[dfborn]

Ok. Some I've ripped all my dvds and blurays and am more than satisfied with the results I've gotten from MakeMKV. Now I'm in the process of converting some other videos for playback in XBMC. The short of it is that I'm clueless what kind of settings I should use in my Aimersoft converter.

Here are the options:
Video
Encoder: H264 or Xvid
Resolution: keep original, 480, 720, 1080
Frame Rate: 12 - 30 fps
Bit Rate: keep original, 512 - 3000 kbps

Audio:
Encoder: AAC, AC-3, MP#
Channel: 2, 6
Sample Rate: 44100Hz, 48000Hz
Bit Rate: 96 - 320 kbps

I understand somewhat about adjusting these for things that I know the current format on (dvds, bluray), but these are videos from on-demand sources. I'm not really concerned about the size of the file, quality of playback is most important.

[Prof Yaffle]

If quality is most important, don't re-encode at all.

If you have to re-encode for some reason, H.264 is the better CODEC, and keep the resolution and frame rate - you can play with the bit rate then to achieve the required goal. Most encoder I've looked at allow you to specify a reduction factor - RF > 20 will start to degrade your video, although it all is very dependent on the quality of your source.

Audio, I'd probably leave alone - I've never found it relevant to overall file size since the video stream is by far the larger chunk. And, again, if you're not worried about file size then there's really no reason to re-encode it.

The only caveat to all of this, of course, is "what are you planning on playing it on?" - if you have to have a 480p MP4 with AC3 sound for a particular device then then that kind of dictates the whole process.

EDIT - a final "esprit de l'escalier" thought: you can never add quality, only take it away - any re-encoding will lose something, and you can't create pixels where there aren't any (well, you can, but they're interpolated/upscaled).

[dfborn]

Yeah. I'm playing it back on our hdtv (1080p) from our media server and they have to be converted so that they'll play outside of the software program from the retailer we purchased them from.

[ertman]

I thought you were playing it through xbmc?

[Prof Yaffle]

And whatever you're playing it in, is the limitation one of CONTAINER or CODEC? Very different - many TVs and DLNA players/renderers can't cope with, say, .mkv files but are quite happy with the H.264 stream embedded within one if it's re-wrapped into an MP4 container. That's now a very quick exercise in simply remuxing, and won't impact the quality at all.

[dfborn]

Sorry, we have a Mac mini with xmbc that play the file that's stored our server. The files are wmv and won't play outside of proprietary software. Since I purchased them, I want to be able to play them back however I want...

[nickr]

Wmv play on xbmc. Is the problem encryption?

[dfborn]

Yes. I know that wmv play on xbmc. These either have some sort of encrpytion or propriety encoding so that they only play in their app. But converting them, removes this...

[nickr]

Do you have a sample?

[Piers]

Video
x264 - free encoder
Keep resolution (crop bars if needed)
Keep frame rate
CRF of 19 for good quality
Profile 4.0 or lower, Apple TV doesn't support higher
(I can give you many more advanced options if you need them)

Audio
Mux AC3 if available
Othwise AAC
Same channels as source
Same sample rate as source
Bit rate - depends on source, absolute minimum 96 with AAC

If you can upload a sample somewhere it would be helpful

[fritsch]

Don't change the framerate, don't use variable framerate, stick to a H264 Profil without manually tuning.

[Piers]

But do stick with a CRF of 19 or above (the higher the CRF the lower the quality and file size. Anything below 18/19 is overkill, even for Blu-ray content).. Tuning is fine but only if you know what the settings do.