"new Ipad" (3) , how do I get highest quality demo video on it ?

[Les Dittert]

Can someone summarize the recommended way to encode , using Prem cs5.5 or AE ?
I'm getting some unusual results with these , for example h264 is capped at 2000 pixels across.
When I try mp4, it is banding like crazy, even tho it's at 9MBit rate. Something is wacky !
My previous tests were from Fusion, but that is not my usual workflow component.
thanks

[Brian Iannone]

I personally would stay with H.264 at 1080p and a high data rate, but, perhaps the MPEG-4 encoding at 2K with a low data rate is producing results better than that of H.264 at 1080p with a high data rate.

Justin, were you able to tell if your MPEG-4 files at 2K+ looked better on the iPad's display than just a 1080p H.264 file?

[BillBarnes]

I ran a number of tests with 1080p h.264 vs 2k mpeg4 using the Timescapes 1440p trailer as a source. If you compare screen shots, edges looked slightly sharper (if there was no motion, or practically none) with 2k mpeg4 BUT in motion, h.264 looked much much better. h.264 retains a lot more detail in my opinion.

I was using handbrake at around 50Megabit for both. x264 vs ffmpeg mpeg4.

Bill

Edit: I'm not convinced they look as different in motion after further testing.

[Brian Iannone]

I ran a number of tests with 1080p h.264 vs 2k mpeg4 using the Timescapes 1440p trailer as a source. If you compare screen shots, edges looked slightly sharper (if there was no motion, or practically none) with 2k mpeg4 BUT in motion, h.264 looked much much better. h.264 retains a lot more detail in my opinion.

I was using handbrake at around 50Megabit for both. x264 vs ffmpeg mpeg4.

Bill

Sorry, but I just have to ask. :D What settings were you using in HandBrake? (I know, there's a lot...) Or, did you use a built-in preset?

[BillBarnes]

Lol, no worries dude, lemme make a list. I'll update this post asap.

Handbrake Settings:

H.264 Settings

OUTPUT SETTINGS:
container: mp4
large file size: no
web optimized: no
ipod 5g support: no

PICTURE:

width: 1920
height: 1080
keep aspect ratio: yes

anamorphic: none
modulus: 16

cropping: none

VIDEO FILTERS:
none

VIDEO:
video codec: h.264 (x264)
FPS: Same as source
quality: Avg Bitrate - 50,000 kbps
2 pass encoding: yes
turbo first pass: yes

AUDIO:
1 Track - AAC Passthrough

SUBTITLES/CHAPTERS:
none

ADVANCED:
I used the Regular Preset - High Profile's defaults
No DCT-Decimate: yes



MPEG 4 SETTINGS

All the same from above EXCEPT:

PICTURE:
Width: 2048
Height: 1152

VIDEO:
Video Codec: MPEG-4 (FFMPEG)

So i went back and looked at each file in CineXplayer and instead of taking screenshots I paused them and looked at it with the magnifying glass. I'll post some screen shots in a couple minutes for comparison.

edit: Might take a little longer for comparison stills, I'll reserve judgement until they're done.



It's pretty difficult to stop CineXPlayer on the same frame of 2 different videos, but these are pretty close. I took the screen shot, added the text and uploaded them. No changes to the images other than that. I'm honestly pretty surprised that the MPEG4 file did this well. If anyone has some 4k source material they'd like to see tested I be glad to take a look.

H264 Screenshot - Click Thumbnail for full image:


MPEG4 Screenshot - Click Thumbnail for full image:

[Andrew M.]

What I am seeing is that 2048 format is native to the iPad3 display so keeping it in this aspect ratio for iPad3 must produce less of Moire effect.
Especially visible when playing turbine-lines.mov file that is encoded at 2048 pixels (see posts from above).

I meant, aspecially not visible when playing 2048 file. (Morie not visible at all at 2048)

[Tom Lowe]

Hey guys, can you give me a summary of the findings thus far? I'm sure this will be of great interest to many iPad/resolution nerd/filmmaker types out thee.

Is it basically that H264 will only go up to 1920, but MPEG4 will work at 2048? To my eyes, the MPEG4 screenshot above looks better, but obviously I have not seen this in motion.

[Justin O'Neill]

I haven't been able to render 2048 h.264s with REDcine-X at all… It just crashes. I am able to render out 2048 MP4s at 32 Mbit per second no problem.

[Brian Iannone]

I haven't been able to render 2048 h.264s with REDcine-X at all… It just crashes. I am able to render out 2048 MP4s at 32 Mbit per second no problem.

If you want a 2048 H.264 file, you could try exporting Uncompressed from RCX, import that into Squeeze and then encode a level 4 or 4.1 H.264 file from there.

[Justin O'Neill]

Wow, this is surprising. Bumping the rez even a tiny bit to 2112x1111 isn't playable on the iPad: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5673574/retina-2112.mov