Help! M4V or MKV? Staxrip Audio Setting?

[consultant]

I'm trying to create a music video library to stream to my PS3. I'm experimenting with different tools. Currently I've settled on DVD Decrypter + Staxrip. I tried Handbrake but got spotty results (some jerkiness in the video with about same filesize as staxrip encode - not sure why.)

Anyway, some of these music videos I see on the packaging it may have a DTS logo or a Dolby AC3 Digital Logo. My receiver which the PS3 goes through via HDMI is capable of pretty much every audio format including DTS/DTS-HD, Dolby Digital, etc.

I did some reading and am I correct in that MP4/M4V the audio has to be reencoded in AAC? I want to avoid having to transcode all my music video rips again so I want to encode to the codec and file format that will have the best quality/longevity. When I was trying out some encoders I noticed when I select MKV it gave me a DTS passthru option.

Should I encode everything to MKV? But if I do that, does that mean the PS3MediaServer will transcode it anyway, introducing some degradation in quality or does it transcode the M4V files anyway (even if the bitrate is low enough for my network?) or does it not matter since MKV is just a container for x264 video and the only difference is the audio format that the container can support?

If there's no disadvantage to streaming MKV instead of MV4 to PS3 via PS3MediaServer, then I would assume it is better to encode to MKV in case I will be using a different playback device in the future that supports MKV?

Also, Staxrip has a gazillion audio profiles. How do you determine which one to choose? I was selecting AAC 5.1 200-250kbps. If the music video has an AC3 or DTS soundtrack, should I be selecting something else for better quality? Is there a way to make Staxrip just automatically choose good quality based on the source audio?

[writersblock29]

It all depends on how you're going to play back your files (now, and in the future). Myself, I play my movies through a home theater PC that I built myself, and it can decode AAC 5.1 streams--so in order to save a little more space, I always re-encode my AC3 streams to that. If you were planning on feeding your files into a receiver, your best bet is to leave the audio as AC3 or DTS, and convert to MKV; you really don't save all that much space for re-encoding AC3 (although I feel it's worth doing for DTS), and that's really the point to re-encoding to AAC.

As far as whether or not you can hear the difference... well, that's subjective--and also dependant on your playback equipment. My own rig, using an MSI Diva/D2Audio 5.1 amp card, plays both pretty transparently; I can't hear a bit of difference between the original and the copy.

The file extensions can get confusing. To keep things as universal as possible, a general rule is that MP4 uses AAC audio, while MKV allows AC3 or DTS. M4V--if I understand the guys who programed Handbrake--is more to make the MP4 file friendlier to Apple, but is essentially just an MP4 file. (If I'm wrong on this, I welcome the correction from someone with more knowledge than I have!) I am aware of some programs that allow you to create MP4 files using AC3/DTS, but you sacrifice universal playback by creating those; you're better off making MKV.

The only real way to completely future-proof your backups is to rip the entire disk to hard drive, and let that be that; you can always burn the resulting files to a dual-layer DVD+R, and it will behave exactly like the original disk. Hard drives are getting larger by the month, it seems, and networks are getting more useful with faster routers... so it really depends on how far into the future you're willing to look.

[consultant]

Hey, thanks for the thoughtful reply!

I've been experimenting mostly with Staxrip and Handbrake. I've settles on Staxrip as I can add an entire folder of chapter VOBS instead of having to select them individually and the end result mp4 is good quality for the size. I thought about just saving all my VOBS but I was thinking at some point I may want to stream over the Internet to another location or copy the files and my MP4's are coming out at about 1/3 the size of the VOBs so they take less space are easier to stream and video quality is very close to DVD. It I ripped movies I would go higher quality, but the music videos I want mostly for the music first, and the video second. Blu-Rays I'll probably rip to 720p as I think 1080p is overkill unless it is a REALLY cool concert video.

As far as audio, I'm encoding AAC 5.1 HE VBR 0.4 (256kbit) I watch the bitrate while viewing on my PS3 of the original VOB then the MP4 and it is almost the same - even though it says 0.4 target is 256kbit it jumps around in the mid 300's to low 400's where the vob is just slightly higher since its target is 448kbit so audio is virtually identical to the original. That's the important thing.

I was going to encode to MKV since PS3MediaServer will transcode it, but that's the problem, the startup and FF/RW response while watching transcoded streaming MKV is so much slower than watching an MP4 that I opted for the MP4 instead of MKV to avoid having to transcode it. Again if I were ripping movies, I would use MKV in order to preserve the DTS track, as-is.

All in all, this was a lot more work getting up to speed and getting a process set than I expected and I'm pretty tech/media saavy. I can see why now there isn't anywhere you can by DVD quality music videos in MP4 format anywhere where there are tons of MP3/AAC stores (iTunes, Amazon, etc.) With the record industry hurting I'm surprised they haven't started offering music video download services for extra revenue. I guess the file size are still too large for your average consumer to deal? I'd pay $1.50 per video instead of having to rip my DVDs, but I guess I like being in control of the encoding settings so I know exactly what I'm getting.

[writersblock29]

You're very welcome, and I hope I helped. 256kbps is what I encode my audio to as well, even though I've read in more than a few places that anything over 160kbps is overkill. I figure if my audio tracks are knocked down anywhere from 1/2 to 2/3 of their original size--but I still can't detect a difference--things must be great. Most video files are still like a Gig and a half at CRF=18, and the few cases I've used CRF=16, movies might range in the 3-4 Gig range. (Standard DVD, and depends on length and picture complexity: Inglourious Basterds is about two and a half hours long, but clocks in at 1.12GB using CRF=18/256kbs AAC--which amazed me.)

It's all about being happy!