with DVD2OneX if you're on Mac, or AnyDVD on Windows.
As transcoding jobs usually take several hours per movie I personally like to set up what I want transcoded and add several movies to queue and leave Handbrake to do its job during the night when I'm sleeping. That way it doesn't bog down the system when I'm actually using it myself.
As for hardware-assisted encoding: such solutions are really a whole lot faster, like using Cyberlink MediaEspresso I can transcode a whole 2 hour movie in just 15 minutes. But the downsides are bigger files and lower quality, and so far I have not seen a single hardware-assisted transcoding application that does high-profile, only baseline-profile. Thus I personally only recommend using such when you're in a hurry, otherwise use Handbrake.
*****************************************************
Set-up a 720p high-profile job on Handbrake:
* Load up a video
* On the first tab ("Picture") find a setting called "Anamorphic" and change it to "Loose"
* Set "Width" to "1280"
* Go to the 3rd tab ("Video") and select "Constant Quality", set it to 20.0
* Go to the 4th tab ("Audio"), select the audio track(s) you wish to use, and set the settings as follows: Audio Codec AAC(faac), Mixdown Dolby Pro Logic II, Samplerate Auto, Bitrate 160, DRC 0.0
* Go to the last tab ("Advanced") and set the settings as follows:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Set-up a 720p baseline-profile job on Handbrake:
Do otherwise the same as in above steps, but replace the last step with the following:
* Go to the last tab ("Advanced") and set the settings as follows:
*****************************************************
Set-up a 1080p baseline-profile job on Handbrake:
* Load up a video
* On the first tab ("Picture") find a setting called "Anamorphic" and change it to "Loose"
* Set "Width" to "1920"
* Go to the 3rd tab ("Video") and select "Constant Quality", set it to 20.0
* Go to the 4th tab ("Audio"), select the audio track(s) you wish to use, and set the settings as follows: Audio Codec AAC(faac), Mixdown Dolby Pro Logic II, Samplerate Auto, Bitrate 160, DRC 0.0
* Go to the last tab ("Advanced") and set the settings as follows:
*****************************************************
How to add subtitles
Handbrake doesn't support rendering of external subtitles in the output, ie. your only option is to use a videoplayer application that supports external subtitles, or use another transcoder software. Mediacoder can handle rendering of subtitles in the output if you really want hardcoded subtitles and Mediacoder has a pretty nice configuration wizard you can use, but it also has a GAZILLION different options and tweaks and thus there's plenty of things you can ruin your transcoding with if you don't know what you're doing.
Mediacoder also supports using CUDA on NVIDIA GPUs for speeding up the transcoding but again it cannot do high-profile H.264 then, you'll need to use CPU encoding for that.
If you're interested in using Mediacoder instead then go to http://www.mediacoderhq.com/ and download.
As for media player software that supports external subtitles: Moboplayer for example is one that has worked fine for me so far. If it doesn't work for you then leave a comment and state clearly what fails and what kinds of files you're using.
Where to get subtitles then? Well, I for one like to use www.subscene.com, they've got a great selection there for almost all possible languages.
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Disclaimer: I am not an expert in these things and thus I don't promise anything whatsoever nor accept any responsibility for anything. However, these instructions SHOULD work
UPDATE: Added ready presets in a zip file at the bottom, just import them in Handbrake and you're good to go.
UPDATE #2: Had a major brainfart and forgot to add a preset for encoding DVD-videos; they're only 480p or 576p, depending on the DVD, so using even 720p preset is a waste of bandwidth and storage space. Do find the dvdsource.zip - preset in the attachements below!
HALEP, Why is the resulting file so big?!
I personally seriously hate compression artifacts and wish to retain every single possible detail so I had left the Constant Quality setting somewhat high. In hind-sight I should have included presets with Constant Quality set lower so the output files are also smaller. Well, now you have it; just download the "Smaller output files.zip" from the attachments, import the profiles and use those instead when transcoding if you want smaller files and do not mind the slightly lower visual quality, the resulting output file should be anything between 30%-60% smaller.
epic
Too cool of you!
Thanks Werecatf!
Great job!
cheers!
I do fair number of encoding using Handbrake and this will certainly help me to encode in 720p high-profile
Thanks for the tut! Gave you a click, truly awesome help for those that watch movies on their A500s!
Might be a good idea to create some profiles too, so folks can just import them into handbrake.
This should be a sticky!
cd85233 said:
This should be a sticky!
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++++ 1
Updating the thing a bit, planning to add a few more sections to it like e.g the subtitles and so on. Ask away if there's something you don't understand, I'll try to clarify things.
What video player do you use Cat?
Zylograth said:
What video player do you use Cat?
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I find MoboPlayer good for my uses. I usually have subtitles in .srt as a separate file in the same directory as the movie so I don't have to do anything special to get subtitles working, and otherwise I don't need any kind of special features from a video player.
Thsi is AWESOME!
I Must share this to the world on Google Plus.
Great guide.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/113884569404079501384/posts/Ak6FFUvz1Kz
Weird. I tried the 720p high settings on a 1080p video and there was a lot of artificing. I'll try a different vid and see what happens.
edgie168 said:
Weird. I tried the 720p high settings on a 1080p video and there was a lot of artificing. I'll try a different vid and see what happens.
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That's strange, I don't get such myself. Did you try with another vid already?
Very, very useful thread! And you've prepared presets as well - good job, WereCatf!
Ok
I used the 720p preset for a DVD and it came out very "soft". There was no detail and everything was blurry. Think this is because its native format was 480 (dvd) not 720. Is this correct or is there a bigger issue here?
Aaron Camp said:
Ok
I used the 720p preset for a DVD and it came out very "soft". There was no detail and everything was blurry. Think this is because its native format was 480 (dvd) not 720. Is this correct or is there a bigger issue here?
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You cannot increase the quality of the video - encoding a 480 video @ 720 will just make it look like crap.
I actually went out and asked the Handbrake developers if they're planning to add the option of burning-in external subtitles to the output file, their response was that "no one needs that" and thus they will not add it.
I found the response.. well, not too convincing, and was disappointed to hear that. I doubt it'd be much work for them to add that. But I guess that's that then.
I'm now wondering if I should do a similar how-to for MediaCoder in case some people wish to use that instead, like e.g. if they really need the ability to burn in their subtitles.
Stupid newbie question. How do you get going watching movies. Ie; What format are the movies in, file size, program used and now I'm confused about this Handbrake thingy! I appreciate any help!
tedpc01 said:
Stupid newbie question. How do you get going watching movies. Ie; What format are the movies in, file size, program used and now I'm confused about this Handbrake thingy! I appreciate any help!
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The files created by Handbrake are .MP4, but the A500 can also play some .AVI files by default. You can also install one of the players from Market to get support for extra formats. I personally use MoboPlayer.
The file size for 720p high-profile videos created by Handbrake are something around 1.5Gt-2Gt, depending on the length of the video obviously.