Which video converter is best for quality on apple tv?

it depends on what the source is and what the quality of the source is.
you can't make it any better than the source.

however, Handbrake will convert most things and has an AppleTV preset, so will convert to AppleTV compatible format.

If you're looking for something to convert video formats for AppleTV I'd recommend you take a look at the Handbrake file converter which is free, and available for Mac or Windows.

Video conversion to h264 is a slow process and some apps are quicker than others.

Another useful free converter is MPEGStreamclip from squared5.com which has mpre varied file output support.

As for commercial software I can't really comment as I tend to make do with free utilities on the whole as they tend to be more flexible in terms of what the user wants to do.

Roxio's Toast Titanium for the Mac does an excellent job at converting to an Apple TV friendly format and other devices as well. Handbrake is still IMHO the best at converting for the ATV. I have used elgato's turbo.264HD and it is fast, unlike both handbrake and toast which take a while but it's results have been mixed (for me at least).

What about QuickTime Pro? Does this tool convert AVI, WMV, and MP4 files to Apple TV /iTunes friendly format?

I know it is not free, but if this software is reliable, I might consider getting it for $30.00.

You don't even need that $30.

Download Perian and Flip4mac and you can convert by using QuickTime X.

Keep in mind:
- it's really slow
- you won't keep any surround sound that was available.

I have QT7-Pro, Perian and Flip4Mac plus what I posted earlier (plus some other stuff that's buried in my computer somewhere that I've forgotten about) and my main converter is still handbrake and VLC is my main viewer. Handbrake will pass through AC-3 in .m4v and .mp4 and it will pass through DTS in .mkv but the ATV favorite container seems to be .m4v and it won't play the .mkv.

I'll keep those software in mind. I'll first try handbrake. Thanks Jef

Are you saying that I should convert my videos (avi and mp4) to the ATV .m4v format? I wish Apple supported standard formats used in Windows!

Although Handbrake can passthrough DTS, it's of no use for your AppleTV because it doesn't support it.

80s=best_music wrote:
I wish Apple supported standard formats used in Windows!

such as?

Video formats such as avi and wmv.

I have one video that I can play on my notebook using QuickTime and iTunes 9.1.0.79; however, AppleTV can not play it because it was encoded at 192 Kbps with resolution higher than 720x432 pixels. The video is in MPEG-4 (.mp4). I'll have to check out handbrake and see if it will re-encode it (lower quality) for AppleTV.

I have tried, handbrake, 3Herosoft, 4Media and Video Wizard.

By far, the best has been Video Wizard. (Digital River, Bootstrap development (50 dollar program))

It rips it so fast in comparison to the others (around 20 min for a 1.5GB kids movie) The quality has been outstanding. The only problem is if you are ripping a standard 4:3 movie, it will not automatically create a version for the ipod or iphone. It will let you do it, but you will have to convert the file/DVD a second time. Other than that, I have ripped around 75 dvd's in the last 5 days and it has been fantastic.

80s=best_music wrote:
Video formats such as avi and wmv.

I have one video that I can play on my notebook using QuickTime and iTunes 9.1.0.79; however, AppleTV can not play it because it was encoded at 192 Kbps with resolution higher than 720x432 pixels. The video is in MPEG-4 (.mp4). I'll have to check out handbrake and see if it will re-encode it (lower quality) for AppleTV.

I think you may need to check your video - certainly 720x432 is way below the specifications of the Apple TV. The HD content from the iTunes store at 1280x720 plays perfectly fine on my Apple TV and if I was you I certainly wouldn't even consider re-encoding a movie lower than 720x432 with HandBrake - it will look worse than it probably already does.
P.S. 192 Kbps has nothing to do with your video bit-rate, and as for AVI & WMV I think you may need to move on from your 80's obsession 🙂

From http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html

For video encoded in H.264, yes, the max resolution is 1280x720 pixels at 24 fps. My video is much larger than that. As stated before, I'll see if handbrake can down-grade the video for AppleTV.

Very odd. Someone had posted a reply about a software that converts to formats for Apple products; now that posting is gone!

Anyways, I downloaded PavTube's video converter and am trying it out now. It converted my small file (477 MB) in 4 minutes - not too shabby. Will report how it works on my Apple TV.