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  1. Hi all

    I wish to transcode my BD and DVD library so that I can enjoy the movies on my Samsung UE46D8000 TV, Windows PC and iPad, streamed from my WDC MBL NAS via Twonky.
    Ideally I would like to produce a single file at the highest possible quality and use as few software products as possible.
    File size is not an issue, nor network bandwidth or transcoding time (Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit i7-980X with 24GB RAM).
    I have experimented with AnyDVD, Handbrake, MakeMKV, WinX DVD Ripper, Aiseesoft Blu-Ray Ripper and a few others. I also have MediaInfo installed so I can examine the results of my transcoding.
    Whilst I have produced files that each device can play, I have been unable to produce something starting from Blu-Ray that can be played on every device.
    The TV seems to be the fussiest. Despite the seemingly generous range of formats that it claims to support in the e-manual, I am really struggling to produce anything that works - the TV seems to like rejecting my efforts with a generic unsupported file format message. I have also encountered poor quality playback on the PC and a lack of sound on the iPad with some of the formats that I have tried.
    Ideally I would use a combination of AnyDVD for copy protection removal with Handbrake for transcoding. Can anyone help me find the right settings for Handbrake?
    Thanks in hopeful anticipation ...

    Simon
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  2. Banned
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    Freedonia
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    What exactly are you using for PC playback? This is probably the easiest problem to solve. WMP is a piece of sh*t so if you are using that, you'd be much better off with something like VLC or MPC-HC.

    TVs are well known for being extremely restrictive in what they can play. I really don't know if you can find anything that the iPad and the TV both will play. I'm not familiar with your TV, but for the iPad, probably using VLC would solve your playback problems there. Honestly, using the TV's media player is usually a waste of time because of all the limitations they typically have, so most of us have media players of various types like Roku, Western Digital, and so on that we use instead.
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  3. Dear jman98

    Thanks for your quick and helpful reply.
    I have a range of media players for the PC including VLC, iTunes, Cyberlink in addition to WMP so not a big problem on the PC other than some formats producing pixelated results.
    On the iPad I'd like to use Media Connect as my preferred player with FlexPlayer onboard to provide additional codec support.
    The TV is the main sticking point. I attach the relevant pages of the manual in case it helps.
    I'm not sure how the media players that you list would output to my TV, but maybe I'm being dumb (this is a newbie post ...).
    Image Attached Thumbnails TV Supported Video Formats.pdf  

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  4. Banned
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    Freedonia
    Search Comp PM
    Couple of issues that may be biting with Handbrake. And I'm NOT a Handbrake user, so I can't help you fix these. I can only advise you that they are possibly problems.

    Handbrake likely does automatic cropping of letterboxed video, so you'll have to turn that off to play on the TV. Anything not exactly 1920x1080, like 1920x880 or whatever, probably won't work.

    Handbrake by default (I think) usually makes AAC audio and this can be a problem on some playback devices. The info above says it's supported, but there may be restrictions like it works in MP4 but only in 2 channel and not in 5.1. What exactly is the format of the audio you are producing? That is likely a problem for some of your devices.
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  5. Thanks again, jman68 - very helpful

    The issues you highlight ring some bells. I did try turning off cropping, but that didn't fix the problem.
    I have also wondered about the audio. I'd like to ensure my output is as good as my source. So, for a DVD the audio will be 2.0 but for Blu-Ray I'd like to have 5.1. I also wondered whether I should fix the frame rate rather than having it variable. Although the TV seems to support a range of frame rates, perhaps the variable option exceeds the maximum at times.

    Any Handbrake experts around to add to jman68's helpful hints ...
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