What settings should a newbie use for transcoding ripped bluray mkv files with handbreak?

My goals are to keep file sizes low as possible while trying to stop any transcoding from occurring. I would like to keep 5.1 surround sound where possible as well but also have stereo audio as an option, all without compromising too much on quality. Could anyone help me make a pre-set to achieve this?

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Start with the Basic HD profile - you can delete everything else - all crap. Then do this, exactly, make a 240 second ‘Preview’ and see what you think. File Sizes will be consistent at about 1.4G per hour. My eyeballs stop seeing improvement above about 3250kbps, so I give it 3750 and call it a day. Your eyeballs may require something different. Make a 4 minute preview and decide for yourself.

Of course, you should create an audio track that will Direct Play. For me any flavor of AC3 works fine. I typically pass through all the audio, then on a final pass with Xmedia Recode I tweek the audio (format/leveling) and add any subtitles - AFTER HANDBRAKE! HB creates ASS subs in everything it does - except a ‘Burn In’, and ASS subs transcode on everything I have. Just say ‘NO’ to HB and subtitles.

Apart from that the new HB is basicallly ‘idiot-proof’ and I oughta know


I have two (2) user profiles - 1080 and 480. I need nothing else. I make 720s sometimes, but just make that change on the fly. Most everything is simply drag, drop and go.

Some tools:

#1 SuperFriend: http://makemkv.com/ <—rip first, HB later.
MKVToolNix Downloads – Matroska tools for Linux/Unix and Windows <—various fix-ups, alteration muxes, joining/splitting, tagging, etc.
XMedia Recode Download - Free Video-Converter <–#1 Audio, Sub Mux, ect.
Nikse.dk <— rather self-explanatory - and necessary (if you can hear the [Door Slams] and don’t need to read it, etc).

What follows is the ‘480’ profile settings:

“Greyed Out” means HB is doing automatic things -and just reporting what it’s doing - don’t try to change things you can’t change.

HB will almost always get the ‘Auto-Cropping’ right, but
 it does drop the ball and should always be checked.

Enjoy

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With your advice I tend to agree, heavy action Flicks I might push that bit rate a bit higher.
I also tend to like mkv over mp4.
Prefer 5.1 AC3 but have been trying Dolby Atmos as my TV is compatiable
With my LG OLED I don’t use Motion Blur so I push the bit rate.

Bit rate and size of Title files in general are of no concern with my clients or server. As for DVD quality if possible I look Blu Ray Re-mastered, I have had a lot of success with those and my 4K OLED.

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I’m a total MKV guy myself.
The “2 Pass” option really helps in the action/complex scenes area - HB assigning more resources on those areas, but of course, my eyeballs only work at my house - they won’t work at your Roo Farm in the Snowy Outback


:smiley:

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Yah and it seems to remove flicker in some scenes.

The top paddock is void of Roos at present with the drought, don’t have to mow at all.

As for snow that a fair way to the south of me.

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Just did a live preview of those settings and it seems to be looking great :slight_smile:

One question I have though is about codecs/containers.

If my movie is DTS-HD audio is that fine to set to AC3 like you have? I’m just not quite sure what you mean when you say you pass through all the audio etc.
Thanks :slight_smile:

I select Pass Through (Audio Tab/Codec Side Dropdown list) for whatever audio type the material has. THEN, when HB is done, I pass the final through Xmedia Recode to swap audio codecs to AC3, if necessary, and run XR’s Audio Normalization feature - 89db/Stereo - 84-86db/5.1, and mux in any subtitles I have. I only futz with the audio once that way - not that I could hear the difference anyway, but you might.

Well, that’s great news. I imagine they’re right hard on the mower blades
 and I always wondered what that green stuff was in my RooBurger
lol

Knowing your hardware capabilities is important, a lot HD-MA 7.1 titles can cause issues

Yep - that’s why I don’t have any of those, but XR is great for turning stuff I don’t need into stuff I do - on that final pass.

The fact is, during the MakeMKV Rip, I simply don’t rip those tracks out unless there are no other, more suitable tracks, and there almost always are.

Will these programs fix the quiet dialogue, loud action sequences problem, or is that still adjustments outside of Plex?

They ‘might’.
Xmedia Recode does about the best ‘downmix’ of 5.1 to 2.0 of anything I’ve tried, but it is best to try to maintain those 5.1 tracks, if possible.

TV Shows are the easiest to downmix to 2.0 as they are probably already compressed really ‘flat’. You should endeavor to maintain 5.1 tracks in Movies as they don’t enjoy the same flatness as Shows do.

HULU is notorious for burying the dialog - and there’s not much anybody can do about that - other than use PMP and/or Windows Audio Leveling.

Why no deinterlacing on the 480 preset?
Or are you activating that on a case-by-case basis?

Yes.

Reason:
De-interlacing softens the image.

Decomb with (the correct) detection won’t do anything if there is no interlacing artifacts, but even I can see it switching on and off for scenes that do have artifacts to remove. That’s annoying.

If material is interlaced I recommend a full Yadif default and a lapsharp default filter to counteract some of that softness - it’s 480 - it’s only gonna get so good - they’ll look fine and you won’t see any fuzzy/sharp random idiocy.

Note:
“Top Field First” type interlacing - you might get away with doing nothing.
I have never seen an artifact in ANY of it.
YMMV.
(Drop some of those in Other Videos and have a look before committing to something that might be unnecessary)

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