Transcoding help

I'm pretty tech savvy but hav never messed with transcoding video before. I was looking at the settings for Samsung B Series TV and noticed that the H264 video is being transcoded to another format and the audio is being downsampled to stereo.

According to my owners manual the TV will play a variety of formats, video and audio. My goal is to have the higest quality file that is reasonable on my server (WHS 2011) and then transcode to the various devices in the house. I think the best format for the TV is going to be to play the H264 mp4 file and use AAC for the sound so I can get the 5.1 surround. I have the TV patching the sound via digital optical to my home theater for the 5.1 surround.

The other devices can use the default dlna profile since they are just stereo anyway. I am using FreeMake video to convert the DVD to mp4 files, tried handbrake but it keeps crashing on my 64 bit Win7 box.

Here are my questions:
What is the best format to store the movies on the server? AVI? mp4?
I need to preserve the 5.1 sound on the server, is AAC with 5.1 the best or is there another way?
Given that I want to pass the H264 and 5.1 sound to the TV, what MediaFormatProfile lines would be the best to accomplish that?

Here are the parameters in the current file, is there a tutorial to explain what this stuff means? If I could read it I'd get it, but it's kinda Greek right now:
<MediaFormatProfiles>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/x-mkv">MATROSKA</MediaFormatProfile>
<MediaFormatProfile mime-type="video/x-msvideo" name="">AVI</MediaFormatProfile>
</MediaFormatProfiles>
<Transcoding>
<!-- Transcode all h264 video with HIGH/MAIN > Level 4.1 on MPEG-TS stream with MPEG2VIDEO and ac3 audio transcoding -->
<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetVCodec="mpeg2video" targetACodec="ac3" aBitrate="192">
<Matches container="avi" vCodec="h264" profile="high" levelGreaterThan="4.1" />
<Matches container="avi" vCodec="h264" profile="main" levelGreaterThan="4.1" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" profile="high" levelGreaterThan="4.1" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" profile="main" levelGreaterThan="4.1" />
<Matches container="mp4" vCodec="h264" profile="high" levelGreaterThan="4.1" />
<Matches container="mp4" vCodec="h264" profile="main" levelGreaterThan="4.1" />
<Matches container="mpegts" vCodec="h264" profile="high" levelGreaterThan="4.1" />
<Matches container="mpegts" vCodec="h264" profile="main" levelGreaterThan="4.1" />
</Video>
<!-- transcode MKV with DST/FLAC audio to AC3, remux into mpeg2ts -->
<!-- transcode H264 MP4 files with LPCM audio -->
<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetACodec="ac3">
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" aCodec="dca" />
<Matches container="mp4" vCodec="h264" aCodec="lpcm" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" aCodec="flac" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" aCodec="vorbis" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="h264" aCodec="truehd" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="vc1" />
<Matches container="avi" vCodec="h264" />
<Matches container="mpegts" aCodec="mp2" />
<Matches container="flv" vCodec="h264" />
<Matches container="ogg" vCodec="mpeg4" />
<Matches container="3gp" aCodec="amrnb" />
</Video>
<!-- transcode unsupported codec/container combinations into mpeg2ts -->
<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetACodec="ac3" targetVCodec="mpeg2video">
<Matches container="asf" vCodec="wmv2" />
<Matches container="matroska" vCodec="mpeg2video" />
<Matches container="avi" vCodec="mjpeg" />
<Matches container="avi" vCodec="dvvideo" />
<Matches container="mp4" vCodec="mjpeg" />
<Matches container="flv" />
<Matches container="ogg" />
</Video>
<!-- For dvr-ms files force mpeg2video transcoding to fix monotone timestamps problems-->
<Video targetContainer="mpegts" targetACodec="ac3" forceVTranscoding="true">
<Matches container="asf" vCodec="mpeg2video" />
</Video>
<Video targetContainer="mpegts">
<Matches container="wtv" />
</Video>
<!-- transcode audio only for wmv with wmapro -->
<Video targetContainer="asf" targetACodec="ac3" aBitrate="256">
<Matches container="asf" aCodec="wmapro" />
</Video>
<Audio targetContainer="lpcm">
<Matches container="asf" />
<Matches container="mp4" />
<Matches container="flac" />
<Matches container="ogg" />
<Matches container="adts" />
</Audio>
</Transcoding>

[Cerberus]

ok you could of found this by searching but im bored at work so will give you all the info

Container = MP4
Video = H264 with profile level below 4.2
Audio = AC3 5.1

no changes required to the profile.xml file.

ok you could of found this by searching but im bored at work so will give you all the info

Container = MP4
Video = H264 with profile level below 4.2
Audio = AC3 5.1

no changes required to the profile.xml file.

OK I'll bite, like I said I have zero experience with video. Not really sure what to search for.

I get the container definitions you wrote, but I don't see them in the profile.xml file. Where are they ref'd, I am probably looking right at it and just not seeing...

I did read the short tutorial for creating and editing the profile.xml transcoding settings. I get the concept.

First post, newb, go easy...

ok you could of found this by searching but im bored at work so will give you all the info

Container = MP4
Video = H264 with profile level below 4.2
Audio = AC3 5.1

no changes required to the profile.xml file.

Let me take another hack at that. I wasn't sure if you were answering the question or pointing out attributes in the profiles.xml file. If you were meaning that I should encode the file as mp4/h264/ac3 5.1, I get that part, no problem. Not sure FreeMake shows the profile level, I'll have to poke around to see. Sure wish HandBrake would work on my system.

What do you use to encode?

Last question, can you point out the section in the profile.xml that allows the 5.1 to pass through? I must be reading it wrong. I thought the transcoder used the first instance it found in the file to transcode; is ac3 assumed to always be 5.1 or does it just leave the sound as is as long as it is already in ac3 (regardless of if it is stereo, DTS or 5.1)

I think that was 2 questions...

[Cerberus]

yep that best encode setup.

Container = MP4
Video = H264 with profile level below 4.2
Audio = AC3 5.1

and here a nice tutorial on how to do it .
http://forum.videohelp.com/threads/2961 ... -or-MKV-HD

Last question, can you point out the section in the profile.xml that allows the 5.1 to pass through? I must be reading it wrong. I thought the transcoder used the first instance it found in the file to transcode; is ac3 assumed to always be 5.1 or does it just leave the sound as is as long as it is already in ac3 (regardless of if it is stereo, DTS or 5.1)

no the transcode profile only transcodes if the file match's a rule if a file doesnt match any rule its passed to the device as is (Native Format). So if you file is in the format i stated it doesnt then match any rules and is passed to the device in native format. (DTS and AC3 are differeent formats )

and to confirm you WILL NOT need to edit the profile at all so leave it as standard.