What digital format

The best format for IOS devices is mp4 (H.264 video and AAC stereo audio). Then you can play them with the native video player. The main thing you would lose is surround sound. MP4 will also play easily on both Windows and Playstation. MKV might also work for you, but you would need to use a third-party player app on your iDevices.

Most SD-resolution movies are very watchable at about 1 mbits video rate with H.264. You'd have essentially full quality if you compressed to 2-3 mbits, DVDs use mpeg-2 video at 6-8 mbits, H.264 is much newer and has the same quality at half the bitrate.

For audio, I suggest 192 kbits AAC - that should be transparent for almost all material. 128 kbits is also fine, but the video takes most of the space, there is no reason to squeeze the audio too much.

A 1 mbit video rate gets you about a 1 GB mp4 for most movies - maybe rip one or two movies at that rate, and see if it works for you. Two-pass encoding is generally a good idea btw.

Iphone technical page says this :

Video formats supported: H.264 video up to 1080p, 60 frames per second, High Profile level 4.2 with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; MPEG-4 video up to 2.5 Mbps, 640 by 480 pixels, 30 frames per second, Simple Profile with AAC-LC audio up to 160 Kbps per channel, 48kHz, stereo audio in .m4v, .mp4, and .mov file formats; Motion JPEG (M-JPEG) up to 35 Mbps, 1280 by 720 pixels, 30 frames per second, audio in ulaw, PCM stereo audio in .avi file format

playstation says this :

MPEG-1 (MPEG Audio Layer 2) MPEG-2 PS (MPEG2 Audio Layer 2, AAC LC, AC3 (Dolby Digital), LPCM) MPEG-2 TS (MPEG2 Audio Layer 2) AVCHD (.m2ts / .mts) Memory Stick™ Video Formats MPEG-4 SP (AAC LC) H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile (AAC LC) AVI Motion JPEG (Linear PCM) Motion JPEG (u-Law) MP4 File Format H.264/MPEG-4 AVC High Profile (AAC LC) DivX and VC-1 (WMV)6 Requires PS3 system software version 2.10 or higher.

I think your best bet is H264 encoding in MP4 container. Motion jpeg is an option too, but not going higher than 720P on apple devices.
MKV is my personal favorite container for surround but won't play natively. You could check transcoding software if you want bu you'll need a powerful CPU on the server.

Edit : Stephen was faster. I fully agree with him.The audio/video settings may vary depending on your TV and your sensitivity to audio/video defects.

Hi
Cheers again guys. I don't really want to lose surround sound not an issue on IOS but my playstation routes through an onkyo
605 receiver with decent surround .

So rn102 (just decided on the other topic) to ps3 hdmi to amp to TV.

Would h264 work.

John

RN102 has DLNA which could be accessed by PS3. Then PS3 => amp => TV that's normal setup.
My setup is a computer as media center (among other things), linked to a denon amp by HDMI which in turn is linked to TV, this passes surround with no problem, I just had to tell the TV to use the amp for the sound.
I have no PS3 to see how the DLNA works on it so I can't vouch for it.

The H264 is a video only codec, you must add an audio codec for the sound and store them into a container.
I believe H264/AC3 in a MP4 file is possible, but the iphone is quite limited in that regard and I don't think you can get it to read surround by default, you'll need an app for that, but there is an app for everything only in the Apple Iphone the ad said ;)

Audio formats supported: AAC (8 to 320 Kbps), Protected AAC (from iTunes Store), HE-AAC, MP3 (8 to 320 Kbps), MP3 VBR, Audible (formats 2, 3, 4, Audible Enhanced Audio, AAX, and AAX+), Apple Lossless, AIFF, and WAV

ac3 in mp4s is a problem for a lot of players. It is possible, but it is essentially a proprietary mode. You could alternatively go with MKV as the container, and use a third-party player on the IOS devices. You lose hardware acceleration, but it is possible.

Note that a lot of third-party IOS players had to remove AC3 (dolby digital) and DTS due to patent issues. So you want to include both the original surround sound track and an AAC stereo track in the MKV.

Hi
Me again. What DVD ripping software are you using I have hand brake and a Nero trial running. Like Nero but when the trial runs out it's not cheap.

Also if I use Mkv which iOS app can read the vids. Iam using ml lite to access the nas .

Cheers

John

For MKV playback on IOS I use AVPlayerHD. You can either download the files to the device, or stream the files over FTP (which of course requires that you enable FTP for the share on the NAS).

For ripping I useSlysoft's AnyDVD HD. It is good at dealing with copy protection and removing adverts/trailers, but doesn't transcode - you'd need to add an additional tool to do that.

I use my own tools for transcoding, I can provide you a link if you are interested. You might try makemkv and see if it works for you (google it). CloneDVD Mobile is another possibility.

For IOS Reading I use buzz player on my Ipad. AVPlayer HD is another option like suggested, I believe VLC is back in App Store, but it hasn't samba/AFP support so you'll have to upload to play.
I haven't encoded for a while but I used handbrake, VLC as some conversion features too (at least on mac) depending on your need. Since you are speaking Nero, I believe you are on Windows and I'm quite outdated for that ;)

VLC can convert, but it is not the easiest tool to use for that.

Does handbrake create MKVs? If so, maybe try that first.

Hi
Yes windows on laptop , getting tricky with half windows and half iOS, add in net gears own little fun and games and finding it hard to get a nice robust fluid situation to play my films.

At this rate I mate have to slum it and put a blue ray in the playstation lol

So if I buy my 312 put a h264 encoded file on there will rn remote let me stream it from anywhere? Or is ready cloud now?

Bit out of touch on what's doable only having a duo v1.

John