Some Handbrake Settings Confusing.

[DWreck1995]

Okay so I don't use Handbrake very often. Only when a video is to big in my opinion for my iPhone and I need to lower the Bitrate. But I'm kind of confused on some settings. Now the videos I'm currently encoding and a mashup of clips. They have already been encoded with some set settings but I need to run them through again for resizing.

1. Filters Tab. So I've read up a little bit on the Detelecine/Decomb process. I saw that Decomb is the best option to prevent quality loss when a Progressive video is being encoded. But if an Interlaced video is encoded it will Deinterlace it. Because the videos I'm encoding contain multiple clips, some might be 24 FPS some might be 30 FPS in one video. I don't know how to find out. But some definitely are Interlaced and some aren't, I've seen them. But the videos were already encoded as Progressive at 29.97 FPS. Even though some clips in the videos are Interlaced. So will re-encoding it through Handbrake with the Decomb filter still do anything? And is it still the best option with some clips in each video possibly being 24 FPS and others being 30 FPS?

2. Video Tab. I'm using the H.264 (x264) Video Codec. I don't know if I should be using Constant Framerate or Peak Framerate. Even through the videos have been previously encoded at 29.97 FPS, some clips in the videos could be 24 FPS and others 30 FPS. From my understanding using a VFR would work in the case that some clips were 24 FPS and others 30 FPS. But I don't know if it would even do anything since it was already encoded at 29.97 FPS?

Also, most of the videos were already encoded with the Baseline or Main Profile with Levels ranging a bit. Would be changing this to High and a higher Level do anything?

I tried using Constant Quality. But I didn't like it because sometimes it makes the Bitrate higher than the Source. I downloaded some 720p videos and they seem to average around 2500 kbps. Which when I looked up is what most stream video sites use for 720p. So I figured I'd make mine the same. I understand that some videos require higher Bitrates to achieve the same quality as others. But if most streaming sites use 2500 kbps for all videos they have and have always looked fine to me I figured why not. If you think I should still use Constant Quality then I'm open to suggestions?

Last thing, I read somewhere that using the Placebo Preset is pointless because you can't see the difference with Medium. Do you guys think that's true?

Thanks, DWreck.

[Dougster]

On the Filters tab you should leave the Decomb off for progressive sources.

On the Video tab always use Constant Framerate.

For understanding levels and profiles read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC

[DWreck1995]

On the Filters tab you should leave the Decomb off for progressive sources.

On the Video tab always use Constant Framerate.

For understanding levels and profiles read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC

Could you explain why I would leave the Decomb Filter off? Here it says I should just leave it on.

Could you also explain why I should always use Constant Framerate? Here it says when mixing Progressive and Interlaced contant it is a good option.

Thanks DWreck.

[Dougster]

You should check MediaInfo for each clip before re-encoding. If it says it's source is constant framerate then leave it at that. VFR
can cause some serious audio sync problems and should in almost all cases be avoided. You will have to experiment.

I would use Decomb on sources such as 29.97 fps (NTSC) or 25 fps (PAL) interlaced video.

I would use Detelecine and Decomb for telecined NTSC DVD from a film source (ie a 23.976 fps movie on a DVD)

Leave it off for any progressive source such as Blu-Ray Movie etc. Not needed.

[DWreck1995]

You should check MediaInfo for each clip before re-encoding. If it says it's source is constant framerate then leave it at that. VFR
can cause some serious audio sync problems and should in almost all cases be avoided. You will have to experiment.

I would use Decomb on sources such as 29.97 fps (NTSC) or 25 fps (PAL) interlaced video.

I would use Detelecine and Decomb for telecined NTSC DVD from a film source (ie a 23.976 fps movie on a DVD)

Leave it off for any progressive source such as Blu-Ray Movie etc. Not needed.

Okay, most of the videos are 29.97 or 23.976. Though MediaInfo does say the videos are Progressive. Some clips in the videos are Interlaced though. So would using Decomb even work? I know it says it avoids Progressive frames.