How to convert HDV to iPhone 4

By the way I have Compressor 2. It's at least 5 years outdated.

Ok, I've been reviewing my movies very closely...many that are drag and drop into iTunes sync up and get to the iPhone 4..but a few don't. They all say the same things and that is "xyz video was not copies because the video format is not supported by the iPhone "Users iPhone".

Now this is VERY ODD because they are in the same identical formats as many that are working. For instance for one that works the "Total bit rate" is 6010 kbps and the Bit Rate (for audio I think) is 189 kbps...for a total of 461MB and that one works...also the PROFILE is Low Complexity. They are Quicktime H264 video's. One that does NOT work has a "Total bit rate" of 6078 kbps, has a "Bit rate" (audio again I think) of 127kbps and is also in H264 Quicktime...also has a "Profile" of Low Complexity. Both video's are 1280 x 720.

They does 1 work and the other not? That makes no sense?

I went to HANDBRAKE, the latest version for the mac and I choose iPhone settings and the video looks like total crap. It reduces the file to 480 x 272....horrible....I can make it look far better...I used the Apple TV preset and that is 960 x 544....much better, but still not nearly as good as what I did on my own directly from Final Cut Pro 5.1.4 and Compressor 2.

The thing that CONFUSES me is that some of my videos work with what apparently is the same exact conversion process (preset I created within Compressor 2) and some don't...that makes NO sense to me.

Does anyone use Compressor to make iPhone 4 movies and if you do can you tell me the exact settings (bit rate for video, codec, bit rate for audio, codec, resolution and anything else?

Thanks all.

Ok, I found a number of answers thanks to your points (another board). Huge thank you!! I posted this question in 3 Apple Discussion Boards and no one came close to a solid answer that explains the heart of it like you did...and I checked out what you said and you are right on.

One of the videos in particular that I encoded at 6,000 kbps...well when I cut out 5 seconds of the most complex part (256 videos being played and shrunken down...cool effect!) that segment when I cut it out and save it as it's own Quicktime Movie the bit rate shows 17,000 kbps....I know the iPhone 4 can do at least 10,000 kbps in my trials and you may be correct that it can do 14,000 kbps...I tried a simple video at 15,000 and it failed...so I think you are about correct with the 14,000 number....certainly between 11,000 - 14,000 would be its max at 1280 x 720p and audio at 160 kbps AAC.

Ok, 1 more key point....I reencoded that video at 5,000 kbps which actually should be fine for 720p with my stuff (I was only using 6,000 to get a tiny bit more out of the video...negligible) and that failed also..I looked at the most complex part and found it at 15,000 kbps..again cutting out that 5 second spot...so I am now reencoding at 4,500 kbps for that video and 4,000 and 3,500 just to see when it begins to work.

I believe on MOST (80%) of the videos I've done at this 720p resolution that 6,000 kbps works on the iPhone...but it's probably safer to set it at 5,000 and then I'm guessing you'll get 95% work....and perhaps at 4,000 or 4,500 (I hope) you'll pretty much get 100% of the videos to work on the iPhone 4.

I am still testing so I'll report back tomorrow night for sure. Just so you know the bit rate for small segments of video (that could cause iPhone 4 non compatibility) is more than 2-3 times...it's more like 2-3.5 times it appears. So if you divide the max bit rate by 3.5 perhaps that's the safest setting if you want a sure fire way.

This is real interesting..NO ONE has mentioned this and Apple's support line did NOT even mention or know about this area at all.

After I compress my 6.5 minute video...4 different ways...tomorrow night...we will know for sure...that video with that 5-10 seconds of real complex stuff has to be at the very upper end of compression challenges...if I can get that max rate..every other video should work and we'll have a sure fire max compression rate for this particular format.

By the way I am experimenting with 960 x 540 a little bit just to see how much more latitude that would give one. But I think for future proofing and for hooking the video up to an HDTV that 1280 x 720 is the ideal format IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SAVING MULTIPLE COMPRESSED COPIES OF VIDEO.

More tomorrow-

Thank you. If you ever need to know....5,000 kbps (max rate in Compressor 2) works 90% of the time at 1280 x 720 at 30 frames per second with a 2 PassVBR with AAC audio at 160 kbps....one can often get away with 6,000 kbps (80% of the time) and 4,000 KBPS will work 98% of the time...3,500 kbps works 100% of the time...for nice HD video 4,000 kbps or higher should suffice for the iPhone 4 with these settings...again IF USING COMPRESSOR 2 which doesn't seem to regulate the max bit rate quite so well. I hear that's fixed in Compressor 3...I'll have to upgrade at some point...probably next year when Final Cut 8 is released in 64 bit.

Glad this helped...lots of people on here that no nothing more than choosing presets...nothing wrong with that, but NOT THE ANSWER to my questions...this should give one more control and better quality than picking 1 setting and using it for all kinds of videos...at least for the specialist trying to max the quality as much as possible.

Good luck!

Of course I have...tried that early on. But as you probably can see you CANNOT customize the settings within those presets...you choose iPhone and there is no way to select options for the iPhone 4 to export HD video to the full 1280 x 720...you can choose Apple TV but then it sets it at a lower bit rate...you can use Quicktime Pro to make a Quicktime Movie and then customize the settings and that will work great...if you know how how to set the bit rate and that is what this whole discussion has really been about...how to set the bit rate to get the MOST OUT OF HD video on the iPhone 4.

Again, the presets are set way lower than the spec on the iPhone 4 and therefore you are not getting as much as you could or should out of HD video. Not a problem if you know how to set the bit rate yourself.

Also, one small glitch with Apple...for some videos (2%) you have to set the bit rate pretty low because of potentially 2 seconds of super complex footage...I believe...I did this with compressor and they seem to use the same engine for H264..the menus look the same so I "assume" Compressor 2 and Quicktime 7 Pro use the same engine to compress.

Someone said Compressor 3 fixes this issue and keeps the max bit rate with the spec of the iPhone 4 and keeps a high bit rate, but no peaks that will set it off...I don't know for sure as I haven't tried it.