Looking for perfect recipe for car unit (Pioneer AVH-X2800BS)

[6mon]

Hi guys!

We recently changed the entertainment system in the minivan (from stock Dodge system to a Pioneer AVH-X2800BS) and it opened the possibility of having movies on a USB stick : no more DVDs to manage!!

But little that I know, finding the secret sauce was not easy! (I have to admit I wasted way too much time with other converter software that were total crap. Even paid ones were junk! Praise Handbrake!!)

Now, on paper, the device supports a wide variety of containers (avi, mp4, 3gp, mkv and mov) and has some restrictions for each (see here for the scarce details).

Using Handbrake, I've only been able to use MKV as container. Whatever I put in a MP4 the radio won't read it. And since HB doesn't do the others, well, I use MKV.

So far I haven't had been able to use MP3 as audio. AAC works but it's bad. It's choppy at moment and terrible at others. AC-3 (192 kb/s) is what I use now and it's all good.

Video has been more problematic. Blindly fiddling with the controls, I managed to find an acceptable configuration but it's not yet perfect. Basically some parts of the movie really are choppy/blocky. Not sure what the exact technical term is, see here for an example.

This file was converted using Handbrake and the settings listed in line 16 (ID 1b-4) of this document. The conversion log is also provided in the spreadsheet.

But the video itself is problematic. It's not that the radio is not powerful enough to decode : reading the file in VLC yields the same results.
So basically I have to choose between glitchy video (1b) or nicer (1.2) but the radio isn't capable of decoding...

Some guys had more luck using other converters. I tried DIVX Converter and Total video converter but hated the GUI and didn't felt like I could really control what was going on. I really want to stick to Handbrake as I feel it's the best out there but I might be wrong. Thoughts?

Regarding all the formats that don't work (and should), I contacted Pionner and besides the proverbial RTFM, all I got from them is

Ideal frame rate [SIC] for this resolution is going to be 400-1000 kbps.

Thanks, drone, very helpful. I wrote back but never heard from them.

[Case]

While the screen resolution is 800×480 px, the section “Video files compatibility (USB)” says 640×360 px max, as described on page 65 of the manual? This also means you should have an encoder level (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC level) of 3, as level 2.2 or lower doesn't facilitate the video resolution at the normal framerate. So your attempts with level 1.0/1b/1.1/1.2/1.3/2.0/2.1 were out of spec.

[6mon]

While the screen resolution is 800×480 px, the section “Video files compatibility (USB)” says 640×360 px max, as described on page 65 of the manual?

Where do you get 800X480 from? AFAIK my files were all 640x336.

This also means you should have an encoder level (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC level) of 3, as level 2.2 or lower doesn't facilitate the video resolution at the normal framerate. So your attempts with level 1.0/1b/1.1/1.2/1.3/2.0/2.1 were out of spec.

Are you suggesting an encoder level based on the target resolution alone? I'm asking because I tried numerous times to get the Pionner support to help me select the right level and never got an answer. I thought the level had to do with the devices capabilities, not only the resolution... And I tried using higher levels than 1b (namely 1.1, 1.2 and 2.0) and the video kept freezing (for up to 10 seconds) on a frame so I figured I needed to go lower on this setting. You think my reasonning might be wrong on this?

[Case]

AFAIK my files were all 640x336.

Ok. You hadn’t mentioned that yet.

Are you suggesting an encoder level based on the target resolution alone? I thought the level had to do with the devices capabilities, not only the resolution...

It does have to do with the decoder’s capabilities. “A level is a specified set of constraints that indicate a degree of required decoder performance for a profile.” [1] Not just resolution, but the combination of profile, resolution, framerate, and bitrate.
• A decoder (player) intended for level 3 and below doesn’t have to play level 5.1 files, as far as decoding speed, frame size, bitrate, etc. goes. A file with characteristics of level 3, could have metadata saying level 5.1. Such a file could be rejected needlessly.
• A file with characteristics of level 5.1, could have metadata saying level 3. Such a file may play badly or not at all in a level 3 decoder, because the actual movie requires more than the decoder was meant to handle.
These two are arguments to set the level not too low and not too high, but exactly on point, as outlined in the wiki table.
640×336@24 is less than the maximum for level 3, and more than the maximum for one level lower. Thus level 3 would be appropriate.

[Case]

Regarding all the formats that don't work (and should), I contacted Pionner and besides the proverbial RTFM, all I got from them is

Ideal frame rate [SIC] for this resolution is going to be 400-1000 kbps.

I read that as bitrate should stay below 1000 kbps, but one won’t know how strict that is, when they speak of “ideal”. You won’t know the maximum/peak bitrate with HandBrake’s “Average bitrate” or “Constant Quality”. Perhaps you need to add something to the Additional Options to specify a maximum bitrate?

H.264 AVC levels

I think it might be best the set Encoder Options>Level to “auto”, and let HandBrake decide which level fits best for all the settings. I’m confident that HandBrake gets it right.
The tooltip in HandBrake for “level” says it will override all other settings, which may result in unexpected weird stuff for conflicting settings as manually setting “level 1” with a resolution@framerate of “640×336@24”.