DVD Catalyst 4.1 Guide
Tablet Quality Profiles
(Note: part of this guide is based on the older profile quality article, located here: http://www.tools4movies.com/2010/12/dvd-catalyst-4-quality-difference-between-different-profiles/)
*Foreword:
First introduced in later versions of DVD Catalyst 3, for many devices listed in DVD Catalyst you can find more than a single profile. While the settings for each profile are fully configurable, we introduced additional profiles due to man questions we received in regards of quality and conversion speed. These additional profiles, standard, fast, hq, hd etc, can be a bit confusing so we wrote this article in order to clear things up.
Before we explain the differences between profiles, we need to explain what video quality actually is.
*What determines video quality?
All over the web, you can find guides from people on how to convert videos for “Device X” using a collection of different software, both free and commercial (or both). The thing is, the quality is something personal, and depends greatly on what your intentions are when it comes to watching your videos.
*Some people, like myself, use videos on their devices as a replacement for sitting around staring at a wall. The movies I have on my devices (Xoom, Droid X etc) are movies I have seen (numerous times) before, and I just keep them because they are my favorites, or because I want to see them again. In a scenario such as this, the video quality of my movies isn’t that important, so I settle for “average” settings. I rather have 10 good-looking movies with me than 3 pristine-looking ones.
*Other people use their devices to catch up on TV shows they missed, or to watch a new movie during the daily commute or during breaks, either due to a lack of time otherwise, or because their significant other doesn’t like their movie taste. For these people, since it will be the first time (or the only time) they watch their movies, quality is a big deal, so they prefer to use high-quality settings to get the best viewing experience.
*Then there are people who like to use their video files as replacements for the physical discs, either by using a HD Media Player (WD TV, Popcorn Hour etc) or a Movie Server of some sorts. These people would like to use the highest possible quality their device will be able to play, even if the quality isn’t fully visible on a smaller-screen device.
Besides your personal preference/usage scenario, the quality of your videos is also determines by the source (your original DVD/Bluray/Video file). As explained in the “Screen Resolution” chapter in the manual, you are limited by the quality of the source. While it is possible to convert a Standard Definition video (DVD) to a High Definition (720, 1080) screen, it will never end up being Bluray (HD) quality, regardless of what settings you use.
*So what affects the Video Quality?
Frame rate: In its basic form, video is nothing more than a collection of pictures (frames) played in sequence. The faster they play (framerate) the more fluid the motion looks.
Screen size: Each frame of a video is a (large) collection of dots (pixels) that have a color attached to them. The more pixels (resolution) the video has, the sharper it looks. DVDs (Standard Definition) have a resolution of 720×480, Blurays (High Definition) have a resolution of 1920×1080.
Bit rate: Each individual dot from a frame requires some space to store its color information. The more pixels, the higher the amount of data is needed in order to store their color information. The higher the framerate, the more pixels.
The bit rate is what affects the file size of your video.
Video compression: If you would keep video in its original quality, without any form of compression, the resulting file would be huge. If you take a DVD, 720×480 screen size, a color depth of 24bits, 30fps frame rate, you would end up with:
24 bit x 720 x 480 x 29.97fps = 65 MB per/sec, or 225 GB per/hr. That is 450 GB for a 2hour movie.
For an HD video:
24 bit x 1920 x 1080 x 29.97fps = 380 MB per/sec, or 1335 GB per/hr, making it 2670 GB for a 2 hour movie.
Because DVDs can only hold up to 9GB and Bluray up to 50GB, video is usually compressed using a video codec such as MPEG2, H264 or DIVX, in order to make the video fit.
Video codecs:
Video comes in a large collection of different formats. While there are only a few main-stream codecs, the settings used for compression affect the playability of the video for certain devices.
DVD, when it first came out many years ago, uses the older MPEG2 video codec, Bluray, which isn’t that old, uses the newer H264 or VC1 formats for its video. If you download videos from the internet, they can come in a multitude of different formats, such as DIVX, XVID and even MPEG1.
Most recent popular devices (iPod/iPhone/iPad/Android phones and Tablets) can play H264 MP4 video files.
Note: Video codec/format is not the same as the file extension of your video file. Video files have extensions such as AVI, MP4, MOV, MKV, MPG, WMV, but this alone doesn’t indicate what kind of format is used for the video. You can have AVI files with DIVX, XVID and H264 as a video format. MP4 can also contain DIVX, XVID and H264. MKV can contain video in even more different formats.
Video compression works by looking at frames, and storing the differences between frames. There are key-frames, from which every pixel has its information stored, and the other frames are simply stored with the differences between them. The larger the difference between frames, the higher the bitrate needs to be in order to store the full information. If there isn’t enough data (bit rate) available to store the changes (fast-changing scenes, explosions etc), you might notice artifacts such as blockyness.
Quality Difference Between DVD Catalyst Profiles:
Ok, so lets start with the different profiles for most phones and small tablets.
standard (plain, nothing extra). These are the profile we use ourselves. the settings in these profiles are based on creating a good-looking file (not pristine, so you might see some artifacts during faster scenes) video files at a reasonable file-size and at a reasonably fast conversion speed.
HQ (or HQ1). High Quality settings. Higher-quality video, slightly larger files and converts a bit slower. Slower(romance/comedy) movies end up looking pristine.
HQ2. Very high quality video, nearly identical to the original source DVD/Bluray/Video file. Larger files, slower conversions, but fast-action movies will look pristine.
Fast. Similar to “standard” in regards of file-size, but uses a lower-quality (MPEG4-Simple Profile) video format, which converts faster on older (single-core) computers.
For Tablets (XOOM/Thrive/Transformer/Galaxy Tab etc) the profiles are slightly different because of the higher resolution of these devices:
Standard: The standard profile (the one with just the device name) is set to create great-looking video files from DVD-sized video content. The settings used are similar to that of the HQ2 profile for phones.
HQ1: If you are converting HD-sized content, such as Bluray or HD MKV files, using the standard profile will create good looking files, however, you might see some artifacts. The HQ1 profile will create pristine-looking video files if you convert slower-movies (romance/comedy)
HQ2: Similar as HQ1, however, intended to be used with fast-action movies.
Fast: Similar as the fast profile mentioned above. If you are using an older computer, the fast profile will produce good results at a reasonable speed.
Note: The video files created by DVD Catalyst are compatible with the build-in video player application of the selected device. While there are other video players available, the files play best using a player that makes use of the build-in video acceleration hardware of your device. While for some device platforms (iOS/Android) it is possible to install video players that can play additional file formats or otherwise enhance your video playback experience, it is possible that these players affect playback of your video files. When you run into complications playing a video file, always try the build-in player to make sure it is not caused by something else.
