[sanford]

Pardon that I'm double-posting this, but I've just realized it really has more to do with software and media content than it does hardware, like the Apple TV and iPod.

Why is it that if I buy a movie or TV show, widescreen or regular 4:3, from the iTunes Store, I can use it on both my video iPod and my Apple TV, same file. But if I use the current version of Handbrake to convert one of my DVDs, if I use the Apple TV preset, the MP4 movie won't even copy to my iPod because it won't play on it; and if I use the iPod preset, it will sync with the Apple TV but it won't play -- I get a "no data found" message when I go to play the file on the Apple TV? Meaning I have to keep an iPod version and an Apple TV version of the file.

Really this is more of a curiosity than anything. If I buy from the iTunes Store I only need the one file for both the Apple TV and the video iPod. And if I convert from DVD with Handbrake I really only need create an iPod version for portability, because I can always just play the physical DVD on one of two devices on my main A/V system that play DVDs.

I'd like to know if it's possible to with Handbrake make an Apple TV version at Apple TV resolution that also plays on an iPod. Only reason being that I also have a PSP and software that converts MP4s to carry round on the PSP, and if I convert for the PSP an iPod version of a Handbraked DVD, I'm converting from a 640x480 max resolution MP4, while the PSP can do a true widescreen resolution, which I lose if I create an iPod-only DVD conversion with Handbrake. Converting an Apple TV version to PSP, I get the best possible PSP screen resolution conversion.

Again, I'm just wondering if it can be done; it's not such a deal, considering I can just zoom on the PSP screen the iPod->PSP conversion with surprisingly little loss of image clarity, and really only require the iPod version if I want to go portable, since it's just as easy to play the DVD itself as it is to play a conversion off the Apple TV.

[mduell]

Apple TV should play any file an iPod will play. But the iPod doesn't have the performance to play the higher bitrates/resolutions that the Apple TV supports.
Using the H.264 iPod (low complexity) profile at 1000kbps (with PAR off!) you should get a file that plays on all 3 devices.
Otherwise try posting in the Handbrake forums.

[sanford]

What's PAR? Where do I turn it off in HB? That was probably set on for the HB iPod preset, and what kept the Apple TV from recognizing the file that will play on the iPod.

[mduell]

PAR is picture aspect ratio... by off I mean turn anamorphic mode off.

It should be off for the iPod preset, and it works fine with ATV as far as I know.

I don't see any settings in the iPod preset that wouldn't work on ATV.

[sanford]

Gotcha. iPod and iPod output to a standard-def TV are 4:3 and can't stretch the anamorphic image horizontally to improve the geometry like the widescreen ATV can. I've seen what you mean. On 4:3 the anamorphic images gets squashed vertically; image fills more of the screen but everybody looks kinda tall and stringy.

But I know; the settings in the iPod preset seem fine for ATV. That's what got me. Copies over but still "no data found". I'm trying changing the file type to .m4v and re-syncing, just in case that's causing it to be unrecognized -- even though .mp4 works just fine with the ATV preset version. I doubt that's going to help.

I know there are some ways to set some special flags in ffmpeg and I'm wondering if Handbrake is doing that behind the scenes -- in other words, not in the visible options -- in the iPod preset, flags that just don't agree with the ATV.

At any rate, I have the DVD for playing on my HDTV and standard-def TVs; the iPod version -- which does work fine -- would be I all I really need for portability. I'm just curious why I can't get it to behave like I know it should.