iPod Video Converter?
Cowbomb
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm going away for three months in a couple of weeks, so I thought I'd load up my iPod with DVDs and such to watch whilst I'm away.
Just wondered if anyone could recommend a good video converter to use? The couple I've tried already ruin the quality whilst barely lowering the file-size...
Just wondered if anyone could recommend a good video converter to use? The couple I've tried already ruin the quality whilst barely lowering the file-size...
Cowbomb on
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I've been using Winff lately to convert my videofiles to a more iPod-friendly format. I'm not sure how much the program you use has to do with the filesize so much as the settings you use.
I generally use the following settings which I think are fine for viewing on my iPhone.
video bitrate: 384
frame rate: 15 fps (If you feel it's too choppy by all means, adjust it upwards. It will give you significantly higher filesizes tho...)
resolution: 480*320
audio bitrate: 96
samplerate: 22050
audiochannels: 1
With these settings a 2 hour movie takes up about 280 megs of space with what I find to be acceptable quality. Of course these files will look like shit if you view them on your PC, but on the iPhone they look just fine.
If you want more options I there's an app called SUPER that basically does what Winff does but with alot more preconfigured options. The homepage looks a bit suspicious but the app works fine. I just preferred the more spartan Winff.
Winff
http://winff.org
SUPER
http://www.erightsoft.net/SUPER.html
Thread over.
I'll make it fucking blink if I have to...
There is no other app, particularly any other free app, that does this better. Period.
If the quality isn't to your liking, simply adjust the bitrate. I don't know if you can adjust the resolution on iPod videos, but that's an option as well. Often lowering resolution will allow you to maintain higher levels of perceived quality at lower bitrates, particularly on smaller screens. Yeah, like dented said, it will look like shit on a larger screen (like a laptop or TV).
The only thing I'd change is the framerate...definitely stick with 24 or 30, not 15. It's worth doubling the filesize. Usually you'd also get a higher perceived quality at less than double the bitrate with a higher framerate, because your brain will object more to the choppiness than any macroblocking a slightly lower framerate might cause...so if you're getting them to 250MB at 15fps, you can take to maybe 400MB at 30fps. Also consider lowering resolution instead of lowering framerate, if the iPod supports it.
Also does the iPod do anamorphic video? Because often you gain much by lowering the horizontal resolution but leaving the vertical alone...so maybe going woth 240x320 video, but maintaining the aspect ratio. A 240x320x30fps video will almost certainly be more watchable than a 480x320x15fps video.
Really what I'd recommend is just queuing up a few re-encodes (Handbrake allows this) at different combinations of quality, and figure out what you find most acceptable in reducing filesize. Maybe you won't mind 15fps, maybe you'll prefer resolution drops, maybe you're just fine with a movie taking up 600MB so that it looks better.
Oh, and on non-action movies I'll sometimes downmix to Mono sound...some people hate the fuck out of it, but on a lot of movies I don't really care and that 48Kb/s can be used elsewhere.
No prob. I've spent a lot of hours fucking around with this stuff, so I don't mind passing anything I've learned along. Never actually used a video iPod, so I always worry that nothing I'm saying will apply (because I know they're a smidge more finicky when it comes to their videos).
The only thing I forgot to mention (in case you didn't know this, or in case anybody else reads this thread for advice) is two-pass encoding. I figure it's a no-brainer for most people (especially considering how fast these smaller videos encode on modern hardware) but it really helps hit your target filesizes/bitrates while maximizing quality across the board.
And I don't know if you poked around their website, but there's a wiki on the Handbrake that has a ton more information if you ever need it.
Super has a website that looks like a textbook example of a spammy scam. But its actually a pretty good converter.
For my needs I'll stick with WinFF, but as long as you do not need to transcode to or from proprietary formats, Handbrake definitely has the nicer GUI.
5G or Classic iPod - Space efficient
Video: 320x240 H.264 384kbps
Audio: 44.1KHz Stereo AAC 96kbps
5G or Classic iPod - Better quality
Video: 320x240 H.264 512kbps
Audio: 44.1KHz Stereo AAC 128kbps
The first setting is good if you're really concerned about space. The video will be a little blocky in high motion scenes but you're probably not going to notice on the iPod's screen. Unless you've got super hearing and will be using awesome headphones in a quiet locale you're probably not going to be able to tell the difference between 96kbps and 128kbps audio.
For widescreen format I start with the vertical resolution and figure out the appropriate horizontal resolution. For the iPod's 240 vertical resolution a horizontal resolution of 420 works well for 16:9 widescreen content. When played full frame on the iPod you won't lose any vertical detail and when viewed in widescreen mode you'll get the best horizontal detail. If you're putting this on an iPod touch you can just bump the resolution slightly to 480x270 and it will play back fine on 5G iPods (and look good) and nearly fill the Touch's screen. For this slightly larger video I wouldn't set the video bitrate below 512Kbps and you'd probably be better off with 768Kbps.