Massive Handbrake batch processing - need guidance

m021478 · 01-31-2013, 12:15 AM

I'm basically hoping that someone could put themselves in my situation and answer the following question:

Quote:


	You're about to convert a massive collection of about 700 movies into iPad 3/iPhone 5/AppleTV 3 compatible files, and your goal is to achieve a high quality output that virtually mirrors the original, while maintaining compatibility with these devices, what settings would you use to do it?

I plan on deleting my source files when I'm done, so I don't want to screw this up. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated... Thanks!

acme.mail.order · 01-31-2013, 01:08 AM

1. Install HandBrakeCLI - it runs faster and is scriptable.

2. Get an additional external drive. This isn't a job that you want to do on the same volume as the source.

3. Do you want a result that:

a) plays on AppleTV *and* iPhone simultaneously, and you don't care about how much space it consumes on the phone

b) displays the best quality on the phone's screen, but a separate, smaller file than the one used for AppleTV

m021478 · 01-31-2013, 02:40 AM

Quote:


	Install HandBrakeCLI - it runs faster and is scriptable.

Done.

Quote:


	2. Get an additional external drive. This isn't a job that you want to do on the same volume as the source.

Done.

Quote:


	3. Do you want a result that: a) plays on AppleTV and iPhone simultaneously, and you don't care about how much space it consumes on the phone b) displays the best quality on the phone's screen, but a separate, smaller file than the one used for AppleTV

'B' would be my answer to this one, at least for some of my larger movies files (i.e. 10GB 1080p .mkv files). Not sure it would be necessary for movies where the source file to be converted is less than 2GB or even 4GB.

fracai · 01-31-2013, 08:42 AM

If you're definitely looking to save space this may not be something you're interested in, but most, if not all, of those MKV files are going to be encoded with x264, which should be compatible with iOS devices. Basically, instead of a lengthy re-encode, you can re-mux where you just change the container format. For any compatible files, you'd at worst have to re-encode the audio, which would be very much faster.

Handbrake can't re-mux, but there a many tools that will.

It's also possible that Handbrake might produce larger files than you started with. Certainly not all the time but, depending on the original file, it's possible.

And one more note, are you sure you want to do this? Every time you re-encode a compressed format you're going to loose quality. How sure are you that the presets and codecs for the AppleTV today are going to be optimal in even five years? What I'm getting at is that if the MKV files are your originals, you may not want to get rid of them. There are other options like the WDTV Live, for example, that will play more formats than AppleTV.

Anyway, scripting HandBrakeCLI would have been my suggestion as well. I will say that I've experienced failed encodes though. I've had to re-mux the source file with mencoder and then try again with HandBrake. So, if you do plan on deleting the source files, but don't have the time to watch everything to make sure it produced a good file, make sure that your script writes out a short file with the status of each encode. You could create a CSV file that you can import to a spreadsheet program and quickly scan through if you have: source, destination, time, exit status, and maybe source seconds, destination seconds, seconds delta. A difference of a few seconds isn't abnormal, but if you see that the encode succeeded with a delta of many minutes, there was probably an error.

acme.mail.order · 02-01-2013, 01:42 AM

Then the standard iPhone and AppleTV presets should be fine. You may want to look at the presets in the older versions of HandBrake, but do an A-B comparison to see if the added time and filesize are worth it.

01-31-2013, 08:42 AM	#4
fracai MVP Join Date: May 2004 Posts: 2,012	If you're definitely looking to save space this may not be something you're interested in, but most, if not all, of those MKV files are going to be encoded with x264, which should be compatible with iOS devices. Basically, instead of a lengthy re-encode, you can re-mux where you just change the container format. For any compatible files, you'd at worst have to re-encode the audio, which would be very much faster. Handbrake can't re-mux, but there a many tools that will. It's also possible that Handbrake might produce larger files than you started with. Certainly not all the time but, depending on the original file, it's possible. And one more note, are you sure you want to do this? Every time you re-encode a compressed format you're going to loose quality. How sure are you that the presets and codecs for the AppleTV today are going to be optimal in even five years? What I'm getting at is that if the MKV files are your originals, you may not want to get rid of them. There are other options like the WDTV Live, for example, that will play more formats than AppleTV. Anyway, scripting HandBrakeCLI would have been my suggestion as well. I will say that I've experienced failed encodes though. I've had to re-mux the source file with mencoder and then try again with HandBrake. So, if you do plan on deleting the source files, but don't have the time to watch everything to make sure it produced a good file, make sure that your script writes out a short file with the status of each encode. You could create a CSV file that you can import to a spreadsheet program and quickly scan through if you have: source, destination, time, exit status, and maybe source seconds, destination seconds, seconds delta. A difference of a few seconds isn't abnormal, but if you see that the encode succeeded with a delta of many minutes, there was probably an error. __________________ i am jack's amusing sig file
$fracai is offline$

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01-31-2013, 01:08 AM	#2
acme.mail.order League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tokyo Posts: 6,045	1. Install HandBrakeCLI - it runs faster and is scriptable. 2. Get an additional external drive. This isn't a job that you want to do on the same volume as the source. 3. Do you want a result that: a) plays on AppleTV and iPhone simultaneously, and you don't care about how much space it consumes on the phone b) displays the best quality on the phone's screen, but a separate, smaller file than the one used for AppleTV

02-01-2013, 01:42 AM	#5
acme.mail.order League Commissioner Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Tokyo Posts: 6,045	Then the standard iPhone and AppleTV presets should be fine. You may want to look at the presets in the older versions of HandBrake, but do an A-B comparison to see if the added time and filesize are worth it.