Ask Engadget HD: Best video encoding process to maximize quality & compatibility?
By Richard Lawler 
posted December 2nd 2009 1:15PM
posted December 2nd 2009 1:15PM
One of the more time consuming aspects of getting all our digital media in one place is ensuring quality and compatibility across different devices, which sounds like exactly the problem faced by our friend Kris:"To save my precious DVD's and BD's from the horror of scratches, I encode all my videos to a networked PC. This PC then streams the video out to multiple different receivers (PS3, PCs, Xbox 360.) Usually what works on one may not work in another, or does not encode surround sound, or has some other quibble. Currently I'm using Tversity to pick up the slack, but it doesn't work 100% with every video type i have. (for example on some files the PS3 will not play the file at normal speed [too slow/too fast]) I do all my encoding on a Core I7 920 equipped box, and filesize is not a concern of mine. Any recommendations on a batch encoder/settings that can take care of my compatibility problems and still retain near full quality?"
It sounds simple enough, but finding that silver bullet of software, hardware and settings that lets you just press "play" and know the file will come through in full quality no matter where it came from or is being streamed to can be one of the trickiest parts of all. Let us know what solutions you've figured out.
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Handbrake
Sadly Handbrake doesn't really have batch anything. It's the one major flaw, and most requested feature, yet it never gets implemented.
Encode HD does, but I am unsure if it is what the author is looking for.
@(Unverified)
It kind of does... you can add files to the queue.
I understand you mean, "I want all files in this folder - and I want them all with these settings", but your comment is misleading, its not like you have to screen watch until one process is finished so that you can set it off on the next. You can tll it everything you want done, then go and do whatever, and it will go through in order of the queue, which you can rearrange if you so wish.
I like Handbrake, too, but I wouldn't trust a batch job. Video takes too long and is too variable. It's such a pain when you spend 3 hours encoding something only to find out you've missed the forced subs or something.
I've never used it but I have heard that slysoft stuff is the best out there. But you have to pay for the best.
But they do 1 month free.
http://www.slysoft.com/en/
I'm not really sure this is the answer you are looking for but personally I use MakeMKV to rip my movies. The great thing about this program is that it keeps the codecs intacts. It is a straight copy (of the relevant tracks you chose) of whatever is on your disc and put it in an .mkv container. So DVDs usually get a video track in MPEG2 and audio in DTS or Dolby Digital (AC3). BluRays will be H264 or VC1 and DTS or AC3 (no support for TrueHD or DTS-MA yet). Subs work great for DVDs but on BDs the subs are stored in .psg files and as of now no player I know of can handle those yet.
However, these codecs can be hardware accelerated by almost anything nowadays but since I don't have a 360 and my PS3 is used for gaming I have no clue whether or not streaming to those machines will work. If you hook up an HTPC, and yes ION will do, it will play great and you get rid of disc load-time, commercials, trailers skipping discs and everything else that make DVDs and BDs a thing of the past :)
MKVs do not work on natively on the PS3.
The problem with the question is that he didn't specify Codec AND Container. These are two different things.
-Pie
Ive been using expression encoder 3 recently.... keeps you somewhat locked to MS products though. Does do mpeg4 but its not as good as wmvhd.
uhm, x264 plus whatever handholding GUI you prefer (i seem to be in the group still holding on to the supposedly dying MeGUI)
any of the others have a nice suite of other tools that they keep up to date like MeGUI used to do?
@plonk420
oh, but i tweak my settings by hand per encode... you're going to have inconsistent quality ... or waste space (which would bug me) if you don't hand tweak it :-P
I recently used Handbrake to convert and compress(to any desired size) and streamed the movie using wi-fi and Play-On software to my TV thru the PS3. Worked like a charm.
I gave up trying.
I have a Mac Pro with the Penryn 2.8GHz quad XEON and the PS3. I've never tried backing up blu-ray cause it seemed like too many steps and because I have no kids and keep those clean. And because I don't own Windows. But DVDs I backup with Handbrake with ease. I have a USB drive tried to the network and my computer plugged directly into the TV now. I tried the transcoding app called PS3 media server and that worked decently over the network. It was clear but slow.
Because I have the older PS3 (20GB) I tend to not use it to extend it's life. I found the Mac to support all my files without issue using Plex, the Windows version being XMBC. I'm running HDMI to the TV and TOSLINK to the receiver and couldn't be happier. If I could only get Netflix HD support, I'd probably never turn on my PS3.
Handbrake the new 64bit version rocks.
@proberts22
Woah, dude, I did a fresh install the other day and went to download Handbrake, I naively searched for "handbrake x64", but got my expected result..
But you say there is one?! Link?
@FORDY With Handbrake version 0.9.4 the now use the x264 encoding library with has 64 bit support for encoding I have seen a 10% to 25% faster encoding times.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2009/11/handbrake-goes-64-bit-adds-many-improvements.ars
I use Anydvd HD with TsMuxer, Info BD, Eac3to and ripbot264 for BD's. Then convert into either mkv. or Mp4. Then stream to the PS3 with PMS (playstation media server). I dont have a 360 but it can stream to them too. There isn't a great way for BD's right now so the procces takes a bit of time but with a i7 you should be fine. For dvd's handbrake or Clone dvd works good (handbrake is free). Doom9 and videohelp good places for tutorials.
@Evaq8 do you have a link to a guide?
@dan991199
http://forum.videohelp.com/topic358185.html
This is just one guide. There are many ways to do this. This one just worked for me. Good luck!
http://forum.videohelp.com/topic372380.html
This as well.
@Evaq8
for wmv's expression encoder is the best bet, you can import directly from the m2ts. Version 3 even supports 5.1 but can't select from multiple audio tracks.
FairUse Wizard xvid with AC3 audio
just use anydvd and makemkv for both dvd and bluRay. File size is big but worth it.
My fave is using DVDShrink to rip the movies to an ISO image. I use the reauthor mode, ditch all the menus and extra language tracks, so I'm left with a 3-4 GB ISO file that I play with XBMC running on an AppleTV. Works great for movies.
For TV with interlacing, I usually rip with the high profile preset in Handbrake, and turn on "Slow" deinterlacing. Make a nice .mp4 or .mkv container out of it and it's gorgeous.
I use MeGUI and love it.
Most of the recommendations here involve Matroska (.mkv) containers, and while that's my favorite container, it's of no use for PS3 and Xbox 360 playback (assuming we're not transcoding with TVersity or the like).
In that case you pretty much have to go MP4 w/x264 for video and 2-channel AAC for audio (Xbox 360 won't play 5.1 audio from an MP4, only from AVI or WMV...but AVI is worthless for H.264 video, and WMV is, well, WMV).
i use dvd shrink. I think to answer this question fully you really need to know exactly which media extender you intend to use but for movies i really think using dvd shrink to rip only the main movie and only the english 5.1 (no french or spanish) ac3 audio into a single vob file. This sets me up pretty well for media center and while i realize that plex and xbmc can handle all the dvd menus and sage can handle dvd isos and even blu ray isos but without knowing the application ripping only the main movie and main audio gives you the most options. My movies vob files get converted to dvrms and my movies 3.0 is a fantastic app for media center. Just my thoughts.
I use DVD Shrink for my DVDs to get them off the disc, then I use ripbot264 to get them to mkv. DVDs look REALLY good with an avg size of 1.5-2GB. My Blu-rays go straight into mkv (1080p) with ripbot264 with an avg size of 7-9GB. Obviously with the help of AnyDVDHD. Everything looks amazing on my 360. Buffering takes less than a second on a 10/100 wired network. Skipping is VERY quick. I'm happy :-)
AnyDVDHD and CloneDVD - thats it. Arcsoft TMT3 for BD playback in Windows 7 Media Center.
I am simply amazed that none of you use DVDFab HD Decrypter. It's totally free(fully functional for 30 days and then some features get disabled unless you pay), it supports both DVD and BD, you can copy to either an ISO image or to files in a folder, and it is updated regularly. It gives you options to remove trailers and copyright screens, copy the whole disc or just the movie, and compress to fit on DVD5 media or not, just like DVD Shrink. Unlike DVD Shrink, however, DVDFab can also copy directly to MP4, MKV, or just about any other format.
For starters, Evaq8 gives the best solution.
However, you didn't give us enough information in your question.
Do you want to preserve quality? Do you want to *re-encode*, or leave the original codec intact? Do you just want it *remux* into a new container? What does the PS3 play "too slow or too fast"? Are you locked into TVersity to stream?
One thing you need to understand... THERE IS NO UNIVERSAL SOLUTION. Every player has their quirks. But at this point, you cannot just pick one codec/container, and expect it to work everywhere... with the possible exception of MPEG2 in a TS (even then, dunno if the 360 handles this)... which is the worse codec in the worse container!
Okay, let's say you want to keep the same codec from the BD. Remuxing into an MKV is one possibility, but the PS3 won't play the MKV natively (using TVersity). However, if you use PS3 Media Server (PMS) to stream, it remuxes on the fly and PS3 is happy. Your best bet for the PS3 for native streaming is M2TS... and it's very easy to remux from MKV to M2TS and back without loss of quality (tsMuxer). But the PS3 hates subs, and only the only lossless codec it handles via streaming is LPCM (but you can convert DTS-MA and DD THD to LPCM with eac3to and Pcm2Tsmu).
VC-1 is a problem across the board, even for the 360. It MUST be in a WMV container, which isn't easy to do.
If you don't care about re-encoding, then H264 or the free x264 is your best bet. Should work on the 360 and PS3.
But as I said, Evaq8 gives the best advice.
-Pie
Exactly, what are you trying to achieve? Have you tried something like the Popcorn hour or WDTV Live. Both can play unmolested full BD, no transcoding or anything.
Exactly, what are you trying to achieve? Have you tried something like the Popcorn hour or WDTV Live. Both can play unmolested full BD, no transcoding or anything.
Handbrake 64-bit here.
I use Handbrake 64bit, with the H.264 high profile preset, to an M4V (=MP4) container. The resulting files are small, self-contained, look exactly the same as the original DVD, and work on everything I've tried, including my iPod Touch 3G. (For viewing on a netbook, I use the normal preset, because scenes with a lot of action can stutter.) I've done some experimenting, but I think it's best to just go with the presets and make things simple. You're not going to do any better, and risk wasting hours on useless extra encoding. The only real shortcoming with Handbrake is subtitles in M4V, if you have a lot of foreign films. You can't turn them on and off unless you use MKV, but they're less compatible. I'm saving up for an HP HDTV Live.
If you're not aware, Handbrake+VLC can also rip DVDs that can't be ripped by other freeware like DVD Decrypter, DVD Shrink, Mac the Ripper, etc. Most of them were forced to stop development a long time ago.
I would also suggest Super video converter
http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html
http://photos.paolosmeraldi.com
Hello:
The solution I use to encode my video files is Monster Encoder. This is a state of the art multi thread, multi pass encoding engine. If you are looking for high quality you can get 720p videos or higher for your video libraries. The Monster supports a large number of input video formats allowing to use videos coming from different sources (camera,TV recording, DVD). I encoded some files on my blog at:
http://www.thehdstandard.com/encoding-solution/ you may have a look.
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Catalin
Eyepartner Streaming Consultant