Use higher resolution MPEG4s on the iPod Video

Nov 02, '05 05:22:00AM

Contributed by: QuadProcessPower

While waiting for my iPod Video to ship to my place, I had been ripping DVDs using MacTheRipper and then HandBrake to convert the videos to H.264. However, after receiving my iPod, I figured out something. Some people might already know this, but I thought I would put this hint out, just in case. On Apple's website, they say that the iPod Video can support MPEG4 file formats up to 480x480 at 30 frames per second. However, when I was using HandBrake to convert my VOBs to MPEG4, I accidently forgot to compress the screen size to around 480x207 (or whatever the size was for widescreen). So I wound up converting the movie at 704x304 pixels instead.

My friend tried a larger screensize using the H.264 file format, and he said that his iPod would not accept it. So I am not sure about that format, but MPEG4 seems to be working fine in a larger size than what Apple is promoting on their site. When we hooked up my iPod to our TV, the quality of the video was amazing! And when watching it on the iPod, it fit in the screen; there was no cropping.

I am using HandBrake to convert my ripped DVDs, and I am doing a 2-pass encoding with the average bitrate of 2500kbps, so the constant bitrate is somewhere around 1400kbps, since it is variable. My video encoded is FFmpeg and the audio bitrate is set to 128kbps. If anyone gets H.264 to work in a larger screensize, please post your results...

[robg adds: I can't confirm this, but if someone could and post a comment, that'd be great -- one of my main complaints about the iPod Video was that using the TV connection would result in an awful looking film, given the limited resolution. But if you can really store and play oversized MPEG4s, that makes the product somewhat more interesting...]

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