Best Optimal Handbrake Settings to convert 4K BLURAY to H.265 HEVC on Mac Windows Linux – JULY 2023

Convert 4K BLURAY to H.265 HEVC with HandbrakeConvert 4K BLURAY

Convert 4K BLURAY to H.265 HEVC with Handbrake without having to know or understand all of the settings. Just copy my settings and you’re done!

*Whilst your user interface may appear slightly different than shown here (depending on if you are using Windows, Mac or Linux), the settings and results will be the same across all platforms.

**NOTE** – These settings are for 4K BLURAY to H.265 HEVC Video

To convert 1080P BLURAY to H.265 – CLICK HERE!
To convert 1080P BLURAY to H.264 – CLICK HERE!
To convert DVD to H.265 – CLICK HERE!
To convert DVD to H.264 – CLICK HERE!

THE SHORT VERSION

1 Open source file in Handbrake and make sure you are on the “Summary” tab
2 Set file format to “MKV”
3 Click “Dimensions” tab and set Resolution Limit to “2160P 4K Ultra HD” and leave Anamorphic as Automatic, leave cropping “Automatic” and borders “None”
4 Click the “Filters” tab
5 Leave Interlace Detection set to Default, De-interlace set to Decomb, and Preset at “Default”. If your system CANNOT play HDR video set colourspace to BT.709 (If you are not sure create a small test video as shown HERE).
6 Click the “Video” tab
7 Select “H.265 10-Bit (x265)” from the Video Codec drop down
8 Select “Same As Source” in “Framerate”
9 Check the “Constant Framerate” button
10 Set “Encoder Preset” slider to “Slow”
11 Set “Encoder Tune” to “None”
12 Set “Encoder Profile” to “Main 10”
13 Set “Encoder Level” to “5.1”
14 Set the “Constant Quality” slider to “24”
15 In the “Additional Options” box add strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0:aq-mode=1:rd=4:psy-rd=0.75:psy-rdoq=4.0:rdoq-level=1:rskip=2
16 Click the “Audio” tab
17 Select the preferred 7.1 or 5.1 channel soundtrack. Select “Passthru” to keep, or go to next step to compress
18 Set “Codec” to “AC3” and the Bitrate to 448kb
19 Set Mixdown to “5.1 Channels” and Samplerate to “48”
20 Click the “Subtitles” tab
21 To remove all subtitles on MAC set the dropdown to “None”, and on Windows click the greyed out “X” on the right hand side. To keep subtitles, select the desired subtitles track from the dropdown, and unselect “Forced Only” and “Burn In” to allow you to turn them off and on as desired. To keep a second subtitle track click “Track” and then “Add New Track”. Repeat the process for the second track. To burn a track into the picture so the subtitle are always there check “Burn In”.
22 Click the “Chapters” tab
23 Uncheck the “Create Chapter Markers” option if you don’t want them or leave it checked if you do
24 Give your output file a unique name and save it somewhere easy to find
25 Make a preset to save the settings and Press the Green “Start Encode” button

THE LONG VERSION

Continue reading “Best Optimal Handbrake Settings to convert 4K BLURAY to H.265 HEVC on Mac Windows Linux – JULY 2023”

Free Video Cutter – Split MKV and MP4 with Avidemux on Mac Windows and Linux

Free Video Cutter – Split MKV and MP4 with Avidemux on Mac Windows and Linux

Free Video Cutter - Avidemux Icon

If you have ever read one of my articles on compressing video in Handbrake you will have seen me rant about cutting off a section of your source file, and encoding a 2-3 minute chunk too see how your settings look as opposed to waiting all night for the whole video to encode. I was asked recently how this can be done for free, as pretty much everything out there ultimately ends up asking you for money. Avidemux is a free open source tool that allows you to split and cut your MKV and MP4 video files, including 4K UHD. They have versions for Mac, Windows and Linux, and it works really well!

The latest stable releases can be downloaded on Github HERE. If you are looking for the latest version you can try the nightly builds from the Avidemux site HERE.

Once you have it downloaded your copy, open it up and you will see the main user interface window.

Continue reading “Free Video Cutter – Split MKV and MP4 with Avidemux on Mac Windows and Linux”

Bluray Subtitles Demystified – What settings to use in Handbrake on Windows

Bluray Subtitles Demystified –  What settings to use in Handbrake

bluray subtitles

Bluray Subtitles behave differently to what we are used to in DVD’s. DVD subtitles are basically a text file with timings noted, and the specific text is displayed at the correct time. Bluray’s however use graphics that are pretty similar to PNG files. Each line of text is actually a little picture overlayed on top of the movie. Therefore, including subtitles in your Bluray encodes with Handbrake seems a bit tricky! However, in reality it’s actually easier than you think, let me show you how!

Once you have “Make” a MKV file from your source disk, there are two ways to go. We can either use the PGS subtitles from the disk in Handbrake directly, or we can convert the PGS subtitles to SRT text based subtitles. You are probably thinking “But won’t Handbrake burn the PGS subtitles in” and “I want to be able to turn them on and off”. And there is a very simple solution:

Continue reading “Bluray Subtitles Demystified – What settings to use in Handbrake on Windows”

Fix Bad DVD Encodes with Handbrake on Mac Windows and Linux – 2023

Fix Bad DVD Encodes with Handbrake

Fix Bad DVD Encodes

I recently purchased the box set of Malcolm In The Middle. I love this show! It was always so funny, and those kids, OMG what horrible kids they were. However, whilst the show was fantastic, the quality of the DVD video was horrible, especially when I viewed it on my new 4K UHD TV.

Seriously…WTF Hollywood?

Fix Bad DVD Encodes - Malcolm Box Set

I paid $140 bucks for these discs, and there are more artefacts in the video than even Howard Carter can handle!
(A little Tutankhamun humour there)

Thankfully, we can fix this with a free program called Handbrake. At the time of writing the current version of Handbrake is v1.6.1. You can download your copy HERE.

Continue reading “Fix Bad DVD Encodes with Handbrake on Mac Windows and Linux – 2023”

Fix Zoom in ProMovie Recorder on Apple iPhone

Fix Zoom in ProMovie Recorder

Fix Zoom in ProMovie Recorder

ProMovie is a fantastic app for your iPhone that takes recording video to a new level. It has a host of professional features that allow you to fine tune many aspects of video recording, and goes way beyond the capabilities go the built in Camera App. You can check it out on the ProMovie Recorder web site. Note, this is not a free app, but it is worth every penny!

After not using it for a short while, I went in today only to discover that I no longer had the ability to zoom or movie between the wide angle, telephoto and normal lenses on my iPhone 13 Pro. I guess some things may have changed in a recent update. I found this quite frustrating. I was not able to find the answer online either. But after a great deal of messing around I figured it out.

To get the zoom and wide angle working again, click the settings icon, it looks like a little gear.

fix zoom in promovie recorder - start

This will open a menu on the screen – select “Camera”

fix zoom in promovie recorder - first panel

Another menu will appear, and it is in here that you can select which lens to use.

fix zoom in promovie recorder - second panel

I selected “Triple”, which gave me back the ability to use all three lenses again, and choose from ultra wide angle and zoom al the way through telephoto. You can also lock in on a specific lens if you choose.

fix zoom in promovie recorder - wide

Best Optimal Handbrake Settings to convert 1080 BluRay to H.265 HEVC on Mac Windows Linux MARCH 2023

Convert BLURAY to H.265 HEVC with Handbrake
Convert BLURAY to H.265 HEVC with Handbrake

Convert BLURAY to H.265 HEVC with Handbrake without having to know or understand all of the settings. Just copy my settings and you’re done!

H.264 Vs H.265 – Which one should I use?
If you have a 1080 HD TV and an older media player you will want to use H.264 – See THIS ARTICLE for instructions.
If you have a 4K Television and a newer media player H.265 is best, so use these instructions below.

*Whilst your user interface may appear slightly different than shown here (depending on if you are using Windows, Mac or Linux), the settings and results will be the same across all platforms.

**NOTE** – These settings are for 1080P BLURAY to H.265 HEVC Video
Use these settings if you have a recent 4K UHD Television and newer media player like the Apple TV 
4K.
To convert 1080P BLURAY to H.264 – CLICK HERE!
To convert DVD to H.265 – CLICK HERE!
To convert DVD to H.264 – CLICK HERE!
To convert 4K BLURAY to H.265 – CLICK HERE!

THE SHORT VERSION

1 Open source file in Handbrake and make sure you are on the “Summary” tab
2 Set file format to “MKV’ and deselect “Passthru Common Metadata”
3 Click “Dimensions” tab and set Resolution Limit to 1080p and leave Anamorphic as Automatic, leave cropping “Automatic” and borders “None”
4 Click the “Filters” tab
5 Leave Interlace Detection set to Default, De-interlace set to Decomb, and Preset at “Default”
6 Click the “Video” tab
7 Select “H.265 10-Bit (x265)” from the Video Codec drop down
8 Select “Same As Source” in “Framerate”
9 Check the “Constant Framerate” button
10 Set “Encoder Preset” slider to “Slow”
11 Set “Encoder Tune” to “None”
12 Set “Encoder Profile” to “Main 10”
13 Set “Encoder Level” to “5.1” – If this wont play on your system drop it back to “4.1”
14 Set the “Constant Quality” slider to “24”
15 In the “Additional Options” box add strong-intra-smoothing=0:rect=0:aq-mode=1:rd=4:psy-rd=0.75:psy-rdoq=4.0:rdoq-level=1:rskip=2
16 Click the “Audio” tab
17 Select the preferred 7.1 or 5.1 channel soundtrack
18 Set “Codec” to “AC3” and the Bitrate to 448kb
19 Set Mixdown to “5.1 Channels” and Samplerate to “48”
20 Click the “Subtitles” tab
21 Click the “X” in the circle at the right side to remove the subtitles track on Windows, or select “None” from dropdown on Mac
22 Click the “Chapters” tab
23 Uncheck the “Create Chapter Markers” option if you don’t want them or leave it checked if you do
24 Give your output file a unique name and save it somewhere easy to fid
25 Make a preset to save the settings and Press the Green “Start Encode” button

THE LONG VERSION

Continue reading “Best Optimal Handbrake Settings to convert 1080 BluRay to H.265 HEVC on Mac Windows Linux MARCH 2023”