My Passport Wireless Pro Video Bit Rate?

I’ve been re-encoding my entire library as MP4s with H.264 and at least am AAC2 audio track. (Most of the time, I’ll also have AC3 in there as well.)

I am wondering if there’s any type of recommended bit rate for 1080p video?

I’m using Handbrake. High 4.1 profile. Constant bit rate of around 4000-5000kbps.

The My Passport Wireless Pro sometimes struggles with higher bit rates…like in 8000-9000kbps range. Sometimes it’ll be a stutter-fest. But other times on the same video, it’d be fine.

I usually give the device plenty of time to do what it does when I copy files to it before trying to stream.

I have the original MPW and it only uses 2.4G wireless signal, but if I had a Pro it has both 2.4G and 5G wireless and I would ALWAYS use the Pro’s 5G signal, because 5G is a faster wireless signal INTENDED FOR video use. I would even use 5G for audio use. Why not! Even so, my older MPW does OK on 2.4 G most of the time on 2.4G.

So, first make this change, I also make my own mp4/m4v movie files for use on tablets, i.e. iPad. I use the default setting in Handbrake for the iPad, and make the eollowing change from the defaults; I change bit rate from 30 frames per second to be rate “same as original source” and keep variable rate unchanged. For audio, I change default from 160 to be 256 rate for better sound and that’s all I change.

The only problem is the range on the 5G signal isn’t all that great. I could literally be within a few feet and still only get like 2-3 bars. So while it’s a nice feature, it’s not all that practical, unless you are right next to the thing. For anything beyond a foot or two, I’d still use the 2.4G.

I’ve settled on 4000-5000kbs via Handbrake. That seems to be a good compromise between size/quality/playability on all devices. Looks good enough on my TV as well so I am in the process of re-encoding everything. I’ve only got around 220 movies, so it’s not the end of the world. On the positive side, I’ll be saving tons of space.

Do you have the complete user manual? It tells you how to connect the MPW to the home network and internet and this is how I use my MPW AT HOME.

Advantages of this are you can also use the internet when using your mobile devices with MPW, and because you are not connecting to the MPW signal, but rather your home network, so range is now throughout your home and not just a few feet near you. You place your MPW close to your router instead of close to you for max signal strength with router…Also you have a stronger 5G signal. To use 2.4 for video is NOT a good idea Using 2,4G is why you get stuttering video, and if you continue to use 2.4, complaints about stutter will be ignored by those who are better informed about these matters.

Don’t know why you are selecting a set bit rate in Handbrake. Any video from a DVD works fine with the setting I mentioned, but videos made from blu-ray discs are challenged, but work for the most part.

Yes, I am aware of how the wireless works.

Actually the setup I have at home with a dedicated server for running PMS, I have an AP that does both 2.4G and 5G. while I am upstairs the 5G signal is weak so I always use the 2.4G signal and I can stream 1080p content just fine. Keep in mind I’ve got a server with 2 x 6-Core XEON and 128GB of RAM doing the heavy lifting, though now that I have re-encoded everything in MP4/H.264/AAC/AC3 I’ll more than likely be direct-playing everything so there will be minimal transcoding happening.

Also, the use case for me with the wireless pro is to be able to stream on-the-go without an internet or wireless hot spot. So just the wireless pro and a smart phone like the iPhone. Nothing else. Again, the 5G option is nice on paper but in reality, at least on the wireless pro, the range isn’t all that great, even in the same room with line of sight.

As for Handbrake, high profile 4.1, 1080P content (Not DVD…will never watch a DVD), AAC 2.0 and AC3 tracks for compatibility with both portable devices and my home theater system. I’ve got files that are between 4GB and 5GB in size. Very good quality. Too bad my iPhone can’t do H.265/HVEC.

_ am surprised to hear the 5G of the Pro is so wimpy. I would have expected a pretty good signal. And as for DVD’s, I own too many to not use them, although I have many BD discs, too. For the most part on an iPad, there is some quality difference, but my DVD-sourced m4v Hanbrake files are not THAT bad on the small screen.

All DVD converted files I have digitized are ISO files and are what I watch on the big screen TV. I am particular, too, but not as much as you seem to be. So, I guess you will just need to live with the limitations of the MPW Pro.

Yeah. Yesterday, I was testing out some more things and had the unit on the floor while I was seated on a chair in front of me PC. So it was right by my feet. Only had 3 out of 5 bars with 5G. So it seems it’s weak. I literally have to be on the same level as the device and within a feet in order to get full strength signal. That’s pretty bad.

Yeah, I’ve gotten rid of DVDs. The only ones I have are the ones for the kids. Everything else is 1080p content. I’m finding the performance of the MPWP to be acceptable now that I have re-encoded at 4000kbps. I watched a few movies as s test and no hiccups. It can stream 3 movies at those settings. That seems to be the limit. The 4th movies finally introduces performance issues, but streaming 4 movies off of this device will NEVER happen so it was more out of curiosity.

So now that I’ve sorted out the problems, the unit is growing on me. I’ve been a Plex user for years now and absolutely love the interface, so I am happy to be able to take the content with me on the road.

I have some videos recorded at 1080p 50 Mbps with a Sony FDR-X3000 and I am seeing a lot of video stutter when connected with the 2.4 G wireless. I haven’t tried the 5G wireless yet, but will have to check it out to see if it is any better.

I tried switching over to the 5G WiFi connection using an iPad and I saw no noticeable difference in the video playback smoothness. Still a lot of pauses. It doesn’t seem like MyCloud attempts to buffer the video in any way. It just tries to start playing and when the throughput can’t keep up, it pauses. Sometimes the audio will continue with just the video stuttering and sometimes it will all pause and get the spinning wheel.

I will test out some videos at a lower bit rate to see how it works. This certainly isn’t a deal breaker for the product for our purposes as we just need it to off load the data from the SD cards as they get full, but we certainly won’t be able to preview a lot of the video on our devices while in the field.