What are the Handbrake settings to import to iBooks Author?

What did the authors of HandBrake say when you asked them? Perhaps they are tooling a specific output now...

Open the export from Handbreak in Quicktime X. Re-encode to .m4v with Quicktime X.

Try this first then read below....

---------

I found that Handbreak doesn't export the proper .m4v file for iBooks. Quicktime X does... But, Quicktime X won't convert a .VOB file. Try the MPEG Streamclip app to export the .VOB file to a format that Quicktime X can play. Export that video file with Quicktime X.

http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-mac.html

If MPEG Streamclip can't play or import the .VOB file. You will need to download the MPEG-2 playback component from Apple.

http://store.apple.com/us/search?find=mpeg-2+playback+component

I think an easier way (if you are already familiar with Handbreak), is to get the Handbreak M4V file and export it via QuickTime.

The result works for me without much degration. Quick a few MP4 files that can't be exported via QuickTime X works this way (convert from MP4 to M4V via Handbreak, then export via QuickTime X). Anything that can converted via Handbreak should works just fine.

I have the same problem. I have 30 videos I'd like to include. They've been exported from Final Cut via Quicktime. Then run through Handbrake to convert .mov to m4v. The file size is manageable (about 12 MB per minute) and resolution is good. M4v's created with just Quicktime around that file size are pixelated. That's why I use Handbrake. But running them through Quicktime boosts the file size right back up by a factor of two or three or more. The m4v's exported from Handbrake play just fine on an iPad, whether they're imported into the camera roll, dropbox, or through iTunes. It's just iBooks Author that has a problem with them.

If there's no solution to this, it will be a drag on the ability to produce interesting iBooks and really make the most out of the medium. If my dinky little cookbook with 30 how-to videos runs to a gig file size, a serious textbook with three, four, five times the video content would not be possible.

DB

I solved it like this (no promises). Handbrake would not read my vob files on a dvd. I extracted the vob files to my desktop and suddenly Handbrake had no problem working with them.. Another way is to use Snapz Pro X and capture the movie files as you watch them. Takes longer but it works too. (Tip: In Snapz Pro X - remember to adjust the "framerate" to the highest setting)..

T

I haven't ripped DVD video to put into IBA but I thought I'd add my process for creating m4v videos with total control over the encoding process using Handbrake. I haven't found a way to create a m4v from Handbrake that will go right into a Media Widget but I can create a mp4 video using Handbrake's iPhone & iPod Touch preset as a starting point and adjusting the video and audio settings from there. I found that using Constant Quality (RF around 20) is much better than using a variable bitrate - the videos are much smaller and look way better. Once I have a good looking mp4 I convert it to the correct m4v using a program called Subler. Instead of opening my mp4 in QT10 and exporting a m4v I opened it in Subler and changed the profile for the video track to Main @ 3.1 and exported the m4v. The great thing about using Subler compared to using QT10 is the Subler lets the video and audio track simply pass-through without any recompression and just changes the movie container format (QT10 will recompress the video when using the iPod iPhone preset and you have no control over the encoding settings for audio and video). The conversion from Subler is really fast since there's no re-compression - only a movie container change.

I'm trying to convert some old Internet Archive videos for use in an ibook (see this thread for the full story - https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4045474 ) I want to keep file size of the book manageable.

I was interested in your Handbrake + Subler approach and tried it. Following the steps above.

But it seems that the videos out of Handbrake are already coming into Subler as Main @ 3.1 (see screen shot of imported video) And I never get the option to export - its grayed out.

I'm an instructional design guy - not a video guy. Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated ... especially in laymen's terms.

easiest way I now is to use QuickTime 10 and do a screen record. play the DVD in regular mode and adjust the screen record to just fit around the playing DVD

My research indicates that iBooks Author is being unnecessarily picky in rejecting .m4a video files encoded by some ffmpeg-based video apps such as Handbrake, Miro Video Converter and Video Monkey. My evidence for that opinion is as follows. The same video files that iBooks Author rejects can be embedded in an ePub file created with Pages. The video in that ePub file will play just fine in iBooks on the iPad (as well as in iBooks on other iOS devices).

I've mentioned this issue on the Handbrake forum and filed a bug report with Apple (http://bugreporter.apple.com).

So, until either iBooks Author stoops being unnecessarily picky or the ffmpeg community figures out how to meet iBooks Author's (apparently secret) criteria, you should use Handbrake to create the highest quality source file from DVDs (1080p would be good) and then use QuickTime X Player's iPad preset to export a video file that iBooks Author will accept.

It's not a bug on Apple's it's a problem on Handbreaks end. Handbreak needs to make a preset that is compliant to the iBook Authoring app. Just like their presets for mobile devices.

I dough this will happen because Handbreak makes mp4 x.264 video files and QuickTime is making a .mov h.264 video file. x264 is open source and h.264 isn't...

Saying this is Apple fault is like saying that all of the other video compression programs out there that can't make a video that works in the iBooks Author app is Apple's fault (MPEG-Stream Clip for one).

I agree with you, David - not really a bug.

With that said I'm using Handbrake to create my mp4 video and then transcoding it to a properly formed m4v using an app called Subler. It works great - takes the mp4 video from Handbrake and converts to m4v with Main @ 3.1 profile. Transcoding is quick and the videos work perfectly in iBooks author.

One other thing I'd like to note -- once I've transcoded the mp4 to m4v you can use the m4v video in the media widget. If you change the m4v extension back to mp4 you can use it in an HTML widget. HTML widgets won't take the original mp4 video from Handbrake and they won't take a video with the m4v ext - has to be mp4. So changing the m4v video extension back to mp4 seems to work just fine if you want to use the videos in a HTML widget instead of the Media widget. So far this is the only way I've been able to successfully use a mp4 video in an HTML widget. All other attempts at exporting a mp4 video from Compressor, Quicktime, Adobe Prem, Final Cut, etc. all get rejected when trying to add the widget.

Message was edited by: imshapp

Why not go straight into the Subler app and bypass Handbreak.

Correction to my above statemnet. iBook Author uses .m4v video files, Handbreak can't make the proper .mv4 files for iBooks..

Compressor 4 can make the proper .m4v video files.

Can't open Compressor 3.5 to check an see if it can make .mv4 right now because I'm using Compressor 4 at the moment. If my memory is correct I think it can...

Because Subler isn't doing the encoding - it's only transcoding from mp4 Basline @ 2.1 (or whatever) to m4v Main @ 3.1 profile. The video is passed through and only the movie container (mp4 to m4v with proper profile) is changed. My source videos are ProRes 422 movs so bringing them into Subler would result in a m4v file that is way too big for my book. I have hundreds of videos so I'm encoding them with Handbrake using Constant Bitrate and they look great.