Scaling Down 1080p video?

[Startropic1]

I have a batch of old videos that are soft subtitled mkvs. The issue that the content is almost 40 years old, (It's from 1981), thus being 1080p at 2GB per video (22min each) is a bit absurd for such old videos.

I tried scaling these videos down to 720p via handbrake, (they're 4:3 btw.) Quality is fine, but they still clock in at just under 1GB. My target size is about 300MB per video.

Could I get some advice on the best configuration to scale these videos down to my target size?

I'll attach a media info log.

[ProWo]

Use my smart FFMpeg GUI.
You can scale the video track to 720, setting CRF 25, veryfast.
You can also reduce the audio size with audio encoding to aac 96k

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/395425-New-small-GUI-for-FFmpeg

[Startropic1]

Use my smart FFMpeg GUI.
You can scale the video track to 720, setting CRF 25, veryfast.
You can also reduce the audio size with audio encoding to aac 96k

Download: https://files.videohelp.com/u/292773/Smart_ffmpeg_gui_106.rar

How do you set 720p in this? It defaults at 208x32 which makes no sense at all for these videos.
(Also you can't do audio and video tracks at the same time as far as I can tell. There's also no function to copy over the embedded soft subs to the smaller video file)

[jagabo]

Try Handbrake. It's an up-to-date open source program with a long history.

[davexnet]

For a target size output, specify 2-pass encoding (The Video tab).
Use mediainfo to get the original video bitrate.
Adjust as necessary

[babygdav]

1. 1981
Was HD even out then?
Afaik, it was all analog pretty much along with some dv 720x480 resolution digital videos.

2. 720p is overkill for such old videos if it's not a hd/1080 source.
960x720 is just too much.

I'd go 480p (720x480), which is standard SD resolution for digital video.

3. Handbrake, etc can all do it
Drop video in handbrake.
Resolution set to 720x480.

Video tab. Try the default 480 setting, turn on two pass, level high 5.2.

Either calculate a kbps or set the quality slider to a number that gets you the desired size (better set a size if you want every video to be 300MB since letting it auto decide won't - size will vary around a bit).

This depends on your desired audio bitrate.

Eg 300MB = 300000KB / 22 min = 13, 600 KB/min~ / 60 seconds per minute = 227 KB/sec x 8 bits per byte = 1,800 kbps.

Now, if you're using 256kbps for audio, 1800-256 = ~1,500kbps left.

You'd set the video bitrate to 1,500 kbps, and you'd get about a 300MB encode (little factors can change the calculations and final size a little, but generally accurate).

4. In the subtitles tab of handbrake, you can either hard code (forced) or soft code (forced off) subtitles.

[Startropic1]

1. 1981
Was HD even out then?
Afaik, it was all analog pretty much along with some dv 720x480 resolution digital videos.

2. 720p is overkill for such old videos if it's not a hd/1080 source.
960x720 is just too much.

I'd go 480p (720x480), which is standard SD resolution for digital video.

3. Handbrake, etc can all do it
Drop video in handbrake.
Resolution set to 720x480.

Video tab. Try the default 480 setting, turn on two pass, level high 5.2.

Either calculate a kbps or set the quality slider to a number that gets you the desired size (better set a size if you want every video to be 300MB since letting it auto decide won't - size will vary around a bit).

This depends on your desired audio bitrate.

Eg 300MB = 300000KB / 22 min = 13, 600 KB/min~ / 60 seconds per minute = 227 KB/sec x 8 bits per byte = 1,800 kbps.

Now, if you're using 256kbps for audio, 1800-256 = ~1,500kbps left.

You'd set the video bitrate to 1,500 kbps, and you'd get about a 300MB encode (little factors can change the calculations and final size a little, but generally accurate).

4. In the subtitles tab of handbrake, you can either hard code (forced) or soft code (forced off) subtitles.

I'm using the newest version of Handbrake, (ver 1.3.1 (2020010400) It doesn't have a field for me to specify file size. I'm keeping the .mkv format container because of the soft subs.

[Attachment 52014 - Click to enlarge]

[jagabo]

I'm using the newest version of Handbrake, (ver 1.3.1 (2020010400) It doesn't have a field for me to specify file size.

size = bitrate * running time.

So use a bitrate calculator to determine what bitrate will give you the size you want. Or estimate it from your source video. If the source is 4000 kbps then 1000 kbps will give you a file about 1/4 the size.

[Startropic1]

I'm using the newest version of Handbrake, (ver 1.3.1 (2020010400) It doesn't have a field for me to specify file size.

size = bitrate * running time.

So use a bitrate calculator to determine what bitrate will give you the size you want. Or estimate it from your source video. If the source is 4000 kbps then 1000 kbps will give you a file about 1/4 the size.

The video's original bitrate is 12.1 MB/s good grief

[babygdav]

I'm using the newest version of Handbrake, (ver 1.3.1 (2020010400) It doesn't have a field for me to specify file size. I'm keeping the .mkv format container because of the soft subs.

[Attachment 52014 - Click to enlarge]

DIMENSIONS TAB has the fields to control the size.

[johns0]

A movie that came out in 1981 can be optimized and displayed in 1920x1080 video but only recently,not 40 years ago

[ProWo]

[QUOTE=Startropic1;2573784]

Use my smart FFMpeg GUI.
You can scale the video track to 720, setting CRF 25, veryfast.
You can also reduce the audio size with audio encoding to aac 96k

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/395425-New-small-GUI-for-FFmpeg

How do you set 720p in this? It defaults at 208x32 which makes no sense at all for these videos.
(Also you can't do audio and video tracks at the same time as far as I can tell. There's also no function to copy over the embedded soft subs to the smaller video file)

How do you set 720p in this?

Modify Video stream, select source and target file, Next, change frame size-YES, do crop detect, next, insert frame with and height, set encoder CRF to 25, set fps, select aspect ratio, leave all the rest as is, do it.

Also you can't do audio and video tracks at the same time as far as I can tell

You can mux the original audio track to the new video track. To do so, select the original file as source and specify the audio track number.

There's also no function to copy over the embedded soft subs to the smaller video file

You can mux the original subtitle track to the new video track. To do so, select the original file as source and specify the subtitle track number.

[Startropic1]

A movie that came out in 1981 can be optimized and displayed in 1920x1080 video but only recently,not 40 years ago

Just to clarify, there was a thing in the late 1980s approximately called HD VHS. Yes, HD video on a VHS tape. Obviously we're not talking 4K or anything, but it was a thing. (There's also the tidbit about the original Sega Genesis model that was labeled "HD graphics", but that is a different story for a different time. )

Back on topic, I was able to get handbrake to do a nice job. Got the video I was testing down to 272 MB while still approximately 720p. (Still looks good in playback.)

[akkers]

I vaguely remember HD VHS. But I dont think it had higher resolution or anything like that; its was just supposed to be better quality VHS at the same resolution.

[jagabo]

You mean D-VHS? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-VHS

[lingyi]

Could be W-VHS which was for Japan's Hi-Vision system, pre-digital HD broadcasts.

[ProWo]

Use my smart FFMpeg GUI.
You can scale the video track to 720, setting CRF 25, veryfast.
You can also reduce the audio size with audio encoding to aac 96k

Download: https://files.videohelp.com/u/292773/Smart_ffmpeg_gui_106.rar

How do you set 720p in this? It defaults at 208x32 which makes no sense at all for these videos.
(Also you can't do audio and video tracks at the same time as far as I can tell. There's also no function to copy over the embedded soft subs to the smaller video file)

Here you go