handbrake x264 360p @ 420kbps

[adamf9898]

Hello everyone!
First off, I would like to say that I have searched and I cannot actually find what I am looking for. Mostly because I am looking for just comments, opinions, suggestions on the way I have Handbrake set up to encode.

I got my idea and most settings from the group known as mSD.

Resolution: 640x and 672x is usually what I have chosen which is also why I say 360p.
video bitrate: always at 420kbps single pass encode for quicker encoding
audio bitrate: AAC 2ch 64kbps 480000hz
subtitles: none
chapters: yes
advanced settings: ref=8:me=umh:bframes=8:b-pyramid=strict:b-adapt=2:weightp=0:trellis=2:threads=12:lookahead=1 :deblock=-2,-1

I see no other encoder who use these settings also. Best viewed on screen resolution of 1280x720

I will also try to post screenshots.

[hello_hello]

There's nothing particularly special about those x264 settings. You can find out more about what each one does here. The x264 encoder automatically sets the number of threads based on your CPU (number of cores). I wouldn't change that. Lookahead=1 makes no sense to me.

Single pass bitrate encoding isn't the best way to go about it. Normally you specify an average bitrate, the encoder runs the first pass to work out how to best distribute them, then it encodes on the second pass. Quality should be fairly consistent from start to finish.
When you only run a single pass the encoder keeps adjusting the bitrate as it encodes in order to achieve the specified average bitrate. It basically guesses as it goes. If you run a 2 pass encode, how long does the first pass take? I'd assume it'd be a fair bit faster than the second pass.

I've seen a few "mSD" encodes. Compared to the original 720p video, they're not anything exciting. If it's a bandwidth issue... but hard drive space is pretty cheap these days. For personal use I don't understand the logic behind taking a HD video, resizing it to standard definition and re-encoding it at a low bitrate. Unless maybe you're re-encoding so you have a smaller version for watching on a portable device with a little screen.

[_Al_]

With single pass, what you can do, is to set low CRF (RF) and limit bitrate with buffers, can Handbrake do that?

[hello_hello]

You can probably add it to the command line manually, but for the time it takes to run a first pass and do it "properly"......

Could buffer settings have an effect in combination with "lookahead=1"?

[adamf9898]

okay, thanks for the replies. so far i have changed from 1pass to a 2pass 1st pass turbo. keep the suggestions, comments, etc. coming!

I recently bought 100 pack dvd-r and some cases to start my movie collection all over with my encode settings.
10 to 14 movies on one dvd as data. I am loving it!

So has anyone else even tried my settings yet? If not then let me make it even easier for you by adding my preset file for you to import.

x264-9898 preset