Need flexible converter for compressing video files

[sharoni]

Can someone recommend a video converter that:
must have:
* Manually and freely define all encoding params
* Batch conversion
nice to have:
* CONVENIENTLY(*) define custom encoding profiles to re-use and edit later.
* Decent progress indication on batch & file operations
* split/merge/crop/rotate
Don't need:
* Anything beyond h264/5 codecs, mp4/mkv/avi containers
* Capture capabilities
* Bells, whistles, and a lot of bs that the most recommended converters tend to include.

(*) Believe it or not, some leading converters let you define only ONE custom profile / let you name profiles but not later edit or even view their specs / let you name profiles but can't later read name bcoz beyond ~12 characters the fancy UI does't show it / sometimes lets you define, and sometimes not - not clear why / return to default/built-in profile after each run or addition to cue. And so much more

If needed, I'll use a command line app with batch files, if this is what it takes..

[sharoni]

Only after posting this, (shame on me) I did some more checking on this very forum and found FFmpeg-Batch developed by user Eibol in the last 9 years. From first tries it seems absolutely GREAT, for anyone who prefers functionality and control, over fanciness and the illusion that an app can make intelligent decissions instead of the user Don't be scared of the FFmpeg command line parameters, which are generated automatically by the Parameter Wizard, and shown for advanced use only.

I'm leaving this post here, as it may be a good starting point for others.