Best Software For DVD to H264 MKV

[shagratt71]

About a month ago I started converting my DVD collection(Some 2000 DVDs) to H264 MKV using Handbrake with a constant quality of 18 and AC3 Passthru. Im very happy with the final quality of the convert and file size, however I would just like to know if there is a quicker way of converting to the same format with the same or better quality without upgrading my hardware?

Here is my PC Specs:
Core 2 Duo E6700 - 2.66GHz / OC'd to 3.33GHz
x2 G.SKILL DDRII800 2GIG Ram Running at 5-5-5-15@400Mhz
nVidia GeForce GTX295

Thanks for any feedback

[Baldrick]

You could use vidcoder to batch convert your dvd iso/video_ts folders. It uses handbrake so it's not faster but the batch feature might help a lot.

[shagratt71]

You could use vidcoder to batch convert your dvd iso/video_ts folders. It uses handbrake so it's not faster but the batch feature might help a lot.

Hi Baldrick, Thanks for your reply mate. Ive already cued up about 40 DVDs using Handbrakes own Batch system. Is the vidcoder any better for this?

[hardy]

vidcoder uses handbrake, so it's basically the same thing you are using to encode. It's easier to use.

[smitbret]

Just to break things up...... I noticed that your GPU is CUDA capable, so using CUDA capable software like Xilisoft Video Converter could cut your reencode times by way more than half.

I don't know how much free HDD space you have, but I would rip a bunch of DVDs with AnyDVD and DVDShrink to a single .vob file (the setting is in the DVD Shrink options). You can then use a generic h264 setting in Xilisoft and just queue a whole bunch of them up and click go.

It'll cost ya $30 or $40 for Xilisoft and another $73 for AnyDVD (with lifetime updates), but the time saving might be worth it. It was to me.

[shagratt71]

Just to break things up...... I noticed that your GPU is CUDA capable, so using CUDA capable software like Xilisoft Video Converter could cut your reencode times by way more than half.

I don't know how much free HDD space you have, but I would rip a bunch of DVDs with AnyDVD and DVDShrink to a single .vob file (the setting is in the DVD Shrink options). You can then use a generic h264 setting in Xilisoft and just queue a whole bunch of them up and click go.

It'll cost ya $30 or $40 for Xilisoft and another $73 for AnyDVD (with lifetime updates), but the time saving might be worth it. It was to me.

Hi Smitbret, Has Xilisoft Video Convert got Constant Quality setting like handbrake?, I seem to get better results with that...

[smitbret]

It does have a setting for "same quality" that works the same as CQ in Handbrake. It's not adjustable Handbrake's slider, but should work similar to setting it at "18".

[shagratt71]

Thanks Smitbret. l'll give it a try. Is there any other similar program that has CQ or equivalent which takes advantage of the GPU?

[deadrats]

for SD resolution transcodes, i would stick with a software based solution, try media coder, the decoders it uses are well threaded and the x264 builds it uses are the fastest i have ever seen, you should be able to hit over 100fps with the latest build and your hardware.

[shagratt71]

for SD resolution transcodes, i would stick with a software based solution, try media coder, the decoders it uses are well threaded and the x264 builds it uses are the fastest i have ever seen, you should be able to hit over 100fps with the latest build and your hardware.

Hi deadrats, Does media coder support constant quality like handbrake?,

Ive ripped all my DVDs to three 2TB hard drives now. All the DVDs are in original format ie. VIDEO_TS minus the protection. What I need is a program that will now convert all these into MKV H264 but I want the program to also have the "constant quality" option like Handbrake has or equivalent.

I have up until now been using handbrake with a CQ of 19-20 to convert my DVDs but I want more speed as its taking ages to do each movie. Ive tried DVDfab which has the speed(CUDA) but does not have the constant quality option that handbrake has . DVDfab developers had promised to include CQ in a future firmware update but thats not happend, so I'm left looking for something else. Also I dont really want to have to turn these folders/DVDs into ISOs first before I can convert them to MKVs...

Thanks for all your replies

[jagabo]

About a month ago I started converting my DVD collection(Some 2000 DVDs) to H264 MKV using Handbrake with a constant quality of 18 and AC3 Passthru. Im very happy with the final quality of the convert and file size, however I would just like to know if there is a quicker way of converting to the same format with the same or better quality without upgrading my hardware?

I typically encode a DVD rip in about 20 minutes with x264 and its veryfast preset, plus a few mods. See this post for how to get equivalent settings in Handbrake:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/339446-why-are-video-forums-such-a-pile?p=2110579&v...=1#post2110579

And the modifications to the veryfast preset at the bottom of this post:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/339446-why-are-video-forums-such-a-pile?p=2110964&v...=1#post2110964

[edDV]

Thanks Smitbret. l'll give it a try. Is there any other similar program that has CQ or equivalent which takes advantage of the GPU?

So far I've only seen GPU assist help RGB effects render, simple deinterlace or low quality encodes. I'm waiting to see more.

[jagabo]

GPU rendering gives inferior results (compared to x264 or other software h.264 encoders):

http://www.behardware.com/articles/828-27/h-264-encoding-cpu-vs-gpu-nvidia-cuda-amd-st...-and-x264.html

You might find the tradeoff acceptable though.

[wulf109]

Does Vidcoder preserve chapter stops from DVD and BR?

[shagratt71]

GPU rendering gives inferior results (compared to x264 or other software h.264 encoders):

http://www.behardware.com/articles/828-27/h-264-encoding-cpu-vs-gpu-nvidia-cuda-amd-st...-and-x264.html

You might find the tradeoff acceptable though.

I thought GPU rendering used the h264 encoder?

[jagabo]

I thought GPU rendering used the h264 encoder?

h.264 is a specification. There are many h.264 encoders, software and hardware. Some are better than others. x264 (used by handbrake) is one of the best.

[shagratt71]

About a month ago I started converting my DVD collection(Some 2000 DVDs) to H264 MKV using Handbrake with a constant quality of 18 and AC3 Passthru. Im very happy with the final quality of the convert and file size, however I would just like to know if there is a quicker way of converting to the same format with the same or better quality without upgrading my hardware?

I typically encode a DVD rip in about 20 minutes with x264 and its veryfast preset, plus a few mods. See this post for how to get equivalent settings in Handbrake:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/339446-why-are-video-forums-such-a-pile?p=2110579&v...=1#post2110579

And the modifications to the veryfast preset at the bottom of this post:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/339446-why-are-video-forums-such-a-pile?p=2110964&v...=1#post2110964

Hi Jagabo, I finally got round to trying those presets with very suprising results!. I was just wondring if there is any quality difference between handbrakes "High" profile and this "VeryFast" profile/preset which you kindly pointed out to me?.

[shagratt71]

Also just to add, is there much quality difference between CQ RF 20 and CQ RF 18?

[epsilonalpha]

Trust your own eyes.

[shagratt71]

Trust your own eyes.

Sadly I dont have a trained eye for these things, hence asking...

[jagabo]

I finally got round to trying those presets with very suprising results!. I was just wondring if there is any quality difference between handbrakes "High" profile and this "VeryFast" profile/preset which you kindly pointed out to me?.

I'm not sure exactly what Handbrake's high profile uses, but the major visual difference I've found between veryfast and x264's slower presets is on the edges of moving objects. They're not quite as clean when using the veryfast preset. For example, a straight diagonal edge may have a more small nicks in it. There will also be a little less fine detail in textures (noise). But you have to be looking at enlarged still frames to really see these. 4x nearest neighbor resize:



If you look at the line between the dark front edge of the ship and the lighter top edge you can see it's very smooth in the original frame. It's a little rough in the veryslow sample, and even rougher in the veryfast sample. There's also less fine grain detail on the dark front of the veryfast sample. Be sure to examine the above image at full size.

Full frames attached. The source video was compressed at CRF 18. The veryslow result was about 4 percent smaller than the veryfast result.

[shagratt71]

Thanks Jagabo, Excellent example of what to look for!. You obviously have a far greater knowledge and eye for detail than me on this subject but I'm learning thanks to you.

Back to CQ RF range, for the last 100 encodes I've used the following settings, based on the "High" preset profile:

Picture: Anamorphic=Strict
Video Filter: Detelecine=Default (everythingf else set to OFF)
Video: Constant Quality RF:20 (Framerate same as source) H.264
Advanced: b-adapt=2:rc-lookahead=50

Two questions + any other suggestions would be most appreciated, firstly do I really need Detelecine set to Default?, I heard setting it to off and turning Decomb on for Cartoons?, second with the high profile and the settings Ive just typed is there alot of difference between CQ RF20 and 18?

[jagabo]

I'm not really familiar with Handbrake and exactly what is does with those settings. So I hesitate to give recommendations on them. Anime often has mixed frame rates so may need special handling. You'll barely see the difference between CRF 20 and CRF 18. The latter will be a little higher quality.

[shagratt71]

Thanks again Jagabo. ATM I'm using: ref=3:weightp=1:subq=2:rc-lookahead=10:trellis=0:bframes=2:keyint=100 with RF 18.

If anyone can shed light on this I would be most appreciative. I have made a new profile in Handbrake as follows:

Advanced: ref=3:weightp=1:subq=2:rc-lookahead=10:trellis=0:bframes=2:keyint=100 (Thanks to Jagabo for the settings)
Video: Constant Quality RF18
Video: Framerate Same As Source
Video Codec: H.264
Picture Strict Anamorphic
Picture Cropping=Auto
Video Filters Detelecine = Default
Video Filters Decomb = Off
Video Filters Deinterlace = Off
Video Filters Denoise = Off
Video Filters Deblock = Off

When I save these presets and load them back in everythings as they should be apart from Detelecine which reads as "OFF". Do I have to set this to default within the advanced tab?, and is it not saving because of the adjustments made in the Advaced settings? ie.

ref=3:weightp=1:subq=2:rc-lookahead=10:trellis=0:bframes=2:keyint=100

[shagratt71]

Jagabo, Just out of intrest what does your modifications of the Veryfast preset do exactly?:

ref 3 - bframes 2 - keyint 100.

[jagabo]

--ref 3: 3 reference frames (each predicted frame can reference 3 other frames)

--bframes 2: max 2 consecutive b frames (bidirectional predicted frames)

--keyint 100: keyframes every 100 frames max (default is 250). Makes it a easier for the player to random seek.

x264 settings:
http://mewiki.project357.com/wiki/X264_Settings

By the way, in that sample video above the veryfast preset encoded the video at about 160 frames per second. The veryslow preset at 11 frames per second. I didn't include the results from the medium preset but it encoded at about 54 fps. The quality of the results was between the other two.

[shagratt71]

I thought GPU rendering used the h264 encoder?

h.264 is a specification. There are many h.264 encoders, software and hardware. Some are better than others. x264 (used by handbrake) is one of the best.

Just to pick up on this statement again. Out of the most poplular GUI encoders around which ones use the best x264 encoder from these:

Handbrake
RipBot264
StaxRip
MEGUI

Merry Xmas

[jagabo]

They all use x264.