ATV3 crashing on high bitrate files

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It would be nice if we actually had different profiles for the ATV2 and ATV3 so that the ATV3 wouldn't be limited to what the ATV2 can play.


Yes it would nice, but that needs to added on the PMS side of things, maybe we need to talk to the Plex developers and see if they can add in a separate profile for each device.
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Is the xml file the only option to include these parameters ? rheinwaldjones is saying that if he change the ATV settings to 20Mbps he forces the transcoding, with 40Mbps PMS probably uses Direct Stream.

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I just had a look at the CasinoRoyale.txt log you provided and as I suspected you've encoded them using the High Profile preset, which uses vbv-bufsize and vbv-maxrate values that are way out of spec for the aTV.
 

Encoding settings                        : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=240 / keyint_min=24 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=12.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / vbv_maxrate=62500 / vbv_bufsize=78125 / crf_max=0.0 / nal_hrd=none / filler=0 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Values that high will give you bitrate spikes that the atv isn't designed to handle. That's why Handbrake has a proper AppleTV 3 preset with the correct values that work on the aTV.

Yeah, I understand. When I started this project, I was using this Lifehacker post as a guideline:

http://lifehacker.com/5559007/the-hassle-free-guide-to-ripping-your-blu-ray-collection

And it recommended using an RF setting as low as 16 if you wanted to get a near-perfect copy of the Blu-Ray. I figured my only problem was having enough space to store all the files; I never realized the aTV couldn't handle above a certain level.

The frustrating thing is, I never know how big the file is going to be until I finish encoding. I used the exact same settings on the Casino Royale and Skyfall -- and both source files were about the same size -- and the compressed version of CR ended up over 30 GB while Skyfall was around 14 GB. I wish there was a way to tell this beforehand. (Is there?) 

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Is the xml file the only option to include these parameters ? rheinwaldjones is saying that if he change the ATV settings to 20Mbps he forces the transcoding, with 40Mbps PMS probably uses Direct Stream.

Same thing happens if I force Transcode but leave the max bitrate at 40Mbps.

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Yeah, I understand. When I started this project, I was using this Lifehacker post as a guideline:


However that guide is geared towards playback on a computer with much more power than a small settop box device. Quote from the lifehacker guide:-

Once you've ripped your movies, you can watch them either in our favorite video players for Windows, Mac, and Linux, or put together a turbo charged XBMC computer for your home theater.


 

The frustrating thing is, I never know how big the file is going to be until I finish encoding. I used the exact same settings on the Casino Royale and Skyfall -- and both source files were about the same size -- and the compressed version of CR ended up over 30 GB while Skyfall was around 14 GB. I wish there was a way to tell this beforehand. (Is there?)


Unfortunately not, variable bitrate encoding depends on a lot of different things, and no two files will compress the same :(
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