I have a couple of movies I would like to convert from MKV format to ipad friendly MP4v.

The mkv movie is in HD and is 6.5gb in size.

Using handbrake significantly decreases the file size and quality.

Any ideas how to maintain the quality after conversion?

You better go with 4Media iPad Max or iSkyiPadVideo server. These work great for me. So you can give a try.

Up the quality settings. There are many options for that. Some take much longer, however.

You can use "MKV to iPad converter". It can convert MKV to iPad with best quality.

Originally Posted by Andygo

I have a couple of movies I would like to convert from MKV format to ipad friendly MP4v.

The mkv movie is in HD and is 6.5gb in size.

Using handbrake significantly decreases the file size and quality.

Any ideas how to maintain the quality after conversion?

Usually increasing the video bitrate setting will increase the quality, but it will also increase the file-size as well.

There are a few different video formats that Handbrake can use. Make sure you use H264/x264. the FFMPEG format is a bit faster to convert, but doesn't offer the same compression (quality).

Another option is to reduce the screen-size a bit. This might sound strange, but if you want a smaller file-size while reducing quality issues to a minimum, going from 1080p resolution (1920x1080) to 720p (1280x720) will enable you to reduce the size considerably, and while the video doesn't look as sharp as it would at the full 1080p, you can probably go down to 2GB for your movie while still having it look great.

A week or so ago, I wrote an article on this that gives some better insight on that:

TIP : How to make your video files smaller


Another option is to use CRF.

This automatically adjusts the bitrate to whatever is needed for the conversion to keep a certain quality. This article can shine some light on how that works:

What is CRF? | Tools4Movies | DVD Catalyst 4

Originally Posted by Andygo

I have a couple of movies I would like to convert from MKV format to ipad friendly MP4v.

The mkv movie is in HD and is 6.5gb in size.

Using handbrake significantly decreases the file size and quality.

Any ideas how to maintain the quality after conversion?

Hi,

I know this isn't the answer to the question you were asking, but maybe it will help anyway! I had the same issue, tho I had tons of (my own!) bluray/dvd rips etc in mkv format, but didn't want the pain of having to convert them to play on my iphone/ipad.

I ended up going for an app called AVPlayer, it pretty much plays everything I've thrown at it so far, and has a great interface. I think they have a new, retina-friendly version out as well.

Cheers,
G.

I also meet the same problem,thank you give some advise!