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handbrake

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Handbrake

HandBrake is a free and open-source video transcoder. It can convert video between a variety of formats as well as alter quality settings. If you're trying to upload a video to Moodle and it is too large, HandBrake can be used to greatly reduce the file size.

How to Reduce the Size of a Video File with HandBrake

  1. Open the Start Screen and type Handbrake.
  2. Launch the Handbrake application.
  3. Drag your video file into the Handbrake window.
  4. Under the Destination field, click Browse on the right.
  5. Choose where to save your new video file.
  6. In the right side of the window under Presets, click High Profile.
  7. In the HandBrake window, click the Video tab.
  8. Under Constant Quality, move the slider to the left to 25.
    • Higher values will result in a smaller file, but you will lose more quality in your resulting video. The 25 setting is a good start.
    • If your video is still too large after transcoding, try a higher value.
    • If your video's quality is very poor after transcoding, try a lower value.
  9. Under Optimise Video, move the x264 Preset slider to the right to Very Slow.
    • This option increases the resulting video's quality, but causes the conversion to take longer.
  10. Click the Start button near the top of the window.
  11. Wait while your video is converted. Depending on the length of your video this can take a very long time. Progress information is displayed at the bottom of the window.
  12. When the conversion is complete, the words Queue Finished will be displayed at the bottom of the window.
  13. Open the converted video you created. Verify that the video size, video quality, and audio quality are acceptable. If not, tweak the Constant Quality setting mentioned above and repeat the transcoding process.

Rip a DVD with HandBrake

Say you have copied a VHS tape to DVD and want to get it on your computer. You need to transcode the DVD format to something that is more manageable to use on your computer. This process is usually fairly straightforward, but some DVDs can be tricksy.

  1. Launch HandBrake from your Start Menu.
  2. If you are copying a DVD created by your DVD player, you need to change the DVD reading settings.
    1. Go to Tools > Options.
    2. Click on Advanced in the Preferences pane.
    3. Make sure the Disable LibDVDNav option is checked.
    4. Click Close
  3. Click the Source button near the top of the window.
  4. From the source list, select your DVD drive (usually at the bottom of the list).
  5. Wait while HandBrake reads the DVD information.
  6. Note: If your DVD has multiple titles/episodes, you will have to copy one at a time.
    1. Under Source, click the Title menu and see what titles are listed. If there is only one title you don't have to do anything extra to copy all of the DVD.
  7. Under Destination, click Browse and choose where to save your file.
  8. Set the Container to MP4.
  9. Under Presets on the right, double-click High Profile.
  10. Click on the Picture tab.
  11. Set Anamorphic to Strict.
  12. If you are converting from a VHS take these steps:
    1. Click on the Filters tab.
    2. Set Denoise to hqdn3d. Set the Preset to Medium. If your VHS is particularly noisy, set the preset to Strong. The Denoise option will improve the video's quality and make the file size smaller.
  13. Switch to the Video tab.
  14. Slide the Constant Quality level to the left to set it to 23.
  15. Set the x264 Preset slider to Very Slow.
  16. In the Extra Options field, paste the text below. These settings improve the output video quality at the cost of making processing take a little longer.
    1. ref=9:mixed-refs=1:b-adapt=2:bframes=6:weightb=1:direct=auto:me=umh:subq=9:analyse=all:8x8dct=1:trellis=2:no-fast-pskip=1:psy-rd=1,0:merange=24:deblock=-2,-2:rc-lookahead=50:aq-strength=1.2:b-pyramid=2
  17. If your DVD has multiple titles you wish to copy:
    1. Click Add to Queue.
    2. Change the Title option to your next title.
    3. Browse and select the destination file.
    4. Click Add to Queue.
    5. Repeat these steps for your other titles.
  18. Click Start to begin the encoding process.
  19. Wait while your video is transcoded. This can take a very long time. A safe estimate would be between the total length of your video and two times the length of your video. It all depends on the complexity of the video and the speed of your computer. You will see progress information at the bottom of the HandBrake window.
  20. When the queue is complete, open your output videos to make sure they are of acceptable quality and the length is correct. If they are, you are all done!
    1. If the output quality is much worse than your original, change the Constant Quality option in handbrake to a lower value (such as 22, 21, or 20).
    2. If the quality is fine but your video is larger than you would like, change the Constant Quality option in HandBrake to a higher value (such as 24, 25, or 26).
handbrake.1419005565.txt.gz ยท Last modified: 2014/12/19 11:12 by abrashear