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

[DrBoneSaw 2]

11 hours ago, Bingyyyy said:

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.

I only have a Ryzen 5 3600 and Handbreak works nicely in the background without slowing me down one bit.

[Bingie 99]

I read somewhere there is a setting in handbrake, to slow it down, to run in background, but I haven't found it yet.

[Bingie 99]

Okay videoproc 2-pass h.264 software only ran about 37 minutes, got the file all the way down to 2.5gb 3930kbps.  Quality is surprisingly good.

Source:  17.7gb mkv (makemkv file from blu ray 1:26:42 firefly episode 1 serenity)

I'll have to run handbrake again, using same settings.  Still waking up, more coffee then I should write all of this down.  Maybe I'll turn up an ftp server somewhere, and upload all of these files, if anyone wants to check them out.

 

[Bingie 99]

Okay I found it.  They both run the same now.

handbrake was defaulting frame rate to 30fps, instead of the source, which is 23.976.  videoproc was smart enough to default to same as source.

handbrake is running now, says 30 minutes, but it keeps changing.  I'll let it finish, then compare the final files.

ugh never do this before your morning coffee

[roaku 793]

29 minutes ago, Bingyyyy said:

Okay I found it.  They both run the same now.

handbrake was defaulting frame rate to 30fps, instead of the source, which is 23.976.  videoproc was smart enough to default to same as source.

handbrake is running now, says 30 minutes, but it keeps changing.  I'll let it finish, then compare the final files.

ugh never do this before your morning coffee

Again, not sure what Handbrake settings you're using, but the presets generally use Peak Framerate under the Video tab, which will result in 'same as source' if the source framerate is equal to or lower than the Framerate value. It acts like a maximum value.

So, for example, if you have '30' set as the Peak Framerate and convert a 23.976 FPS movie, the output file will also have 23.976 FPS.

Edited August 7, 2021 by roaku

[Bingie 99]

Okay that was educational.  noob here learning more about video compression.

Both handbrake and videoproc produced similar results in similar timeframes, using similar settings (quality controls are different):

handbrake produced a 3.6gb mp4 w/ 5563kbps

videoproc produced a 2.5gb mp4 w/ 3930kbps

Settings on both: keep 1080p, 23.976fps, audio bit rate 128kbps (sample rates slightly different 44.1kHz vs 48kHz handbrake, so I missed that one), encode h.264 level 4.2, image quality constant CRF 22, 2 pass.

The interfaces are very different.  Both have all the options, but videoproc defaults easier to use, handbrake more manual, but i'm still learning, so we'll see.

Also, videoproc doesn't have a peak frame rate option, it defaulted to same as source, so I changed handbrake to same as source, and it made a huge difference in time to process, so the peak option takes a lot more time.

Thanks all for the great feedback.  I have two compression tools I can use.  videoproc is easier for beginners, but handbrake looks to have a little bit more detail, so far, i'm still learning.  Hope this exercise helps somebody.  I'll continue to use both, until I learn more.

Cheers

[Carlo 4330]

Sorry to join in late in the thread.

I've never been a handbrake fan.

I prefer scripted ffmpeg use but also use a program I would recommend to anyone currently using handbrake.

It's worth a look/try and think you might like it.

Xmedia Recode
https://www.xmedia-recode.de/en/

[Bingie 99]

12 hours ago, cayars said:

Sorry to join in late in the thread.

I've never been a handbrake fan.

I prefer scripted ffmpeg use but also use a program I would recommend to anyone currently using handbrake.

It's worth a look/try and think you might like it.

Xmedia Recode
https://www.xmedia-recode.de/en/

Your timing is perfect.  This is a great time for me to try another program, while all of this testing is still fresh in my head.  I'll at least try Xmedia Recode, I want to see for myself what others here are using.  I've heard about scripting ffmpeg, but don't think I'm ready for that level of immersion yet.  Some day, sure.

Thanks!

 

[Bingie 99]

Okay, I tried Xmedia Recode, and sorry to say, it is even less intuitive than handbrake, by alot.  I pop in a dvd movie to rip, and have absolutely no idea what to do, it defaults to nothing.  Looks like you manually have to select each/every chapter on the disk, never did figure out how to combine them.  The profiles is confusing and I have absolutely no idea what to use, left it on custom.  I did change output format to mp4, I guess that's right.  It started converting each chapter to a separate mp4 file, which is useless.

I think I'll stick with videoproc, it's the easiest to use for beginners, by far, and does a great job.  Handbrake isn't very intuitive, you have to know what you want, but I'll learn more using it.  Xmedia Recode I have no idea how to use that, I don't even think it can rip movies, and if it can, they didn't bother making it easy to use at all.

Cheers

[Bingie 99]

DOH!  Okay, let's try this again.  I got totally distracted, was reading about ripping movies w/ Xmedia recode, and tried that first for some reason.  Didn't go too well for me.

Totally forgot about compressing mkv files LOL let's try this again...

Running it now, selected the Serenity mkv file, compressing and converting to mp4, it's running now, the defaults looked pretty good, way too many options though, definitely more advanced stuff here, way over my head.

Letting it run, will take a while...

 

[roaku 793]

I use x media recode for a few things like adding/removing/reordering audio tracks when I don't need to convert video, but it's UI is so unintuitive to me and seems to require extras steps to complete any task.

 

[arrbee99 1551]

Handbrake can save default profiles if you want, so you can save your favourite profile for blurays and you favourite profile for dvds, etc. Also it will batch process a folder of episodes if desired.

Course if your favourite program also does that then the above doesn't count for much...

[Bingie 99]

1 hour ago, arrbee99 said:

Handbrake can save default profiles if you want, so you can save your favourite profile for blurays and you favourite profile for dvds, etc. Also it will batch process a folder of episodes if desired.

Course if your favourite program also does that then the above doesn't count for much...

No, the other program doesn't do a lot of things that handbrake does.

I have to admit, the more I use handbrake, the more I like it!  I just popped in an old dvd movie, to see how handbrake would rip it, and all the defaults are perfect.  Didn't have to change a thing.  I didn't feel like buying another license for the other program, so I installed handbrake on this laptop to rip dvd's, while my main pc processes the big stuff.

HandBrake kind of a dumb name though, I guess it's better than Wanker or TazerFace 

 

[arrbee99 1551]

I forget you can rip DVDs with Handbrake. I use MakeMKV to rip DVD, bluray and 4K and Handbrake to shrink (just blurays though, I leave DVD as they're low enough quality already and 4K cause I didn't buy 4K to lower their quality, and I'm not sure if you can anyway).

Doing a batch of episodes generally works fine for me, but I havben't found a way to set subttiles and audio for all the titles in one go, so while you can have it set say the crf for all the titles to sat 21,  you have to chucg though and set the audio for each one one at a time. Stilll worth I think though.

In MakeMKV I fairly recently discovered how to only rip English Audio and English subs though, which helps.

No idea where they got the name from though. I guess all the good ones were gone already...(and they seem to be French, so you know zeez crayzeee french....)

[Bingie 99]

hmm now handbrake crashing on me trying to rip a dvd, so back to makemkv for ripping... it was interesting though, maybe they'll fix that some day

[roaku 793]

15 minutes ago, Bingyyyy said:

hmm now handbrake crashing on me trying to rip a dvd, so back to makemkv for ripping... it was interesting though, maybe they'll fix that some day

I use makemkv to bulk transfer multiple discs.

I then use handbrake to scan the resulting folders and add everything to the queue to convert overnight.

[roaku 793]

29 minutes ago, arrbee99 said:

I forget you can rip DVDs with Handbrake. I use MakeMKV to rip DVD, bluray and 4K and Handbrake to shrink (just blurays though, I leave DVD as they're low enough quality already and 4K cause I didn't buy 4K to lower their quality, and I'm not sure if you can anyway).

Doing a batch of episodes generally works fine for me, but I havben't found a way to set subttiles and audio for all the titles in one go, so while you can have it set say the crf for all the titles to sat 21,  you have to chucg though and set the audio for each one one at a time. Stilll worth I think though.

In MakeMKV I fairly recently discovered how to only rip English Audio and English subs though, which helps.

No idea where they got the name from though. I guess all the good ones were gone already...(and they seem to be French, so you know zeez crayzeee french....)

Handbrake lets you define rules for audio and subtitles based on language. You can save these with a preset.

For example, you can tell it to grab all English audio tracks and convert them to aac.

Or, you could tell it to grab the first Spanish track and pass it through without converting.

[arrbee99 1551]

15 minutes ago, roaku said:

Handbrake lets you define rules for audio and subtitles based on language. You can save these with a preset.

For example, you can tell it to grab all English audio tracks and convert them to aac.

Or, you could tell it to grab the first Spanish track and pass it through without converting.

Yes I've got a few presets, but for MakeMKVs Audio Tab its always set to AAC (I think) and I always want it set to pass through, So if you happen to know how to set it to Passthrough maybe ?

Same for Subtitles > Foreign Audio Scan, if there's a way to set those three tick boxes automatically ?

[roaku 793]

7 minutes ago, arrbee99 said:

Yes I've got a few presets, but for MakeMKVs Audio Tab its always set to AAC (I think) and I always want it set to pass through, So if you happen to know how to set it to Passthrough maybe ?

Same for Subtitles > Foreign Audio Scan, if there's a way to set those three tick boxes automatically ?

Makemkv only decrypts and copies the selected source files as is from the disc into an mkv container. It doesn't have any ability to convert audio or video, only copy.

For handbrake, under the audio tab, there's a 'selection behavior' button where you can define the rules for how it will process the audio.

Once you have the rules set, you can update or create a new preset, and in the save dialog, tell it to include the audio rules.

I think the presets saving with the audio selection rules is fairly recent, so make sure you have the latest version.

Edited August 8, 2021 by roaku

[arrbee99 1551]

Thanks, yes should have typed Handbrake, not MakeMKV.

I've looked at Selection Behavior before but I'll give it another go. Maybe I didn't tell it to include audio rules.

I'll also check out the latest version.

[roaku 793]

39 minutes ago, arrbee99 said:

Thanks, yes should have typed Handbrake, not MakeMKV.

I've looked at Selection Behavior before but I'll give it another go. Maybe I didn't tell it to include audio rules.

I'll also check out the latest version.

I can get closer to what I need with my custom rules, but I still need to make adjustments unless it's a barebones style TV show with just one audio track.

But that's because I want to handle primary audio differently than commentaries or isolated scores and I want to label them and I want to discard descriptive audio altogether...Pretty straightforward.

[arrbee99 1551]

I just want to save a bit of space and keep all the English Audio and English subs plus any foreign language that might be a part of the English soundtrack - bits of French, German, Klingon, etc...

[Bingie 99]

I have a new problem, not sure what to do.  How to tell Emby to NOT turn on subtitles when playing mkv files...

I'm using makemkv to rip a tv show from dvd's.  I rename the files by episode, and put them on the Emby server.  That part is fine.

When I play an episode from my Emby roku client, by default, the tv shows have subtitles turned on.  For each episode, I have to keep manually changing subtitles to off.  Any way to tell Emby what default playback to use, when playing an mkv file?  I'd hate to have to edit all of these mkv files and delete the subtitles.  Hoping for a cleaner solution.

Thanks

 

[arrbee99 1551]

I think Dashboard > Subtitles > Subtitle Mode - No Subtitles.

...possibly.

[Bingie 99]

6 minutes ago, arrbee99 said:

I think Dashboard > Subtitles > Subtitle Mode - No Subtitles.

...possibly.

Nope, that didn't work.  I'll keep kicking that tire though, see if I can get it to work for me.