2009-06-17, 05:43 PM
Just thought I'd post some success I had, even though many may already have known this. With the HD transition and file sizes swelling, especially for movies, I'd been trying transcoding MPEG-2 format .ts files into H.264 encoded MP4 files.
Handbrake was working ok on 30 minute shows, but the output was unreadable for longer shows/movies. I didn't know there was a 4GB file size limit on MP4 files since I'd never hit it ripping DVD's. Once I checked the "Large File Size" box in Handbrake, the resulting files were readable by VLC player and GB-PVR. I guess this box creates a 64-bit encoded file, rather that 32-bit, so the size limit is removed at the expense of compatibility with iPods, etc.
I know you can set up GB-PVR to auto transcode everything to save disk space, but I prefer to selectively transcode anything I plan on keeping long term, rather than wasting CPU cycles transcoding something I'm going to watch once and delete. (Takes about 2x real time to do the transcode on my Core 2 Quad@3.6GHz, and would likely take ~8x real time on my Core Duo based media PC@2.3GHz that I run GBPVR on)
Here are my final Handbrake settings:
File Format - mp4
Encoding - H.264 (Large File Size)
Bitrate - 7000kb/s (results in 50% smaller file than original for both 720p and 1080i recordings)
Audio - AAC, Dolby PL II
Handbrake was working ok on 30 minute shows, but the output was unreadable for longer shows/movies. I didn't know there was a 4GB file size limit on MP4 files since I'd never hit it ripping DVD's. Once I checked the "Large File Size" box in Handbrake, the resulting files were readable by VLC player and GB-PVR. I guess this box creates a 64-bit encoded file, rather that 32-bit, so the size limit is removed at the expense of compatibility with iPods, etc.
I know you can set up GB-PVR to auto transcode everything to save disk space, but I prefer to selectively transcode anything I plan on keeping long term, rather than wasting CPU cycles transcoding something I'm going to watch once and delete. (Takes about 2x real time to do the transcode on my Core 2 Quad@3.6GHz, and would likely take ~8x real time on my Core Duo based media PC@2.3GHz that I run GBPVR on)
Here are my final Handbrake settings:
File Format - mp4
Encoding - H.264 (Large File Size)
Bitrate - 7000kb/s (results in 50% smaller file than original for both 720p and 1080i recordings)
Audio - AAC, Dolby PL II