Convert or Re-encode with adjustments

[Aiantas]

Well, I've been looking for some answers/solutions for quite some time now, over the net, so I decided to ask the experts...

I have purchased an HD projector recently, so I had to renew my movie library to the newest versions of BDRip/BRRip and BlueRays. There are movie files from 1,4GBs to 2,4GBs which have awesome video and sound quality, and resolutions from 480p to 720p or even 1080p. These videos are showing fine, in my full HD monitor and my full HD projector, plus that the size of such files allow to store up to several dozens of movies in a hard disk.
Very often though, there are movies larger than 4GBs, about 6-10GBs, great quality but hard disk space consuming. So the question is how I could convert or re-encode them, to a smaller file size without sacrificing quality over size. I want to be able to adjust the image -like brightness, contrast and saturation or gamma, but also to be able to sharpen a bit the entire movie.

I have tried Xilisoft Video Converter and Handbrake (they are the fastest), I do get smaller files but I can't control/adjust that kind of detail, like sharpness or contrast, and I really need that kind of adjustment. Are there any worthy proposals to try? or any relevant guides or how to's?
I also tried Nero Vision/Recode 10 and DivX Plus with HD capabilities but they took me for ever to re-encode a 10GBs movie... about 2 days actually! And I really don't have so much time to spare for a movie conversion...

P.S. The forum is so huge, so excuse me if this subject has been covered elsewhere...

[manono]

You do know, don't you, that sharpening makes a video less compressible? So, on the one hand you want a smaller size (at the same resolution, I presume), yet on the other you want a sharper picture. Combine the two and you'll get a major hit to quality. What you plan on doing for the brightness, contrast, etc., will also affect the compressibility, maybe for better, maybe for worse, depending on what you intend on doing. Anyway, frameserving via an AviSynth script into the encoder of your choice will allow you to filter the video any way you like. Or, Xvid4PSP uses AviSynth and has a number of filters built into it. Xilisoft is garbage and I don't (and won't) use Handbrake so if you insist on using it perhaps someone else can help.

[hech54]

Buy a bigger hard drive.

[Aiantas]

@manono

Thanks for bothering to reply. I tried your proposal for XviD4PSP and I'm really satisfied. Although you cannot choose manually the size of resolution, it works fine and with all the adjustments.

So, is there anything else that I could try, as an alternative? Is there any other 'best choice'?

Xisisoft has a option which enables the use of the Cuda feature of the Nvidia GPU so the conversion time could be decrease but I really saw no (significant) difference.

Bottom line is, If you want above average quality, you have to sacrifice time...

[manono]

Although you cannot choose manually the size of resolution, it works fine and with all the adjustments.

You can do whatever you like when using Xvid4PSP. To resize (or filter in just about any other way), just go AviSynth->Edit Filtering Script and add in a filter. To resize, for example, add something like:

LanczosResize(640,480)

Study up on the built-in AviSynth filters and the 3rd party filters at AviSynth.org:

http://avisynth.org/mediawiki/Main_Page

[guns1inger]

You can also resize directly in Xvid4PSP without having to touch the avisynth code. Just add a Resize Filter (Resolution and Pixel Format) in the Video section (Xvid4PSP Version 6) or Resize under the Video menu (Version 5.x), then pick your resolution and encode.

[manono]

Oh yeah, you're right. I always edit the script, but the built-in method you pointed out is easier. Thanks.

[guns1inger]

Ultimately it all ends up in the script anyway

[Aiantas]

Thank you very much for the info & tips.
Can I find any manual or user guide or how to
for XviD4PSP because I think I've hit gold here...

[manono]

At the bottom of the XviD4PSP page linked whenever you type in the name of that program are 6 different guides for its use for different purposes. Five were written by this site's owner, Baldrick. Since you haven't even said what your output format is (XviD/DivX AVI, maybe?), not much more help can be given. Plus, in the 'Help' section are links to the Home Page and a Support Forum that may cover any questions you might have. Anyway, it's pretty simple to use. Just play around with it. It's not as if you can break anything. If you don't want to wait a long time for a whole movie to finish before having a look, then just encode a small part of it as a test first by adding a trim command to the script:

Trim(10000,15000)

That says to encode 5000 frames from the video between frames 10000 and 15000.

[Aiantas]

Yes, I thought so, it's not nuclear science...
There are so many options in video/codec properties with all that different variables, that I would like to know the affect of altering them, before I really do. Of course some of this adjustments have so little viewable affect, that is pointless to mess with them.


On the other hand there is that “balloon help” when holding the mouse over an option/button, but in most cases it's not very understandable, if you're unfamiliar with some “video editing” terms.
So I thought that a kind of manual would help to find out, what option affects on what. I assumed that the author of the program, had that matter taken care off. Yes, the forums help a lot, but some times is so difficult to find a simple answer, because they are huge with thousands of posts...


My 90% of files that I convert, are MKV and the output that I prefer is also MKV. I don't know for sure if MKV output files is the best choice, regarding quality and size, so if you know something different... I'm all ears.



I already use small files (samples) for experimenting with the different values/options.
I also downloaded the 6.001 beta version, and I think it's a bit faster. But there aren't as much video filters as in v. 5.

I guess that could be fixed by giving manually AviSynth commands, right?

So, where and how can I edit AviSynth in 6.001 beta?

Or could I copy somehow the filters from v5 to v6?

[manono]

I'm using one of the version 5s. guns1inger seems to have a version 6 so maybe he or someone else can answer your questions about where and how to edit the AviSynth script it generates.

[guns1inger]

Actually, I still use both. Unfortunately, from what I can see, version 6 doesn't allow you edit the avisynth scripts. All of this seems to be hidden from the user.