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iPod 5G..What video format should I choose?
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Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA USA SUNSHINE STATE
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Hi....I have some questions in which format would best suit me in both video quality, sound quality and battery life. I use a program called Handbrake, is it good or are better ones out there? If so, which? Handbrake gives me 2 video options MPEG-4 Video and AVC H.264 Video....Which one would give me a better video quality? WHich would give me a better battery life? From Apple's specs it seems that the H.264 format only supports a max of 768 kbps, would that give me a good video quality? Also, when I encode my videos in the iPod format, I was thinking should I use the 320x240 size or should I use 640x480 just in case Apple comes out with a bigger screen iPod? I know that this is a lot of stuff, but I've been really indecisive, since it takes so long to encode a movie, I would wanna do it only once and keep it for a long time...Any help will be appreciated... 
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Houston, TX
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Better quality? H.264
I'm not sure about battery life. Encode at 320x240 and save your source material.
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Senior User
Join Date: Oct 1999
Location: Sin City™, USA
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Mark is right. H.264 provides far better quality and at lower file sizes.
I use Handbrake as well, but have really fallen in love with an application called Podner.
http://www.splasm.com/products/productpodner.html
Apple has "asked" the company to pick a different name, so keep an eye out if it changes before you get a chance to try it out. It spits out great quality stuff with no hassle or guess work. Have no idea whether one format is easier on the battery than another. Not even sure if there is a difference. Perhaps smaller file sizes with H.264 will result in less reading from the disc, but I'm just guessing. As for trying to prepare ahead for a larger screen video iPod... don't know what to say except echo Mark; Keep your originals. The iPod won't take 640x480, anyway.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Dangling something in the water… of the Arabian Sea
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The iPod can display H.264 only up to 320x240 anyways. If you use Handbrake, make sure you keep your bitrates below 768 Kbps, and use the Baseline (not Main) profile. If you use a 128 Kbps audio bitrate, You can get good quality at under 600 Kbps total.
However, if you're going to use the iPod to display the video on a TV, I'd stick to MPEG4, at 480x360 (and a higher bitrate). At the same resolution and same bitrate, H.264 looks much better than MPEG4, but for MPEG4 the iPod can accept higher resolutions and bitrates, which would look better on a TV.
P.S. I have never tried Podner, but you can also use QuickTime Amateur (free). Doesn't worked with MPEG2 muxed audio however, cause it's dependent upon QT, which doesn't have that feature. QT Amateur basically gives you QT Pro's main feature set for free, including the one-step QT for iPod export functionality.
(Last edited by Eug Wanker; Mar 12, 2006 at 10:08 AM.
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