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Handbrake settings question

M

mmmmmdonuts

Gawd
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
821
So I have ripped around 100 blu ray's that I own to mkv format for my HTPC (a core 2 duo). Its using the standard handbrake RF of 20 and passing through either AC3 or DTS. I also have another HTPC for my bedroom. The problem is this is a Pentium 4 and will not play the bluray rips I have made. So I am trying to make the files as high of quality as possible and still play on the P4. I have tried like 4 or 5 different methods and while it works for some movies it gets screwed up on others. I have tried one pass, two pass, output size, etc.

Do I want to keep the aspect ratio and reduce the quality from maybe an RF 20 to RF 60?

So any suggestions on handbrake settings taking my mkv BluRay rips and down converting them to DVD quality so they will play?
Thanks for the help.
 
what's your file size and run time? give us an example of what you're output's looking like. Also, please give specs on the P4 system, and tell us how it's connected. if it's wireless... that could be your issue, but knowing the details would be helpful
 
Okay. Its an older (northwood I believe) P4 system and its connected via a 100mb NIC. I will have to look at the GPU but the computer was built in September 2003. The GPU I know is connected via AGP and it only has a VGA output. Its a very very basic GPU because it was an IBM business desktop and no one ever gamed on it. I will check the GPU when I get home but I can assure you its not a good one.

My typical blu ray files are around 7-18GB. I am trying to shrink them into something like 1-2GB range.
 
5-9GB should be where you're coming in at, on converted size, not 7-18... almost sounds like you're not compressing the video at all. Pics of the handbrake settings you're using, please. 1-2GB for Blu-Ray would result in unbearable video quality, though (worse than DVD). My handbrake DVD transcodes start @ 2GB (for movies that are < 2hours) and go to 3GB (for movies that are 2-3 hours). 1GB per hour, as a rule of thumb (for me) on DVD conversions.

Also, a P4 Nothwood with an old circa 2003 AGP card isn't going to cut it. You'll want something like a Radeon 4650 AGP card (which is really overkill, but you're limited on selection by way of the AGP slot... this card is as high as you can go on AGP. Newegg link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...n=4650&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

That GPU and the drivers that you'll install to get it running will offload the playback from the CPU to the GPU. In all honesty, you need a new machine (that's probably a "well, DUH" statement) but this is your cheapest path to success (upgrading the GPU, not necessarily choosing this one).
 
You can disable many of the features that require more cpu upon decompression like CABAC, b frames, weighted p, trellis, etc. At this point it's kind of pointless though and you'd be better of using makemkv or playing straight from the bluray itself. Changing the CRF factor won't make any difference.

If anything try using handbrakes FFMPEG quality 1 or 2 and see if that works.

You can also try resizing them to 720p.
 
sabregen said:
5-9GB should be where you're coming in at, on converted size, not 7-18... almost sounds like you're not compressing the video at all. Pics of the handbrake settings you're using, please.
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention I am adding the lossless audio back in after handbrake, which jumps my file sizes up by a gig or 2. Most are less than 10GB though. The reason I gave that range is Braveheart is around 17GB. I use the default settings for the constant quality preset with either a AC3 passthrough or DTS passthrough.

You can also try resizing them to 720p.
Click to expand...

This is more or less what I am trying to do, or even 480p. Should I just do a custom aspect ratio and set the height first? I guess this is where I am getting confused and what I ultimately would like to accomplish for now.

I know ultimately I need to just upgrade the second HTPC but thats not in the budget quite yet:(
 
still waiting on SS of your handbrake settings, please. I am aware of the uncompressed DTS and AC3 passthrough sizes, as I keep only the highest bitrate and highest number of channels and leave them uncompressed as well. Your sizes are still too big... by about double.
 
So I only had a regular DVD with me but here are my settings I use regardless if its a BluRay or DVD. (Just imagine 1920x1080 for height and width, rather than 720x352). I don't change these for my default settings anyways so it should not matter. I use mkvmerge to remove the DTS/AC3 passthrough file and put in the lossless audio file once handbrake is done transcoding the video. I am very happy with the output and quality of the files when I use the handbrake settings below.










Those are the default settings I use when I first take my mkv file from MakeMkv to make a smaller file.

Now here are the SS of the settings I am currently trying to use to resize my mkv file after I have already transcoded the file from above. I am trying to move these into the 480p or 720p range so it will play on the one HTPC. (please note the height is adjusted to so that the output of the file is close to 480p as possible, i.e, 1128 for 2.35:1, 854 for 16:9)
The rest of the settings remain the same other than these two screens below.




With these settings I am having a few problems. Some of the movies look fantastic for the reduction in size and quality while others look terrible or just crash handbrake. (this is actually a huge problem for me at the moment)

I am really just looking for the best way to resize the bluray I have already transcoded into a 720p or a 480p content and keeping surround sound with them. (Got to see if I can play 720p first:) )

Thanks for the help and sorry for the extremely long post.
 
Hey bro, try leaving things the way you have them, but disable CABAC, bump RF to 18, put detelicine and decomb to default (they should always be on because they are only used when the program determines they are needed). Then for picture goto custom, keep aspect ratio checked, then set the size to 1280x720. <-Sometimes you have to mess with this a bit to get it the way you want, if the numbers aren't right, select 'none', then strict, then loose, then custom again. After going down the line the numbers usually line up right.

A P4 should play 720p no probs with onboard video, (usually using full cpu). If not then you can always size down to 856(+/-)x480.
 
rive22 said:
Hey bro, try leaving things the way you have them, but disable CABAC, bump RF to 18, put detelicine and decomb to default (they should always be on because they are only used when the program determines they are needed).
Click to expand...

Are you saying I should do this for my the default run through of the bluray files or just when I am going down to encode them to 720p/480p?

I will give the other settings a try later tonight or tomorrow.
 
mmmmmdonuts said:
Are you saying I should do this for my the default run through of the bluray files or just when I am going down to encode them to 720p/480p?

I will give the other settings a try later tonight or tomorrow.
Click to expand...

When you are down-encoding them. Also which ones have bad quality? Are they ones you changed the aspect ratio? Or are they movies with more motion? Is the quality bad on the originals you made as well or just the resized ones?

The ones that crash probably need large file size enabled.
 
Last edited:
rive22 said:
When you are down-encoding them. Also which ones have bad quality? Are they ones you changed the aspect ratio? Or are they movies with more motion? Is the quality bad on the originals you made as well or just the resized ones?

The ones that crash probably need large file size enabled.
Click to expand...

The quality is not bad at all in the originals at all. The files work flawlessly. I have had problems in movies like Avatar, Grown Ups, Wall Street Money Never Sleeps, Live Free Die Hard and about five other ones. Longer movies seemed to struggle more. I am sure my forgetting to use large file size is probably the biggest reason but I did not think that setting mattered when using mkv. I did not note the aspect ratio of the ones that did failed.

I can get a more complete list when I am home but what I may do is just try one or two of the ones that failed with the settings you listed above and see if that solves the problem.

Thanks again for the help.
 
Works perfectly rive22. Thanks for the help. Settled for 480p because some of the 720p movies still stuttered and it was crushing the cpu and its small heatsink just sounds crazy. Thanks again for the help.
 
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