Guide to Video Encoding on the Mac

Now that we have entered an age of cheap storage that allows us to keep mass quantities of media on our computers, many people have begun keeping movie libraries on their hard drives. This can be great because it allows people to simply hook their computers up to the TV and have all their movies and TV shows at their fingertips. On the other hand, it can be a daunting task to a beginner. I will cover the simplest way to back your videos up right on your hard drive.

By far, the easiest, most streamlined program for the Mac is called Handbrake (http://handbrake.m0k.org/). The user does not need to install any special codecs, nor do they really need any video encoding knowledge beforehand. Handbrake makes the process into one step, since it rips right from the DVD, encodes, and saves the file on its own.

When start Handbrake with your DVD in the drive, it will automatically detect it and load it into the program. Under the "Source" section, you can select which title (usually the main movie) and chapters you would like to rip (most people want all of them). The "Destination" section lets you choose where you want your file to be saved, and what you would like to name it.

The "Output Settings" section is where the meat of the program is. It allows you to select the various video options for your file. For general purpose I would suggest using the avi file format with xvid encoding, since it is the most commonly used. If you are doing something Mac-specific, however (such as iPod or AppleTV), you will want to use MP4. In almost all cases you will want to select "same as source" for the framerate.

Under "Quality" you have a few choices to make. A good balance between file size and quality is to choose 1000 for an average bit rate, but feel free to experiment with different values. I usually do a few test rips with one chapter from the movie to find the exact settings I like.

Also, always use 2-Pass encoding. There is really no excuse not to. It will take longer to encode but will give you a higher quality video with the exact same size. The "Picture Settings" button will bring you to a window where you can size the video down. I like to make it a bit smaller since the overall quality will be higher.

When you have found the perfect settings, you may want to save them with the "New Preset" option under the Presets menu so you can use them again. Once you are ready, press "Start" and let your video encode.