I think I need a step by step. So I ripped Avatar from a dvd using dvdfab. I chose main movie and Dvd9. This gave me a 7 gig file. I used handbrake to convert to mp4 at 480 x 272 or something on ipod legacy setting. When I put that file on the phone, it is 2 gigs. Does that seem too big? How can I compress this without a huge loss in quality? It plays perfect right now.
That sounds a bit big. Titanic is a 3 hour movie, and ripped with a 480x?, it is under 600mb. I do slide the quality in the video tab on Handbrake down to 50% and it looks great. And I also ripped a full resolution version, without reducing the video quality from its 60ish default setting, and that is 2gb. BTW, I didn't do a 2 step rip as you did - I used Handbrake (plus DVD Fab passkey) to directly rip the DVD.
I use Nero 9, it lets you specify a target size. I use AnyDVD to enable making copies of the discs I own to watch on my phone.
No need to do as 2 steps with DVDfab and handbrake. All you have to use is DVDFab. In DVDFab you need to choose "DVD to Mobile" not "DVD to DVD". After choosing "DVD to Mobile" then select movie you want to encode (usually longest selection). Then choose "Generic", un-select subpicture, and change profile (below) to "generic.mp4.h264.aac". Then select "edit" and change to 800x___ which will give you movie at native resolution on the Incredible. It will crop automatically so it will vary from 800x338 to 800x438 depending on aspect ratio. I encode at 23.976 fps. You want to then change the bitrate to get the quality you like. I like to target .12 bits/pixel (at right). I change audio to 64 kbps, volume to 150%, and stereo. I run 2 passes. If you need to encode faster go with 1 pass. By doing the above your movies will end up being being 700 - 900 mb usually. Good luck!
I did this and the file came out 233 meg and doesn't play. Any ideas? I set device to iPhone. Should I be using to mp4?
I'm not sure which profile you are using. I'm not really familiar with ipod/iphone profiles. At only 233 mb you are probably doing something wrong. How long is film and what is the aspect ratio? 2.35:1...1.78:1? What profile do you select? "Ipod.h264"? "Ipod.mpeg4"? "iPhone"? After you choose profile below and then edit (to right of profile) what is the resolution selected at right? Next to resolution (in edit screen) what is Bits/pixel listed? I can only tell you what I do that works. I like my videos at native resolution so I always go 800 wide. I do not believe any of ipod profiles go 800 wide so I do not use them (I think the max for ipod/iphone profiles is 720). I see no point in only going 720 wide when they are not native resolution and they are nearly the same file size as 800 wide. If you want to do 800 wide follow my instructions in other post. The "iPhone" profile only goes 480 wide at correct aspect ratio. 480 wide movies look OK on Incredible and file sizes are much smaller than native resolution. If you want to go 480 wide I suggest using the "BlackBerry Storm" profile in "cell phones" under DVD to Mobile. I now this profile works for Incredible. Edit: I just noticed you were doing Avatar. Long movie at full 1.78:1. At 480x272 you should end up around 650mb and at 800x450 you should end up at about 1.4gb.
Do your DVD's at 720x480 that is the DVD's native res and will still fit the the full screen in the default movie player and Act1. Encoding a 720x480 movie (when taken from a DVD) comes out to the exact same size of an 800x480 encoded movie. You are not gaining or adding anything by going 800x480 you are only stretching out the image (and sometimes making it worse) during the encoding process. <---(Basically if you want the movie to fill the entire screen it really doesn't matter, you are either going to stretch the movie out while encoding or after when you tell your video player to fit your movie to screen) Also I would keep bit rate (at a max of 1000) I have Avatar at 1.3 GB and it looks beautiful. There is really no noticeable difference between 1000 and 1500, except the 1500 takes up 500+ MB more spcae.
Encoding a 720x480 movie does not come out the same as 800x480 movie. those are completely different aspect ratios. 720x480 is not 16:9 widescreen (it is 1.5:1). Anamorphic NTSC DVD resolution is 852x480 not 720x480. 852x480 is the largest resolution you can encode from a NTSC DVD. A 1.78:1 movie encoded at 800x448 will look better than one encoded at 720x480.
I was talking about a movie being stretched to fit the entire screen. Again if the source material is 720 anything wider is a stretched view whether it comes during the encoding process or the media player stretching the screen. As far as aspect ratios go on a screen the size of the Incredible you have a few choices but to even argue about any of them is splitting hairs.
Not much point in doing 800xnnn because that exceeds the quality of the source DVD. In my experience, iPod settings look great on the Incredible - 480xnnn. I cannot tell that it isn't razor sharp.
Go to DVD Fab's website and download/install DVD Fab Passkey. Then you can use Handbrake to rip your movie directly from DVD to mp4.
