The AppleTV was release by Apple in mid-2007 with a mixed receiption. Being a movie AND gadget freak this seemed like a perfect device for me to check out. So to go with my new LG HDTV I got one. I’ve since started ripping DVDs and watching them via the AppleTV. My first entry will be how I do this, and the results. This tutorital and review will be from a Mac OS X perspective.On glaringly missing feature is the ability to play a DVD from an iTunes computer to the AppleTV. I can only assume they did this because they want you to buy the movies from the iTunes store. Lame really, but nothing you can do about that at this point. But a big draw is the ability to stream media to my TV. I want that to include DVDs.
Edit: You can use this to just rip it for use in iTunes as well.
The Apple TV format
The formats that will be used is called H.264 for video an AAC for audio. Both formats are pushed heavily by Apple. Both are also MPEG-4 standard formats and are in used by many other groups.H.264 is popular and used now by YouTube among other groups. If you’ve ever watched an HD movie trailer from Apple it is in that format. Apple supports H.264 in all of its productions from OS X, to the AppleTV, to the iPod, and the iPhone. AAC is used by the Apple, Sony, Nokia and even Microsoft.
What The Ripping/Encoding Does
When you rip a dvd and then encode it for playback on something else you are doing a few things. The ripping is pulling the audo and video off the DVD, sometimes decrypting the content in the process. This process also removes region code controls from the movie as those are dvd specific. You will need hardware that can read that region disk though.When you encode you are taking the raw DVD stream and changing it to the new format. H.264/AAC in this case. The video and the audio are actually separate streams that are synched up in the file. This can lead to synch issues in some cases.
Is This All Legal?
There have been a lot of questions about the legality of ripping DVDs for use. The reality is under Fair Use you can rip a DVD for your own usage. You can’t distribute it to others though. The DMCA has thrown some of this in question due to the encryption on a DVD. The legal issues surrounding this are worth a post in and of itself and have been covered by others. Some good coverage can be found here and here. In the end though it comes down to this. Don’t put it online for the world to download, and do this only to DVDs you own. I don’t recommend you do anything else, nor do I condone it.
What You Need
The requirements for this are pretty simple actually. Of course you need an AppleTV and iTunes in order to actually watch these on one. But there is also some software you need to do the ripping and encoding needed. I use a program called Handbrake to do the ripping and encoding. It’s a really good app that has come a long way. The application itself is available for OS X, Linux and Windows. Of course you also need a DVD. I recently imported two movies: The Thing and Kill Bill Vol 1.
Getting and Installing Handbrake and PAD
The latest version of handbrake as of this writing is 0.9.1. which you can download from their download page. If you are using a Mac it’s simply a matter of mounting the DMG and copying the app to your application folder.
You’ll also need a little app name Parsley is Atomically Delicious to properly edit the information and add cover art once done. You can download here. Once downloaded click on the zip file and copy the program to your applications folder.
Steps:
Ripping and Encoding
The ripping and encoding of the DVD is fairly simple using Handbrake. Insert the DVD you would like to rip/encode. Your default settings might cause the DVD player to open, simply exit this and start Handbrake. When handbrake starts it will open up a window that asks you to select your source. The source is the DVD in question. Simply click on it in the window and select open. Handbrake will find the correct folder on the DVD. This folder is the one called VIDEO_TS.
Once you do this it will start scanning the DVD for all the information it needs When completed it will show you some presets and other options.
For the AppleTV choose the “AppleTV preset from the right sidebar. Make sure Title 1 is set in the Title dropdown. This is the whole movie. The chapters selections should go from one to the last chapter for the title. The listed duration will be for the whole movie. The preset will create a .MP4 file using the H.264 movie format.
Steps
1. Launch Handbrake and Select the DVD as your source.
2. Handbrake will read in the DVD information
Now it’s time to set all the encoding options and start the process.
Note: This will be the movie only none of the DVD screens or extras
Video Settings
For most uses the preset is perfectly fine. Next, select the Picture Settings button and see what the output will look like. If you see bars or strange colors on the screen you may need to set the Denoise feature. So far I’ve not found any one title that needs that. If I do I will post an update. I recommend you go through all the previews so you can see if any fine tuning is required. If your TV is a LCD or plasma you will need to set a deinterlace level. I recommend you use slow as your default. In most cases that does the job. Don’t use fast ever. If slow is not good enough step down into slower or slowest. One thing about handbrake though, the preview never shows any better than Fast. I am not sure why, but the preview is basically useless for getting a good sense of deinterlacing.
Steps:
1. Select AppleTV as the preset.
2. Set the picture settings. Make sure you select a Deinterlace method if your TV is a LCD or plasma.
Audio Settings
The audio settings will by default be set to English(AC3/5.1)/Dolby Pro Logic II. These settings should be fine for the most part. If you need another language select it. The Dolby Pro Logic II settings will set it for normal surround sound and will fallback properly for other support. The AppleTV supports this functionality. Don’t select 6-channel discrete as the AppleTV does not support that and will end up falling back to the Dolby Settings. I’ve read that 6-channel discrete can cause problems with some versions of quicktime as well.
Other Settings
You can look at the Chapter settings and rename chapters if you are wish. They are merely the names for the scene selections. I don’t recommend touching the advanced settings unless you are familiar with encoding. I won’t go into them here.
Starting the Encoding
There is no “Start button” for Handbrake. To being encoding first tell it where you want the output file to go. By default it goes to the desktop. You can change this and the name by clicking on browse and select where you want it to go. Once this is done you can either press <cmd-s> or Go to File->Start Encoding. Once started you will see a progress bar on the bottom with an estimated time. This time includes ripping, encoding and output the file. It’s usually between one and two hours on my iMac depending on the movie length.Steps:
- Select Browse and choose where to save the file.
- <Cmd>-<S> to start the encoding.
Adding Cover Art and Other Information
Once you’ve got the movie properly encoded and output you will need to add the cover art and some tag information. iTunes does not do this properly for some reasons. iTunes handles music fine but TV and Movies not so well when it comes to this. Using PAD is pretty simple actually. Launch the application and then enter the infomation you want. If you add artwork simply drag and drop the artwork to the sidebar that comes up when checking “Add Artwork”.
Adding It to Itunes
This is the easiest part really. Simply launch iTunes and select import. iTunes will do the rest. You should then be able to see it on your AppleTV if you are streaming. If you are syncing may need to have it reapply the sync. That should be it. Watch and enjoy!
Output Issues
Jerkiness
I’ve seen a few issues with the final output. The most notable is frame sync issues with text only. This is because of how NTSC works. If you live in North America or parts of Asia you will be using a NTSC TV. The DVDs you get are also encoded for this. The problem that can come up is the fact that movies are not recorded at the same framerate. NTSC is a higher framerate. There are ways to make this sync up as it were. The process is called telecining.
Depending on the type they used you can see some jerkiness. I’ve seen it mostly on black w/ white text or text only screens. The amount of jerkiness varies and you can re-encode to deal with it to some degree. I’ve never had it be so bad I had to do that.
Artifcating
When I first started doing this I encountered some artifacting on the output. Mostly with darker scenes. The solution was to set the de-noise and de-interlace levels. The later versions of handbrake are much better at avoiding this though. I recommend that you make sure you are using de-interlace to some level if you have a LCD/Plasma TV.If you have any tips, questions, or comments please leave them here. I’ll post any updates or answers to this article.
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