I KNOW THE BEST SETTING FOR "HANDBRAKE" !!!!!!!!!!

I use the same setup except I use
Average bitrate 1500
and the size for picture setting make sure the with is at 480.

I use h.264 instead of ffmpeg, the video quality is dramatically better.

I have done 15 tests and i'm telling you....there is no diff in quality between h.264 & mpeg4. After all the I pod cannot use the full potential of h.264 & it takes over 2 times longer to rip!

There are differences if you examine the videos side-by-side in a magnified or zoomed in context and compare the file sizes produced. (Or try taking the iPod output and upconverting it for HD display.) The only question is "do you care about these differences?" On an iPod screen the differences are likely to be less than discernible. To give the same gradation of color transition or texture to objects, an MPEG4 file requires 3-4 times as much data as an H.264 file. If time is more important than storage space, then use MPEG4. If storage space is critical and you have plenty of time to spend on the conversion process, then use a high quality, high compression, multi-pass H.264 format.

Since you are standing on the rooftop yelling with exclamation points that you have "the" best setting, I feel that I have to correct you.

Audio sample rate of 48000? overkill. 44100 is better. You'll never hear the difference.
700 average bitrate. For what resolution? A specific bitrate will produce different qualities and file sizes for different resolutions.

You do have good setting, but there is no best. It's dependant on the type of video, person viewing, etc. Keep that in perspective.

I CAN tell the difference between those two encodings, I compared both side by side in QT. There truly IS a difference in quality!

Peter, I absolutely agree with that! 🙂

I agree with Peter,

48000 is definately overkill. It's up to you what settings you use but I use the H.264 codec (You can tell the difference) I can't remember the other details because I pick them depending on what I'm converting, but I also think that picking settings to keep encoding time down is not good.

I pick the settings that I am most happy with to produce a quality that is acceptable to me. You should do the same and not proclaim that you have the best setting for handbrake. The best settings are a matter of opinion. Do not make the mistake of proclaiming opinion like it is fact.

This post is an opinion, but it is displayed as such, take from it what you will.

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Sam

I agree. Just a couple days ago Brendan was totally clueless about Handbrake & asking a million mundane questions in the main Handbrake thread. Now he is an expert & feels he needs to make a new thread & shout it from the rooftops that he has the secret "best settings".

Everybody prefers different settings for different purposes, but those arent even close to what I consider the "best sttings". Sorry, Brendan. And what "15 tests" did you do?

Hi Bren!
Thanks for your info.
However, I don't think I need that much high bit rate for my iPod.
Yor setting is good for PSP, though.

Maybe Brendan was just trying to help people that have never used handbrake. He was "clueless" and asked a million questions and now he wants to save other people from having to do the same thing. I appreciate you're info Brendan, whether I use it or not.

I'm sure he was trying to help and I applaud him for learning. Especially if he did not know anything a few days ago. That is the beauty of having a forum such as this.

But I want people to know that he does not necessarily know the best setting. There are a number of newbies (to video) here and I don't want them to be misled.

Brendan, I wasnt meaning to sound harsh at all & I know you are just trying to help, but there is a bunch of threads just like this (including one huge thread that tells you everything you need to know that you yourself are a part of). Dont know why you couldnt have posted this there.

I think having multiple threads of the same topic just confuses people who are new & wanna learn, it doesnt help matters to regurgitate a thread over & over again. If you make a new thread, next time make a whole tutorial of the different settings one should use for different occasions & apply everything you have learned in that tutorial from the past threads, not just what you yourself think is the best settings. Consolidation is the key.

Cheers...Kerry

Bren,

ps. if I wan't to put a DVD on my iPod, I don't want to put it on a TV later, that's what dvd players are for.

You can't carry a DVD or a DVD player in your pocket. Neither is it legal to rip a comercial DVD. The act of stripping away the copyright protection (Ripping) is illegal.

Since all comments are welcome, to those using Handbrake I reccommend using the H.264 codec and set the other settings depending on your own personal tolerences to sound and video quality. For example, I generally don't like audio that is encoded at anything less than 256kbps however the iPod only allows up to 160kbps sound on video clips. (See iPod tech specs) This is a compromise that I must deal with. Others may not care about the sound quality and want higher video quality.

Bottom line, experiment with the settings to get something you like. If you like good quality and don't mind bigger files and longer encoding times go close to the iPod's video limitations. Other than that you can go as low with the settings as you can bare.

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Sam