Help choosing a format to convert files to.

[jhonyquest97]

Im using wondershare on my mac to store them on a external hardrive so i can bring it anywhere i go. I've been using apple tv mpeg-4 720x432 but was wondering if i use h.264 1280x720 will it be better quality. It seems to take about 2 times as long to copy the movies if i use h.264. Or is there a better format to use? Sprry if this is an easy topic.. im just kinda new to this and theres so much info on here i dont even know where to start...

[guns1inger]

What is your source ?

If it is SD (DVD or downloaded material) then there is nothing to be gained by upscaling to 1280 x 720. The quality will likely be lower, and if it is taking only twice as long, almost certainly the quality will be far lower.

[jhonyquest97]

All my sources are my dvds.

[guns1inger]

Then keep it simple and encode them as SD resolutions (i.e. 720 x nnn). Unless you are using a super-resolution type upsampler, simply resizing up to 720p resolution will do nothing by require far larger bitrates while producing a far softer image.

I would still encode to H264 for the best quality/size, however I would probably use quality based encoding. Unless you are intending to play the files back on an Apple TV, I would avoid using Apple TV settings as they are of medium quality due to limitations imposed by the device.

[jhonyquest97]

So the larger the bitrate the softer the images...


Using the same dvd here are my options..

mpeg 2 movie -- 720 ---- 4000 kbps
avi xvid-----------640 ----- 1500
m4v Mpeg 4 -----640 ----- 1500
Mpeg 4 movie---640 ----- 1500
Apple tv mp4 --- 720 ---- 1500 kbps
appletv h264 --- 720----- 4000 kbps

Are the larger file sized ones just wasting my time and theyre all just as good.

I'm playing the movies back off of the external hardrive i have. I dont really care about the size of the files but just quality and time that it takes. Thanks again for your help!

[guns1inger]

Not the larger the bitrate. The softness of the image comes from enlarging to 1280 x 720.

The only two I would question are the mpeg-2 files, where 4000 seems to be on the low side, but it depends on the actual video, and the H264 @ 4000, which seems high.

If you convert the mpeg-2 to H264 then you can probably get away with 1500 or thereabouts.

The Xvid/mpeg-4 (non-H264) material will only lose quality from being re-encoded, and probably doewsn't deserve a lower bitrate unless the quality is very low already.