Building the Ultimate Apple TV Media Center - Part One: “The Waiting” (Ripping Your Own Content)
Since you have no doubt heard by now that the tv has been delayed, I thought this would be an excellent time to share some tips that will make your impending digital home theatre experience all the more sweet. As an added challenge, I will try to subtitle each entry with a Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers song. So, here we go!
In this installation, I want to tackle content. Apple offers movies on the iTunes Store now, but who wants to pay for iTunes-compatible versions of movies they already own? Who wants to wait for all the legal battles to be fought so that they can finally download their favorite films on iTunes? Not this Mac addict.
The solution I pursued was making iTunes and tv-compatible H.264 Quicktime files of all of my DVDs. Yes, the process was long and arduous, but it is starting to be worth its weight in gold! (How much does a Quicktime file weigh, anyhow?)
So, while you wait on your tv to ship, you can digitize your DVD library! Here’s how!
The application that actually rips content from DVDs quite marvelously is called HandBrake . You can use it in two ways. Rip DVDs one at a time from your optical drive, or, by “enabling queue”, you can reduce wear and tear on your drive and set HandBrake up to rip from DVD Images stored on a local volume. This is a great feature! This made it possible for me to set up DVD ripping while I did more important things like… sleep! - something easily forgotten about when HandBrake takes over your life.
Enabling queue, and ripping DVD Images is made possible by MacTheRipper . Though, most DVD images these days run around 5 - 8GB in size, so make sure you have plenty of hard drive space available in the ripping stage, and remember to pace yourself! As tasks in your queue are completed, more data is added to that volume. When HandBrake finishes, put your Quicktime files somewhere safe, and trash those DVD images.
What are the best settings to use for HandBrake? Good question! I chose to use the settings that most closely compared to the format of movie files downloadable from iTunes and those playable on tv:
Video formats supported: H.264 and protected H.264 (from iTunes Store): 640 by 480, 30 fps, LC version of Baseline Profile; 320 by 240, 30 fps, Baseline profile up to Level 1.3; 1280 by 720, 24 fps, Progressive Main Profile. MPEG-4: 640 by 480, 30 fps, Simple Profile
In HandBrake I chose thse settings:
File Format: MP4 file
Codecs: H.264/AAC
Framerate: Same as Source
Encoder: Baseline Profile
Average Bitrate (kbps): 1500
2-pass encoding: Check
Picture Settings: 640 x ____ (it varies depending on the aspect ratio)
Things to think about:
Storage How large is your DVD collection? Your CD collection? How often do you plan on adding to it?
Access How available do you want your media to be? (Did somebody say 17″ shower-mounted iMac?)
Stay tuned for Part Two!
