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?
Start with the Basic HD profile - you can delete everything else - all crap. Then do this, exactly, make a 240 second âPreviewâ 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 âBurn Inâ, and ASS subs transcode on everything I have. Just say âNOâ to HB and subtitles.
Apart from that the new HB is basicallly âidiot-proofâ and I oughta knowâŠ
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/ <ârip first, HB later.
MKVToolNix Downloads â Matroska tools for Linux/Unix and Windows <âvarious fix-ups, alteration muxes, joining/splitting, tagging, etc.
XMedia Recode Download - Free Video-Converter <â#1 Audio, Sub Mux, ect.
Nikse.dk <â rather self-explanatory - and necessary (if you can hear the [Door Slams] and donât need to read it, etc).
What follows is the â480â profile settings:
âGreyed Outâ means HB is doing automatic things -and just reporting what itâs doing - donât try to change things you canât change.
HB will almost always get the âAuto-Croppingâ 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 donât 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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Iâm a total MKV guy myself.
The â2 Passâ 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 wonât work at your Roo Farm in the Snowy OutbackâŠ
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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, donât 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 
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? Iâm just not quite sure what you mean when you say you pass through all the audio etc.
Thanks
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 XRâs 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, thatâs great news. I imagine theyâre right hard on the mower blades⊠and I always wondered what that green stuff was in my RooBurgerâŠlol
Knowing your hardware capabilities is important, a lot HD-MA 7.1 titles can cause issues
Yep - thatâs why I donât have any of those, but XR is great for turning stuff I donât need into stuff I do - on that final pass.
The fact is, during the MakeMKV Rip, I simply donât 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 âmightâ.
Xmedia Recode does about the best âdownmixâ of 5.1 to 2.0 of anything Iâve 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 âflatâ. You should endeavor to maintain 5.1 tracks in Movies as they donât enjoy the same flatness as Shows do.
HULU is notorious for burying the dialog - and thereâs 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 wonât 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. Thatâs annoying.
If material is interlaced I recommend a full Yadif default and a lapsharp default filter to counteract some of that softness - itâs 480 - itâs only gonna get so good - theyâll look fine and you wonât see any fuzzy/sharp random idiocy.
Note:
âTop Field Firstâ 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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