Need to compress mkv files, handbrake not working, alternatives?

[Bingie 99]

Hi all,

I used MakeMKV to rip some blu ray disks, and the files are just too big for my liking.  I heard about handbrake, but it keeps complaining about .net 5.0 not installed, even though it is.  I need an alternative.  I used to use this program called videoproc, but it only does dvd's not blue rays, so looking for another ripper.

Does MakeMKV do compression?  I read people use handbrake with it, but handbrake broke off on my pc hah

Thanks

 

[arrbee99 1551]

Don't know if there's anything useful in this reddit thing -

https://www.reddit.com/r/handbrake/comments/oowugw/cant_open_handbrake_on_windows_10_missing_net/

or maybe it depends on the version -

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/5.0

No, I don't know what I'm talking about.

Don't think MakeMKV does compression, apart from maybe you saving a bit from not including any foreign language tracks or formats you don't want.

[Bingie 99]

thanks I've already tried several times re-installing handbrake and .net 5.0, just can't seem to get it to work

I hear there are plenty of other conversion tools out there, thought I'd try another, since I never did get handbrake to work.

No, MakeMKV doesn't do compression.  All I need is something that does compression.  Preferably simple to use.  I'll even pay for a good program that's worth it.

Edited August 6, 2021 by Bingyyyy

[arrbee99 1551]

I use Handbrake (still on 1.3.0) and it works for me, so I don't know of alternatives except maybe using ffmpeg from a command line. I can only use that for a few bits because people here kindly suggest such commands as its baffling to me.

I just suggested that reddit thing as it seemed to imply success depends on the right combination of Handbrake and .net 5.0, like this quote 'NET 5.0 SDK (v5.0.302) in your post fixed it. Installing the latest (at the time) 5.0.8 did nothing'.

Sorry. Not much help

[Happy2Play 8252]

Have you tried older versions then 1.4.0?

What did you .NET 5.0 did you install?

 did you see this

The app need Microsoft .NET 5.0 Desktop Runtime.
https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/5.0

Download .NET 5.0 (Linux, macOS, and Windows) (microsoft.com)

I had no issue installing Desktop Runtime and Handbrake 1.4.0.

[roaku 793]

38 minutes ago, Bingyyyy said:

thanks I've already tried several times re-installing handbrake and .net 5.0, just can't seem to get it to work

I hear there are plenty of other conversion tools out there, thought I'd try another, since I never did get handbrake to work.

No, MakeMKV doesn't do compression.  All I need is something that does compression.  Preferably simple to use.  I'll even pay for a good program that's worth it.

Add me to the list of people saying you'd be better off working on solving your Handbrake problem.

Are you on Windows 10?

Are you installing the exe or the portable version?

[Bingie 99]

So, handbrake is good then I take it

Okay, I'll try getting it working again.  I used to be an engineer lol how hard can it be...

 

[arrbee99 1551]

I think you meant to say how hard can they make it...

[Bingie 99]

OMG

That stupid Microsuck website makes it look like the "desktop runtime" version download buttons are beneath the LINUX heading DOH!  I was using the console version...

Should work now, waiting for my pc to finish recording, then I'll fix handshake.  Thanks all for the great feedback!

[arrbee99 1551]

Coolio. All you (hopefully) need to do now is agonise about what settings to use...

[Bingie 99]

as long as it has a big glowing "Compression for Dummies" button, I'm good to go!

[Happy2Play 8252]

Hmm looks like Windows to me.

[Bingie 99]

yeah that's the "other" download page

I originally tried this one:

https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/5.0/runtime

 

[arrbee99 1551]

14 minutes ago, Bingyyyy said:

as long as it has a big glowing "Compression for Dummies" button, I'm good to go!

Well, I wouldn't go that far, but there's quite a few Handbrake recommended setttings pages about on Interweb.

[Bingie 99]

got it working w00t!!!

I see what you mean, lots of options, that's cool.  Better to have too many options, than none at all.

Thanks all!

[Bingie 99]

Okay handbrake eats my cpu, 100% utilization, I don't like it running so hot for so long.  Two hours to compress less than an hour of video?  I have a high end cpu too.

Maybe now I know why people talk about trying different settings hah I'll try some different settings.

Does handbrake utilize hardware GPU?  I have an AMD GPU, which I hear isn't great for hardware compression, too much loss of quality.  I've been using software only so far, for ripping dvd's and recording streams, to keep quality high.  Might have to sacrifice some quality if a hardware option is available.

[Bingie 99]

DOH!  I just realized that a program I had paid for to rip dvd's (videoproc) also can be used to convert and compress, using software or hardware/gpu.  I just tried it, and using just software, it converted a 17gb mkv into a high quality 13gb mp4, only took about 8 minutes, and didn't bury my cpu.  That's a gazillion times faster than handbrake.

I also found that handbrake can use my amd gpu, but turning it on, it still buries both my cpu and gpu for 20 minutes.  That's an eternity compared to videoproc.

I'll do some more testing, but it's looking like videoproc is a much faster solution, for me anyways.  I forget how much I paid (under 100) but it looks to be well worth it.  Too bad it can't rip blu rays (like MakeMKV), or process >30fps (like OBS), but it still is useful.  Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe OBS can do conversions and compressions.  I'll have to look into that, and test it if so.

Cheers

 

[roaku 793]

mkv and mp4 are just containers, not video codecs.

You never mention what codecs you're actually using or the quality settings.

HEVC takes much longer to process than AVC, for example.

But in exchange for the longer render time, you get a much smaller file.

Don't assume handbrake is underperforming.

[Bingie 99]

Good points.

I used the same settings on both apps, as close as possible, but I'll admit the quality setting on videoproc was slightly lower than on handbrake.  Still, it's a massive time difference.

I'm starting to think maybe differences in multi-threading and/or multi-core utilization.  It could be many things, and I'm no expert.  I'll do more testing.

The mkv was ripped from blu ray using MakeMKV default settings, so it was 1080p 30fps h.264 original quality.  Didn't change anything, just lowered quality to reduce file size.  I'll double check all settings in each app, maybe some settings were off.  Video settings the same, pretty sure audio were too, but I could've missed something.

 

[arrbee99 1551]

I haven't handbraked any blurays for a while (though I need to do a boxset soon), but anyway, I'm pretty sure that it works its way though a MakeMKV rip at about 70fps, so about 3 times your typical 24fps item. Also (pretty) sure thats software only using a Ryzen 3700X. I'm sure I've posted that on a forum somewhere but just can't find it.

[Bingie 99]

8 hours ago, arrbee99 said:

I haven't handbraked any blurays for a while (though I need to do a boxset soon), but anyway, I'm pretty sure that it works its way though a MakeMKV rip at about 70fps, so about 3 times your typical 24fps item. Also (pretty) sure thats software only using a Ryzen 3700X. I'm sure I've posted that on a forum somewhere but just can't find it.

I noticed handbrake was doing about 120fps on this makemkv rip on this i5-9400.  videoproc was doing about 350fps.  The only difference I can see, was handbrake made 2 passes, videoproc only 1.  I'll turn on 2 passes on videoproc and run it again, after I get some coffee in me.

[Bingie 99]

yup that was it

I turned on 2 pass in videoproc, cpu jumped to 100%, fps dropped from 350 to about 141fps.  It's still pretty quick though, the remaining time keeps changing, says 25 minutes using software/cpu only, but I'll let it finish to see how long.

[DrBoneSaw 2]

14 hours ago, Bingyyyy said:

thanks I've already tried several times re-installing handbrake and .net 5.0, just can't seem to get it to work

I hear there are plenty of other conversion tools out there, thought I'd try another, since I never did get handbrake to work.

No, MakeMKV doesn't do compression.  All I need is something that does compression.  Preferably simple to use.  I'll even pay for a good program that's worth it.

Since you're on windows I's got to either sevenforums, eightforums, or tenforums depending on which version of windows you're running. They should be able to help you fix you Dotnet issue. 

[DrBoneSaw 2]

13 hours ago, Bingyyyy said:

So, handbrake is good then I take it

Okay, I'll try getting it working again.  I used to be an engineer lol how hard can it be...

 

Handbrake is great. I've never had a issue with it, but then I'm running it in Linux.

[Bingie 99]

2 minutes ago, DrBoneSaw said:

Since you're on windows I's got to either sevenforums, eightforums, or tenforums depending on which version of windows you're running. They should be able to help you fix you Dotnet issue. 

Thanks, it's windows 10, I got it working, I had grabbed the wrong .net package: the console, instead of desktop runtime.