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?
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.
This is a simple easy guide on how to make the best encodes with the smallest file size in Handbrake using H.264 without having to know or understand all of the settings. Just copy my settings and you’re done!
This article is current as of FEB 2022 and uses Handbrake version 1.5.1
*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 DVDto H.264 ONLY
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 4K BLURAY to H.265 – CLICK HERE!
THE SHORT VERSION
1 Open file in Handbrake and make sure you are on the “Summary” tab
2 Select your preferred output file format “MKV’ or “MP4” (MKV was used for this tutorial)
3 Click “Dimensions” tab
4 Set Resolution Limit to None and leave Anamorphic as Automatic
5 Leave Final Dimensions set to Automatic
6 Click the “Filters” tab
7 Make sure “Interlace Detection” is set to “Default”
8 Set “Deinterlace” to “Decomb”
9 Set “Preset” to “Default”
10 Make sure everything else is set to “Off”
11 Click the “Video” tab
12 Select “H.264 (x.264)” from the Video Codec drop down menu
13 Select “Same As Source” in “Framerate”
14 Check the “Constant Framerate” button
15 Set “Encoder Preset” slider to “Very Slow”
16 Set “Encoder Tune” to “Film”
17 Set “Encoder Profile” to “High”
18 Set “Encoder Level” to “3.1”
19 Set the “Constant Quality” slider to “20” if you want great picture quality – If you don’t mind a slightly softer picture and would prefer a smaller file size set it to “24”
20 In the “Additional Options” box copy and paste the following:ref=5:bframes=5
21 Click the “Audio” tab
22 Select the English 6 Channel (5.1) Dolby Digital soundtrack
23 Set “Codec” to “AC3 Passthru”
24 Click the “Subtitles” tab
25 Click the “X” in the circle at the right side to remove the subtitles track if you don’t want them. If you’re using a Mac click where it says “Foreign Audio Scan” and select “None”
26 Click the “Chapters” tab
27 Uncheck the “Create Chapter Markers” option if you don’t want them or leave it checked if you do
28 Press the Green “Start Encode” button
THE LONG VERSION
THE GOAL – To produce the highest quality video with the smallest possible file size, whilst retaining the entire original 5.1 Dolby Digital sound track.
Convert DVD to H265 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 DVD to H265 HEVC Video
Use these settings if you have a recent 4K UHD Television and newer media player like the Apple TV 4K. To convert DVD to H.264 – CLICK HERE!
To convert 1080P BLURAY to H.264 – CLICK HERE!
To convert 1080P BLURAY to H.265 – CLICK HERE!
To convert 4K BLURAY to H.265 – CLICK HERE!
INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO COMING SOON!
THE SHORT VERSION
IMPORTANT – Before you begin, drop your source DVD file into Mediainfo and identify if the video stream is 480 or 576 size! (Different countries use different sizes)
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 480p or 576p (depending on your source file) 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 “4.1”
14 Set the “Constant Quality” slider to “22”
15 In the “Additional Options” box ad 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 5.1 channel soundtrack – If it is AC-3/Dolby Digital 5.1 click pass thru and go to step 20
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 find
25 Make a preset to save the settings and Press the Green “Start Encode” button
This is a simple easy guide on how to make the best encodes with the smallest file size in Handbrake without having to know or understand all of the settings. Just copy my settings and you’re done!
To get started right away please scroll down to the red text that says “START HERE”.
**NOTE** – These settings are for DVD Video ONLY – You can find a updated Blu Ray Tutorial HERE.
MY RANT – By popular demand, I have decided to update my two articles on how to quickly and easily produce great quality DVD and Blu Ray video encodes with Handbrake. The program interface has changed, the H.264 codec has been refined, and the TV’s we view our movies on have evolved dramatically since writing the original articles.
THE GOAL – To produce the highest quality video with the smallest possible file size, whilst retaining the entire original 5.1 Dolby Digital sound track. DVD’s playing on todays large 4K TV’s look terrible due to their low resolution. We will also use Handbrakes filters to clean up the picture quality.
DISCLAIMER – This method will produce very nice quality DVD videos, but may take 2 hours or more to process each hour of video, so my advice is to let run whilst you are sleeping each night. Unfortunately, good quality video with small file size cant be done quickly, it just doesn’t work that way. Also, All set-ups are different. We all have different size TV’s, different size and shape rooms, different players and a plethora of other factors that could produce varying results. This is a guideline, and a great place for a beginner to start. If you feel there is something that could be done better, or should be done differently, please feel free to let us all know by leaving a comment.
THE TECHNICAL STUFF – My TV is a 65″ Samsung 4K which I absolutely love, and sit about 10-12 feet back from. I play the media from a Apple TV 4K, and use the Infuse Pro 5 player app. The video is encoded on a 3-4 year old HP desktop computer with a Intel I5 processor. The version of Handbrake used in this tutorial is v1.2.0 which is the current stable release for February 2019.
This is a simple easy guide on how to make the best encodes with the smallest file size in Handbrake without having to know or understand all of the settings. Just copy my settings and you’re done!
**NOTE** – These settings are for DVD Video ONLY – You can find a Blu Ray Tutorial HERE.
Video encoding is a topic a lot of people are very passionate about. Factors like TV size, Viewing distance, hardware, drive space restrictions and a plethora of other concerns are all valid. But if you are like me, and just want to reduce your episodes to a more manageable size, whilst retaining most of the quality, here’s how to do it.
PLEASE NOTE – This method will produce very nice quality videos, that will look good on 1080p TV’s, but may take 2 hours or more to process each hour of video, so my advice is to let it run whilst you are sleeping each night.
Once you have ripped your Disks to MKV files with Make MKV, Open Handbrake (You can download the latest version for free HERE) then press the source button and select the file you want to convert, or if you want to do a batch of files, select the folder that contains all of your ripped MKV’s. Handbrake will import them all, but you will only see the first one. Now it’s time to make some adjustments to the settings.
All of your settings should look like the above screen grab – Click it to enlarge.
1. Set the output format to MKV File
2. Click the button that says “Video”. Make sure the video codec is H.264 (x264)
3. The frame rate should be “Same as Source” and Constant Framerate should be selected.
4. Check Constant Quality and adjust the slider until the RF number goes to 20
5. For the encoder options, slide the preset slider to Very Slow. Trust me, it takes a while, but the quality is far superior, and usually yields a smaller file size. Unfortunately it is a trade off for speed vs quality. Like I said, run it while you are sleeping.
6. Leave “Fast Decode” unchecked.
7. Set Tune to Film
8. Set Profile to High
9. Set Level to 3.1
10. Now click the “Picture Settings” button in the top right side of the window.
A new window will open. Change all of your settings look like this
11. Whilst in the picture settings window, click “Filters” and change all of your settings to look like these as well. Denoise and Deblock will make the picture look SO much better when viewed on larger 1080p TVs.
**If you are in the USA you can skip this step, but for the rest of us, we need to know if our video is progressive or interlaced (the method used to draw each frame of video)**
If your video is progressive, you can skip this step, but if it is interlace, you will definitely want to de-interlace the video before you watch it on a 1080 screen, otherwise you will see all kinds of ugly horizontal lines in fast moving scenes like the image below.
(If you dont know whether your video is interlaced or progressive, Mac users can use Video Spec to find out, and Windows users can use G-Spot to find out)
If your video is interlaced, make sure “Deinterlace” is checked and select “Slower” for best results.
12. Now you can close out the Picture Settings window and select the “Audio” tab in the main window.
I am a real Audiofile, I love the Dolby Digital and DTS 5-7 channel audio tracks in movies, so I select “Auto PassThru”. But, if regular 2 channel Stereo is ok for you, you can configure that in this area if you want. I figure you are converting a DVD, so you might as well have the best sound quality available. Just select the Dolby Digital or DTS sound track from the drop down window, and choose “Auto Passthru”
13. Click the “Subtitles” tab and select none
14. Click the “Chapters” tab and make sure “Create Chapter Markers” is un-checked.
15. You are now ready to start encoding. If you are only doing one file, just press the “Start” button and Handbrake will start encoding. If you are doing a batch of files, open the File Menu and select “Add All Titles To Queue”
16. Press the “Show Queue” button to see all your files waiting to be encoded
17. Press the “Start” button and your encoding session will begin.
UPDATE – **I HAVE TESTED THIS METHOD WITH OS X MAVERICKS AND IT WORKS GREAT!**
This tutorial was written using Mountain Lion as an example, but it works for Mavericks as well – just follow the same process
Just like OS X Lion, it is really important to save your OS X Mountain Lion and Mavericks “Install File” BEFORE you install it. Without it, you can not make an install disk, and it is deleted automatically once you install your new operating system.
Once you have purchased Mountain Lion or Mavericks, your purchase/price button will turn into a “downloading” button.
A short time after, your launchpad may spring open and show you the downloads progress.
You can leave it open and watch the progress if you want. Close it up when your finished watching, or when the file has completely downloaded.
**CRITICAL** – When the file has finished downloading, a window will pop up and ask you if you want to go ahead and install the new software. QUIT THE INSTALLER IMMEDIATELY! This can be done by clicking the file menu and selecting the “Quit” option.
Don’t worry, you are not going to loose the program you just bought, you are just telling your computer that you want to install later. Once you have closed out of the installer, open a new finder window, then open your “Applications” folder. Inside this folder you will see your OS X Mountain Lion or Mavericks Install File.
Right click and “Copy” the installer file, then “Paste” it onto your desktop.
Once the file finishes copying to the desktop, you can go back into your applications folder and double click and run the installer, if you are ready to install your update.
If you want to make a bootable install DVD disk or a USB Key, the easiest way to do this is with Disk Maker X (Formerly called Lion Disk Maker).
Go to the Disk Maker X web site HERE and download the latest version of the program. Once downloaded, unzip and run the program.
TO MAKE A DVD DISK:
With Disk Maker X open, select Mountain Lion to make a Mountain Lion DVD, Or Mavericks to make a Mavericks Install DVD.
Once you select your Operating System, the program will try to locate the install program automatically. It doesn’t matter if it uses the one in your Applications folder, or the one on your desktop. In my case, it found the one on my desktop.
The next step is to tell Disk Maker X if you want to make a DVD or a USB key. Keep in mind, if you want to make a DVD you will need a 8.5gb Dual Layer DVD, and a Dual Layer DVD Burner, as the installer will not fit on a single layer 4.7gb DVD.
Click “Burn A DVD”. Disk Maker X will ask you to select your Burner.
You will now be prompted to insert a disk, and begin the burning process.
TO MAKE A USB KEY:
With Disk Maker X open, select Mountain Lion to make a Mountain Lion USB or Mavericks to make a Mavericks install USB key.
Once you select your operating system, the program will try to locate the install program automatically. It doesn’t matter if it uses the one in your Applications folder, or the one on your desktop. In my case, it found the one on my desktop.
The next step is to tell Disk Maker X if you want to make a DVD or a USB key. Keep in mind, if you want to make a USB Key you will need a 8gb thumb drive, due to the size of the installer. Click “Create a Boot Disk”.
Next, Disk Maker X will ask you about your Thumb Drive. In keeping with the recommendations of the makers of the program, we will select “8gb USB Thumb Drive”.
(My understanding is, that this option will completely erase the entire USB drive, and ALL existing data will be over-written. If you have a larger drive, which is divided up into partitions, and you do not want to erase the whole drive, use the “Another kind of disk” option. IF this is incorrect, or there is also another reason, please reply in comments.)
You will now be asked to confirm your drive selection, and its location.
One last warning! Your thumb drive will now be erased COMPLETELY!
Disk Maker X will now begin crunching files to make your USB Installer.
During this process, particularly towards the end of the process, a lot of new windows and “Get Info” dialogues will pop up, and disappear. This is normal. This is just your computer acknowledging the creation and mounting of new drives and volumes.
Once it is all completed, you will hear Homer yelling “WooHoo!” and see your new USB drive ready to go!
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