The information you are missing is in those text files you attached. Read them carefully, they might just reveal what I am trying to point out.
Guys, you really should study and learn these things before sounding off and throwing lots of incorrect info out there. JuiceWSA is spot on with the bitrates he mentioned.
Listening to some of your guys Iâd HAVE to ASSUME you would never watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu or Digital TV for that matter since the bit rates will be far lower then a BluRay disc.
You certainly donât have to hold the bitrate anywhere close to the raw bitrate to end up with something that is 95 to 98% visually the same. If you read what JuiceWSA has said over and over again you will see you can adjust the compression to YOUR OWN preference. I myself like something in the 6Mb to 10Mb on average depending on the movie and the way it was filmed. A slow or low action film can often use far less bites then an action movie or something filmed to look grainy or dark (think Batman movies).
Itâs all it WHAT WORKS FOR YOU. What JuiceWSA has done is give you a guide to work from.
Also Guys keep in mind the title of this thread and itâs about DVD and not BluRay discs and 480p at that.
I myself stopped using Handbrake and Recode a while a go and now just use scripts that automatically process files using ffmpeg but itâs all the same principle with any of them since they use the same codecs. Just adjust the setting to your own liking to get the compression and/or bitrate where you want it and call it a day.
Nice guide JuiceWSA and well done, itâs appreciated!
Carlo
2 Likes
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What he said.
I still use Handbrake and bookmarked JuiceWSAâs guide - wish I wouldâve run across something like that when starting out. I use constant quality will adjust that slightly depending upon the type of movie. Most of my BluRays are going to end up in the 7 to 10 range. My 50+ year old eyeballs canât see any difference from the full rip and my compressed version on a 50" TV from 10 feet. I have also encoded using Tonyâs exact settings on the same movie. Overall bit rate is almost cut in half but still looks dang good to me.
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Itâs all dependent on the bit rate you use, but I like kinda knowing in advance how big that fileâs going to be based on the bit rate I use.
BTW, if you want to breathe some life into that 1080p encode thatâs taking forever visit the Advanced settings, set everything to the defaults except reference frames - set that to 1 and sacrifice the 100Mb (+/-) theyâll save. When you see a 2:1 (or better) encode happening right before your eyes youâll know why those 1080p encodes are taking so long.
I went so far as to alter the profile Iâm using in MCEBuddy pulling those reference frames back to 1. Itâll chew through an hour of 1080p (interlaced) programming while decombing in about 20 minutes.
Iâll give 'em that 100Mb. Itâs no big deal.
Listening to some of your guys Iâd HAVE to ASSUME you would never watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu or Digital TV for that matter since the bit rates will be far lower then a BluRay disc.
And there is artifacting in all of those services you mentionedâŠyou just have to know where to look. The bitrate is there for a purpose, to fit it down a small pipe, but if Netflix could get away with more bandwidth then they would.
What you donât understand is how these files or live broadcasts are encoded. I work with them everyday. If you think a program on a pc compares to the high end hardware and software they use to author files for streaming or live use, then I will have to say no.
@Stephen3001 said:
What you donât understand is how these files or live broadcasts are encoded. I work with them everyday. If you think a program on a pc compares to the high end hardware and software they use to author files for streaming or live use, then I will have to say no.
We are sorta limited to watching these things via our PCs and in some cases after theyâve been broadcast over varying distances, through the atmosphere via 100+ year old technology that still, surprisingly, serves billions of human beings adequately - youâre just not one of them. Fair enough.
How 'bout you use whatever it is you use and let other people do what they want? Clearly you have a means to see things in ways that simply are not possible for most of the eyeballs on the planet to enjoy. Be thankful youâre one of the âprivileged fewâ and donât have to mingle down here in the filth with the âunwashed massesâ.
I can tell you⊠giving a recorded TV Show more bit rate than is retrieved through the antenna and laid down in a file by the recording device is a complete waste of time and HDD space. Handbrake even reminds users that going beyond certain settings and rates is Placebo (no real medicine there, but if it makes you feel better itâs all in your head). No matter how hard you try you canât sew a silk purse out of a sowâs ear - and you can take that to the bank and cash it all day long. You can even pick up a lollipop while youâre there.
@astrofisher said:
âŠMost of my BluRays are going to end up in the 7 to 10 range. My 50+ year old eyeballs canât see any difference from the full rip and my compressed version on a 50" TV from 10 feet.
Overnight I processed a BluRay of Hitchcockâs âTo Catch A Thief (1955)â, first right from MakeMKV, second at 8500Kbps and third at 4200Kbps (itâs some pretty powerful video so gave it some bit rate - as I normally do).
My eyeballs canât see the difference in any of them, but I wonât jump down your throat for using whatever you want. I canât watch my stuff through your eyeballs, so Iâll just let you do what you want - and wish you well (you lucky, keen-eyed ba&^%^d!).
Native DVD resolution is 720x480 for NTSC, and 720x576 for PALă I suggest you to adjust video size to 1080p or 2160p to get sharper viewing when playing on Roku Ultra.
@Leona05 said:
Native DVD resolution is 720x480 for NTSC, and 720x576 for PALă I suggest you to adjust video size to 1080p or 2160p to get sharper viewing when playing on Roku Ultra.
Upscaling 480/576p to 1080/2160 does NOT improve the quality. It might make you happier, but it doesnât make it any better. It actually makes it worse.
You, however, are free to do anything in your world you feel is necessary for your happiness - but you are wasting your time.
Iâve been playing around this morning with downconverting 1080p to 720p for storage considerations. I have found that for Plex to Direct Play the frame rate appears to have to be set to constant. This is not through converting with Handbrake. Havenât gotten that to work yet but by using Plex to Optimize to Universal TV 720p 2.0 mbps quality. It seems that it might be easier to just use Plex despite the gymnastics needed to replace the original with the transcoded version. The size reduction was 3.4GB to 400MB for a half hour show.
You do not need to downgrade the video to 720p to reduce the storage. All that is necessary is to reduce the bit rate of the 1080p until you start seeing it, then take it back up 500Kbps and stick a pin in it.
If you mess with frame rates - youâre doing the wrong thing.
Get yourself a copy of Handbrake Version 0.10.5, follow my guide and the suggestion above and call it a day.
Actually, I wasnât messing with the frame rate. You said in your guide to leave it alone and the input frame rate on the video in question was variable. The output from Handbrake was also variable and Plex was doing a h264 to h264 transcode during playback. The Plex Optimize changed it to Constant. I should have some time either later today or tomorrow morning to play some more.
By all means run some test files - thatâs the only way to test that I know of.
Hereâs a little âbit rate triviaâ:
If you have 3 versions of a file, letâs say, 1080p, 720p and 480p all with the same bit rate theyâll all be the same size. Funny, ainât it?
The difference is that 1080p file needs a higher bit rate, the 720p file doesnât need quite as much and the 480p needs much less to produce a reasonable facsimile of itâs source file. How much is arbitrary - or may be able to be calculated somehow, but the only way I know how to calculate it is with the eyeballs in my head.
I do some previews (or at least I used to - before I found out whatâs going to work and whatâs not going to work) and when I started being able to see some differences I bumped it back up a few hundred Kbps and ran 'em. This time-honored method has served me well over the years. I suggest you start making some of your own discoveries and setting your own guidelines for acceptable qualities and find out what bit rates work best for your eyeballs.
When you whack a 1080p file down to 720p youâve whacked a big hunk of the resolution off of it and no amount of bit rate is ever going to get that back. If you want to be more âefficientâ in your storage sizes you can probably whack the bit rate in half while maintaining the 1080p. Dunno. Youâll have to make that call with your own eyeballs.
If a 1080p file comes in here at, say, 19000Kbps I know I can knock that down to 4750Kbps and my eyeballs wonât see any difference. I can probably whack it down to 3200 before I start detecting a difference, but only a âpreviewâ will tell me that. I can usually take a look at the material and pretty much know how much bit rate I want to invest in it, but that âskillâ has taken a long time to evolve.
Those numbers only work for me. Other eyeballs need other numbers. No one can see your stuff through your eyeballs.
Can I kinda change the subject to 4k & HDR for a minute? What Handbrake settings should I use to direct play 4k, x265 10bit with and/or without HDR. I have some manufacturer demos in these formats that play perfectly, both with and without HDR. But my movies, âapparently in the same formatâ, transcode and do not pass the HDR metadata. Any suggestions? BTW: Windows PMS to a Sony Android TV. Thanks for any help.
I donât know much about 4K, but I think âmostâ clients, nor Plex, actually support 10 bit. If youâre encoding these for yourself for use with Plex - or ârecodingâ them - I think you would be better off with 8 bit, but as I said Iâm not very familiar with 4K.
Been doing a lot of playing today and am still not able to get Handbrake to create a Plex Direct Play video. I have even managed to created a Custom Plex optimization that still transcodes to my Chromecast.
Post the XML information for the file:
In the last 12 hours I have created 14 direct play items.
Media
Video Resolution 1080p
Duration 22:58
Bitrate 5021 kbps
Width 1920
Height 1080
Aspect Ratio 1.78
Container MP4
Video Frame Rate 24p
Web Optimized No
Audio Profile lc
Has 64bit Offsets 0
Video Profile main
Part
Duration 22:58
File The Big Bang Theory - S01e01 - Pilot Bluray-1080p-1.mp4
Size 825.01 MB
Audio Profile lc
Container MP4
Has 64bit Offsets 0
Web Optimized No
Video Profile main
Codec H264
Bitrate 4857 kbps
Bit Depth 8
Chroma Subsampling 4:2:0
Color Range tv
Color Space bt709
Frame Rate 23.976 fps
Height 1080
Level 4.0
Profile main
Ref Frames 4
Stream Identifier 1
Width 1920
Didnât bother with the audio because that is showing Direct Play.
Youâre not following the guide very closely, but that file would direct play over here I think.
The video may be transcoding due to the clientâs quality not being set high enough, but if youâre casting to a chromecast youâre probably going to have to set that quality on the device youâre casting from. Typically local media would be set to âOriginalâ. Youâve made a 1080p video with a total bit rate of 5021Kbps. If the quality (client or casting client) is set lower than that Plex has no choice, but to transcode a version that will fit into that quality window.
You may have to provide more details about what exactly youâre doing over there. I have checked the supported file formats and contents therein for Chromecast and it looks like your file does fit into that window.
You may be right. I am casting at 2.0/mbps 720p because I can experience stuttering if I increase the bandwidth to 4.0. I will try it at 4.0 but as you say, that may not be enough even for 5021 Kbps. The original was 20,000 kbps.
You canât fit 5.021 tons of cabbage on a 4.0 ton truck.
The whole idea of ârecodingâ is to create material that will direct play. If you canât deliver more than a 2000Kbps stream to your device youâll have to create media with no more than 2000Kbps total bit rate. I mean thatâs just âthe law of the Westâ, Man.
Even the most compromised network should be able to deliver an 8Mbps (8000Kbps) stream, but youâd better make some âPreviewsâ to test with and find out exactly where your system breaks down - then encode to work within those constraints.
