Noobs guide to using Handbrake

[Kit]

I've downloaded handbrake as per what was posted in the old thread - ty speedy. Now how the **** do I use it?

I've created two vids already (one in mkv and the other in MK4) but neither will play properly; they kind of work but in a frankenstein type way with messed up sound and the odd frame.

What am I doing wrong?

[Lyris]

What's your target device? Apple something?

[Pulstar]

x264 can be too CPU-intensive to work on slower devices. There are presets you can use to target specific devices.

[Digfox]

I've done this recently for all our DVD's (over 200 movies) and about to embark on ripping our small collection of BluRay's (just received an internal LG BR drive for the PC). Also re-ripped all our music to FLAC with EAC.

I used a combination of Handbrake (with VLC) and MakeMKV and thought this website was pretty helpful in getting me started. I did have to play around with a few rips and adjust settings to a point where I was happy with the end result, i.e. negligible or no loss in quality from the DVD disc: http://www.maclife.com/article/howto..._pro_handbrake

Therefore I tend to leave everything at the highest quality settings and an RF setting of 18 - 19 which to me was very close to the source quality. Files sizes around 1.5 - 4GB apart from 2 films I left at 'lossless' (Pixar films).

A few points;

• A small number of DVD's Handbrake wouldn't rip (5-6) becuase it couldn't get through the encryption. MakeMKV solved this, i.e. rip the DVD first with MakeMKV and then use Handbrake to encode to the desired settings.
• I used VLC to test previews, or end results. Awesome media player and should be downloaded in tandem with Handbrake.
• One DVD (Spaced collection) where the disc is one great big 3hr file). Will use this link to solve that one; http://forums.afterdawn.com/t.cfm/f-..._a_dvd-950434/
• Subtitles - remember to enable these for films like Letters from Iwo Jima. Some films have them burned in already.
• Interlaced material - most DVD's I had were progressive but the odd one or two were interlaced. Enabled the Decomb filter to solve these.
• Audio - will be driven by your choice of target player, but as mentioned in the guide for Apple TV you need to add passthru.

I ripped every in MP4 (.M4V) container file format simply becuase it is more compatible with everything (can play or stream movies natively on iOS from my NAS, PS3 , Xbox 360 and Apple TV). Although I've loaded all the files onto my Ubuntu/XBMC HTPC (which I love btw) so if your using a Rasperry PI or Linux then MKV container file format is fine. Loads of various debate on which format is better but in the end it has nothing to do with quality. So the key question is what do you want to play the end files on? Again if you want compatibility then use the MP4 container file format.

For BluRay ripping I will use a guide like this: http://lifehacker.com/5559007/the-ha...ray-collection.

The end result is well worth it. I am annoyed I didn't do it sooner. Being able to stream movies on the Phone/iPad and use XBMC (recent AMD APU mITX build) to store and sort content has been a revelation. Also managed to condense boxes of plastic DVD and CD cases into a couple 360-disc holders has created so much space in our lounge.

Hope this helps.

[eastyy]

I had a problem where I was trying to reduce a movie file size but it would always get about 20 min in and then finish anyone have that

[Kit]

Cheers MGear!!!!!!!!! will be following this guide tonight.

What's your target device? Apple something?

I had it set to universal.

Idea is to get them all onto my external drive then give the dvds away as I simply don't have the space.

[Lyris]

x264 can be too CPU-intensive to work on slower devices. There are presets you can use to target specific devices.

x264 is actually an all-purpose AVC encoder. I mention this because there's a common misconception that it's a different codec to H.264/AVC - it's not - it's just a (fricking excellent) encoder for that standard. Accordingly, the AVC streams it outputs can be as simple or as complex as you need.

[Pulstar]

Precisely my point. If you go above reference configs the encoded video will simply be too much to handle on older devices. You can get better mileage with apps like MX Video because they support hardware acceleration.

I use a lot of HE-AAC for my encodes but Handbrake doesn't have a decent AAC encoder since they're proprietary. A subtitle renderer would have also been nice. :/

[Lyris]

I use a lot of HE-AAC for my encodes but Handbrake doesn't have a decent AAC encoder since they're proprietary

What's proprietary about AAC? I thought it was an open standard? It's not something I deal with frequently since all my work is on Blu-ray and DVD and AAC isn't a codec on either of those, so I don't know too much about it.

[Pulstar]

There's an open-source implementation of AAC but frankly it doesn't hold up to Apple or Nero's standards.. 80kbps AAC using Handbrake sounds much worse than a 32kbps HE encode using QAAC for example. So in order to use those I have to process the audio separately.

[Kit]

Is MakeMKV free?

[Digfox]

Is MakeMKV free?

It was for a long time, in a beta. But having recently installed myself it appears to be a 30-day trial basis. If I remember correctly it's ?42 to register which feels a bit too much for me personally (< or = ?30 would have felt right).

But that said I'll likely register it, because like DBpoweramp which I registered, I find the software too useful not too.

[Kit]

I've followed the guide and done loads but it's taking ages - even on my ssd.

Roughly 20 left to do - I think this will be an all weekend project.

[Pulstar]

I've followed the guide and done loads but it's taking ages - even on my ssd.

Roughly 20 left to do - I think this will be an all weekend project.

Disk speeds are immaterial. Encoding media is CPU cycle-intensive. It'll gobble up all the juice you can throw at it.

As an aside, the latest Handbrake builds provide Fraunhofer's AAC codec, which is excellent if you want to shave off some megabytes off the audio tracks while retaining adequate sound quality.

[Kit]

Used MAKEMKV to the max but still have 5 or so dvds left to do.

What are the alternatives?