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Best Handbrake Settings - Please Help!


dnandrew

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Is there any chance anyone would be willing to share there setting for software like handbrake or maybe other software depending on what you use, Preferably in a stage by stage set of print screens, I have played around with multiple setting but i can't seem to get the quality and file size where i want it, I am looking for quality and file size along the lines of what E-D and Tanxs manage to do (480p or 720p) (300mb-600mb) I am new to encoding but over the years i have downloaded and stored ????'s of anime and cartoon and now that Cartoon World Forum is gone i would like to upload them as my own.


 


 Thank You in advance i would really appriciate the help.


Edited by dnandrew
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The problem with newbie encoders is that they don't understand that cookie cutter settings aren't good. There is no "one setting for all". What might be excellent for one show will likely look like crap for the next.

E-D on the other hand typically have bloated releases since they want to encode to a strict file size rather than encode for quality. Their releases typically look a little blurred and have loss of detail compared to the source they encoded from.

Tanxs on the other hand tends to be closer to the source with his encoding methods and I believe even uses Handbrake.

One thing to remember is to use CRF. For SD material 18-21 is typically where you wanna be; while for HD material it's 15-18. The higher the CRF; the less bitrate is given, the lower quality it'll become, and the file will be smaller size.

Example: Mini-encoders typically use 23-26 to get their bitrate starved encodes to a size they like.

Next thing is audio. AC3 192 KBPS would be the lowest recommended. Some prefer to use AAC, but even so I would recommend not going below 192 KBPS for best sound. If it's a dvd you're encoding from, might as well use "passthrough" and not encode the lossy audio again.

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I can give you the settings I use.


 


480p - Default high profile, 750kbps (double pass) with turbo first pass, 8 reframes, 9 b-frames... if you have pixelation issues increase the reframes to 12 or the bitrate to 850. If it's an interlaced DVD leave decomb on as "default"


 


720p - Default high profile, 1000kbps (double pass) with NO turbo first pass, 12 reframes, 9 bframes... if you have pixelation issues increase the bitrate to 1200kbps


 


Audio if its 192kbps AC3 just do a passthrough, otherwise I recommend Vorbis 128kbps stereo, or  AAC 160kbps stereo as both are basically transparent at those rates (for stereo). 


 


Some people will tell you "not to encode by bitrate" but if you want to keep the sizes reasonable you have to. A high number of reframes and bframes will cover up any imperfections.


Edited by Ranma-kun
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If you insist on encoding by bitrate, I'd recommend that 1100 be the minimum for SD, while 2000 would be for HD. It has been my experience that those rates maintain quality without giving massive sizes (normal imo is SD= 150-300MB, while HD is 350-600MB for a 20 minute video; though keep in mind audio tracks too). Depending on the show you will have to increase however. If something is really grainy, obviously it'll need more bitrate or you'll need to clean the video up (Handbrake can't, plus overly cleaning of grain will destroy fine detail).

Increasing ref frames is not a good idea. Higher numbers do not mean guaranteed better. In fact, anything higher than 6 has such a slight change that it's infinitely insignificant and serves to do nothing more than break capability. ref=5 is recommended to stick with no matter what you're encoding from or with; stick with it. bframes on the other hand is a different story altogether.

Also "Some people will tell you "not to encode by bitrate" but if you want to keep the sizes reasonable you have to." This is completely inaccurate. The only way encoding by bitrate gives you smaller size is if it's bitrate starved (in which case, you can just as easily use a higher CRF value for same result). Because bitrate encoding is constant bitrate. CRF gives bitrate where bitrate is needed; so one scene may have 2000 while another scene only has 500, leaving overall bitrate much lower and saving space. Bitrate encoding either starves the video or bloats it (because, say you use 800 bitrate; one scene may have needed 1500 so that scene got starved while another scene only needed 200 so that scene got bloat). While CRF if used properly only gives the required bitrate to each scene.

Example, my Zatch Bell dvd encodes were CRF=20 with untouched 224 KBPS AC3 audio, and file sizes came out between 130 MB to 200 MB. I'd say that is perfectly within reasonable size for a single audio encode.

Keep in mind, Ramna-kun encodes for size, not quality; which is apparent by his low end settings. I'm not bashing him though, although he's had a history of backlashing me for my comments. It's his preference. It's all up to what you prefer to encode for. Quality or size. Though there are some people who think bloat=quality. That isn't true either. Just experiment till you find the ground that fits your preference.

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Most media players can read reframes fine up to 12 without issue and most computers won't have issues with them up to 12 reframes in 720p as long as you have a dual core processor. Older computers with single core processors might have trouble reading h.264 encoded with more than 6 reframes but to be honest I don't think there are to many people using those anymore.


 


Mini's are a bit smaller they use something in the range of 300-400kbps for 480p and something in the range of 500-600kbps for 720p my settings are kind of a compromise between mini's and the larger spectrum.


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The problem with newbie encoders is that they don't understand that cookie cutter settings aren't good. There is no "one setting for all". What might be excellent for one show will likely look like crap for the next.

E-D on the other hand typically have bloated releases since they want to encode to a strict file size rather than encode for quality. Their releases typically look a little blurred and have loss of detail compared to the source they encoded from.

 

Off topic, but who in your opinion does the best 480p DVD encodes out of all the dual audio "groups"? Like Arigatou, Exiled Destiny, Animecorpx, ETC.

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The problem with newbie encoders is that they don't understand that cookie cutter settings aren't good. There is no "one setting for all". What might be excellent for one show will likely look like crap for the next.

E-D on the other hand typically have bloated releases since they want to encode to a strict file size rather than encode for quality. Their releases typically look a little blurred and have loss of detail compared to the source they encoded from.

 

Off topic, but who in your opinion does the best 480p DVD encodes out of all the dual audio "groups"? Like Arigatou, Exiled Destiny, Animecorpx, ETC.

 

Personal since Tanxsbot went online i've been replacing alot of the animes i downloaded in the past with his more recent ones since he focuses on quality over size, Also i like the fact he leaves the chapters in so there's no waiting periods between episodes openings and endings however brief.  

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Off topic, but who in your opinion does the best 480p DVD encodes out of all the dual audio "groups"? Like Arigatou, Exiled Destiny, Animecorpx, ETC.

They're all bad. What you're doing is picking a group that sucks less than the rest.

 

I know all too well lol. I was just asking to see what the general consensus on the least shitest one is. 

 

It perplexes me to no end how no dual audio groups have been able consistently nail 480p in all these years. I mean like what the fuck, even some old 175mb Xvid fansub encodes have better quality than Exiled Destiny's huge ass files.  Arigatou is bad too, I don't know what it is but the audio on a lot of their encodes has a weird "scratchy" sound to it

Edited by Nintendon't
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  • 1 month later...

Audio or video? Cuz if video, you would need some understanding on those x264 advanced settings, because that will make or break an encode besides trying to configure what bitrate, or CRF for some people that perfer it that way. I would first look at the setting of an episode before doing anything else: is it slow-moving (examples would be light comedy, romance, drama) or fast-paced (lots of action and/or adventure, intense comedy, etc.), because the type of setting for each episode you do can determine to raise or lower certain settings and to keep other settings to default or alter them.


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I have a question about aspect ratio.


 


When encoding with a modulus of 2, I have a 640x480 ratio.


When encoding with a modulus of 16, I have a 720x480 ratio.


 


I would think that 720 would be better, but I have seen 640 to be more common. As of my understanding, the screen would stretch either video because of it being anamorphic.


 


Which of the two would be better?


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I have a question about aspect ratio.

 

When encoding with a modulus of 2, I have a 640x480 ratio.

When encoding with a modulus of 16, I have a 720x480 ratio.

 

I would think that 720 would be better, but I have seen 640 to be more common. As of my understanding, the screen would stretch either video because of it being anamorphic.

 

Which of the two would be better?

DVDs are often anamorphic 720x480 regardless if it's 4:3 or 16:9.

Some encoders leave it anamorphic, while others resize to the proper resolution and remove the anamorphic aspect.

Then you have some bad encoders who leave it the anamorphic resolution but remove the anamorphic aspect of it, which results in a hideous in-between resolution which is neither 4:3 nor 16:9 and looks either stretched or squished depending on what the proper ratio should have been.

4:3 (fullscreen) would be 640x480.

16:9 (widescreen) would be 848x480 (or some people prefer the correct but abnormal 853x480).

 

I have seen some encoders maintain the 720 width of a 4:3 encode by upscaling the height; making the resolution 720x576. Though that is more common of PAL sourced encodes since PAL dvds are often 576p while R1 dvds are 480p.

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Most media players can read reframes fine up to 12 without issue and most computers won't have issues with them up to 12 reframes in 720p as long as you have a dual core processor. Older computers with single core processors might have trouble reading h.264 encoded with more than 6 reframes but to be honest I don't think there are to many people using those anymore.

 

Mini's are a bit smaller they use something in the range of 300-400kbps for 480p and something in the range of 500-600kbps for 720p my settings are kind of a compromise between mini's and the larger spectrum.

 

lots of hardware players such as hdtvs and dvd/blu ray players will have trouble playing anything over  6 or 7 rframes

Edited by lovebump
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