I've been playing around, trying to find the best settings for converting DVD files (MPEG-2) to H.264 so that I can store everything in iTunes and watch it on the TV. Most of the stuff I have has been ripped using a DVD Recorder. I am in the UK and am using the PAL format. I want to keep it as true to the original as possible, including all interlacing.
If I use Handbrake, it tries to crop bits off and resizes to a weird dimension, so I have to work to switch all of that off. Also, even if I try to turn off all the decombing and deinterlacing options, including putting the :interlaced flag in the advanced options, when I play it back on the TV it has somehow destroyed the interlacing and no longer appears smooth.
I've also tried VisualHub, which is much more simple to set up and keeps the interlacing in fine by default. I find that also converting to H.264 using MPEG StreamClip works just as well. However, one thing I have noticed while converting a TV programme about Pink Floyd is that the conversion to H.264 is making some of the colours washed out. On the computer, the green seems a bit lighter, and on the TV the red looks more like pink. Here's a screen grab from QuickTime Player (left one is MPEG-2 and the other two are MP4 H.264):
Also, ripping from TV keeps some lines at the top of the screen which contain white dots (some kind of syncing data?)… If I crop the video so it removes them then obviously that makes the aspect ratio wrong… Does that affect how it will play back on a TV?
If anyone has some good tips on how best to rip stuff, please let me know!
Best Answer
If you're using an Apple TV to play this content on the TV I share your pain, and the time to convert everything is also a pain! This is an alternative suggestion, not an answer to your question.
If your main goal here is to simply watch the content, and you'd prefer not to have to rip, then perhaps XBMC to simply view it may be a better option for you (it was for me).
I gave up transcoding everything months ago because of the problems you describe, the long time it took to do it, and all of the steps to get it from the PVR and disc initially into iTunes. I then found XBMC for Mac; it plays the vast majority of formats without the need to convert anything, and maintains it's own library created from wherever you store the files. Obviously it won't be in iTunes, but I don't see that as an issue as most of the content is transitory and I don't keep it for long.
If you do use an Apple TV, then you could airplay to it while running XBMC, or if you're daring, you could jailbreak the device and install XBMC on it and share the folder with the shows.