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Testing videos?

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bootsie

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I do not have an iPhone (or other video capable ipod) yet, but I would like to convert some of my DVDs and have then ready for when I get one.

If I use DVD43 and then Handbrake to convert my DVDs into ipod format, is there a way that I can test and know that they will work on my iPhone? If I can watch them in itunes does that mean that they will work on the iPhone?

Also, what resolution and bit rate should I convert the videos to for iPhone?

Thanks for your help, I am new at this, and I just want to be fully prepared when I get my iPhone.
 
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kornchild2002

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There really is no way to tell as iTunes can play many videos that aren't compatible with iPods/iPhones. For example, iTunes can play 1080p movie trailers and we all know that iPods/iPhones cannot play HD content.

The resolution depends on what you plan on doing with the video. If you plan on watching it just on your iPhone then you don't need that high of a resolution. You need to encode at a high resolution if you want to play videos on your computer and on a TV hooked up to your iPhone. The iPhone can handle a maximum resolution of 640X480. The best thing you can do is use video conversion software that automatically picks the resolution for you as not every movie uses the same aspect ratio. For example I have some widescreen videos encoded at 640X248. The main thing is that you have a width of 640 but the height will change based on the scope of the movie. Full screen 4:3 content will use a resolution of 640X480 though.

I hope that helps. There is a guide here on the forums to help you pick the correct resolution to encode your videos if your software doesn't do it for you.
 

Sparkee

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You can use lower resolutions for the smaller screen on the iPhone. The iPod Hi-Rez preset (640x480) in Hanbrake will be the best setting for now and provides some future proofing for your video files. It will look good on the iPhone as well as being compatible for iPods and look good on a large screen such as a TV.
 

Serpent

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Sparkee said:
You can use lower resolutions for the smaller screen on the iPhone. The iPod Hi-Rez preset (640x480) in Hanbrake will be the best setting for now and provides some future proofing for your video files. It will look good on the iPhone as well as being compatible for iPods and look good on a large screen such as a TV.
I agree but be careful as the "iPod Hi-Rez" preset will create a large file (around 3 gigs) so if you plan to put these on an iPhone, you won't fit many.
 

kornchild2002

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Not necessarily. Many of video movies are 2 hours in length yet come out to be less than 1.5GB in size. I am not sure what video bitrate the iPod hi-rez preset uses in handbrake though. I recommend using a bitrate of 1.5Mbps with the mpeg-4 AVC video format. There really is no need to use a higher video bitrate unless you use a Apple TV hooked up via HDMI. A 1.5Mbps mpeg-4 AVC will look excellent on a iPod/iPhone screen and will look near-DVD on a TV (when using a iPod hooked up to said TV). I think that 1.5Mbps also provides that trade off between file size and quality as a 3 minute video will take up about 35MB. 1.5Mbps is also the standard that the iTunes Store uses.
 

bootsie

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Thank you for your help everyone, I am very new to this. It looks even more likely now that I will be able to get the iPhone in a month or so. I would like to have all of my videos, contacts, and such ready to sync when I get it.

So would these settings be the best for the iPhone on Handbrake?

iPhone preset
Resolution 480x320
Bit rate 1500
Automatic cropping (or should I be cropping myself?)

I would like to use these videos on my 15.4 widescreen monitor as well, but only rarely on the TV. I would also like these to stay about 1GB each.
 
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kornchild2002

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I would leave automatic cropping set but make sure that the video is properly cropped before encoding it. That and bump the resolution up to 640X480. You are already using a video bitrate of 1500kbps (1.5Mbps) and that can handle 640X480 content just fine. A 640X480 video will look a whole lot better on your monitor than a 480X320 video. That and the iPhone can effectively downscale videos to fit its resolution without a quality loss. No need to encode at the iPhone's resolution when the device can play 640X480 (480p) content just fine and 480p content looks better on your bigger monitor.
 

bootsie

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kornchild2002 said:
I would leave automatic cropping set but make sure that the video is properly cropped before encoding it. That and bump the resolution up to 640X480. You are already using a video bitrate of 1500kbps (1.5Mbps) and that can handle 640X480 content just fine. A 640X480 video will look a whole lot better on your monitor than a 480X320 video. That and the iPhone can effectively downscale videos to fit its resolution without a quality loss. No need to encode at the iPhone's resolution when the device can play 640X480 (480p) content just fine and 480p content looks better on your bigger monitor.
Great thanks!

How do I make sure that the video is cropped correctly before encoding?
 

kornchild2002

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It depends on your software. The software that I use will automatically crop videos for me but it also offers visual cropping. What it will do is show a scene from the film. I can then move two horizontal and two vertical bars to adjust the cropping. Most of the time, the automatic crop feature works. I have come across a few instances where it didn't work as planned though and had to do some manual adjustment.
 

bootsie

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What software do you use?

I am using Handbrake, but I do not think that it has that feature.
 

studogvetmed

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bootsie said:
What software do you use?

I am using Handbrake, but I do not think that it has that feature.
Though I don't think it's as pretty a nero you can click through multiple frames of a movie to see how the crop looks in handbrake.

Click on the "picture settings" box and it opens up a new screen with the automatic crop settings and place to manual change it and allows you to click through multiple different frame points of the movie to see if you like the crop.

Good luck.
 

kornchild2002

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studogvetmed said:
Though I don't think it's as pretty a nero you can click through multiple frames of a movie to see how the crop looks in handbrake.

Click on the "picture settings" box and it opens up a new screen with the automatic crop settings and place to manual change it and allows you to click through multiple different frame points of the movie to see if you like the crop.

Good luck.
That is exactly the same thing that Nero Recode 1, 2, and 3 do so that is good that other applications are finally starting to offer visual cropping as well as automatic cropping.
 

Sparkee

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Though I don't think it's as pretty a nero you can click through multiple frames of a movie to see how the crop looks in handbrake.
This feature is not available in the Windows version of HandBrake yet.
 

bootsie

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Does anyone know of any other way to check the crop?

I tried to encode just one ~2min chapter, but it won't work, it makes the final file a .mkc (I think) file that itunes will not recognize.
 
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