[gtabfknkdnme]

So I've been ripping my DVD collection to start up some sort of server with my big screens and an Apple tv.

I'm using handbrake for Mac and while the movies look good on screen and even my 22" monitor, when on my 50" plasma they don't look DVD quality.

The settings I've used for most of the movies is the h.264 codec, 1500 Kbps, 2-pass coding with turbo first pass. These were common settings I found by googling the issue.

File size is of no concern of mine. I just want them to be DVD quality when on my screens, especially when I get my 70" LED in a few months.

Any suggestions on settings to achieve this?

[badblkX6]

I too use Handbrake. Been using it for a while. It does a fairly good job, but you are right, it does lose a little quality on my projector screen (120") and larger TV's over 50".

I just let it go and if the movie is really good, then I will spring to buy it in Blu Ray.

I would be interested to see if anyone has a solution. Sorry I couldnt be of any help.

[gtabfknkdnme]

anyone else?

[gtabfknkdnme]

no one?

[bkrM3]

You could try asking GTiceman - he has a MASSIVE collection of movies, but I think at this point they're all ripped from blu-ray... still, he might know something. His server is legit, but I know his system is windows.

[E90 87ss]

Originally Posted by bkr335

You could try asking GTiceman - he has a MASSIVE collection of movies, but I think at this point they're all ripped from blu-ray... still, he might know something. His server is legit, but I know his system is windows.

This is all hearsay and this server you speak of is purely hypothetical.

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Easy way is to either use PS3/laptop combo for streaming or buy a dvd player with usb input and connect a hard drive.

Sorry not mac user, probably best to try their forums...

[GTiceman]

I can look into the Apple TV, to ensure I didn't lose anything I didn't even mess with codecs and rather ripped my entire DVD, HD-DVD, and current BD collection to my server in ISO format and have a windows machine see the file, mount it locally and stream it across my gigabit ethernet

now you need to really not care about file size to do this as I am at about 500 movies and thats roughly 10 TB and with hard drive prices right now its kinda crazy, also the ripping takes a large amount of time

I did consider going Apple TV but I decided against it for some reasons ... I would need to know what type of server you plan on running and the format you are currently ripping movies to know for sure

[bkrM3]

^^

See

[gtabfknkdnme]

Originally Posted by GTiceman

I can look into the Apple TV, to ensure I didn't lose anything I didn't even mess with codecs and rather ripped my entire DVD, HD-DVD, and current BD collection to my server in ISO format and have a windows machine see the file, mount it locally and stream it across my gigabit ethernet

now you need to really not care about file size to do this as I am at about 500 movies and thats roughly 10 TB and with hard drive prices right now its kinda crazy, also the ripping takes a large amount of time

I did consider going Apple TV but I decided against it for some reasons ... I would need to know what type of server you plan on running and the format you are currently ripping movies to know for sure

i've been ripping the movies into .m4v

i honestly don't care about file size, i just want to make sure that when streaming them they are the same quality as if they were in the dvd player actually playing from the disc.

and i plan on using apple tv to stream them wirelessly

[GTiceman]

mp4 is never going to give you DVD quality, its a compressed format

at the least you need to do mkv

also if you are doing just DVD wireless is fine, BD will not stream well wirelessly

what kind of storage device are you using?

[gtabfknkdnme]

Originally Posted by GTiceman

mp4 is never going to give you DVD quality, its a compressed format

at the least you need to do mkv

also if you are doing just DVD wireless is fine, BD will not stream well wirelessly

what kind of storage device are you using?

ok i'll start converting them to mkv then. yeah they're just dvd's for now. i don't have a blu ray burner yet.

i'm using an external hard drive. 1 TB, but i know i'll have to get a bigger one soon. my main concern was the average Bitrate and other settings i should use etc to make the video as close to dvd quality as possible

here's a screenshot to see the options for handbrake if you're not familiar.

[cn555ic]

Originally Posted by GTiceman

mp4 is never going to give you DVD quality, its a compressed format

at the least you need to do mkv

also if you are doing just DVD wireless is fine, BD will not stream well wirelessly

what kind of storage device are you using?

It's not going to happen. I have yet to see a high quality rip onto a large screen. The resolution is always compromised.

[GTiceman]

as far as handbrake goes I am familiar with it but it is not the tool i use to rip and i abandoned it at work too for conversion

Originally Posted by cn555ic

It's not going to happen. I have yet to see a high quality rip onto a large screen. The resolution is always compromised.

i rip a full ISO and my BD's play great on my 58" calibrated plasma, no change in quality at all then again each file is about 50GB

[GTiceman]

Originally Posted by Cynical

Yea you have to rip full iso.
Any conversion degrades quality too much. Only bluray can sustain the image your looking for when compressing to mp4, avi, etc

agreed

[shock2314]

have you tried Mac the ripper?
I usually use vuze for movie download, they have 720p formats sometimes

[GTiceman]

the best suggestion is to return the apple TV because it is way too limited, get a WD TV live

if you do mkv it is a container that is similar to an iso but my suggestion is still if storage isn't an issue then rip straight to ISO, you re-encoding is downgrading the quality

also, multiple external hard drives is going to get somewhat clunky, get a single drive bay array with multiple drives

to be honest you really need to rethink this and I would be more than happy to discuss my setup with you because like I said I have about 500 movies streaming in 1080 from a 10TB server and growing