iphone conversion

[sg1969]

Hi, new to the forum, wasn't sure to post in Newbie or in here. Please move accordingly

My question is regarding converting video files for the iPhone (3G if that matters). I would like to find the right tool for this.

Mostly I will be converting files like avi, mkv, etc so this is my main concern. I am not too bothered about ripping from DVDs for the time being.

I am more concerned about quality than file size. Because of this, I would like to be able to tweak some of the basic settings, like bitrate for audio/video, the simple stuff, as I do not know that much about video encoding (yet).
I don't really like the "one click and forget" tools, as I prefer a bit more control.

I tried Videora converter, and although this produces mostly OK output, I find it very buggy and simply does not work some of the time.

Looking around here, I thought of trying MeGUI. Do you think this would suite my needs? Is it hard to configure, or will I get the hang of it with time as well as, to some extent, trial and error (I don't want to spend too much time messing around).
It would be great to have a preset profile for iPhone video, with the abilty to tweak this, but as long as quality is good, I'm not fussy about this.
And if it does not have presets, can anyone tell me the requirements for a compatible iPhone video? I have the following specs taken from apple site. is there anything additional I need to know in order to achieve a compatible file with good quality?

H.264, up to 1.5mbps, 640x480, 30 fps, low complexity baseline (not sure what this one means, if anyone could advise), AAC-LC audio up to 160kbps, 48KHz stereo

H.264, up to 2.5mbps, 640x480, 30fps, up to level 3.0 baseline profile (again not sure what this means), AAC-LC audio up to 160kbps, 48KHz stereo

MPEG-4 videeo, up to 2.5mbps, 640x480, 30fps, simple profile, AAC-LC audio up to 160kbps, 48KHz stereo

of the above 3 formats, I'm guessing the best quality would be the second option (though I think 1.5mbps should be enough) Is that correct?
Will MeGUI allow me to select the "baseline" or AAC level for video? (i do not know what this means)

I would appreciate any input from people experienced with this. Whenever I convert a video, the quality is lower than expected, and even increasing bitrate most times doesn't make much difference. how can I achieve quality seen in professional video podcasts on apple store? I am very impressed with the quality on some of these podcasts. Is it a matter of the source itself, or do they use professional (ie expensive) software for this? Or is it simply experience?

thank you.

[guns1inger]

Xvid4PSP is pretty foolproof, and also gives you access to some pretty complex avisynth filters if you need them, without actually getting your hands dirty with scripts. It has presets for most devices. Well worth a look.

[sg1969]

thanks for the suggestion. Had a look at the description and comments, and looks promising.
I am also going to try MeGUI and the trial version of tmpgenc moviestyle. I don't mind paying for a product if it means good quality, but I also noticed a lot of the recommended encoders are open source or free anyway.
Also on my list to try is CloneDVD Mobile, but not sure if this can handle anything other than VOB files.

Also if anyone could comment on the choice of format I posted above: what is more likely to give better quality: MPEG-4 up to 2.5mbps, or H.264 up to 2.5mbps?
I read somewhere they test iPhones with 1.5mbps videos. Would it be overkill to go over this? Also, does anybody know about battery usage, etc with bitrates higher than 1.5mbps? Sorry, a bit off topic :P
My main concern, like I said, is to find the right tool, I'll worry about settings etc later :P

[bitlord]

I think you should try xvid4psp if you are not very familiar with advanced video converting programs like MeGUI. In xvid4psp there is already an iphone profile (or ipod touch, i don't really remember). I think it's very unnecessary to use mpeg-4 as a codec, since h.264 is a much better codec. And i also thing using 2500 kb/s is a little too much, 1500 kb/s will be enough, or even less since h.264 works very well at low bitrates. Also xvid4psp can open almost any video file since it uses avisynth.

[sg1969]

thanks for the advice.
for some reason xvid4psp kept giving me errors about not finding any audio output... not sure if it's a glitch, or if i'm doing something wrong (the original .avi has mp3 audio, and plays fine wmp, vlc, mpc)
I tried twice, then gave up.

tried the same file with Handbrake (win) and this worked perfectly, and got great quality. So I think I will keep using this tool for the time being.