Well in particular I am trying to get the widescreen version of "I heart Huckabees" on my iPod but i do not know the dimensions that will be necessary for the iPod to aceept the movie.
If you plan to use the H.264 format and view the movie on your iPod screen, then Apple recommends using the 320x240 pixel dimension setting. Leave the "Aspect Ratio" box checked to constrain your "widescreen" aspect ration. Since HandBrake steps dimensions in 16-pixel "macro" blocks, your aspect ratio may not be as accurate as "calculated" dimensions, but they can be adjusted "post conversion" if they bother you. (To provide specifics, you will have to divulge which "widescreen" format your source movie is in.) The application will then crop and scale the width of your movie to 320 pixels and a height cropped and scaled to the nearest "macro" block dimension available for the movie's aspect ratio.
I just want some guidelines on the setup for handbrake when converting any DVD movie into the h.264 format for the iPod.
I don't have access to HandBrake at the moment as I am in the middle of a batch run of old Doctor Who episodes. However, if my memory is correct, here are my "starting" settings which work for about 99.4% of my files.
File Format: MP4
Codecs: AVC/H.264 (Can't remember exact designation)
Frame Rate: 29.97 (If you don't change this is will default to about 24 fps which may jerks in very fast action sequences.)
Quality: Average bitrate (kbps): 400
2-pass encoding: (checked for better quality or unchecked for faster conversions)
Defaults are good for audio.
Since I am not familiar with the video content of this movie, I cannot suggest what adjustments might be required if any are needed. My normal strategy is to go for the 2-pass encode and see if there are any problems. A relatively new movie on DVD is usually digitally mastered to specifications which don't present problems. However, if there is a problem with movie content in the 2-pass conversion, I simply switch to the single pass mode and see if it will sync. If that also fails, then I would consider other adjustments such as lowering the frame rate or video data rate in order to create addition conversion "headroom."
